Opinion Assignment: effectiveness of Congress

Ella Stephens
10/27/2014
Congress is divided into two houses: The House of Representatives and The Senate. The
House of Representatives have the most power out of the two houses.
1
They handle tax laws and
also review over any bills that get passed to them. The House is made up of 435 members, which
are 335 more than the Senate. There are more House members because they represent the
population of their home states. The Senate has 100 members because they provide stability by
representing their states with two members that come from both states. The House only serves
two years while the Senate serves six years.
Congress is a part of the Legislative Branch of government. They are the people who
make laws. A bill is introduced to either house and then they discuss it, research it, and debate it.
Then the bill is sent to a subcommittee where its debated and it could die or go back to the
Committee Action where it could be agreed upon. If the bill is accepted then it goes to the floor
for final debate and vote where it could also die. If the bill does not die there then it is sent to the
opposing house in Congress. It is sent to the other Committee Action where they repeat the
process and they can add their own versions of the bill. Then Congress will combine the two
versions of the bill where it is passed to the President who can sign it or vetoe it. If it is vetoed,
two thirds of Congress can over-ride the Presidents decision in order to make the bill a law.
In my opinion, our Congress is very effective. I like how even if the President does not
agree on making the bill a law that Congress can still vote it a law. Since we can vote for the
people who represent us and that come from our state we have a pretty equal representation and

1. Barbara Sinclair, An Effective Congress and Effective Members: What Does it Take? CongressLink,
1996, http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_effectivecongress.htm
more things are able to get done. I feel like the government is in close relations with the people
by having the House go back to their states and see what the people are wanting. Our founding
fathers did a good job of having us well represented and keeping everyone happy.
Bibliography:
Sinclair, Barbara. An Effective Congress and Effective Members: What Does it Take?
CongressLink. 1996. http://www.congresslink.org/print_expert_effectivecongress.htm