Who Is Your Representative in the Us House of Representatives
The United States Congress is the legislative co-operative of the federal regime and consists of ii houses: the lower house known as the Firm of Representatives and the upper house known as the Senate. The words "Congress" and "House" are sometimes used colloquially to refer to the House of Representatives. There are 535 members of Congress: 100 senators and 435 representatives in the House.
Republicans currently control the Senate (54 to 44 Democrats) and the House (246 to 188).
Comparison nautical chart
House of Representatives | Senate | |
---|---|---|
Introduction | The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the The states Congress. It is frequently referred to as the House. | The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States Congress. |
Type | Lower house. Responds to the needs of the people faster since representatives only accept a two year term. Laws dealing with revenue must start in the Firm. | Upper house. The vi year term means the Senate can be slower and consider the long-term effects of laws. |
Seats | 435 voting members, 6 non-voting members: five delegates, 1 resident commissioner | 100 |
Seats apportioned | Based on the population of each state | 2 for each state |
Length of term | 2 years. All 435 seats are upwardly for reelection every two years. | 6 years. Here there is a continuous trunk thought. Simply 1/3 of the senate seats are elected every two years. Then only 34 or 33 senators are up for election at one fourth dimension. |
Term limits | None | None |
Leadership | Nancy Pelosi (D) (Speaker); elected by the House of Representatives. | The President of the Senate [currently Kamala Harris (D) only votes in case of a tie. When he or she is not available, the President pro tempore, a senator elected by the Senate [currently Patrick Leahy (D)] takes over on his behalf. |
Bulk Leader | Steny Hoyer (D) | Chuck Schumer (D) |
Minority Leader | Kevin McCarthy (R) | Mitch McConnell (R) |
Bulk Whip | James Clyburn (D) | John Thune (R) |
Minority Whip | Steve Scalise (R) | Dick Durbin (D) |
Political groups | Autonomous (219), Republican (211), 5 vacant seats | Republican (48), Democratic (48), Independent (ii) |
Voting organisation | First-past-the-post | First-past-the-mail service |
History | Based on Virginia Plan | Based on New Bailiwick of jersey Programme |
Size of Senate vs. House
While there are 100 seats in the Senate (two senators from each state), there are 435 seats in the House of Representatives (one representative from each of the various congressional districts, with the number of congressional districts in each country determined by the population).
The Reapportionment Human action of 1929 set the last number of the Business firm at the electric current 435, with district sizes adapted according to population growth. However, as commune borders were never divers definitively, they can and often exercise stretch into peculiar shapes due to a practice known every bit gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is used at the country legislature level to create districts that overwhelmingly favor i party. Federal and Supreme Courtroom rulings have overturned gerrymandering efforts that take been perceived to be based on race, but otherwise some districts accept been reconfigured to give ane or another political party an extreme political advantage, thus allowing that party to secure more power in the state and in the House of Representatives.
Roles of Representatives and Senators
The Firm plays a major part in government, mainly that of initiating all acquirement-based legislation. Whatever proposal to raise taxes must come from the House, with Senate review and approval. The Senate, on the other mitt, has sole power of blessing on foreign treaties and cabinet and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Courtroom.
In cases of impeachment (east.g., Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998), the House determines if charges can exist brought confronting the official, and a simple majority vote approves or rejects the filing of charges (the impeachment process). If canonical, the Senate then serves as the investigative/judicial body to determine if the charges merit removing the accused official from his or her office. However, the vote in the Senate has to represent "a meaning bulk," usually taken to hateful 67 of the 100 votes.
Members of Congress are deemed to exist "across the power of abort" while in function, except in cases of treason, murder, or fraud. This stipulation has been used by representatives and senators to avoid subpoenas and other judicial procedures. A senator can waive the privilege at whatever time, but a member of the House has to submit his or her petition to a general vote. If a unproblematic majority approves, the privilege can be waived.
Congress has the ability to subpoena any citizen. Noncompliance with a congressional subpoena can carry up to a ane-year jail judgement. The case is heard in a judicial forum, and punishment (a judgement) for those institute guilty of "contempt of Congress" is handled strictly by the judicial system.
