The Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, the bicameral parliament of Spain. It exercises primary legislative authority, approves the state budget, and oversees the executive branch, holding the exclusive constitutional power to invest or dismiss the Prime Minister. Tracing its institutional roots to the Cortes of Cádiz in 1810 and adopting its modern name under the 1837 Constitution, it was re-established as a democratic assembly under the 1978 Constitution. In 1981, the chamber was the scene of the failed 23-F coup attempt, when armed civil guards stormed the floor and held lawmakers hostage during a prime ministerial vote.