Comparing the Emplementation and Scrutinizing of Proposed...

Comparing the Emplementation and Scrutinizing of Proposed Bills in the House of Commons and Congress This essay will examine how two institutions, namely the House of Commons and Congress, which are supposed to serve the same process, differ widely in the way they implement and scrutinise proposed bills. The essay will examine the relationship between the legislature and the executive; the importance of the party; and the constitutional arrangements which give each legislature very different characteristics. The French philosopher Montesquieu said that there could be no democracy unless the three branches of government, legislature, judiciary and executive, were separate bodies, which acted as†¦show more content†¦A $1.7 trillion annual budget and congressional decentralization through the committee system allows lawmakers to specialize and make decisions on a wide range of complex topics. This is very different to the House of Commons (HoC), which has a much smaller budget and a less rigorous committee system. The rigorous nature of the Congressional committee system (CCS) could be seen as advantageous since it allows detailed legislation on potentially complex topics to be written. However, the composition of the committee may not be unbiased, and once the legislation has been drafted it must be ratified by the rest of Congress. Since the CCS is so important to the USlegislative process the membership of the committees requires careful consideration. The composition, range of interests, and the scope of their policies are determined by the members. If a committee were full of like-minded people that were not socially representative of the people the policies concern, then it is feasible for the democratic process to be undermined. Furthermore, the quality of the resulting bill is highly dependent on the ability of the committee members. To counter these potentially negative influences the bill must be ratified by Congress once it leaves the Committee phase. With 535 members of Congress it can be very