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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 25 February 2025. Bicameral legislature of the United States For the current Congress, see 119th United States Congress. For the building, see United States Capitol. This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being ...
The U.S. Congress in relation to the president and Supreme Court has the role of chief legislative body of the United States.However, the Founding Fathers of the United States built a system in which three powerful branches of the government, using a series of checks and balances, could limit each other's power.
The Constitution assigns the powers of the federal government to the legislative , executive , and judicial (Article III) branches, and the Tenth Amendment provides that those powers not expressly delegated to the federal government are reserved by the States or the people. [26]
Oversight is an implied rather than an enumerated power under the U.S. Constitution. [3] The government's charter does not explicitly grant Congress the authority to conduct inquiries or investigations of the executive, to have access to records or materials held by the executive, or to issue subpoenas for documents or testimony from the executive.
One congressional power is oversight of other branches of the government. In the early 1970s, the Senate investigated the activities of President Richard Nixon regarding Watergate which led to the president's resignation. One of the foremost legislative functions of the Congress is the power to investigate and to oversee the executive branch.
These three clauses together secure a separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government, and individually, each one entrenches checks and balances on the operation and power of the other two branches.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.. The structure of the United States Congress with a separate House and Senate (respectively the lower and upper houses of the bicameral legislature) is complex with numerous committees handling a disparate array of topics presided over by elected officers.
The enumerated powers (also called expressed powers, explicit powers or delegated powers) of the United States Congress are the powers granted to the federal government of the United States by the United States Constitution. Most of these powers are listed in Article I, Section 8.