what is the job of the us congress?

Question

why was congress needed?

Answer 1

Even though the original Founders feared a Federal Authority, they knew that to operate as a country, that they needed a centralized Government to act at the WILL of the People. They proceeded to draw up plans to provide checks and balances against the powers, so that no one branch could be come powerful enough to make unilateral decisions. It should be representative, so that people of small states would not be constantly out-voted by bigger states ( hence the two sides, Senate and House of Representatives ). And it needed a leadership side ( President ) , and a Judicial side ( courts ). All three are supposed to act for and against each other to prevent powers from getting out of hand.
Unfortunately,what the Founders didn't predict, was that lawyers would begin to take over the land, and that "representative" government is turning into being represented by only a small select few who can afford to get into the process. So the pool of talent is restricted by those who draw up the rules. Not a good thing. But overall,the system has worked for a number of years.
- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 2

The main job of the US Congress is to create legislation to operate this country.

Answer 3

Congress has specific duties:
a) To pass so many laws that if you obey ONE law, you're violating THREE others;
b) To squander as much taxpayer money as is humanly possible on everything from immoral 'wars' to 'earmarks' and 'pork' for their own districts;
c) To establish themselves as a privileged royalty instead of the public servants they're supposed to be, and reward themselves handsomely with lavish salaries, lifetime pensions, outlandish medical and health care benefits, and free 'fact-finding junkets' paid for by corporations and lobbyists;
d) To put themselves above all the laws of the land;
e) To lie to constituents, ignore voters' mandates, and be subservient to campaign contributors above all else;
f) To spend half their time in office trying to get re-elected;
g) To try their best to cover up any of their own misdeeds while pointing accusatory fingers at their political opponents. -RKO- 08/19/07

Answer 4

It has several functions.

The primary one is to pass federal laws -- all legislative functions are empowered to Congress.

Other than that, they control the federal budget, have supervisory authority over regulatory agencies, are solely responsible for declaring war, approving the appointment of federal officers (Senate) and treaties.

See Articles I and II of the Constitution.

Answer 5

To represent the various states in what the "people" wanted accomplished. That hasn't worked well for us has it?

Answer 6

I'm still trying to figure out what they do except flush the coun try down the toilet.

Answer 7

Here. http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm