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How Does The Us Congress Differ From The British Parliament?

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Lesson 21 RUL: 1. In what ways does the US Congress differ from British Parliament? The US differs from the British Parliament in its methods of representation; as US Congress uses districts and state representatives in the House of Representatives opposing the Parliamentary system of a representative House of Lords, using ‘honorary life peerages’ to represent the distinguished upper class and House of Commons to represent the everyday man of each required geographic division. Additionally, the two systems of government differed in their separation of powers; with the majority party of the House of Commons endorsing a specified member to be the Prime Minister, and utilizing common members as cabinet-level position holders, and thereby contradicting Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which prohibits all members of Congress from holding any other power in office. The length of terms also work to diversify the systems. The British House of Commons must occur every 5 years, but does not follow a fixed schedule, and the votes for Prime Minister elections depend greatly on the backing of parliamentary party, and votes of confidence and, more importantly, ‘no confidence’. Members of the US House of Representatives stand for election every 2 years, and Senate every 6. The elections for the Senate are staggered into thirds, so a third of the Senate is re-elected or re-placed every 2 years. Finally the idea of Federalism separates US Congress from British Parliament. For

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