ident) is the power to appropriate money (set aside money for some specific purpose). After both houses of Congress have approved the budget, it is sent over to the President. He has to sign the bill into law. Another major check on the power of the President is the Senate's power of advice and consent. The President is obliged to ask for the advice and consent of the Senate on all major appointments (e.g. members of the president's Cabinet, new justices of the Supreme Court, other federal judges, and members of administrative or regulatory agencies) and major foreign policy decisions he makes (e.g. when it concerns treaties). To declare war, the President must turn to both houses of Congress for their approval. The president's major countervailing power in the legislative process is the power of the veto. The President must sign any proposed legislation before it becomes law; his failure or refusal to do so can thus stop any bill. If the President returns a bill to Congress with a veto on it, the legislature has the power to override the President's veto by re-passing the legislation by a two-thirds majority in both houses. Then the bill becomes law without the President's signature. (If the President does not wish to be associated with a bill but does not feel that it is worthwhile to prevent it from becoming law, he can demonstrate this by using a so-called pocket veto: he/she simply lets it lie on his/her desk for ten days without signing it or vetoing it, in which case it becomes law without the President's signature.) The Congress has the power to impeach the President. (A complex matter that involves the House of Representatives and its Judicial Committee or a special ad hoc committee, the Senate, the Chief Justice of the U.S. (the Supreme Court)) Turning to the relationship between Congress and the Supreme Court, we find that Congress has the power to determine the construction of the Court (and its inferior courts). As mentione...
