Article One

The U.S. Constitution is organized into seven Articles and has been amended 27 times. Article One outlines the duties of the Legislative Branch, called Congress. Congress is divided into two Houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Article One gives “We the People” the power to govern themselves by directly electing a representative from their local district to go to Congress and represent the people who elected them. The people also elect two senators from each state to represent their state in Congress.

The House elects the speaker who runs the day-to-day operations of the House. Speaker is a powerful office and second in presidential succession, after the vice president.

Congress’ primary duty is to make all the laws necessary and proper to carry out all the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States.

Congress is responsible for the finances of the country. The House levies taxes, borrows money, regulates commerce and coins money. All tax and spending legislation must start in the House.

Congress decides elections when no candidates for President/vice president receive a majority of Electoral College votes. When this happens, the House elects the President and the Senate elects the vice president. It has happened three times in our history.

The House has the sole power to declare war.

The House has the sole power of impeachment.

Congress is responsible for organizing the federal court system under the Supreme Court.

In addition to voting on all legislation, the Senate has specific duties. The vice president is president of the Senate and presides over the Senate. The vice president votes only in case of a tie. In the vice president’s absence, the president pro tempore of the Senate presides. The president pro tempore is usually the most senior member of the majority party and is third in presidential succession. The leader of the majority party runs the Senate’s day-to-day operation.

The Senate has the responsibility of advise and consent. The Senate confirms a wide range of presidential appointments. It also confirms all federal judges including Supreme Court justices.

The Senate must ratify all treaties and has the duty to hold impeachment trials.

Both the Senate and the House are organized into committees and it is in the committees where the work is done. There are three kinds of committees: permanent, select and joint.

There are dozens of permanent committees and sub-committees that handle all the regular and routine legislation. A select committee is appointed for a specific task. A joint committee is made up of senators and congressmen. Joint committees are commonly used to negotiate differences in legislation.

The House represents the individual citizens and the Senate represents the states. Article One outlines this bi-cameral legislature that was created by our Founding Fathers. The House is where the people govern though their elected representatives.