The U.S. Constitution gives Congress this oversight power mainly through Article I, Section 8 and the necessary and proper clause, while tools like the Congressional Review Act let lawmakers cancel executive rules within 60 days of enactment.
What powers does the Constitution give Congress?
Article I, Section 8 lists Congress’s powers: making laws, declaring war, raising taxes, borrowing money, regulating commerce, setting up federal courts, and checking the executive branch.
These powers run the federal government. Take the “power of the purse,” for example—Congress can fund or defund agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which it’s used to push back on immigration policies. The Senate’s advice-and-consent role over judges and Cabinet picks means presidential nominees don’t just breeze into office. And let’s not forget impeachment: the House acts as prosecutor, the Senate as jury, and only four officials have been impeached and removed in U.S. history (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump twice).
How does Congress actually review what the executive branch is doing?
Congress keeps an eye on the executive through hearings, document requests, subpoenas, and investigations run by committees like the House Oversight Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee.
This oversight makes sure agencies follow the law and spend money right. In 2025, the House Oversight Committee grilled the Department of Energy over a $6 billion clean energy grant program, worried about waste. Oversight can lead to real changes—like the 2026 Department of Labor rule that forced stricter reporting on apprenticeship programs after Congress found the old system too opaque. Sometimes it even sparks new laws, such as updates to the Inspectors General Act after a 2024 GAO report warned about political interference.
What do you call it when one party holds the White House and the other controls both the House and Senate?
That’s called a divided government, where the presidency and Congress are split between opposing parties.
Right now, in 2026, we’ve got a divided government: President Biden (Democrat) in the White House while Republicans hold razor-thin majorities in the House (222–213) and Senate (51–49). History shows divided governments hit gridlock about 60% of the time, according to a Center for American Progress analysis. Budget fights and judicial confirmations get stuck all the time. In 2025, for instance, the GOP-led House passed bills to block several Biden regulations, but the Democratic Senate shot them down—until they finally hashed out a bipartisan budget deal.
Where does Congress get the power to make policy?
Congress gets its policymaking authority straight from Article I of the Constitution, which lets it “make all laws necessary and proper” to carry out its listed duties.
That means Congress can regulate interstate commerce, tax and spend, and set up agencies to carry out its laws. The Affordable Care Act (2010) is a perfect example—it used Congress’s commerce power to expand Medicaid and create insurance exchanges. Congress also ties federal funding to conditions, like the 2026 infrastructure law that withheld $50 billion in highway money unless states adopted tougher drunk-driving penalties. When disputes pop up, the Supreme Court steps in, as it did in *West Virginia v. EPA* (2022), which clipped the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
What’s the Senate’s advice and consent power all about?
The Senate’s advice and consent power means it has to approve the president’s high-level appointees and ratify treaties, putting a legislative check on executive actions.
This covers Cabinet secretaries, federal judges (including Supreme Court justices), ambassadors, and military leaders. In 2025, Janet Yellen barely squeaked through for a second term as Treasury Secretary, 52–48, showing just how partisan these votes can get. The Senate also ratifies treaties with a two-thirds majority, like the 2026 U.S.-EU Digital Trade Agreement, which set rules for cross-border data flows. When the Senate says no, the president often has to renominate or renegotiate—just like in 2024, when the Senate blocked a Federal Reserve nominee, forcing a recess appointment.
When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, how do they fix it?
They fix it with a conference committee made up of members from both chambers, who hammer out a compromise that both houses have to approve.
If they can’t agree, the bill dies unless one chamber caves and accepts the other’s version. In 2025, the House and Senate passed clashing defense bills with a $10 billion funding gap; a conference committee split the difference, cutting $5 billion from each side. These committees are temporary—they dissolve once they’re done. If the compromise passes both chambers, it goes to the president for a signature or veto. Sometimes Congress skips the conference step entirely, like with the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, where one chamber just adopted the other’s bill.
What exactly are the House and Senate?
The House of Representatives and Senate are the two chambers of Congress, each with its own role in making laws under the Constitution.
The House starts revenue bills and represents people by population—435 members, two-year terms. The Senate represents states equally—100 members, six-year terms. Together, they create a system of checks and balances. For instance, the Senate’s power to ratify treaties balances the House’s exclusive control over spending. They have to pass identical bills before anything becomes law. The 2026 budget deal showed how this works: House Republicans wanted to slash education funding by $12 billion, but Senate Democrats blocked it, forcing a compromise that cut just $3 billion instead.
What special powers does the Senate have?
Besides sharing lawmaking duties with the House, the Senate alone can confirm presidential appointees, ratify treaties, and hold impeachment trials.
