The U.S. Congress. The House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Combined, they make up the greatest deliberative body in the world. Where our elected representatives meet and debate in the open to determine the laws of the land in the greatest representative democracy the world has ever seen. Committees are formed consisting of members of each party in our two-party system. These committees in both bodies use public hearings to debate and gather input on the important public matters of the day, such as tax policy, budgets, appropriations, etc. It is designed to be an open process that produces annual budgets and appropriations, with the full vote of both bodies required to pass a law and send it to the president for his assent or veto. This is a process that has been used for centuries to keep the machinery of the government working in a way that is tied to the will of the people. An open process, including public meetings and detailed deliberation of each component of the...(Read Full Post)