This week, I want to start a series of episodes on the branches of government. The goal of this podcast has always been to make politics more accessible. Unfortunately, I sometimes take things we learn at an early age for granted. Political systems and history are discussed in our education as early as kindergarten. One of my listeners, who was not born but chose to become a US citizen, has brought that to my attention. They asked that I explain Congress and why we have two houses. 

The more I thought about that, the more I realized I need to provide a better baseline. So, today we will start to talk about the three branches that form our government. I hope that this will make their roles in government more transparent. 

First, let’s talk about the formation of our government. I talked in episodes two and three about the Articles of Confederation. This was our nation’s first attempt at a government. 
Our Founders feared a too-strong central government. As a result, they created a government with very few moving parts. They wanted a guardrail against government corruption by an all-powerful central government. It was the perfect government, in the minds of colonial Americans… or so they thought. They got an ineffective government, with no leadership and limited ways to govern.

The Articles set up a unicameral legislative government. A unicameral legislator means that there is only one chamber instead of two. The Articles did not set up an executive or even a judicial branch of government. The Founders were distrustful of an executive, and each state was left to run its own court system.

Fun fact: there were 14 ‘presidents’ before George Washington. They were elected for one-year terms by their peers to serve as President of the Congress. 

As I pointed out in episode two '7 Truths,' the Articles created a weak government. The Founders met to update the Articles to be more effective, but they realized that was not possible. They needed to start from scratch. This led to the government we enjoy today, created by the Constitution. 

When the Founders met in 1787, we were only five years removed from the Revolution. They were still skeptical of a powerful central government. The years of inadequate government had only softened that skepticism. 

Having so recently thrown off the yoke of a monarch, they were still afraid of a strong executive. But it wasn’t only the King of England giving them pause. The Founders were students of history. They recognized the chaos that absolute rulers had inflicted across Europe for centuries. The fear of a unitary executive’s tyrannical rule was front and center after a war fought to end one.  

Another aspect that made colonial Americans nervous was the thought of unequal representation. Many feared that rule by the People would lead to tyranny by the majority. At the very least, many of the smaller states (like Rhode Island) feared the power of the bigger. They worried the more populous states (like Virginia) would control the government. 

“Rule by the mob” was a serious concern of the Framers . Why? Because mobocracy  always leads to the resurgence of an autocrat. The Founders feared that the People would elect a demagogue.

These concerns guided their hand as our government took shape.

Fear of tyranny in general gave us three branches of government. Each branch would be independent from the other two, and also have the power to ‘check’ one or both of the others. The “checks and balances” system was designed to ensure no one branch can exert total control. We will discuss these checks and balances as we discuss each branch.
The three branches are the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. 

We will begin today with the legislative branch. The legislative is closest to the People, as their direct representatives. Its primary function is to make and pass laws. These facts make the legislative branch the most powerful branch of government. The Founders recognized this, and made a conscious effort to protect the People’s power. 

To do this, they instituted a bicameral legislature. Instead of a single Congress, the Constitution created two chambers of Congress. This dilutes the power of the legislature by requiring agreement between the chambers. Without agreement, or more importantly compromise , a law cannot pass. We have seen this dilution of power many times over the years.

Congress is split into two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They are referred to as the lower and upper houses, respectively. This does not denote the power or importance of either chamber. In a bicameral legislature, the “lower house” refers to the chamber with the largest body. However, the lower house often wields more power than the upper. This is due to its larger numbers and subsequently greater political influence. 

Both the House and Senate are defined by Article one of the Constitution. Section one establishes Congress’s authority. Section two defines the House and section three covers the Senate.

The House of Representatives contains 435 voting Representatives. These are apportioned (or allocated) based on population. All states have, at minimum, one Representative.
Each state is divided into districts, drawn by the state’s legislature. The number of districts is based on population, and each has a Representative. Some states only have one district, and therefore only one representative. Currently, six states have only one representative. The largest number of representatives is fifty-two for California.

