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Unit 8: Constitutional Structure: Legislature

process of impeachment whereby the House of Representatives has power of initiating the Notes
charge against the President, Vice-President and other high public officers and the Senate, after
hearing both the parties, gives its verdict by its 2/3 majority.
6. In regard to financial matters, the Congress controls the purse of the nation. The Constitution
ordains the financial supremacy of the Congress by specifying that no money shall be drawn
from the treasury but in consequence of appropriation made by a law. The money bill originates
in the House of Representatives and becomes low after it is passed by the Senate. The budget is
prepared by a bureau but the President submits it to the Congress and its provisions are
implemented after it is passed by the Congress.
Critical Appreciation: The fact of decline of the Congress can not be rebutted even by the American
writers in view of the salient fact that the leadership of the executive has usurped the inherent powers
of the legislature in ever political system whether parliamentary or presidential. So far as the American
political system is concerned, the Congress has lost much of its power curiously by playing a co-
operative as well as competitive role in relation to the authority of the President. The problem is that
it loses itself when it acts in a co-operative spirit and thereby becomes the object of criticism on the
ground of being a second fiddle to the operation of the Presidency; likewise, it loses when it takes
scuffle with the President as he perforce makes use of some shrewd ways to immunise himself from
the control of the federal legislature and that causes the enhancement of the authority of the former at
the expense of the powers of the latter. It is too much to talk of the power of impeachment whereby
the Congress may remove a President in as much as the process is too tedious and the Americans
may hardly appreciate such an action of the Congress.
The American Congress is certainly a weaker organ of the federal government. It is weaker than the
President on one side and the Supreme Court on the other. The Senate has developed the convention
of courtesy’ and thereby given a long rope to the Chief Executive; the Supreme Court has taken
advantage of the weapon of judicial review and thereby circumscribed the inherent powers of the
representatives of the people. Certain ‘notorious’ practices (like those of gerrymandering, log-rolling,
pork barrel, lobbying etc.) have contributed to the decline of the position of the federal legislature.
Emphasis on local and regional interests and discreet role of pressure agencies have robbed the
Congress of its real authority and significance.
Swiss Federal Assembly

The national legislature of Switzerland is known by the name of Federal Assembly. It is a bi-cameral
body having Council of Status and National Council as the upper and lower chambers respectively.
In the words of the Constitution, it is repository of supreme authority of the Confederation, subject of
the rights of the people and the cantons. In this respect, Swiss Federal Assembly resembles the English
Parliament and the American Congress.

The striking point of difference is that the powers of both the chambers are equal. Hence,
Strong says that the Swiss legislature, like its executive, “is unique ; it is the only legislature
in the world the powers of whose upper house are in no way different from those of the
lower.”

Composition: The Council of States (Standerat) corresponds to the American Senate in respect of its
composition. Every full canton has two seats in this house, while every half canton has one regardless
of its size or population. As a result, its total strength is 46. Each canton has its own laws to determine
the mode of election of the deputies, the length of their term of office and the allowances paid to them.
This arrangement is certainly different from the patterns of American and Indian federal systems. This
system of election is not available in the cantons having landsgemeinde. The cantons also reserve the
right to recall or replace their representatives. There is no uniformity in regard to their terms of office;
in some Cantons it is four years, in others it is three years and, in some others it is for a single year only.

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