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What Powers Does the Constitution Grant Congress?

Civics Crash Course Lesson 6

Expanding From One House to Two Houses

At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, delegates from 12 of our 13 original states agreed to replace the unicameral national legislature from the Articles of Confederation with the bicameral national legislature that we now have enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The original legislature had presented many problems.

Each state had one vote, regardless of population
Nine of 13 states had to agree in order to pass a bill
All 13 states had to consent to add an amendment
Congress could not levy taxes or regulate commerce
Congress could merely request troops from states and could not raise a standing army

When designing the new constitutional framework, the founders reached consensus through the “Great Compromise” to have two chambers in Congress.

Representation in the House of Representatives (the House) is based on a state’s population.
Each state has at least one seat in the House.
Every state is represented equally in the Senate.
Each state has two senators.

In addition to determining the composition of the House and Senate, the founders assigned unique powers to each chamber. They were well aware of the authority this newly empowered national legislature could wield and consequently built safeguards into the design of the institution. Interestingly, The Federalist No. 51 reveals the founders’ perspective that Congress inherently could be more powerful than the presidency.

In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconvenience is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit. It may even be necessary to guard against dangerous encroachments by still further precautions. As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified.

Differences Between the House and Senate

The House and Senate work in conjunction to pass laws. In most cases, bills can originate in either chamber, but bills must pass through both chambers before arriving at a president’s desk to be signed into law. While legislation is a joint venture, the House and Senate each have responsibilities and systems that differ from each other.

Simply put, the House is set up to be more responsive to the people while the Senate is designed for continuity and senior statesmen. The House has two year terms, whereas Senators serve for six years. Elections in the Senate are staggered such that two-thirds of the Senate does not face turnover each election. With this design, Americans can experience both change and stability.

Senators represent entire states while Congresspersons (the term used to describe representatives in the House - not the entire Congress) represent smaller districts within a state. As a result, Congresspersons tend to have more homogeneous constituencies compared to Senators who must represent a wide range of citizens. This difference tends to encourage Senators to moderate their stances to appeal to their voters compared to their colleagues in the House who may take more polarized positions consistent with their voter bases.

One reason the founders set two year terms for Congresspersons is because the House holds the main authority to initiate taxing and spending bills. Americans were sensitive to “no taxation without representation” after their experience as colonists and wanted to be certain that Congressperson would be accountable to voters through frequent elections.

While the House holds power over revenue bills and appropriations, the Senate has more authority in foreign affairs. Senators ratify treaties and confirm appointments to national posts that conduct foreign relations. In this regard, Senators represent our entire nation’s interests as a constituency, not just their home state.

Congresspersons tend to be specialists in policy issues whereas Senators tend to be generalists. This difference exists in part because of the committee system that Congress employs to craft bills and conduct oversight. Senators often sit on more committees and their responsibilities span several legislative areas.

The House is set up to expedite bills while the Senate is afforded a longer opportunity to deliberate. The House sets up time limits for debates. Unless there is a vote to close debate called a cloture, Senators often do not have such restrictions. In practice, this ability to have unlimited debate can lead to filibusters, a tactic deployed to delay or prevent a vote on a bill.

Filibusters are not written into the Constitution and come about due to politics and senatorial rules
Frequently, the mere threat of a filibuster can lead to a bill’s demise
Filibusters have become a tool to protect the views of the minority party and, according to some perspectives, a method of obstructing the tyranny of the majority

Leadership and Party Power tend to be stronger in the House than in the Senate. The House follows more formal channels of authority and the Senate tends to be more collegial. This is due, in part, to the size of each chamber. There are 435 members in the House compared to 100 Senators.

The Speaker of the House wields considerable power over members including determining which bills are brought to a full vote and recognizing which representatives may speak on the floor
The President of the Senate (the Vice President of the U.S.) has considerably less power and mainly serves as a tiebreaker
The President Pro Tempore of the Senate, traditionally the longest serving member of the majority party, ceremonially oversees sessions in the Senate President’s absence and is less powerful than the Senate’s Majority Leader in controlling the legislative agenda
Interestingly, majority and minority party leadership positions in both chambers are political assignments that are not included in the constitutional framework yet can be quite commanding

The House has the ability to formally accuse federal judges and some executive leaders of misconduct through impeachment. The Senate can remove these individuals from power through a trial. Each chamber may also expel or otherwise discipline its own members.

