National Government Vocabulary

Veto: To not allow or approve a law. The president may veto a bill sent to him by Congress.

Does you mom or dad ever veto something you want to do?

Bill• : an idea that might get turned into a law

I’m Just a Bill

Checks and BalancesA system that was built so that no one branch of our government could become too powerful.

Three Ring Circus

Executive Branch: The job of the executive branch is to carry out the laws of a country. The president

heads up this branch. The president can pass or veto a bill.

The Executive Branch

Judicial Branch: The Supreme Court heads the judicial branch of the United States government. The justices who make up the

Supreme Court are responsible for explaining and interpreting the Constitution.

Legislative Branch: The Legislative Branch is also called the Congress. There are two parts that make up Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They write and

votes on laws.

Senate: part of Congress. Each state elects two Senators to represent their state. They serve 6 years each.

The Senate

The Senate has 100 members. Each state has two Senators.

Senators are elected every 6 years. To become a Senator a person must be at least 30 years old, have been a US citizen for at least 9 years, and must live in the state they represent.

House of Representatives: part of Congress. States with large populations have more representatives than small states. Each representative serves for 2 years and represents a

certain area of their state.

Congress has two parts: the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Each state has two U.S. Senators and at least one U.S. Representative; the more residents a state has, the more U.S. Representatives it is allowed. There are 100 U.S. Senators and 435 U.S. Representatives.