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A bill is introduced in the House or Senate, assigned to a committee, and usually amended there before reaching the floor. The chamber debates, may am...

The Senate’s tradition of unlimited debate allowed individuals to hold the floor indefinitely, and the word filibuster, from Dutch for pirate, took ho...

The Speaker is elected by the whole House but chosen by the majority caucus, and is second in line to the presidency. The Speaker refers bills to comm...

Congress does not just make laws, it checks how they are executed. Oversight runs through committee hearings, subpoenas, document demands, agency insp...

At the 1787 Convention, large states wanted representation proportional to population, small states wanted equality, and the convention nearly broke a...

The Constitution sets 25 for the House and 30 for the Senate, and those floors have been tested. William Charles Cole Claiborne of Tennessee, elected ...