The US Congress

The President of the United States

Do you want to be President of the United States of America? Maybe you can apply for the post.

Answer these three questions. Are you a US citizen? Are you thirty-five years old or older? Have you been a resident of the United States for fourteen years or longer?

Did you say "yes" to all three questions? Then you can take the first steps to the White House.

You become President for a term. A term is four years. You can only serve two terms. This means that you can only be President twice.

This law was adopted in 1951. Before that the law was different. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt became President in 1933. He was still President when he died in 1945. He was President for twelve years. No one was President longer than he was.

As President of the United States, you earn $ 200,000 a year. You also get an extra $ 50,000 for expenses, tax free. You have your own limousine, jet, and housekeepers, all free.

You also live rent free, in the White House in Washington, D. C. And you are the head of the richest country in the world.

Presidents of the United States were people of very different professions.

Twenty-two were lawyers, four — soldiers, four — farmers, four — teachers, two — writers, two — businessmen, one — engineer, one — tailor, and one — actor. Eight of them did not have a college education!

The Congress of the United States is composed of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states. Each state is guarantied at least one representative in the House. The remainder are apportioned among the states according to their population. The Senate of US is composed of one hundred members — two being elected from each state.

Senators are chosen for six years, one-third retiring or seeking is re-elected every two years. Two senators from the same state never finish their terms at the same time, one of them is called "Senior Senator" and the other — "Junior Senator".

The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice-President of the United States. The Vice-President is not a member of the chamber over which he presides and he sometimes is not a member of the party in power.

The work of the US Congress is done mostly in different committees. The most important of the Senate committees are Appropriations Foreign Relations, Finance, Armed Services.

In the House of Representatives the most important are Rules, Appropriations, Ways and Means, Judiciary, Agriculture. The chairmen of the standing committees are considered the real rulers of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

ВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВВ Sources

1. http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/288.htmВВ the Legislative Branch of the Government

2. http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/287.htm The Executive Branch of the Government

3. http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/289.htm The Judicial Branch of the Government

4. http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/068.htm Elections in the USA http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/262.htm The Constitution

5. http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/069.htm The Higher Organs of Power in the USA

6. http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/070.htm The US Congress

Дата добавления: 2015-05-10