What word refers to the lawmaking body?

The word that refers to the lawmaking body, on the USCIS reading vocabulary list, is Congress. Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government and is established by Article I of the Constitution, the longest article in the document. The U.S. Congress is bicameral, meaning it has two chambers: the Senate, with 100 members (two per state, regardless of state population), and the House of Representatives, with 435 voting members apportioned among the states by population.

Senators serve six-year terms with one-third of the seats up for election every two years, while Representatives serve two-year terms with all 435 seats up for election in each even-numbered year. Each new Congress is numbered consecutively from 1789, and the 119th Congress sat in January 2025.

Article I, section 8 of the Constitution lists the enumerated powers of Congress: to lay and collect taxes, borrow money, regulate interstate and foreign commerce, coin money, establish post offices, raise armies and a navy, and declare war. Congress also has the implied power to make all laws necessary and proper for executing those enumerated powers (the Necessary and Proper Clause).

Bills become law when passed by both chambers and signed by the President, or when Congress overrides a presidential veto by a two-thirds vote in each chamber. Congress meets in the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

The reading test may use Congress in a sentence such as "Who makes the laws in the United States?" or "Congress meets in Washington." The applicant must be able to read one such sentence correctly aloud during the reading portion of the naturalization interview, and Congress is recognizable enough that test sentences containing it appear frequently in USCIS practice materials.