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The Legislative Branch Review: the Three Branches

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The Legislative Branch Review: the Three Branches The Legislative Branch Review: The Three Branches United States Government Executive Legislative Judicial Branch Branch Branch Enforces the law Makes the law Interprets the law The Legislative Branch The legislative branch is made up of Congress, which is a bicameral legislature of two houses House of Representatives: The Senate: 435 100 Stop & Why do you think there are two houses Think: instead of just one? The House of Representatives • The Lower House (less prestigious) • Number of representatives each state can elect is based on that state’s population Each state gets at least one The limit is set at 435 The Census every 10 years helps decide how many representatives each state gets The House of Representatives Each representative is responsible for a section of the state, called districts Each representative is elected by the people in their district – directly elected by the people Representatives serve 2 year terms – no Our Colorado Representatives Write down the name of one Republican and one Democrat Diana Jared Mike Doug Ken Scott Ed DeGette Polis Coffman Lamborn Buck Tipton Perlmutter D D R R R R D 1. Which state has the most representatives? Stop & 2. Which states only have 1 representative? Write: 3. Why did some states gain or lose representatives? The Senate • The Upper House (more prestigious) • Each state gets 2 senators, no matter what (100 total) Senators serve 6 year terms – no term limit Each representative is elected by the people in their district – directly elected by the people Michael Bennet - D Cory Gardner - R Write down the names of our Senators How Congress is Organized • On the first day of each term, the Republican members and Democratic members of Congress have private meetings to choose leaders of their political party Political party with the most members in Congress is called the Majority Party Political party with fewer members is called the Minority Party Why might it be a good thing for Congress to have a Majority Stop & Party that is the same as the President’s party? Why might it Talk: be a bad thing? How Congress is Organized Senate House of Representatives President Pro Tempore Speaker of the House Floor Leaders Floor Leaders Majority Leader Minority Leader Majority Leader Minority Leader Majority Whip Minority Whip Majority Whip Minority Whip Party Leaders Party Leaders Chairman of Democrats Chairman of Democrats Chairman of Republicans Chairman of Republicans Committees Committees Subcommittees Subcommittees A whip is an assistant to the party leader Powers of Congress 1. Financing the Government Paying for government programs and national defense How? By collecting taxes, borrowing money, and printing money Powers of Congress 2. Regulating Trade and Industry Regulating trade with foreign countries and between states How? By passing laws that protect the rights of investors Powers of Congress 3. Defending the Country Protecting the country from foreign and domestic enemies How? By maintaining the armed forces and declaring war Powers of Congress 4. Allowing for Growth Deciding who is and isn’t part of the nation How? By passing laws to regulate immigration, and by allowing the admission of new states Powers of Congress 5. Impeaching Federal Officials Bringing federal officials to trial How? By impeaching them = to accuse of misconduct and bring to trial Nixon Clinton was resigned impeached before he could be impeached Legislative Branch Matching Match the items to the category they belong to House of Representatives 435 members 1._________________ Regulating trade 2._________________ Creating lower courts 3._________________ 100 members 4._________________ Upper House 5._________________ Lower House Senate Bicameral legislature 1._________________ 2 per state 2._________________ 6 year terms 3._________________ Taxes citizens 4._________________ Enforces the law 5._________________ President Pro Tempore Congress Impeaching federal officials 1.__________________ 2 year terms 2.__________________ Speaker of the House 3.__________________ Census helps decide 4.__________________ 5.__________________ .
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