The Constitution gives Congress, the legislative branch, the power to propose and pass legislation. The two houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, legislate separately. There are 100 Senators—two from each of our states. There are 435 representatives. The number of representatives each state gets is determined by its population. Some states have just two representatives. Others have as many as 40. Both senators and representatives are elected by the eligible voters in their states.
In each house, laws begin with a proposal called a bill, which requires a majority in each house to pass it (this requirement becomes a two-thirds majority in the face of a presidential veto). Once passed, a bill becomes law. Laws passed at the federal level are known as statutes (Outline, p. 8).
The executive branch comprises the office of the President and 15 Cabinet-level departments. Among other powers, the President has the power to make treaties with other nations, issue executive orders that have the force of law, issue pardons for federal offenses, and veto legislation approved by Congress (Legal Information Institute, n.d., par. 4). The Cabinet-level departments house agencies and bureaus which "possess only powers that Congress delegates by statute, [but] these [powers] can be quite substantial." For example, agencies can make statutory requirements more precise—for instance, if a statute proscribes dangerous levels of a pollutant, an agency may be tasked with determining the exact amount of a dangerous level of a pollutant (Outline, p. 12).
Scan the contents at the following link for a global look at the functions of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the United States government.
http://www.house.gov/content/learn/branches_of_government/
United States Foreign Policy
Ever since the first U.S. diplomat set out on his first mission, United States foreign policy has had the goals of protecting America and Americans and working with foreign governments and people in other countries to promote international understanding of American values and policies. The head of the U.S. Department of State, the Secretary of State, serves as the President's main foreign policy adviser and leads the Department in implementing the nation's foreign policy around the world (U.S. Department of State, 2012, para. 1).
The Department conducts its mission and attempts to meet its goals with a global network of more than 270 embassies and consulates in more than 190 countries. Embassies are headed by a Chief of Mission (usually an ambassador) who coordinates and manages U.S. government functions in the host country, heading a team of locally employed staff and foreign service officers. Such ambassadors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and report to the president through the Secretary of State (U.S. Department of State, para. 3).
In carrying out its directives, the Department works closely with other government agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and others. It also consults with the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. This committee is "charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing (but not administering) and funding foreign aid programs as well as funding, arms sales and training for national allies. The committee is also responsible for holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State" (United States Senate Committee, n.d., para. 1). The less powerful counterpart of this committee in the House of Representatives is called the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U. S. House of Representatives; it considers bills and deals with investigations related to U. S. foreign affairs (Wikipedia, House Committee, n.d., para. 1).
The Supreme Court, for its part, interprets treaties entered into between the United States and other countries. Increasingly in this global era there are also the questions of "whether international law should be treated as law in the United States; what rights, if any, noncitizens have to come before American courts or tribunals; whether the protections of the Geneva Conventions apply to people that the U.S. government accuses of being terrorists; and whether the U.S. Supreme Court should consider the decisions of foreign or international tribunals when it interprets the Constitution" (Feldman, 2008, para. 3). All of these expanding arenas have important implications for United States foreign policy.
Learn more about the U.S. Department of State here: http://www.state.gov/
