1. Legislative Branch Citizenship: American Government

2. About the Unit In the American Government Unit we will be exploring the following questions: What is federalism and how is a part of the United States Government? What is the Executive Branch of the United States Government and what is its role? What is the Legislative Branch of the United States Government and what is its role? What is the Judicial Branch of the United States Government and what is its role? What is a political parties and what system of political parties is a part of the United States Government? What is the electoral process of the United States Government and how are the States involved in this process?

3. Legislative Branch Legislative Branch - The part of the government that “legislates” or creates the laws and budget that are carried out and enforced by the executive branch. In the United States the Legislative Branch is comprised of two groups of elected officials from all 50 states, and is referred to as Congress. One group in which all states are represented equally by two representatives each is called the “Senate,” and the other which states are represented proportionally by their populations is called the “House of Representatives.”

4. US Government Legislative Branch SenateHouse of Representatives Blue = Democrats Red = Republicans Grey = Independent

5. Legislative Branch in Practice... Because there are so many members of congress and laws tend to be incredibly detailed it would be impossible for all members of congress to be directly involved in the creation of all laws or the budget. Members of congress work in small groups called committees and focus on the creation of specific types of laws or parts of the budgets. A law or budget is passed by passing through a number of committees before it is presented, debated, and voted on in either the Senate or the House of Representatives. Whether laws or a budget are passed, amended, or die is greatly dependent on the power (or number of seats) a political party holds in Congress. If a certain political party holds a majority of the seats in either or both houses it is more likely that laws that they favor will pass or be amended minimally.