Structure of the United States Congress

Congresspersons have various privileges to help the presidents serve the national interest and are paid a salary and have pensions.

[2] Congressional committees provide invaluable informational services to Congress by investigating and reporting back in regard to specialized subject matter.

While this investigatory function is indispensable to Congress, procedures such as the House discharge petition process (the process of bringing a bill onto the floor without a committee report or mandatory consent from its leadership) are so difficult to implement that committee jurisdiction over particular subject matter of bills has expanded into semi-autonomous power.

[4] Thus the era of the Great Depression marks the last across-the-board change, albeit a short-lived one, in the autonomy of House standing committees.

Such expertise, or claims thereof, are invariably cited during disputes over whether the parent body should bow to obdurate committee negatives.

Congress divides its legislative, oversight, and internal administrative tasks among approximately two hundred committees and subcommittees.

Within assigned areas, these functional sub-units gather information, compare and evaluate legislative alternatives, identify policy problems and propose solutions, select, determine, and report measures for full chamber consideration, monitor executive branch performance (oversight), and investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

Under the Constitution, members of both houses enjoy the privilege of being free from arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace.

Instead, after a house issues a contempt citation, the judicial system pursues the matter like a normal criminal case.

The salary of the President pro tempore for 2006 is $183,500, equal to that of the majority and minority leader of the House and Senate.

And like Federal employees, members contribute one-third of the cost of health insurance with the government covering the other two-thirds.

[20] One of the Library's missions is to serve the Congress and its staff as well as the American public and is the "largest library in the world" according to one source, with over a hundred million items including books, films, maps, photographs, music, manuscripts, and graphics, and materials in over four hundred and fifty languages.

[25] Some critics complain congressional pay is high compared with a median American income of $45,113 for men and $35,102 for women.

For example, the Wall Street Journal reported lawmaker trips abroad at taxpayer expense, which included spas, $300-per-night extra unused rooms, and shopping excursions.

[30] One five-day trip by two senators with wives to Germany included excursions along the Rhine and a heavy metal music concert.

[30] Lawmakers respond that "traveling with spouses compensates for being away from them a lot in Washington" and justify the trips as a way to meet officials in other nations.

It supports Congress in its efforts to meet its constitutional responsibilities and improve government fiscal performance.