| Kid's Page |
 Welcome to the web site of Congressman Ed Markey. Rep. Markey is a Congressman from Massachusetts' seventh Congressional District. Here's some information about the US Government that you might find interesting: The US Government is divided into three branches - executive, judicial and legislative. The executive branch consists of the President and most of the federal agencies who conduct the business of the government at home and overseas. The main job of the executive branch is to execute or carry out the laws and policies of the United States.The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court as well the federal appellate and district courts. The legislative branch consists of two parts - the Senate and the House of Representatives, which together form the United States Congress. Each state is represented by two Senators and is divided into a number of Congressional Districts proportional to the state's population. Members of Congress meet in Washington, DC at the United States Capitol Building, pictured to the right.
Rep. Markey's state, Massachusetts,
has 10 Congressional Districts with a Representative for each district. Rep. Markey proudly represents Massachusetts'
seventh Congressional District in the US House of Representatives.
This map shows the geographic region of the 7th:
Congress' main job is to pass laws for the United
States. A law begins as a bill written by a Representative
or a Senator. It first goes to a committee, a smaller group of Congress members
with experience debating a certain group of issues. The members of the
committee hold hearings to learn more about the issue and may change the bill.
Next, they take a vote, and if the bill passes it goes to either the entire
House or the entire Senate depending on whether it was written by a Senator or
a Representative.
If it passes, the bill then goes to the other half of the Congress for a vote. Once the bill has passed both the House and the Senate, then the President must decide whether to sign it into law or to veto it. If the President vetoes the bill, the Congress can vote to override the President's veto, but this requires the votes of two-thirds of the members of both houses. More Educational Government Sites for Kids:
|
|||||||