There are six other members of the House that cannot vote. They represent nonstate districts and unincorporated territories. These are Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. These members can vote in committee, but not on bills brought to the floor.

All representatives are directly chosen by the People of their respective districts. This has been the same since the ratification of the Constitution. All Representatives are chosen every two years. They must be at least twenty-five years old and a resident of the state they are representing. They must also be a United States citizen for at least seven years.
When constituted, the House apportionment was one representative for roughly thirty-five thousand citizens. Since then, the apportionment has increased the number of citizens per representative. Today, one representative, on average, represents more than 750,000 Americans.  

It was designed to grow with the population. However, a method for growth was not enshrined in the Constitution . How it grows was left to the legislative body to determine. Unfortunately, this has left us with a representative body that lacks representation. 
James Madison actually introduced an amendment to enshrine apportionment. It was included with what would become the Bill of Rights. It was one of two proposed amendments that were not ratified, known as “Article the First” at the time. It never garnered the support that the other eventually did, as we discussed in episode XX. 
Don’t expect a modern-day resurgence for this amendment. There has been no movement on it since 1792, and it now needs twenty-seven more states to ratify. It would also be hard to enact today. It would either make any number unconstitutional or create an unwieldly House. Either interpretation would result in an even more dysfunctional House of Representatives. I’m not sure we could survive that.

I firmly believe we need to address apportionment for the health of our Republic. We must increase representation. Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as ratifying this amendment, even if ratification was easy. 

The majority party chooses the leader, or Speaker of the House. However, this doesn’t have to be true. To date it has been, but there is an interesting twist to the Speakership. All it takes is 218 votes to become Speaker. There is nothing that says it must be from the majority party. The Speaker doesn’t have to even be a member of the House of Representatives. Again, to date they all have been, but it is not necessary. The only guidance comes from the very end of section two. 

“The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speakers and other Officers;”
The Speaker of the House is second in line to the Presidency, after the Vice President. 
The House has a few powers that are solely theirs to wield. 

Only the House may initiate revenue bills. This is what is often referred to as the ‘power of the purse’. This means any bill that spends or raises money must originate in the House. This doesn’t mean that the Senate doesn’t get input, and the President will still need to sign it.

The House is also responsible for all impeachments. This includes all federal officials, not just the President. 

It also has the power to choose the President in the case of an indecisive Electoral College. If no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, it falls to the House to choose the President. This is referred to as a contingent election and has only occurred twice in our history: 1800 and 1824. 

The House is often considered the more ‘passionate’ chamber of Congress. There are more members, and they are closer to their constituents. They represent smaller, more specific subsections of the population. The ebb and flow of voter opinions affect the House more dramatically. This is because elections to the House occur more often. This was by design when the Constitution was written.

An incident in 1858 appropriately highlights this passion. In a heated debate over, what else but slavery, the floor of the House devolved into a massive melee. More than thirty members entered the fray. One representative even had his hairpiece ripped from his head.

I’d like to believe we have become more civilized since then, but then I think of January 6th. 

The Senate, or upper house, has the lesser number of members at 100. Senators must be thirty years old and a resident of the state they represent. They must also be a United States citizen for at least nine years. Each state has two, and they are directly elected by the People of the state. However, this wasn’t always true. When the Constitution was ratified, Senators were selected by each States’ legislature. The direct election of Senators did not occur until 1913. This followed the seventeenth amendment's ratification.

What was the reason behind this early method of electing Senators? Well to be quite honest, you are not going to like it. The Founders were concerned that Americans were not informed enough to choose Senators. They feared that Americans would be tricked into voting for popular liars. This was a response to that fear of tyranny by the majority I mentioned earlier. The fear must have been widely held, as the provision was accepted mostly without dissent.

The Founders wanted to create a stronger bond between state and federal governments. They believed that allowing them to choose Senators would do that. Unfortunately, what it actually did was create avenues of corruption. Bribes for seats were common. Party machines chose Senators without regards to democracy. Many seats sat long vacant because of an inability to agree on a replacement.

