CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 1538 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 



6. Fix penalties for counterfeiting the coin and 

 securities of the United States. 



7. Establish and control post offices and post 

 roads. 



8. Provide the protection of copyright* and pat- 

 ents to authors and Inventors. 



9. Establish Federal courts In the United States 

 Judicial system below the Supreme Court. 



10. Define and punish piracy and felonies com- 

 mitted on the high seas. 



11. Declare war and grant letters of marque 

 and reprisal In time of war ; also raise and sup- 

 port armies and provide and maintain a navy, but 

 no Congress can appropriate money for such pur- 

 Doves beyond the two year limit of its existence. 



12. Provide for calling forth the militia to ex- 

 ecute the laws, suppress insurrections and repel 

 Invasions ; also provide for organizing and arm- 

 Ing of the militia when called into Government 

 service. 



13. Exercise exclusive legislation in the Federal 

 district In which the Capitol Is located. 



14. Have general power to pass laws which 

 shall be pecessary and proper to make effective 

 Its legislation on all the matters enumerated 

 above. 



Legislation by Committee. Every measure 

 proposed for passage in either house of Con- 

 gress is referred to a committee for consider- 

 ation before a vote is taken on it. Especially 

 is the House of Representatives so large that 

 it is an impossibility for the entire member- 

 ship to give consideration to even a limited 

 number of the thousands of bills annually 

 offered for passage. The committees of Con- 

 gress are therefore powerful bodies, for they 

 are the key to all legislation. If a committee 

 reports a bill favorably, its acceptance by the 

 House is not likely to be questioned; if an 

 unfavorable report is made, it nearly always 

 defeats the measure. A bill may be killed 

 if the committee to which it is referred does 

 not think it proper to present a report on it, 

 and thousands of bills "die in committee" every 

 year. 



There are about fifty committees in each 

 house, and appointments to these are for two 

 years, the life of one Congress. Membership 

 on committees is eagerly sought, especially 

 with respect to those that are most important 

 and powerful. The leading committee of the 

 House of Representatives is the Ways and 

 Means Committee, charged with providing 

 ways and means of raising money to meet the 

 expenses of the government. It prepares all 

 tariff bills, for the Constitution provides that 

 "all bills for raising revenue must originate 

 in the House of Representatives." The similar 

 committee in the Senate is called the Finance 

 Committee, a*nd it is privileged to alter or 

 amend a tariff bill to meet its views. Other 



leading committees of each house are those 

 on Appropriations, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, 

 Rules, Military Affairs, Naval Affairs, Elec- 

 tions, Immigration, Rivers and Harbors, Inter- 

 state and Foreign Commerce and Insular Af- 

 fairs. 



How a Bill Becomes a Law. For a discussion 

 of the manner in which a bill is passed through 

 Congress or a state legislature, see the article 

 LAW, in regular alphabetical order. 



Long and Short Sessions. The life of each 

 Congress is two years, which is the length of 

 the term of a Representative. On the fourth 

 day of March of odd-numbered years each 

 Congress expires by limitation, and on that 

 day begins the life of a new Congress. Unless 

 extraordinary events demand a spring or sum- 

 mer session, the first session of a new Congress 

 does not occur until the first Monday in De- 

 cember. It sits, usually, six or seven months, 

 very seldom later than July, and in that time 

 endeavors to pass all legislation of an im- 

 portant nature except appropriation bills. This 

 is called the long session, and its length cannot 

 exceed one year; in a crisis it may be kept in 

 continuous session the entire summer and even 

 up to the date of the next regular annual meet- 

 ing in December. The second session of the 

 same Congress begins on the first Monday in 

 December, exactly one year after the first ses- 

 sion convened; its existence must terminate on 

 the fourth day of March, at noon. All legisla- 

 tion not taken care of during the long session 

 must be rushed through the brief months of the 

 second, or short session. During these three 

 months appropriation bills are passed, as well 

 as such emergency bills as demand attention. 



Special Session. Extraordinary events may 

 require the attention of Congress at a time 

 when its regular meeting is some months dis- 

 tant. The President is empowered to call 

 Congress in extraordinary, or special, session 

 whenever in his judgment such a step is neces- 

 sary. In the published call he states his rea- 

 sons for convening the legislative branch; and 

 while Congress will give due attention to 

 matters pointed out by the President, its lib- 

 erty in the direction of other legislation during 

 the special session is unlimited. The length 

 of the special session is determined by the 

 urgency of public business; it may extend up 

 to the day in December when the next regular 

 session begins, in which event it would merge 

 into the latter. 



Salaries. Except for the one year of 1795, 

 there has been equal compensation to Senators 



