Unit 3 – Legislative Branch/Congress
The Capitol Building
The Capitol Building
Main Ideas
Congress is bicameral, meaning divided into two
houses/chambers.
In the House of Representatives, the States are
represented according to population.
In the Senate, each State has 2 Senators.
Congress meets for two-year terms
Two Houses of Congress
Senate
House of
Representatives
The Constitution
 Congress is head of the Legislative Branch
 Congressmen have the job of translating the will of the
public into public policy in the form of law
 James Madison called it “the first branch” of the National
Government
 Article I of the Constitution created the Legislative
Branch.
Bicameralism
Why is Congress divided into two houses?
Because founding fathers saw bicameralism as
a way to diffuse the power of Congress, which
prevented it from overwhelming the other two
branches of government.
NJ Plan & VA Plan
Congressional Terms
 Each term of Congress lasts 2 years.
 Beginning of each 2 year term is “noon of the 3rd day in
January” of every odd numbered year.
 So Congressmen elected in November don’t start until
January 3rd.
 While each term is 2 years, there are no term limits in
Congress.
 This means the same Senator or Representative can stay in
Congress for life as long as he/she keeps getting
reelected.
Sessions
 A session of Congress is that period of time during each
year when Congress assembles and conducts business.
 There are two sessions to each term of Congress, with one
session each year.
 These sessions usually last most of the year, with several
short weeklong breaks during a session.
Term Limits: Videos
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QORVqG3rN5Y&feat
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safe=active
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRJMGnGrfE&feat
ure=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&
safe=active
Special Sessions
 A special session is a meeting of Congress or an individual house to deal
with some emergency situation.
 Only 27 special sessions of Congress have ever been called by the
President.
 Most recent: President Truman in 1948 in the aftermath of WWII.
 Senate alone has been called into special session 46 times to consider
treaties or presidential appointments, but not since 1933.
 President may call Congress into a special session, however
Congressional leadership has as well…though their authority is not
supreme.
House of Representatives
 Representation based on
population
 Each state guaranteed 1 seat
in the House.
 Example: Alaska & Delaware
each have 1 representative.
 435 Representatives total.
 Redistribution of the number of
members takes place every 10
years, which coincides with the
census.
Qualifications for the House
Must be at least 25 years old
Citizen of the U.S. for at least 7 years
Must be an inhabitant of the State from
which he or she is elected
Reapportionment Act of 1929
 In 1920, The House kept getting bigger & bigger.
Conducting business became difficult.
 1920 census comes out & if Congress were to
reapportion seats in the House, then some States would
have to lose seats if every State were to be represented
according to its population.
 The Answer? - 1929: The Reapportionment Act.
 Set the “permanent” size of Representatives at 435.
Districts
 Each Representative in the House
represents their district
 We are in VA’s 10th Congressional
district.
 Republican Frank Wolf is our Rep.
 In small states with only one
Representative, the district is the
whole state, and the entire
population votes – not just a
district (Ex: Delaware & North
Dakota).
The Senate
 Equal Representation (NJ Plan!)
 6 year terms
 All time record – Republican Strom
Thurmond was elected to the Senate 8
times, and served for 48 years.
 Each state gets 2 Senators
 That means, 100 Senators total.
 50 x 2 = 100
(D) Tim Kaine 
Above: (D) Mark
Warner
Qualifications for the Senate
At least 30 years old
Citizen of the U.S. for at least nine years
Must be an inhabitant of the State from which he
or she is elected
The Senate
 The Founding Fathers hoped that
the smaller Senate would be a
more enlightened and
responsible body than the
House.
 They thought the House would
be too often swayed by the
immediate impact of events and
by the passions of the moment
 “The World’s Greatest
Deliberative Body”
The Senate
The Senate is a “continuous body”
This means that all of its seats are never up for
election at the same time.
6 year terms give Senators some job security
Since they represent an entire State, they have a
huge constituency, which means the people and
interests the Senators represent.
Comparing both Chambers of
Congress
House of Representatives
The Senate
Larger body (435 members)
Smaller body (100 members)
Shorter term (2 years)
Longer term (6 years)
Smaller constituencies (elected
from districts within States)
Larger constituencies (elected from the
entire State)
Younger members
Older members
Less prestige
More prestige
Most work done in committees,
not on the floor
Work is split more evenly between
committees & the floor
Strict rules, limited debate
Flexible rules, nearly unlimited debate
No power over
treaties/presidential appointments
Approves/rejects treaties & presidential
appointments
Gerrymandering
 Gerrymandering – District lines that have been drawn to the advantage
of the political party that controls the State’s legislature
 Most often gerrymandering takes one of two forms:
 Lines are drawn to concentrate the oppositions voters in one or a few
districts, thus leaving the other districts comfortable safe for the
dominant party
 Or to spread the opposition as thinly as possible among several
districts, limiting the oppositions ability to win anywhere in the region
 Happens today!
The Profile of Congress
 The average member is a white male in his early 50s.
 There are more women in Congress today than ever
 There are 42 African Americans, 24 Hispanics, 5 Asian Americans, and
1 Native American in the House.
 There is 1 African American, 2 Hispanics, 1 Asian American, and 1
Native Hawaiian in the Senate.
The Profile of Congress
 Well over 1/3rd in the House and well over ½ in the Senate are
lawyers, and nearly all went to college.
 There are several multi-millionaires
 However, a surprisingly large number of the men and women who sit in
Congress depend on their congressional salaries as their major source
of income.
 So do these people represent the people?
How They Cast Their Votes
 Our representatives can vote on four different views
 1.) Trustees – These representatives vote on the basis of themselves.
They don’t represent their constituency.
 2.) Delegate – These representatives vote on the basis of their
constituency only. They vote on what “the folks back home would
want.”
 3.) Partisans – These representatives vote in line with the political party
they identify with
 4.) Politicos – A combination of all the above.
Salary and Benefits
 Senators and Representatives make $174,000 per year.
 A few make more: The Speaker of the House makes $223,500 per year
 House Minority/Majority floor leaders in both houses make $193,400 per
year.
 They also receive special tax deductions
 They receive travel allowances to go to Washington
 Franking Privilege: Allows them to mail letters and other materials
postage-free by substituting their signature instead of the postage.