3 Branches Of Government Essay

The United States government is made up of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch is the President; the legislative branch is Congress, which is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and the judicial branch is Supreme Court, as well as the lower Courts. The legislative branch, or more specifically Congress, will be the focus of this assignment. Congress is the section of government that is associated with lawmaking. Congress is made up of representatives from each state of the U.S. The Senate consists of 2 representatives from each state, while in the House of Representatives, it depends on the size and population of each state to determine how many representatives that state will have. A member of Congress has a role both in their home district and in the capitol, Washington D.C. Let’s say that I am a senator representing Georgia. I am on the Senate’s Committee on Finance, in the subcommittee on Health Care. My responsibilities in Washington D.C. include working with my committee and subcommittee, meeting with other politicians, and helping create laws and bills. As a member of my subcommittee, my job would be to analyze the specific issues that my subcommittee deals with, in my case health care, and report back to full committee. An example of something that I would look at in my
subcommittee on healthcare would be healthcare programs that are funded by the government, such as Medicare and Medicaid. My role as a member of the full committee on finance would be to participate in hearings to evaluate information gained by the subcommittees and help create laws that are necessary and helpful based off of that information. For example, my committee on finance might generate a new law to increase the strictness of limits placed on the amount of TANF benefits a person can receive. Another role I would have as a member of Congress would be to meet with other politicians.
I would do this in the event that there was a specific bill or law that I wanted to write. This is similar to what happens in the committee hearings. If a group of Congress members have something they want to make into a bill, then they could meet up, write it, and then present it to their committee. For example, some of my fellow health care subcommittee members and I may want to create a new law concerning the fact that when babies run out of their given year of free healthcare, they are often left with no health insurance at
all. The most important role of a Congress member in Washington, D.C, overall, is to assist in the creation of laws. My subcommittee and committee would write potential laws, and then I would vote on them, as well as laws proposed by other committees. Voting on these impending laws is perhaps the most important role of a Congressman. Once Congress has ultimately voted “yes” for a new law, it is then sent to the president for him to accept or veto. Even if it is vetoed, however, Congress can still make it into a law if two-thirds of its members vote “yes.” Although Congress members play a very important role in Washington D.C, my responsibilities do not end there. I also have several jobs to tend to in my home district, such as meeting with constituents, answering questions, and pork-barreling. These activities are referred to as homestyle, and they have a lot to do with image and reputation building. In my home state of Georgia, one of my jobs as a member of Congress would be to meet with constituents, which are the voters. Meeting with the people I stand for is essential for many reasons. For one, it is a good way to find out exactly what the people want and what I should be doing as my role of being their representative. For example, someone from my district in Georgia may set up a meeting with me, during which they express their concerns on the current system of welfare. I can consider these concerns when I am helping write new laws. Another reason why it is imperative to meet with my constituents is to promote a superior image for myself. By being willing to meet with them and listen to them, it is showing that I care about what the people think. This helps assure that they are happy with my being their representative. Another job I have in my home district is answering questions. I could do this by setting up press conferences, during which I answer questions asked to me by the press as well as the public. Doing so allows my people to know my opinions and beliefs about issues so they know how they are being represented in Congress. This is vital because it helps me gain their trust, so they can have faith that I am properly representing them and allowing them to have a voice. The final role I have as a Congress member to my home district is known as pork barreling. This is defined as me bringing back benefits such as jobs and funds to my district as a way of helping my people. This allows me to not only help my image and reputation as a representative, but also to boost my district’s economy. Overall, this proves to be a very rewarding thing to do, which is why it is a very important job for me to fulfill as a person of Congress. All in all, Congressmen have a lot of responsibilities and duties to carry out. They are not only in charge of lawmaking, but also in making sure that they provide jobs and money to the people of their home district. This proves to be quite a daunting task, which is why Congress is the main branch of government that keeps our country running.