WE THE PEOPLE
THE ROBERT H . SMITH CENTER FOR THE CONSTITUTION
UNDERSTANDING CONGRESS
How much can we trust in , and expect from , our government to preserve democracy ?
E PLURIBUS UNUM
OUT OF MANY , ONE
For many , Congress seems an indecipherable idea . Outside of the fact that there are 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 senators who represent 50 states , many of us only know what we hear on the news : they get together at irregular intervals to achieve next to nothing amidst much-publicized partisanship , filibustering , and argumentation .
Is Congress doing its job ? How do we hold our representatives accountable ?
At its most basic , Congress was set up to represent us , the people . “ The president is not our boss ,” says Representative Will Hurd , R-Texas , the first African- American to represent his West Texas district . “ My boss is the 800,000 of y ’ all who elected me .”
But to truly understand how Congress works and why , we have to return to the Constitution .
LAYING THE FOUNDATION
There is a deficiency in understanding what Congress is designed to do for Americans . The Constitution wasn ’ t set up to solve all of our problems and surface answers to questions . Instead , it was created to encourage dialogue and provide , as Hurd states , a “ framework to have a conversation .” In reality , the law making process was set up to be intentionally difficult to prevent rash , reactionary legislation from being passed without lengthy discussion and detailed study .
The Constitution grants Congress both enumerated powers and implied powers which are are more open to interpretation . Most of the explicitly granted powers are listed in Article I , Section 8 , which basically states that Congress may collect taxes and establish a government with armies , courts , and commerce . The murkier , implied powers are largely derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause , stating that Congress has the power to make laws that it needs to make and , to a lesser degree , the Commerce Clause , which regulates commerce with foreign powers and between the states .
To safeguard against the possibility of a totalitarian president , and encourage distinct separations of power , the framers of the Constitution granted Congress three crucial checks on executive authority : the power of the purse , the power of war , and the power of impeachment .
Congress uses these powers to ensure they control the funding of the other branches , foreign entanglements in times of war , and of course , the ability to remove the president .
18