Chapter 7 Post

     Chapter 7 in our American Government textbook deals with one of the major aspects of our government, the United States Congress. For today's blog post, I want to talk about the various powers of Congress that they can utilize to help govern the country. In addition to forming laws and determining the nation's budget, Congress possesses numerous other roles. Congress is able to check the power of both the judicial and executive branches, conduct congressional review, approve nominations, and impeach high ranking officials. For the post, I want to describe Congress' power of making laws and determining the nation's budget.

     Congress is known as the primary law-making group in the United States. It plays a crucial role in the development of new laws since only the Senate and House can formally submit a bill for consideration. When a bill is presented to the House and Senate, it is assigned a number and delivered to the appropriate committees and sub-committee to be reviewed. When it is given to the sub-committees, they end up being thoroughly researched and the sub-committee then decides when to hold hearings on them. After conducting the hearings, the bill is revised and goes into a vote by the subcommittee where it is either approved or rejected. If the bill is approved, it is then sent to the fully committee where it can be revised further, or even just get rejected before making it onto the floor. During this part of the process, the House Committee on Rules will determine the limits on the floor debate, consider the bill, and then places a date on the calendar. The Senate on the other hand can truly debate the bill since it isn't as large as the House. If two different versions of the bill in question are approved, the two sides try to compromise on the bill or it faces a slow death if nothing can be accomplished. Finally, if the bill is passed, it is sent off to the President where it is passed, vetoed, or pocket vetoed. 

     In addition to making new laws, Congress plays a significant role in the national budget. In 1921, Warren G. Harding signed the Budget and Accounting Act. This act forced the president to submit a budget to Congress for approval. Due to conflicts with Nixon, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was passed. This act established the congressional budget process by outlining a plan to allow congressional action on the annual budget resolution, reconciliation, and appropriations. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office was created to help estimate the budget. The act also included a guideline and timetable to make sure the budget situation was always figured out in a timely manner.

     Overall, Congress has numerous powers that help keep the United States functioning as well as it can. In my opinion, Congress has been a giant influence in how the United States is today. However, I feel that some changes need to be made in order to keep the progress moving at a reasonable pace. If Congress continues its recent non bipartisan ways, then our country will unfortunately move in the wrong direction; something that would definitely hurt the US.