If no presidential candidate wins the majority of votes in the Electoral College, the House would elect the President and the Senate would elect the Vice President. In this scenario, it would be possible to have a president from one political party and a vice president from the another political party.

Enumerated Powers

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution enumerates the powers delegated to the entire Congress. This section lists policy issues over which Congress is expected to exercise authority, including these domestic topics:

Taxation to pay debts and fund the government (including tariffs)
General welfare of Americans
Borrowing money
Regulation of commerce between states
Bankruptcy rules
Coining money and regulating its value
Standards for weights and measures
Punishments for counterfeiting
Establishment of post offices and post roads
Promotion of science and arts through copyright and patent law
Establishment of lower federal courts
Making rules for government
Providing for a militia to execute laws and suppress insurrections
Some jurisdictional controls over Washington, D.C.

Furthermore, Article I Section 8 grants Congress power in our relationships with other countries and foreign nationals including:

Regulating commerce with other countries & indigenous nations
Providing for the common defense
Naturalization
Punishments for piracy, crimes on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations
Declaring war and making rules about material conflicts with other nations including captures on land and water
Raising and supporting armies
Providing and maintaining the navy
Regulating land and naval forces
Repelling invasions
Providing for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia (with some powers reserved to states)

Elastic Clause and Commerce Clause Superpowers

The final part of Article I, Section 8 is known as the Elastic Clause or the Necessary and Proper Clause. This clause grants to Congress authority that is “necessary and proper” to carry out their enumerated powers as well as other constitutional responsibilities. These powers expand and contract as an elastic would to suit situations as needed. The Elastic Clause is considered to be a basis of Congress’ implied powers.

While the Elastic Clause provides some constitutional justification for a broad interpretation of congressional power, the Commerce Clause has been cited frequently by the courts in support of contested congressional legislation.

The Commerce Clause states that Congress has the authority “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
Commerce, in this case, includes the transactional behavior of exchanging goods and services with economic value¹
The Commerce Clause and the Elastic Clause may be evoked together to justify legislation

As interstate and foreign commerce has developed throughout American history, so has the opportunity for Congress to make laws and provide oversight.

The Commerce Clause has been applied in cases ranging from gun bans near schools (U.S. v. Lopez, 1995) to civil rights in public accommodations (Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. U.S., 1964)
The regulation of intrastate trade, the power to regulate trade within a state, is reserved to state governments, but when there is a “substantial economic effect” on interstate commerce, the courts have allowed congressional regulation at times (United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters, 1944)

Supreme Court rulings have served to help define and interpret the powers delegated to Congress and the President throughout history using the power of judicial review - a power not explicitly written in the Constitution. In our final Civics Crash Course lesson, we will explore which powers are granted to the judiciary in the Constitution.

Check for Understanding

Did you pick up details to support the main ideas of this Civics Crash Course lesson? Take a quick quiz to self-assess:

True or False? The Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
True or False? The Senate has considerable power in the foreign affairs.
True or False? Broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause has resulted in an expansion of congressional power throughout American history.

Answers

True
True
True

Discussion Guide

Imagine the U.S. still had a unicameral (one house) Congress. What would it be like if we only had a Senate with each state represented equally? What would it be like if we only had a House of Representatives with membership based on population? If you had to pick one as our national unicameral legislature, which would it be?
Americans value the principle of “one person, one vote” in our democracy. Yet because each state gets two senators, some votes get diluted while others get amplified in the Senate. Likewise, Wyoming, our least populous state, has an outsized voice in the House because each state is entitled to at least one representative regardless of population. Do our values of national unity, federalism and state powers balance such issues of inequality in representation?
Do you think we should increase the number of Congressmen to keep up with our growing population and to be more representative?
The U.S. has not formally declared war since World War II. Do you think Congress should reclaim that power?
Are there any powers you’ve seen Congress exercise that do not seem connected to the enumerated powers delegated by the Constitution? If so, what do you think the basis of these powers are?
The Constitution does not explicitly state that the Speaker of the House or the President Pro Tempore be elected members of either institution. Imagine that the House and Senate placed outsiders in those positions. How could such a shake up affect the operations of Congress?
Do you think the Senate should abolish filibusters?
Is there a Congressman or Senator now or in history that you admire? If so, who and why?

Endnote

¹ National Constitution Center, Article I, Section 8, Clause 18: Necessary and Proper Clause, accessed July 28, 2025, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-i/clau….