Welcome to the web site of Congressman Ed Markey. Rep. Markey is a Congressman from Massachusetts' seventh Congressional District.
Here's some information about the US Government that you might find
interesting:
The US Government is divided into three branches -
executive, judicial and legislative.
The executive branch
consists of the President and most of the federal agencies who conduct the
business of the government at home and overseas. The main job of the executive
branch is to execute or carry out the laws and policies of the United
States.
The judicial branch
consists of the Supreme Court as well the federal appellate and district
courts.
The legislative
branch consists of two parts - the Senate
and the House of Representatives,
which together form the United States Congress. Each state is represented by
two Senators and is divided into a number of Congressional Districts
proportional to the state's population. Members of Congress meet in Washington,
DC at the United
States Capitol Building,
pictured to the right.
Rep. Markey's state, Massachusetts,
has 10 Congressional Districts with a Representative for each district. Rep. Markey proudly represents Massachusetts'
seventh Congressional District in the US House of Representatives.
This map shows the geographic region of the 7th:
Congress' main job is to pass laws for the United
States. A law begins as a bill written by a Representative
or a Senator. It first goes to a committee, a smaller group of Congress members
with experience debating a certain group of issues. The members of the
committee hold hearings to learn more about the issue and may change the bill.
Next, they take a vote, and if the bill passes it goes to either the entire
House or the entire Senate depending on whether it was written by a Senator or
a Representative.
If it passes, the bill then goes to the other half of the
Congress for a vote. Once the bill has passed both the House and the Senate,
then the President must decide whether to sign it into law or to veto it. If
the President vetoes the bill, the Congress can vote to override the
President's veto, but this requires the votes of two-thirds of the members of
both houses.
More Educational Government Sites for Kids:
Kids in the House:"Kids in the House" is the Office of the Clerk's
official Web site for kids, parents, and teachers. On this site you can explore
the role the Office of the Clerk plays in the U.S. House of Representatives and
learn about the legislative process and its effect on you.
First
Gov For Kids: First Gov For Kids is the federal government’s interagency
Kids' Portal. The site was developed and is maintained by the FederalConsumerInformationCenter. It provides links to federal
kids' sites along with some of the best kids' sites from other organizations
all grouped by subject.
Kids.us:
In 1992, Rep. Markey co-sponsered legislation, "The Dot Kids Dot US
Act" (HR 3833), that created the internet domain kids.us to provide a
space on the internet for fun and safe sites just for kids. The
government monitors and enforces safety standards on the sites hosted
on its domain. Visit this site to find links to more kid-friendly
sites.
