Unit 3 – Legislative Branch/Congress
The Capitol Building
The Capitol Building
Main Ideas
Congress is bicameral, which means
divided into two houses.
In the House of Representatives, 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 part of the Legislative Branch
 Therefore, our Congressmen have the job of
translating the public will 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. It is the very first and longest of the three
articles of the Constitution.
Bicameralism
Why is Congress divided into two
houses?
Because our 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.
 The beginning of each 2 year term is “noon of the 3rd day in
January” of every odd numbered year.
 So the Congressmen we elected last year started
January 3rd, 2013.
 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.
Term Limits: Videos
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QORVqG3rN5Y&feat
ure=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&
safe=active
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRJMGnGrfE&feat
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safe=active
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.
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 Harry Truman in 1948 in the aftermath of
World War II.
 Senate alone has been called into special session 46 times to
consider treaties or presidential appointments, but not since
1933.
 The 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
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.
 But they did do something in 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
 Virginia’s are:
 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 Houses 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 $162,000 per year.
 A few make more: The Speaker of the House makes $208,100 per year
 House Minority/Majority floor leaders in both houses make $180,100 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.