The succession order in the federal government is president, vice president and and then Speaker of the House, the leader of the representatives. The vice president is considered the "president" of the Senate, though he or she is non required or even expected to nourish most Senate sessions. The Senate elects a "President Pro Tempore," oft the senior, or longest-serving, senator of the bulk party, who is responsible for managing 24-hour interval-to-solar day business.
Length of Terms
Senators are elected for a vi-year term, just House representatives only have two-year terms earlier they need to seek reelection. Every member of the Firm is up for election or reelection every two years, merely the Senate has a staggered system wherein only one-third of the Senators are up for election or reelection every two years. Information technology is possible for the House to modify to a big extent (in terms of party command) every two years, but changes are slower in the Senate. In both chambers, incumbents have a great reward over challengers, winning more 90% of all contested races.
Qualifications
To be eligible equally a representative, a person needs to be at to the lowest degree 25 years old at the time of the ballot and take lived continuously in the U.Due south. for at least seven years. To become a senator, one must be at least thirty years old at the fourth dimension of the ballot and have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 9 years. Information technology is non a requirement to be a natural-built-in citizen in order to become a member of Congress.
Committees
Most of Congress' piece of work takes place in committees. Both the House and Senate have continuing, special, conference, and joint committees.
Standing committees are permanent and provide longer-serving members with ability bases. In the Firm, key committees include Budget, Ways and Ways, and Armed forces, while the Senate has Appropriations, Strange Relations, and Judiciary committees. (Some committees exist in both chambers, such as Budget, Armed services, and Veterans Affairs.) Special committees are temporary, formed to investigate, analyze, and/or evaluate specific problems. Conference committees are formed when legislation is approved in both the House and Senate; they finalize the language in legislation. Joint committees feature members of the House and Senate, with leadership of each commission alternating between members of each chamber.
Committees also have subcommittees, which are formed to focus more closely on certain issues. Some have become permanent, merely well-nigh are formed for limited time frames. Although useful for zeroing in on key issues, the proliferation of committees, and especially subcommittees, has decentralized the legislative process and significantly slowed it, making Congress less responsive to irresolute trends and needs.
Debating legislation has stricter rules in the Firm than in the Senate, applicable at both the committee and whole-trunk levels. In the House, argue time is restricted and topics are gear up beforehand, with discussions limited to the agenda. In the Senate, the tactic called filibustering is immune. One time the floor is ceded to a senator, he or she can speak for as long as the senator chooses, on any topic; no other business concern can be transacted while the person speaks. A filibuster is used to cake potential legislation or Senate decisions until a favorable vote tin be called. This has resulted in sometimes comically absurd efforts on the function of senators. For case, during a 2013 delay over the Affordable Care Act, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) read from Dark-green Eggs and Ham.
Origins of House and Senate
In general, the House represents the population, while the Senate represents a "landed/big property" populace. In colonial times, the proposed "legislative body" had 2 models. The Virginia Plan, endorsed past Thomas Jefferson, created a group of representatives based on population sizes, and so that more populous states would take a greater voice in legislative issues. Opposing it was the New Jersey Program that limited each state to the same number of representatives; the programme suggested that there be something betwixt two to v representatives per state. The New Bailiwick of jersey Programme was criticized for belongings larger states "hostage" to smaller states, as each would have the same power base. This commodity in The New Yorker dissects it well:
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton absolutely hated the idea that each state should exist entitled to the same number of senators regardless of size. Hamilton was withering on the topic. "As states are a collection of individual men," he harangued his fellow-delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, "which ought we to respect most, the rights of the people composing them, or of the artificial beings resulting from the composition? Zero could be more preposterous or cool than to sacrifice the former to the latter."
Per the Connecticut Compromise at the Ramble Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the United States adopted the bicameral arrangement of the English Parliament (i.eastward., House of Lords and House of Commons). The compromise was between the Virginia programme (minor country) and the New Jersey proposal (large state), two competing ideas on whether each country should get equal representation in the federal government or whether representation should be based on population. The compromise established that representatives in the lower house (Business firm of Representatives) volition be based on a population number (chosen a "commune") while the upper house (Senate) would contain two representative from each country. It was also decided that all classes would exist eligible to become senators, subject area to age and residency restrictions.
References
- Congress.gov
- The Organization of Congress - Cliff Notes
- Wikipedia: Usa House of Representatives
- Wikipedia: United states of america Senate
- Wikipedia: Structure of the United States Congress
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