3.
The
United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government
of the United States consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of
Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Written
in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States
Constitution is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government.
Its first three words – “We The People” –
affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its
citizens. The supremacy of the people
through their elected representatives is recognized in Article I, which creates
a Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
The
positioning of Congress at the beginning of the Constitution reaffirms its
status as the “First Branch” of the federal government.
The
Constitution assigned to Congress responsibility for organizing the executive
and judicial branches, raising revenue, declaring war, and making all laws
necessary for executing these powers.
The
president is permitted to veto specific legislative acts, but Congress has the
authority to override presidential vetoes by two-thirds majorities of both
houses. The Constitution also provides
that the Senate advise and consent on key executive and judicial appointments and
on the ratification of treaties.
For
over two centuries the Constitution has remained in force because its framers
successfully separated and balanced governmental powers to safeguard the
interests of majority rule and minority rights, of liberty and equality, and of
the central and state governments.
More a concise statement of national
principles than a detailed plan of governmental operation, the Constitution has
evolved to meet the changing needs of a modern society profoundly different
from the eighteenth-century world in which its creators lived.
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