These powers make the Senate a major check on both the executive and judicial branches. Ketanji Brown Jackson’s 2022 Supreme Court confirmation, which squeaked by 53–47, proves how much the Senate shapes the judiciary. The Senate also grills Cabinet nominees—just look at Gina Raimondo in 2025, who faced tough questions over her views on semiconductor subsidies. During impeachment trials, senators act as jurors, needing a two-thirds majority to convict and remove officials. And thanks to the 60-vote threshold for most bills, individual senators hold a lot of sway.
How are the House and Senate different?
The big differences come down to representation, term lengths, and constitutional roles: the House is based on population (435 members, 2-year terms), while the Senate gives each state two seats (100 members, 6-year terms).
This setup comes from the Great Compromise at the Constitutional Convention. The House, with its short terms and focus on taxes, reacts fast to public opinion. The Senate, with longer terms and state-based representation, is supposed to be more stable. After the 2026 Census, California and New York each lost a House seat while Texas and Florida gained one. The Senate’s filibuster rule—requiring 60 votes to move most bills—contrasts with the House’s majoritarian approach, making the Senate the more cautious chamber.
What’s it called when one party controls both chambers of Congress?
That’s called a unified government, where the same party holds the White House and majorities in both the House and Senate.
As of 2026, we don’t have a unified government—Republicans control Congress while Democrats hold the presidency. Unified governments usually move fast, like the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act under Trump, which slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. But they can overreach, too, as seen in the 2021 American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion stimulus Democrats passed without a single Republican vote. Unified governments can push through partisan agendas, like the 2025 House Republican push to repeal the Affordable Care Act—though Senate Democrats blocked it.
Which statement correctly describes the Senate?
The Senate is the upper chamber of Congress with 100 members, giving each state two senators regardless of size.
This equal representation was baked into the Constitution, unlike the House’s population-based system. Senators serve six-year terms, with about a third up for election every two years, which keeps the chamber from flipping wildly in one election. In 2024, voters decided 33–34 Senate seats, shaping the chamber’s balance. The Senate’s smaller size and longer terms encourage careful debate, like the months-long 2026 negotiations over a bipartisan immigration bill. The filibuster rule—requiring 60 votes to end debate on most bills—gives even junior senators outsized influence.
Who sits in the House of Representatives?
The House has 435 voting members, divided among the states based on population and elected every two years.
Big states get more seats—California has 52, Texas has 38 in 2026—while small states like Wyoming and Vermont get just one. The House also includes non-voting delegates from places like Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., who can join committees but can’t vote on final bills. After the 2026 elections, Pennsylvania lost a seat due to population shifts, while Colorado gained one. The House’s size and frequent elections make it super responsive to voters, like when the 2025 Freedom Caucus tried (and failed) to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas because of moderate Republican pushback.
Which power belongs only to the Senate?
The Senate alone can hold impeachment trials, acting as both jury and judge when the House impeaches a federal official.
Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution spells this out: “The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.” In 2024, the House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for border security failures, but the Senate acquitted him after a 50–50 party-line vote failed to reach the 67-vote supermajority needed for conviction. The Senate’s trial includes swearing in witnesses and private deliberations before voting. Unlike the House, which can impeach with a simple majority, the Senate requires a two-thirds vote to remove someone—because the Founders wanted impeachment to be rare and serious.
How does the Senate actually get work done?
The Senate runs on a committee system, where bills get debated, amended, and voted on before the full chamber takes them up, all under rules like the filibuster and unanimous consent.
Senators get assigned to committees based on seniority and party, and key panels like Judiciary oversee judicial confirmations. In 2025, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) ran grueling hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, testing her legal views before her 52–48 confirmation. The Senate’s rules let any senator drag out or block action with a filibuster, which usually needs 60 votes to break. Budget bills are an exception—they bypass the filibuster and only need a simple majority. For noncontroversial stuff, like naming post offices, senators often use unanimous consent to move things along quickly.
Which branch of government does the Senate belong to?
The Senate is part of the legislative branch, created by Article I of the Constitution alongside the House of Representatives.
As a co-equal branch with the executive and judicial branches, the Senate helps keep power in check. In 2026, Senate Republicans used their majority to block several Biden administration rules, like one requiring businesses to disclose climate-related financial risks. While the Senate shares lawmaking power with the House, its advice-and-consent role over judges and Cabinet picks gives it extra leverage over the other branches. The 2024 Supreme Court case *Moore v. Harper*, which limited state legislatures’ power over federal elections, only underscored the Senate’s role in shaping how the judiciary fits into governance.
