American government structure and principles

American Government

Branches of the federal government

The Federal Government consists of three distinct branches and they are the legislature represented by the Congress, judiciary represented by the Supreme Court and the executive represented by the President of the United States. Each of these three branches have unique powers bestowed by the U.S. Constitution and they also check the actions of the other branches to ensure that each branch fulfills its duties in a responsible manner.

The Supreme court checks the powers of the Congress by looking thoroughly at the laws that are likely to be passed in the current session. They also look into how the law is intended to be applied and how it is likely to affect the parties concerned. The legality of the law comes under judicial review and they approve or dispute it depending on their assessment.

The U.S. Congress checks the powers of the President by ratifying the treaties signed by him and provides consent to the President in the appointment of the judiciary and other important posts. It also has the right to impeach the President or any other officer of the Government for any crime that was committed during his or her period in the office. It also checks the powers of the Supreme Court by passing laws that define the judiciary's area of jurisdiction, especially in cases that are not clearly defined by the U.S. Constitution.

Finally, the President oversees the role of the Congress and the Supreme Court in many ways. He has the right to veto any bill that is passed by the Congress, though the veto can be overridden again by more than two-third majority of the Congress. He has the right to appoint members of the Supreme Court. The President checks the powers of the judiciary by granting pardons and even amnesty to prisoners if he feels they are wrongly indicted. This kind of a three-way check ensures smooth functioning of the different branches of the federal government.

Public good by the United States federal government

The federal government enacts numerous legislation and promotes programs aimed for making the country a better and safer place for its people. The first avenue is public schools that are available to all residents of this country. Each state and county is divided into numerous school districts and each district has schools to cater to its residents that is free of charge. The teachers and the curriculum are taken care of by school boards that are elected locally. The funding for these public schools comes from the federal as well as the state governments. There are three levels of school education namely primary, middle school and high school.

The second way through which the federal government promotes public good is to ensure the safety of all its residents. It is the duty of the government to protect the country from any terrorist or other man-made calamities and to make this possible, the government spends heavily on national defense and military. It also protects its citizens from natural calamities by evacuating them to safer places and by offering emergency assistance.

The third avenue is to reduce crime by enforcing a sound and fair legal system that will punish the guilty and free the innocent. The Supreme court and other lower courts are vested with the powers to identify miscreants who harm others with a malicious intent and to protect the society from such people. Thus, these are some of the ways through which the federal government promotes public good in the country.

Structure and membership of two houses of the Congress

The United States congress is divided into two branches, namely, the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 535 members in all with 435 members in the house of representatives and 100 members in the Senate. All the 535 members are elected by the people directly with each member of the house of representatives coming from an electoral district within a state. The number of seats for each state is divided according to its population and there is a candidate for each seat. The members of the House have a two-year term while the senators have a six-year term. In the case of senators, there are two representatives from each state and so there are 100 senators to represent the fifty states.

To become a senator, a person has to be at least 30 years of age and should have been a citizen of the U.S. For a minimum period of nine years at the time of election. Also, he or she has to be a resident of the state from which he or she is elected so that the state can be well-represented. In the case of representative, he or she should be at least 25 years old and must be a citizen of the U.S. For at least seven years at the time of election. Also, he or she has to be a resident of the state, but there is no mandatory rule that the representative should be a resident of the district that he or she represents.

Major steps in the process of a bill becoming a law

The first step is a member of the congress should introduce a bill and by doing so, he or she sponsors the bill. Any person can draft a bill, but it should be introduced only by a member of the Congress. The second step is committee action in which a bill is scrutinized by a committee to checks for its benefits and validity. If the committee does not check the bill, then it becomes dead right away.

The bill is then sent to the appropriate sub-committee for its review. This committee will consists of experts in that particular area and they will carefully look through the bill and express their opinion on the same. It also puts on record the view of the supporters as well as the opponents to the bill. The next step after the hearings from the sub-committee is to "mark up" or make any changes to the bill as required before it is heard by the entire committee. At this point, if the sub-committee decides to not present it to the full committee, then the bill dies.

In the next step, known as the ordering of the bill, the full committee votes on the bill and recommends it to the senate or the house of representatives. Then the members of the congress vote on the bill and depending on the number of votes, it is either passed or defeated. Once it is approved by the senate or the house, it is then sent to the next chamber where it goes through the same process and finally the members vote on it. In this process, if the actions of the house or senate is vastly different from the other, then a conference committee is formed to reconcile the opposing points. An agreement should be proposed by the conference committee and it should be approved by both the houses. Finally, the president approves and signs the bill and it becomes a law. The President has the right to veto it, if he chooses to and this veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in the house and senate.