To Come Together

The word congress comes from the Latin meaning "to come together," and can have many meanings ranging from sexual intercourse to the meeting of delegates from independent organizations or states. Many cities have "congress centers," where the word is used as a synonym for "convention" or even "gathering."

Perhaps the most common usage of the word refers to the national legislative branch of the United States of America. The US Congress is composed of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both chambers of Congress have the sole responsibility within the US governmental system to approve the spending of and raising of revenue, declarations of war, and national treaties. Both the House and the Senate chambers of Congress have their own standing committees, which exercise oversight over the executive branch of government. The Congress also approves the President's choices for cabinet and for the third branch of national government, the judicial branch.

The House of Representatives serves a function similar to that of many lower houses in bicameral parliamentary systems. The House, as it is often called, is made up of members directly elected by members of congressional districts, with each district representing approximately half a million people. Some more populous states, then, have significantly more members - congressmen or congresswomen - in the House of Representatives than do less populous states. In fact some states have fewer representatives in the House than they have Senators in the Senate. Congressmen and women are elected every two years for a two-year term of office, renewable indefinitely in most cases.

The Senate is the "upper house" of Congress, seeking to represent the interests of the various states of the union rather than representing the demographics of the population. The current system of electing senators is also designed to produce an assembly with more long term interests in mind than the House. Each state elects two senators, no matter that state's size or population. Each senator is elected to serve a six year term, and only one third of the senate is up for election every two years, ensuring that at least two thirds of all senators have served in a previous Congress after an election is held.

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