“Suppose you were an idiot, and
suppose you were elected to
Congress… but I repeat myself.”
-Mark Twain
 Our Congress is bicameral, meaning
it has two houses
 The larger house is the House of
Representatives
 The smaller house, which is for “the
elite” of America is the Senate
 There are 435 congressmen
 Congressmen are elected to a term of
years
2
 There are 100 Senators (2 from each
state)
 Senators are elected to a term of 6
years
 Since you get new congressmen every 2
years, we call each 2 year period a
“term” of Congress
 The terms are numbered
consecutively… the one that ended Dec.
2012 was the 112th Congress
 The one that is in session now is called
the 113th Congress
 A session of Congress is all the time
it takes to finish their business for
the year
 So how many sessions are there in
a term of Congress?
 Seats are apportioned (given out)
based on population
 Every 10 years seats are
reapportioned after the census
 Ever since 1929, the number has
been 435 (Reapportionment Act)
 Every state divides itself into
districts based on the number of
seats apportioned to the state
 For example, Arizona is given 9
seats based on our population.
I am in the house, and
the things like that.
Clueless. Where is our
nanny?
 25 years old
 U.S. citizen for
at least 7 years
 Must live in the
state you are
elected in
That really
stinks, yo.
 In the election
years where there
is no presidential
election (2014,
2018), the
president’s party
usually loses seats
in Congress
 There will always be 2 seats per
state in the Senate
 50 States = 100 Senators
 30 Years Old
 U.S. Citizen for 9
Years
 Must live in the
state you are
elected in
 Originally, congressmen were elected by the
public, and Senators were elected by the
state legislatures
 Founding Fathers did not trust the public
with all power
 Copy below
 17th Amendment has since changed
Senate elections to a public vote
 Senators have a much longer term
 Entire House is elected at once, while only
1/3 of Senate is chosen at a time
 House members appeal to one small
district, Senators appeal to entire state
 Constituency: Senate=state House=district
 The Founding Fathers wanted to have
one house that would quickly respond
to the desires of the public (House of
Reps)
 And one house that would be
moderate, and stop any crazy nonsense
the House would try (Senate)
 Congress is not at all
demographically representative of
the U.S. population
 For example…
 U.S.
 Congress
 Males – 49%
 Males – 82%
 Females – 51%
 Females – 18%
 U.S.
 White – 75%
 Black – 12%
 Hispanic – 13%
 Asian – 4%
 Native – 1%
*Many people
qualify as more
than 1 race
 Congress
 White – 87%
 Black – 7%
 Hispanic – 4%
 Asian – 1%
 Native – 0.6%
 U.S.
 Congress
 Millionaires –
 Millionaires –
0.7%
 NonMillionaires –
99.3%
29%
 NonMillionaires –
71%