The US Congress is wasting no time launching its own inquiry into a decision by the US spy agency to destroy tapes of interrogations of terror VOA's Paula Wolfson reports Central Intelligence Agency chief Michael Hayden will testify before lawmakers this President Bush gave the intelligence community the go-ahead to use enhanced interrogation techniques on terror suspects following the September 11th 2001， attacks on the United SSenator McCain， a former Vietnam War era prisoner of war， has been one of the most outspoken members of Congress on the treatment of detainees in the war on He is campaigning to become the Republican Party's presidential
The United States is a federal constitutional republic， in which the President of the United States (the head of state and head of government)， Congress， and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government， and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state Federal and state elections generally take place within a two-party system， although this is not enshrined in The executive branch is headed by President and is independent of the Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of Congress， the Senate and the House of R The judicial branch (or judiciary)， composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts， exercises judicial power (or judiciary) The judiciary's function is to interpret the United States Constitution and federal laws and This includes resolving disputes between the executive and legislative The federal government of the United States was established by the C Two parties， the Democratic Party and the Republican Party， have dominated American politics since the American Civil War， although other parties have also There are major differences between the political system of the United States and that of most other developed These include increased power of the upper house of the legislature， a wider scope of power held by the Supreme Court， the separation of powers between the legislature and the executive， and the dominance of only two main The United States is one of the world's developed democracies where third parties have the least political The federal entity created by the Constitution is the dominant feature of the American governmental However， some people are also subject to a state government， and all are subject to various units of local The latter include counties， municipalities， and special This multiplicity of jurisdictions reflects the country's The federal government was created by the states， which as colonies were established separately and governed themselves independently of the Units of local government were created by the colonies to efficiently carry out various state As the country expanded， it admitted new states modeled on the existing
