The Law Making Process in Congress

In USA the political arena is dominated by two political parties namely the Democrats and the Republicans. Each of the two parties has significant bearing in the governance of US. In them are bred the presidential candidates. When the president wins the elections, it is either because of the Democrats party or because of the Republicans party. What the party does is offering the technical and financial support during the presidential campaigns in form of fund-raising and organizing of the campaign activities (Bacevich, 2009)

Out of them will also be born the law makers since they act as a vehicle in which the politicians travel into the senate or the house to make laws. The governments at the city, provincial and national levels are composed by members of law makers who emanate from the political parties. Upon getting into their offices the leaders who were elected from the political parties in US are taken to the noble task of setting up the government strategic plans they will then form judicial system in the government to oversee the constitutional matters including the legal matters as well.

It is the also the role of the political parties to furnish the congress with the senators whose hands the public bills pass for approval as laws. The senators can kill the bill or approve it and leave it for presidential decision. The ministers, supervisors and financiers in public offices come from these political parties. The government departments that play pivotal role in the US make up the ministries which are spearheaded by the ministers and supervisors. They therefore have great influence here. (Beard, 1920)

Consequently, in the event of enforcing their mandate in the law making process, the individual politicians earn a great deal of benefits. When they see a potential gain in a particular bill to be enacted, they have nothing but to bulldoze it through the obstacles into being a law. When the bill will potentially take something from them, they suppress and kill it. If defeated, they weaken it with amendments (Schmidt ,2008). Besides, as a way of assuring their constituents of their worthy action in the house or senate, they introduce the public bills quite often.

By so doing they win the favor of the public and build good grounds for the next election. The Law making process in Congress What gets into the congress as a bill meets a set of steps set to try it out and validate it as a law. These trials mainly done by the law makers in the Senate or the House, sometimes with inclusion of the public or the lobbyists. The steps they subject the bill to makes a total of nine, along which the fate of whether the bill will make it to be a law will be judged.

Each step is almost a roadblock to the bill and in most cases, the bill that makes it to a law does so having been distorted through amendments (Hamilton, 2004). The first step introduces the bill into the house or the senate as a new number, denoted as ‘HR’ if introduced to the house or ‘S’ if to the senate. Here, the number and the influential ability of the senators introducing the bill have a bearing on its fate. The second step subjects the bill to a blazing fire of a committee which in turn toughens its influence on the bill by assigning it to yet another fire of Sub committee that it selects.

If the bill survives death in the hands of the Sub committee, it gets to the committee level. If it survives the second time, it gets approved into the full chamber in the congress. The survival of the bill is owed to the kind of committee spearheading its approval. It could be friendly or not (Schmidt et. al, 2008). The bill then has to secure a place in the agenda for discussion in the House. Placing it on the agenda is the work of Rules Committee drawn from the senior members of each party.

As in the name, they give the bill the rule or procedure with which it can be discussed. The bill then proceeds to the fourth step in the full chamber where all the senators throw in cards in the process of making the amendments in the bill. The participation in this is however restricted depending on whether the bill goes through the open rule or the closed rule. The source of the rule dictates this. In the former any legislator in the house can amend while in the latter the committee member reporting it makes the amendment.

Then it enters the 5th step in the senate where, like in the House of Representatives has to go through the same committees with the exception of the rules committee. The passage through this takes it to the floor of the senate where it can be discussed by the full chamber. This step through the other chamber is calling since it can kill the bill if the senators chose to take longer time in discussing it. The bill then gets to the conference committee which harmonizes its form at the house and at the senate to come up with the form that can be accepted by the president.

Then it gets into further refinery at the congress by both chambers for acceptance changes or rejection. The accepted bill is sent to the president who will approve, veto or do nothing. The veto may be overridden by two thirds voting from each chamber of congress. The functions and powers of the president The functions of the US president lie within his execution of powers that he has. Being the head of state, he is considered the commander in chief of the armed forces. This mainly gives him a better hand in commanding the defense of the state from external attacks.

He also basks in the glory of forgiving federal criminals especially during public functions. He is the one whose call is heard by the congress when there is need for a special session. During the national functions and the international meetings, the president speaks on behalf of the nation, receive ambassadors from other nations. When the US laws have been passed in the house, it is the duty of the president to ensure that they are enforced. The work of appointing officials within the executive arm of the government as well as judges in the judicial arm is also a reserve for the president.

It is him who is responsible for signing agreements with other nations. In the senate, the president will be the final man to approve the law. Therein, he can sign it, veto it or do nothing to it. This has great implication on the bills. With all these many responsibilities, the nation grants him powers accordingly. In his executive position, he is the man with the power to enforce the law, to make appointments in the executive branch and the senate, to remove officers, to enjoy executive privileges besides commanding the armed forces (Schmidt et. l, 2008).

In the legislature, he influence a lot in the law making process, either in calling for meeting or approving laws. The judiciary gives him the powers of appointing the judges and pardoning criminals who have been judged. The president can declare the state of emergency if he sees the government is in a pending danger. President is one with the power in ensuring the financial stability of the country in addition to maintaining good relationship with foreign nations (Forman, 2008).