by Algy Moncrieff

Created on: April 30, 2010   Last Updated: May 03, 2010

Congress, the legislative branch of the US government, is a complicated institution, with power spread through a great many different committees and individuals.  The first step in understanding the power structures in Congress is in understanding how Congress is made up and how it operates. 

Unfortunately, the problem does not end here however: we must also account for the fact that power structures in Congress are constantly shifting – firstly due to exogenous, external factors such as the rise of a powerful president, and partly due to endogenous, systemic factors such as legislation that affects the structure of Congress. 

Once we have gone through all of this, we should have a pretty good picture of how power is distributed in the US Congress.

First then we need to address Congress’ design and operation.  Congress is a bicameral legislature, which means it has an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Representatives, or just the House). 

The Senate is comprised of 100 individuals, two from each state regardless of size, and is elected once every 6 years.  The House is comprised of 435 members; larger states get more members, whilst the smallest states get only one member. 

The House is elected every 2 years.  The majority of legislation originates in the House; some also comes from the Senate but the Senate’s role is generally meant as more of a deliberative one, debating legislation in detail and proposing amendments, although such a process also takes place in the house.

Legislation is produced by congressional committees.  A committee is in charge of every major area of government, and normally has numerous subcommittees underneath it, working on the details of legislation. 

Authorising committees are those that produce legislation in specific areas – Agriculture, Science etc. – whilst the Ways and Means committee is in charge of raising tax dollars to pay for things, and Appropriations is in charge of how the money is spent. 

Now we start to see power structures emerging: clearly the committees in charge of money wield considerable power, and their chairmen wield even more power as these are the men (and women) who set the agenda for discussion and therefore effectively can determine what does and does not make it as far as the floor.

For a bill to pass it must achieve a simple majority (i.e. at least 50% of the votes +1) on the floor of the House,

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>