The structure of congress - Essay Example

?TERM PAPER Introduction Basically governance in the United s of America is there to determine how the people in the country are ruled and how powers are distributed among people to whom power is due. The governance system is also responsible for defining and outlining the responsibilities of citizens as well as the rights that they are entitled to in the midst of all the responsibilities. Largely, all of these are embedded in what has come to be known as the federal constitutional republic system of government or simply but, a democratic republic system of government. Through this system, there is always a federation of States who have as much independence as possible to assume sovereignty, and republic form of government that controls the central running of the country at a national level. Indeed, the government system in the United States may have its own strengths and weaknesses and it is subject to a number of critical review and analysis, some of which have been done in the following texts. The Structure of Congress Generally, the Congress of the United States is a bicameral legislature, which takes its unique governance operations from its structure and committees. There exist two major for a namely the House of Representatives and the Senate, two of whom make up the bicameral legislature. Due to the array of work that needs to be done by the Senate and House, there is a compromised system which ensures that the workload is better handled and this system is in the use of the committees to get duties of Congress executed (Stowitts, 2009). Indeed, the various committees and the responsibilities or roles assigned to them make up the structure of Congress. There exists several committees at the Senate but these may be grouped and categorized into Standing Committees, Select Committees, and Joint Committees. At the House, committees are put in charge of special sectors of the economy and thus make up committees such as Committee on Agriculture, Committee on House Administration, Committee on Rules, and so on. Who does Congress Represent In its broader sense, it can be said that the Congress represents the larger population of the United States of America. The reason for this assertion is that members of Congress are voted into their offices and not merely appointed. This electoral system therefore enshrines powers in the hands of the ordinary American to determine who he or she wants to represent (Stowitts et al, 2010). Consequently, Congress represents the people on the ground. By the voting system, it is important to note that the fact that a congressman is voted for by a particular group of persons does not mean that that congressman represents the interest of those people only but then, once the congressman assumes office, he is mandated to represent the interest of all people within his electoral area without discrimination. It is indeed due to the need for there to be a fairer representation of the United States people that there are as people as 535 Voting members of Congress scattered all across the various States of America. What Congress does As democratic as the government system of the United States of America is, one of the virtues of governance that can indeed justify the exhibition of democracy in that country is the presence of shared powers among state offices, or what is commonly known as checks and balance (Stowitts, 2009). To this end, there are three major arms of government namely the executive, judiciary and legislature. The legislative arm of government is mainly responsible for making laws that are rooted in the constitution of the country. It is this arm that Congress represents. What congress does exactly therefore is for it to make laws for the country. With this role of Congress, some of the powers of state governance are taken away from the presidency into the hands of the ordinary people, whom the Congress represents. Subsequently, Congress determines several aspects of state governance including how funds should be raised for the country and how funds raised should be used. This is commonly shredded in the approval of budgets for the country. What the bureaucracy does Indeed, the roles and responsibilities of Congress have not changed over the years and so there is every justification to say that there is a bureaucratic system in place; especially as the bureaucracy is espoused in the activities of the Executive. This bureaucratic system could well be quizzed to find its weaknesses as well as its strengths (Stowitts, 2009). For example, there is a serious limitation of the bureaucracy whereby dynamism and innovation are greatly suppressed because things must be done in the same way and through the same long processes every day. On the other hand, the bureaucracies are there to ensure that accountability and fairness can be monitored and guaranteed. For example when it comes to the issue of spending funds, this has been a role that congress has played each and every year. But the bureaucracy in this ensures that the allocation of funds is done with so much room for justification in the allotment. When it comes to the issue of interpretation and issuance of laws, the bureaucracy also ensures that there is no abuse of the fundamental rights of other people through the enactment of laws that suppress their interest. The Iron Triangle In their quest to gain power to go to Congress, it is common knowledge that aspirants and for that matter eventual winner demand greatly on the financial and logistic inputs and sponsorship from campaign sponsors. In most cases, these sponsors represent interest groups, who after it is all said and done seek for ways to get their interests attended to by Congress. It is this friction that brings about what is known as lobbying as the interest groups try to liaise with congress and congress also tries to take advantage of the bureaucracy to grant the requests of the interest groups (Stowitts et al, 2010). With the interest groups, congress and bureaucracy standing at separate ends of the field, a three-tier paradigm is formed and thus the iron triangle. One typical way in which the iron triangle operates can be illustrated with the use of the congressional committees, whose major roles are to take decisions on issues bordering on specific industries. In such a situation, the players within the industry fall on the members of the congress to promote their interest by speeding up with implementation, which forces Congress to also resort to the Executive or bureaucracy with pressure in getting funding and presidential accent to get laws and bills passed. The iron triangle is illustrated in the diagram above Source: Texas Politics (2012) The powers of the President Per the provisions of the constitution of the United States of America, the president is supposed to share and balance power with other organs or arms of government namely the legislature and the judiciary. This not withstanding, the president has well spelt out constitutional powers that make it possible for him to act as both the Head of State and Head of Government. As the Head of State, the president is mandated with powers to determine the kind of relationships that exists between America and other countries. In the midst of all these constitutional powers, which are more or less limited and strictly defined in Article II of the Constitution, there is a second form of power called the power of persuasion, which the president is expected to use to do much more than the authority gives to him (Stowitts, 2009). Through this, the president is expected to successfully bargain and persuade his way through policies to get them adjusted to a form he finds most appropriate and convenient. Whom does the President Represent Again, given the fact that the president of the United States of America is voted for by the American people and that he requires majority votes to assume office, it can confidently be said that the present represents the American people. It is for this reason that the larger interests of the American people is given to him by means of constitutional definition. What this means is that if the president did not indeed represent the people but had his own way of doing things, there is no way the people through Congress and for that matter, the constitution will spell out rules for the president to oblige to (Stowitts et al, 2010). Conclusion In sum, it can be seen that the governance system of the United States of America makes it a very unique country. Even though the United States of America is not the only country that practices democratic republic, the country has come far in its way of governance and has governed pretty well using this system. Through the discussions so far, some of the strengths that have been seen of the system is the fact that it promotes checks and balance and thus ensures high sense of accountability to the ordinary person. It has also been noticed that the system permits for the voices of the ordinary American to be heard people they are the ones that Congress represents and works for. However, some more work can be done with regards to the system to ensuring that the search for balance really becomes complete. This is because there is continuous the fear that even though the system succeeds in ensuring checks, it has failed in its quest to evenly balance power to all the three arms of government. CITED WORKS Stowitts, Study guide and reader for American Government and politics in the new Millennium. 8th edition. New York: Stowitts, Stewart, Sunshine & Schultz. 2010. Print. Stowitts. American Government and Politics in the New Millennium. 8th edition. New York: Abigail Press Inc. 2009. Print. Texas Politics. Iron Triangle. 2012. Web November 24, 2012 Read More