Congress: structure & legislative process

The Great Compromise and Bicameralism

Article I of the Constitution vests "all legislative Powers herein granted" in a Congress divided into two chambers—a design fixed by the Connecticut (Great) Compromise of July 16, 1787, which reconciled the large-state Virginia Plan and the small-state New Jersey Plan. The House of Representatives apportions seats by population; the Senate grants each state equal representation with two members. The number 435 is not constitutional but statutory, fixed by the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929; reapportionment follows each decennial census under Article I, Section 2.

The House of Representatives

The House comprises 435 voting members serving two-year terms. The Constitution sets three qualifications (Art. I, Sec. 2): age 25, seven years' citizenship, and inhabitancy in the represented state. The House elects its own Speaker, who stands second in presidential succession under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. Distinctive House powers include the sole power to originate revenue bills (the Origination Clause, Art. I, Sec. 7), the sole power of impeachment (Art. I, Sec. 2), and the duty to choose the President if no candidate wins an Electoral College majority—exercised in 1801 (Jefferson) and 1825 (John Quincy Adams) under the Twelfth Amendment.

The Senate

The Senate seats 100 members serving staggered six-year terms, with one-third standing for election every two years (Art. I, Sec. 3). Qualifications are stiffer: age 30, nine years' citizenship, state inhabitancy. The Seventeenth Amendment (1913) replaced legislative appointment with direct popular election. The Vice President serves as President of the Senate, voting only to break ties; the President pro tempore presides in absence. Exclusive Senate powers are weighty: trying impeachments and convicting by two-thirds vote (it has convicted eight federal judges, never a president); advice and consent to treaties by two-thirds (Art. II, Sec. 2), which doomed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920; and confirmation of executive and judicial nominees by simple majority.

Enumerated and Implied Powers

Congress's authority is enumerated in Article I, Section 8—taxing and spending, regulating interstate and foreign commerce, coining money, declaring war, raising armies, and establishing post offices. The Necessary and Proper (Elastic) Clause closes the list, validated by McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), which upheld the national bank as a means to enumerated ends. The Commerce Clause is the most litigated source of federal power, expanded in Wickard v. Filburn (1942) and cabined in United States v. Lopez (1995). Section 9 lists prohibitions—no bills of attainder, no ex post facto laws, no suspension of habeas corpus except in rebellion or invasion.

How a Bill Becomes Law

The legislative pathway is procedurally dense, and the FSOT rewards candidates who can recite it precisely. A bill (H.R. for House, S. for Senate) may be introduced in either chamber—except revenue measures, which must begin in the House under the Origination Clause. After introduction, the bill is referred to the relevant standing committee, where the substantive work occurs: hearings, markup, and the vote to report. Most bills die in committee; this is the single most important chokepoint to remember.

Floor Action and the Filibuster

In the House, the Rules Committee sets the terms of debate via a special rule (open, closed, or structured), controlling amendments and time. In the Senate, debate is famously unlimited, enabling the filibuster. Cloture under Senate Rule XXII—adopted in 1917 at Woodrow Wilson's urging—originally required two-thirds; the threshold was lowered to three-fifths (60 votes) in 1975. The "nuclear option" lowered the cloture threshold to a simple majority for executive and judicial nominees: in 2013 for lower-court and executive nominees (Reid), and in 2017 for Supreme Court nominees (McConnell), which seated Neil Gorsuch.

Reconciling the Chambers

Because both chambers must pass identical text, differences are resolved either by one chamber accepting the other's version or through a conference committee, whose report cannot be amended—only approved or rejected. The Budget Reconciliation process, created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, bypasses the filibuster for fiscal legislation but is constrained by the Byrd Rule (1985), which strips "extraneous" provisions. Reconciliation enabled the Bush tax cuts (2001), much of the Affordable Care Act's finishing (2010), and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017).

Presentment and the Veto

Under the Presentment Clause (Art. I, Sec. 7), every bill passed by both chambers goes to the President, who has ten days (Sundays excepted) to act. The President may sign it, veto it and return it with objections, or do nothing—in which case the bill becomes law unless Congress has adjourned, producing a pocket veto. Congress can override a regular veto by a two-thirds vote in each chamber; of more than 1,500 regular vetoes in US history, fewer than 8 percent have been overridden. The line-item veto, briefly granted by the Line Item Veto Act of 1996, was struck down in Clinton v. City of New York (1998) as violating the Presentment Clause.

Why This Matters for the Exam

The FSOT US Government component tests Congress as both structure and process. Expect multiple-choice items distinguishing House-only from Senate-only powers (revenue origination vs. treaty ratification), questions on cloture thresholds and the filibuster's evolution, and the veto-override math. The Situational Judgment and English Expression sections reward candidates who can describe institutional gridlock accurately. High-yield retention items: 435/100, six-year staggered terms, 60-vote cloture, two-thirds for override and conviction, and the holdings of McCulloch, Lopez, and Clinton v. New York.