A major bodyslam for Donald Trump this week regarding the whistleblower complaint of August 12. In a unanimous vote of 421 to zero, the House demanded that Acting Director of National Intelligence Maguire immediately stop stonewalling and send the complaint to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. They also demanded that Maguire protect the whistleblower from any retaliation by the Trump administration (House Resolution 576, RC 548, Sep 25). This follows a similar vote by the Senate on Tuesday. Trump has literally not got a soul in Congress willing to defend him on the whistleblower issue.

Written throughout the Constitution of the United States are checks and balances on power between the three branches of government. In theory, this balance of power ensures that the country will remain stable and resist the threat of losing the freedom and democracy that many Americans cherish. The power of impeachment is one such check.

Fairly slow week for Congress this second week back. There were only ten votes this week.

Bryan Watch - Sept 2019: Week 1

The 116th Congress is run by 67 Democrats and 44 Republicans, to which I say, good. For once, Congress has some diversity. Yes, there is the occasional black representative, but see, my own people, Hispanics, have historically been underrepresented. The New York Times is a publication I got my free subscription to because my dabbling in real journalism is going nowhere without access to information like the type found in The New York Times. Okay, we have 101 fresh Representatives in the House, mostly white, although there are some people of color.

The question of whether Congress is representative is one that most Americans don’t think twice about. After all, Congress filled with its Congressmen and Senators was designed to be representative of the people in their districts and states. The fact of the matter is that there are other motivations behind the actions Congress takes. While they might want to represent the people, they also represent their own interests, as well as the interests of their sponsors. In addition, Congress as a whole does not accurately represent the demographics of the people. So while members of Congress may take actions to ensure that they are reelected, I do not believe that they represent the people to the best of their ability or accurately.

It was a relatively slow week in Congress. And it will be even slower in coming weeks, as Congress is on vacation until September.

The House makes up half of Congress as the government’s legislative branch. The House has 325 voting members, their positions are based on the population of the 50 states. A representative is referred to as a congressman or congresswoman. The number of voters for the House was set at 435 on August 8, 1911, in effect since 1913. The number of representatives per state is proportionate to the population. Article one, Section two of the Constitution has provided for the minimum and maximum sizes for the House of Representatives, as there are five delegates representing the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Congress is the legislative body of the United States government. Our lawmakers make decisions that affect us on a federal level, and federal generally refers to the entire country. Individual state law is different from multi-national law that affects the entire country. Each state in the Union is represented by two law makers from the state. There are two chambers that make up Congress, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Congress has 535 voting members, and 100 Senators. There are six non-voting members representing Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, The Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

There are three branches of government, judicial, legislative, and executive. The President leads the executive branch, while the judicial branch's highest office is the Supreme Court of the United States. Congress has the power to make laws, as the legislative branch of the United States system of governance. Congress is the only branch of the government elected by the people. The people have given Congress the power to make the laws, to declare war, and to raise public money, as well as to impeach and try federal officers. Congress approves or impeaches the President, and has the power to approve treaties negotiated by the executive branch, as well as help out with oversight and major investigations.

The California State Legislature is made up of the California State Assembly and 80 members. The California State Senate has 40 members, with both houses of the legislature convening at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. I want to serve the California State Legislature as a member someday because it is one of ten full-time state legislatures in the United States. The State assembly consists of 61 Democrats, and 18 Republicans with one vacancy, while the Senate is composed of 29 Democrats, and 11 Republicans. There was a brief period between 1995 and 1996 where Republicans ran the show, the Democrats have run the California Assembly since the 1970 election.

Gregory Watson was an undergrad at the University of Texas, Austin, who rediscovered a forgotten amendment, the 27th Amendment to be accurate. This Amendment had come about on September 25, 1789, including eleven other proposed amendments. The first Congress had wanted to address the issue of salaries for Congress. In 1982, Watson had dredged up this amendment by writing a paper about it. This amendment had not been fully ratified in the 18th century, as it had become constitutional on May 5, 1992, because this was a ratification period of 202 years, 7 months and 10 days when this amendment was finally ratified.