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The United States Congress is the Legislature of the Federal Government of the United States . It is Bicameral , consisting of a Senate and House Of Representatives . The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, with each member representing a Congressional District and serving a two-year term. House seats are Apportioned among the States on the basis of Population . American Samoa , the District Of Columbia , Guam , and the United States Virgin Islands send non-voting Delegates to the House; Puerto Rico sends a non-voting Resident Commissioner who serves a four-year term; and the Northern Mariana Islands are not represented. The Senate has 100 members serving staggered six-year terms. Each state has two Senators, regardless of population. Every two years, approximately one-third of the Senate is elected. Both Senators and Representatives are chosen through Direct Election . The of federal officers, while the Senate has the sole power to try cases in which the House has voted an impeachment. The Congress meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. . The term ''Congress'' may also refer to a particular meeting of the Congress, reckoned according to the terms of Representatives. That is, a "Congress" covers two years with the first year called the First Session and the second year called the Second Session. The current 110th Congress first convened on January 4 , 2007 . HISTORY ]] See Also: History of the United States Congress The Congress of the United States has its roots from the First Continental Congress , a meeting of representatives of twelve of Great Britain's thirteen North American colonies, in the autumn of 1774.1 On July 4 1776 , the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration Of Independence , referring to the new nation as the "United States of America". Under the Articles Of Confederation , Congress, named Congress Of The Confederation , was a Unicameral body in which each state was equally represented, and in which each state had a veto over most decisions. The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led the Congress to summon the Convention of 1787. Originally intended to revise the Articles Of Confederation , it ended up writing a completely new constitution. , whereas the Senate would provide Equal Representation By States . In order to preserve further the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators. The post Civil War Gilded Age was marked by Republican dominance of the Congress. The Progressive Era saw the Seventeenth Amendment (ratified in 1913), which provided for the direct election of senators. The early twentieth century witnessed the rise of strong party leadership in both houses of the Congress. In the House of Representatives, the office of Speaker became extremely powerful. Leaders in the Senate were somewhat less powerful; individual senators still retained much of their influence. After the revolt against Speaker Joe Cannon in 1910, the seniority system emerged. Members became powerful chairmen through years of seniority regardless of the leadership. Committee chairmen remained particularly strong in both houses until the reforms of the 1970s and 1990s. During the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), the Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress. The Republicans won control of both houses in the 1946 elections, only to lose them in 1948; with Dwight D. Eisenhower 's election to the presidency in 1952 , the Republicans again won both houses. However, after the Democrats again won back control in the elections of 1954, it was the majority party in both houses of Congress for most of the next forty years; the Republicans were only able to win control of the Senate for a six-year period, 1981–1987. The Republicans won a majority position, in both houses of Congress, in the elections of 1994. The Republicans controlled both houses until 2006, except in the Senate for most of 2001 and 2002, when the Democrats had the majority after Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent and caucus with the Democrats. In 2006, the Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives, and the results of the Senate elections yielded a Senate makeup of 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and two independents. In the 110th Congress (2007–2008), the Democratic voting bloc has a 51 to 49 majority in the Senate because the two Senators who ran and were elected as independents, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont , align themselves with the Democratic Party. In 2007, Hindu chaplain Rajan Zed read the first Hindu prayer in United States Senate. Powers Section 8 of Article I Of The Constitution sets forth the powers of Congress. The most important powers are the exclusive power to legislate, and the exclusive power to declare war. Also important are the power to raise and maintain the armed forces, and to make rules for the military. Congress has the exclusive power of removal and the power of the purse; to levy and collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, and coin money. Congress also has the power to establish post offices and post roads, issue patents and copyrights, fix standards of weights and measures, establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court, and "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof." Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union ( Article Four ). Other powers have been granted, or confirmed, by Constitutional Amendment s. Congress has the power to break deadlocks in the Electoral College . If no presidential candidate achieves an electoral majority, the House may elect the President from the three candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Similarly, if no vice presidential candidate achieves an electoral majority, the Senate may elect the Vice President from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Several of the members of the Constitutional Convention expected that, while George Washington would be overwhelmingly elected as first President under the Constitution, selection by the House would be the normal method after him. The Necessary-and-proper Clause of the Constitution permits Congress To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. The Supreme Court has interpreted the necessary-and-proper clause broadly, to recognize the Congress has all the power and delegates it rather than being burdened with a separation of powers. One of the foremost non-legislative functions of the Congress is the power to investigate and to oversee the executive branch. This is called Congressional Oversight . This power is usually delegated to United States Congressional Committees — Standing Committee , Select And Special Committee , select committees, or Joint Committee composed of members of both houses. Investigations are conducted to gather information on the need for future legislation, to test the effectiveness of laws already passed, and to inquire into the qualifications and performance of members and officials of the other branches. Committees may hold hearings, and, if necessary, compel individuals to testify by issuing Subpoena s. Witnesses who refuse to testify may be cited for Contempt Of Congress , and those who testify falsely may be charged with Perjury . Most committee hearings are open to the public (the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are the exception); important hearings are widely reported in the Mass Media . Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution places limits of congressional authority. For instance, Congress may not suspend the privilege of the writ of '' Habeas Corpus '' ("unless when in cases of Rebellion or Invasion , the public safety may require it"), pass Bills Of Attainder or '' Ex Post Facto '' laws, or grant Titles Of Nobility . Several other restrictions are specified by constitutional amendments, especially the Bill Of Rights . The last clause of the Bill of Rights, the Tenth Amendment , provides that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Among the enumerated powers given Congress in Article I Section 8, are:
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