The Congress
Name
Institution

The Congress
There are a number of qualifications that an individual must possess to be in the Congress. It is vital to note that the Congress is a bi-cameral house, and it has the Senate and the House of Representatives. To be in the House representative, one must be 25 years old and must be an American citizen for seven years or more. Furthermore, the candidates must reside in the state they intend to be elected in. In order to be a senator, one must be 30 years old and must be an American citizen for 10 years or more. The candidates must also reside in the state they are elected in. Incumbents of Congress are normally reelected 90 percent of the time. However, Senators face far more difficult challenge getting reelected than the House of Representatives. This is because Senators have more media coverage, and a state is more complex than a congressional district.
There are several positions of leadership in Congress for both members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Members of the House of Representatives can hold one of the following positions: Speaker of the House, House Majority Leader, House Majority Whip, House Minority Leader, and House Minority Whip. The Speaker of the House is the most senior position in the House of Representatives and carries out several duties, including presiding over debates, make rulings on points of order, and setting the agenda for the House. Members of the Senate also have certain leadership positions that they can occupy. The President of the senate is the Vice President of the United States, but he has a ceremonial role. The President pro-tempore manages business on the Senate floor on his behalf and is considered Senate Majority Leader. Other positions of leadership in Senate include Senate Assistant Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, and Senate Minority Whip (Sidlow & Henschen, 2014).
Congress is normally in charge of the federal budget. The budget starts off as a Presidential proposal to Congress, in which he puts across funding requests. House and Senate budget Committees then deliberate over the proposal and incorporate the suggestions of other budgetary subcommittees where required. The budget is then sent to the President to sign into law. The current budget amount projected for 2014 is $3.77 trillion. The current federal deficit is $744 billion.

References
Sidlow, E. & Henschen, B. (2014). Government. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing
Company.