The seventeenth amendment was on track to be the first amendment by state convention. But once Congress saw the writing on the wall, they sent the amendment to the states for ratification. It was ratified in less than a year. 

Senators are elected for six-year terms, in stark contrast to the House’s two-year terms. The belief was that shorter terms would lead to more responsive Representatives. The Senate’s longer terms would create a more stable chamber that would act on facts and not emotion. It would be less prone to the uninformed passions of the general public.
The six-year terms are staggered, so a third of the Senate stands for reelection every two years. The Founders believed that staggered terms ensured Senate stability. The knowledge and experience of governing wouldn’t disappear every six years. Junior Senators could learn the ropes under more senior Senators. 

Unlike the House that chooses a leader or Speaker, the leader of the Senate is the Vice President. The Vice President’s job is to preside over sessions and cast a vote only in the case of a tie. Of course, the Vice President cannot always be in attendance. In those instances, the President pro tempore (or the “president for a time”) presides. Like the Speaker, this position is elected by the Senators. No provisions are made for who may fill this role. It has traditionally fallen to the most senior member of the majority party. 
For your next trivia night, here’s a fact many people don’t know. The President pro tempore is third in line to the Presidency. 

Like the House, the Senate has a few powers that only they can exercise. The Senate will stand in judgement of any persons impeached by the House. They must approve all treaties negotiated by the President, and all Presidential appointments. Lastly, in the event of an indecisive election, the Senate chooses the Vice President. The only time this has occurred was in the 1837 election.

The Senate also uses a legislative tactic to stymie or at least slow down legislation. This is called the filibuster. It is a tactic used by a Senator or group of Senators to deny a vote by preventing the end of debate. Any Senator can begin a filibuster, and it takes sixty Senators to end it by invoking cloture.

Cloture is the process that officially ends legislative debate and calls for a vote. Prior to 1917, there was no provision to end a filibuster. That means a filibuster could go on for as long as Senators wanted to talk. 

Originally, a filibuster had to be a talking filibuster. This means that the Senator or Senators had to keep talking to delay the vote. Today, all it takes is forty-one Senators to threaten a filibuster to keep the vote from coming to the floor. They do not have to continuously talk. This is referred to as a silent filibuster.

Thankfully, the House does not have the ability to filibuster. Imagine if 435 representatives decided they wanted to debate at length. The delays for one bill could take longer than the terms of the representatives.

There is (and has been) much discussion and disagreement over the filibuster. There have been many arguments over whether the Senate should continue this practice. (That is a topic we’ll cover in depth in a later episode.)

As far as violence goes, the House’s melee needed inspiration, right? Probably not, but they had it anyway. Look no further than the Senate chamber, May 22, 1856. Charles Sumner from Massachusetts had made a speech on the Senate floor in the days prior. His speech upset South Carolina Senator Preston Brooks. What was the topic of said speech? What else but slavery? Specifically, he spoke against the extension of slavery into the Kansas territory.

On May 22, Senator Brooks entered the Senate chamber with malice on his mind. Two House cronies at his back, Brooks strode up to Senator Sumner’s desk where he was working. He informed Sumner that he didn’t appreciate his speech. Sumner went to stand, but before he could, Brooks began to beat him with a thick wooden cane topped with a golden head. 

Before the beating concluded, the cane had broken into several pieces. Sumner was left with head trauma that would subject him to chronic pain for the rest of his life. Brooks was also injured after hitting himself in the head  while swinging at Sumner.

Sumner was viewed as a martyr for the cause of abolition. This incident is often seen as the event that coalesced the Republicans into a party. That coalescence led to Abraham Lincoln’s election. Sadly, the south and specifically South Carolina saw Brooks as a hero. He was reelected in a show of support for his actions. 

Again, I’d like to believe we’ve become more civilized. Sadly, I’m not so sure.

