Article I
The Legislative Branch
Congress makes the laws
Article I creates Congress and gives it the power to make federal laws. Congress has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The House of Representatives
Members are elected every two years directly by voters. To serve, you must be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years, and live in the state you represent. The number of Representatives each state gets is based on its population, counted every 10 years in the census. The House chooses its own Speaker and is the only chamber that can begin the impeachment process.
The Senate
Each state has exactly two Senators, who serve 6-year terms. To serve, you must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years, and live in the state you represent. The Vice President presides over the Senate but only votes to break a tie. The Senate, and only the Senate, holds the trial when someone is impeached. A two-thirds vote is required to convict and remove someone from office.
Elections and Sessions
States control the time, place, and manner of congressional elections, but Congress can override those rules. Congress must meet at least once a year.
Pay and Privileges
Members are paid from the federal Treasury. They cannot be arrested while Congress is in session (except for serious crimes). No member can hold a second federal office at the same time.
How Bills Become Law
All bills that raise money must start in the House. Once both chambers pass a bill, it goes to the President to sign or veto. Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds majority in both chambers. If the President does nothing for 10 days (Sundays excluded), the bill becomes law automatically, unless Congress has adjourned, in which case it quietly dies (called a "pocket veto").
Congress's Enumerated Powers
Congress can: collect taxes, borrow money, regulate trade between states and with foreign nations, create immigration and bankruptcy rules, coin money, establish post offices, protect patents and copyrights, create federal courts below the Supreme Court, declare war, raise and fund the military, and govern Washington D.C. The "Necessary and Proper Clause" (also called the Elastic Clause) allows Congress to pass any laws reasonably needed to carry out these powers.
What Congress Cannot Do
Congress cannot: suspend the right to challenge imprisonment in court (habeas corpus) except in rebellion or invasion; punish someone by law without a trial (bill of attainder); make something illegal after the fact (ex post facto law); collect a direct tax without apportioning it by population; tax exports; favor one state's ports over another's; spend money without a formal appropriation; grant titles of nobility; or allow federal officers to accept gifts or titles from foreign governments.
What States Cannot Do
States cannot make treaties, print their own money, tax imports or exports without Congressional approval, or keep standing armies in peacetime, those powers belong to the federal government alone.