US Congress for Kids: Over 200 Years of Lawmaking, Deal-Breaking, and Compromising, with 21 Activities
FOREWORD t’s an exciting time to learn about Congress and our government Congress truly is a body of the people by the people and for the people Together members of Congress repre sent the entire nation bringing with them a range of diverse backgrounds interests and experiences to make decisions on behalf of the American people The Constitution confers great power upon Congress to govern Throughout history the work of the Congress has greatly changed the nation It abolished slavery and created new federal programs under President Roosevelt s New Deal to bring the country out of the Great Depression It passed civil rights laws to end racist practices and established environmental protections to guarantee the safety of the air we breathe and the water we drink It changed the landscape of national security after Sep tember 11 and passed landmark health care reform to provide better health care to all Americans Many of the most important figures in our nation's history have been members of Congress Approximately half of this country's
served in Congress Many members of the Cabinet including secretaries of state served in Congress Even Davy Crockett was a member of Congress from Tennessee The legislature is the branch of government that most directly allows you to participate and have your voice heard Your member of Congress carries your voice to Washington and fights for you and your fam ilies When you begin voting at age 18 you can choose the best candidate to represent your interests And when you turn 25 you can run for Congress yourself and make important choices for your coun try FORMER CONGRESSMAN HENRY A WAXMAN served for 40 years in the House of Representatives repre senting Los Angeles's Westside The congressman was known as a tireless author of bills and negotiator of deals He retired with the end of the 113th Con gress effective January 2
INTRODUCTION pinion poll after opinion poll continues to show that the majority of Americans do not like their Congress very much When ques tioned about their individual representative or senator they are less inclined to be critical they feel the man or woman they have sent to Congress is doing an OK job Not a great job an OK job Of the three branches of govern ment the legislative Congress executive the president and all agencies under his or her control and judicial the courts it is the legislative the one that makes the laws that gets the lowest approval ratings And yet our founding fathers considered Congress to be the most important of the three branches That is why they listed it first when crafting the US Constitution This book has been written in the hopes of showing you despite all the criticism what an amazing institution Congress is For 225 years it has given us the democracy we cherish It was there to overthrow slavery challenge exec utive branch authority give women the right to vote make major strides in civil rights and pro vide the necessary advice and consent rulings among
many other major achievements As you will see the working of Congress has never been smooth With so much national diversity on so many issues it is unre alistic to expect that lawmaking would proceed on an orderly path Congress as a representative institu tion reflects our messy confrontational lives Yet the alternative is an authoritarian form of govern ment that freedom loving people will never endorse If in completing this book you gain a better under standing of the US Congress along with an apprecia tion for the positive good it has done you will be on your way to becoming better equipped to understand American history as it unfolds today SE Capitol Hill is in the center of the picture with congres sional office buildings to the right and the left Library of Congress LC DIG highsm 4879