Both chambers have their own rules and officers and ways to choose them. The House decides it rules before each session of Congress. It is the first vote taken after a Speaker is chosen. The Senate is based on long standing rules and precedent. The rules of  the Senate remain the same from one session to the next. They can be added to and revised, but it is a gradual process. The rules of the House may change based on the party in power, but the Senate’s do not.

Both chambers have what we call “whips.” The term comes from English fox hunting. The role of the whip is to ensure their party members support party legislation. More simply put, the whip keeps their party in line. Both parties have their own whip, and typically they are the number two of their party. In the House, the majority whip is the number three, after the Speaker and the majority leader. In the Senate, technically the majority whip is third, after the President pro tempore. President pro tempore is more of an honorary title than an administrative one.

Neither chamber has term limits. That means that a Senator or Representative can serve for as long as the People continue to elect them. Term limits is another controversial aspect of Congress. (That’s something else that will be further discussed in a future episode.)

Sometimes you will hear about caucuses in Congress, also referred to as conferences. Both chambers have caucuses. The two primaries for each chamber are the Democratic and Republican party caucuses. There are many others as well, and these groups consist of likeminded representatives. Their goals are to pursue legislation based on the stated agenda of the caucus. Some are bipartisan and can cross chambers; these are typically interest group caucuses. 

Something that may be confusing for many is the reference to Congresses and sessions. Obviously, the official title for our legislature is the United States Congress. Every two years there is a ‘new’ congress, based off the two-year term for Representatives. Currently, we are in the early months of the 118th Congress. This means that there have been 117 prior two-year Congresses throughout our history. Those Congresses are divided into two sessions, lasting one year each. This is mandated by the Constitution, that states Congress must assemble at least once a year.

The most important aspect of Congress is its ability to ‘check’ the other branches. This is done in several ways, and we have briefly hit on all these:

•	Impeachments
•	Approval of appointments and treaties
•	Veto overrides 
•	And of course, legislation

The two chambers also serve as checks on each other, by requiring them to agree to legislation. Neither chamber can pass legislation into law without the other. This also extends to impeachments. The House determines who is impeached; the Senate must judge their findings. Unfortunately, this is almost always partisan in nature. It is rarely, if ever, based on facts or evidence. This check played out twice during the reign of the 45th President.

The Senate provides the President advice and must approve all Presidential appointments. This includes cabinet members, ambassadors, heads of agencies, and Supreme Court Justices. This provides the Senate a ‘check’ on the Presidency. They do this by ensuring qualifications of appointments, as well as intentions.

This process should not be political, but like most things in Washington, it is. Senators only consider qualifications when it supports their partisan narrative. They deny hearings based on partisanship. We saw this play out after the death of Justice Scalia in 2016. Republicans withheld an appointment so they could use it for partisan gain.

The last major check that Congress has is its veto override. Once the two chambers have agreed to legislation, it doesn’t necessarily become law. The President may veto any bill sent to them from Congress, but Congress can override their veto. To override a Presidential veto, both chambers must vote to override by a two thirds majority. This means that 67 Senators and 290 Representatives must vote to override the veto. When this occurs, the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. 

The House is designed to favor the most populated states. The Senate is designed to put every state on equal footing. In this way, the Founder’s balanced the rights of the minority with the power of the majority . The success of this today can be questioned. It’s especially debatable considering the number of Representatives stopped increasing in 1929.

That’s pretty much Congress in a nutshell . Obviously, there is a lot more that both chambers do, but this is a broad overview that will cover most of your needs. There is enough here to impress your friends (if they are impressed by such things ). It should also provide you a good overview to better understand how and what Congress’s job actually is. 

Understanding Congress  and our government is essential to being a good American. You cannot delegate a power you do not understand. You cannot know who to delegate power to, if you don’t understand what they are supposed to do. If you didn’t before, now you know what Congress does. 

In the words of the old GI Joe public service announcements, “Knowing is half the battle.”
It is important to understand how your power is wielded. Only you can determine if it remains with the People.

We the People are the Power.