The first of the governing institutions is the legislative branch. It has the power to pass bills, that can then become law unless vetoed by the chief executive.
While we are accustomed to looking at the executive as the most important and powerful branch, the framers of the original constitution thought the legislature was instead. It had the power to tax, to establish the other institutions, and to fund - or defund - them. Representatives and senators also had closer connections to the population and were in a greater position to sway them one way or another. Neither the executive nor the judiciary had been created yet, so neither had any power. That would change over time as these two branches established themselves. We will cover this in the next two sections.
For now, we will focus on the following:
1 - Constitutional Design.
2 - Development of the Executive Branch.
3 - Development of the Judicial Branch.
4 - Development of Political Parties.
5 - Congressional Elections.
6 - Development of Committees and Subcommittees.
7 - Congressional Leadership.
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Terminology
- representation
- constituency
- partisanship
- polarization
- individual constituents
- organized interests
- district
- delegates
- trustees
- agency representation
- bicameral legislature
- money bills
- appropriations bills
- shutdowns
- electoral system
- running for office
- incumbency
- casework
- patronage
- pork-barrel legislation
- gerrymandering
- parties in Congress
- party leadership
- party organization
- party caucus
- party conference
- Speaker of the House
- majority leader
- minority leader
- committee system
- standing committees
- jurisdiction
- authority
- gatekeeping authority
- proposal power
- after-the-fact authority
- conference committee
- oversight
- subcommittees
- hierarchy
- decisiveness on committees
- seniority
- monitoring committees
- the staff system
- staff agencies
- Congressional Research Service
- Government Accountability Office
- Congressional Budget Office
- congressional caucuses
- bill making
- sources of legislation
- bill introduction
- committee consideration
- closed rule
- open rule
- debate
- cloture
- filibuster
- veto
- pocket veto
- distributive tendency
- influences on members of Congress
- reelection
- constituency
- interest groups
- PACs / SuperPACs
- lobbying
- party discipline
- party vote
- party unity scores
- roll-call votes
- polarization
- whip system
- logrolling
- presidential pressure
- impeachment
- investigations
- reports
- state legislatures
- Texas legislature
- amend
- bicameral
- casework
- committees
- delegates
- filibuster
- first reading
- general law
- incumbent
- institutional memory
- local law
- logrolling
- markup
- point of order
- political polarization
- recognition
- regular sessions
- second reading
- select committee
- seniority
- sine die
- special law
- special session
- standing committees
- third reading
- trustees
- turnover
U.S. Constitution: Article One.
- Avalon.
- Annotated Constitution.
The Unites States House of Representatives.
The Unites States Senate.
The 118th Congress.
November 2022 legislative election results.
Congress.gov - most viewed bills.
Congress.gov - The Legislative Process.
Texas Constitution: Article Three.
- 1876 Constitution.
- Present Constitution.
- The Texas House of Representatives.
- The Texas States Senate.
- Texas Legislature Online.
- Legislative Reference Library.
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- Lawmaking.
- Representation.
- Power of the Purse.
- Sample Ballots.
- Federalist 51.
- Declaration of Independence.
- Madison on Tyranny.
- Checks and Balances.
- Immunities.
- US Constitution: Article One.
- First Congress.
- Judiciary Act of 1789.
- United States federal judiciary legislation.
- 117th Congress.
- Top Ten Most Viewed Bills.
- Major Legislation passed by Congress.
- Appropriations.