6 The American Congress The U.S. Constitution charges the Congress with an over- sight function to check the implementation by executive- branch departments and agencies of the laws it has enacted. That role, too, has changed dramatically in size and scope as the nation evolved into a superpower. Article II of the Con- stitution grants to the U.S. president the power and function to negotiate treaties with other nations but with the approval, known as the “advice and consent,” of the U.S. Senate. So too, the president appoints persons to the major departments and agencies of the federal government, as well as justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and many federal courts, but again with the advice and consent of the Senate. Those functions and roles have shifted considerably during the nation’s long history of governing under the Constitution. The Changing Role of the Lawmaking Function of the American Congress Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution specifies that all legislative powers are vested in the Congress, which is divided into two chambers, a U.S. Senate and a U.S. House of Repre- sentatives. Section 7 of Article I lays out the lawmaking func- tion of the Congress. Among Section 7’s provisions, it details those of a bill, a law, a resolution, the veto, pocket veto, veto override, and the use of the roll call vote and such votes being recorded in the Journal (i.e., the Congressional Record of its actions). Section 7 reads as follows: All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Repre- sentatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have
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