The US Congress and British Parliament

英国，君主立宪制国家；美国，三权分立的国家。在两国的政治生涯中，英国有议会，包括上议院和下议院；美国有国会，包括参议院和众议院……文章主要介绍了英国议会和美国国会的职权以及议员是怎么产生的。

The British Parliament possesses Parliamentary sovereignty with legislative supremacy and highest power over other political departments in the UK and its overseas territories. The leader of British Parliament is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, and currently is Queen Elizabeth II.
The parliament is bicameral consisting of two houses. One is upper house, also namely the House of Lords and the other is lower house, with the name of the House of Commons. There are two different types of members in the House of Lords, the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are the senior bishops of the Church of England. The Lords Temporal members are not elected by voters, but are appointed by the Sovereign with the advice of the Prime Minister. [1]
The House of Commons holds election democratically. On general, all government ministers are chosen from the House of Commons, including the Prime Minister.
For the British parliament and its institutions have been the prototype for many democratic countries throughout the world, it has been called "the mother of parliaments".
The State Opening of Parliament is held once a year in November or December, marking the commencement of a session of the British Parliament.
According to the royal privileges and the governmental agreement, all motion needs to be formally approved by the queen. Royal prerogative also includes the dissolution of parliament, the right to enter into treaties, and the determination to declare war. In fact, the powers of the queen are under the recommendation of the prime minister and other cabinet ministers. [2]
America is a country with separation of powers. The legislative authority belongs to The US Congress. The administrative power belongs to the U.S. President. The judicial power belongs to the U.S. Federal Court. The US Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both representatives and senators are selected by direct election. Most members are belong to the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. The members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms, while Senators serve six-year terms, with terms staggered, and every two years one-third of the Senate are reelected. Regardless of population, there are two senators in each state with the result of 100 senators representing 50 states. [3]
The main and most important authority of Congress is legislation. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have equal legislative authority. In the United States, Congress is the highest legislative body, drawing up the laws with great impact on Americans. Legislation concerns about decisions on some controversial issues, such as the federal budget, health insurance reform, gun control, and war and peace. However, Congress did not initiate most of the proposals under consideration. Most of the proposals are from the implementing agencies, and others are from political parties and interest groups. Through a series of compromises and exchange of interests, and a lot of debate and discussion, the purpose of the proposal is try to build a majority coalition to develop a national policy. Members represent the wishes and needs of voters in their region and also represents national interest in wider view, such as environmental protection.
Executive department in Congress is responsible for enforcing the laws passed by Congress. In order to monitor the implementation, Congress adopted a series of actions to ensure that the law is enforced entirely. This is completed by holding meetings and conducting investigations, changing a budget authorities, and law enforcement agencies as well as the implementation of the candidates nominated by the president to carry out the review. Congress accept many constraints form the Constitution, which include not allowing to establish state religion, no rights to discriminate various theories and speech.
Congress has financial authority and can enact budgetary policies to levy taxes. The Constitution also grants Congress the exclusive power to appropriate funds. Congress plays an important role in national defense, including the power to declare war, to raise and maintain the armed forces, and to make military rules. 
Congress also has the power of impeachment, deciding the removal of the president, federal judges and other federal officers.

1. Berlin C M. The British parliament and transportation in the eighteen-fifties. Australian Historical Studies 1953-21 Taylor & Francis
2. Berlin C M. Listeriosis, royalty, and the British parliament. Pediatrics (English Edition) 1972-1 PubMed
3.Christopher Bailey. US Congress since the early 1970s. Contemporary British History 1988-3 Taylor & Francis

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