the two congresses

The Two Congresses

Congress is many times perceived only as a representative assembly of 540 individuals (435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 senators, 4 advocates, and 1 delegate commissioner). Yet, there is another very important part of Congress in which bills become laws. This part of Congress is made up of principles, structures, and traditions that are very complex which make up the law making process. Many times someone thinks that Congress is only handled on Capital Hill, but the performance of Congress is also exercised in many different districts in every state all across the country. Davidson and Oleszek, in their book Congress & its Members try to further educate their readers and explain that there is more to Congress then its members. They do this by expressing their theory of how Congress is actually two Congresses. This idea of a dual congress has been shown ever since the nation’s laws were formed in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In a...