CONGRESS
BICAMERAL CONGRESS
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2 houses
Historical-British Parliament consisted of 2 houses
since the 1300’s
 Practical-had to create a two house Congress due to
the conflict between the New Jersey and Virginia
Plan
 Theoretical- each house can check one anotherdiffuse the power so it doesn’t overwhelm the other
two branches.
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TERMS AND SESSIONS
Each term of Congress lasts for two years
 Start of a new term was changed by the 20th
Amendment in 1933. Changed from March 4th to
January 3rd every other year.
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113th Congress: January 3, 2013-January 3, 2015
Session: the amount of time every year that
Congress gets together and conducts business.
There are two sessions a term
Recess/adjourn-Sine die
 Special session- president calls – deals with some
type of emergency situation.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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435 members (fixed by Congress)- apportioned among
the states based on population.
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Voters in the District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin
Islands, American Samoa elect delegates and Puerto Rico
elects a resident commissioner- no voting power
Elected every 2 years- “pay close attention to the folks
back home”
Vesting Clause- “ Article 1, Section 1. All Legislative
Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress
of the United States”
U.S. House of Representatives
The 3/5th’s Clause- “All other persons”
 65 members of the House at first (Virginia had the most at
10). 1911- capped at 435
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REAPPORTIONMENT
Reapportion every 10 years- 2010
 Reapportionment Act of 1929
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Permanent size is 435 members
Represent on average 700,000 people
Census bureau decides how many representatives a
state should have
When Bureau is ready, must send it to President who
then sends it to Congress.
It must not be rejected within 60 days.
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
Election: First Tuesday after the first Monday in
the month of November
 Off-year elections: The party that holds the
presidency usually loses seats in a off-year
election.
 Most are elected in by single member districts
rather than “at large”- 1842
 Gerrymandering
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Packing
Cracking
Compact, Connected, Equal population
Wesberry v. Sanders, 1964- Equal population
Gomillion v. Lightfoot, 1960 and Bush v. Vera, 1996
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Redistricting-Where the lines are drawn
FORMAL QUALIFICATIONS
25 years old, citizen for at least 7 years, be an
inhabitant of the state that he/she is elected
from.
 House can exclude people from membership
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1900- Brigham Roberts from Utah
House has expelled 5 people (3 in 1861, Michael
Myers in 1980 and James Traficant in 2002).
 House can punish (Barney Frank in 1990)
 Incumbant- win over 90% of time
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SENATE
100 Senators represent the 50 states
 Framers hoped that the Senate would be a more
enlightened and responsible body than the House
 Before the 17th Amendment in 1912- state
legislatures elected the Senators in. In 1912changed to popular vote at large.
 6 year terms- Robert Byrd (W.V.)-1958
 Continuous body
 More focused on the ‘bigger picture’
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QUALIFICATIONS
30 years old, have been a citizen of the U.S. for at
least 9 years and an inhabitant of the state that
they decide to run in.
 Incumbancy
 Removal
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Concurrence- 15 members have been expelled
WHAT DO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS LOOK
LIKE?
Not an accurate cross-section of the United
States!
 Mostly white, protestant, males in their 50-60’s,
married, two children on average
 Salary- $174,000 a year
 Generous benefits
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Franking privilege
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE
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Delegates
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Trustees
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Each question faced should be decided on its merits
Partisans
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Agents of the people who elected them
Owe first allegiance to their political party
Politicos
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Attempt to combine the basic elements of other three
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Proposed laws (bills) are proposed to Congress
and must go through certain committees
 Choose if it goes to floor consideration
 Makes sure that executive agencies carry out
laws/spend money correctly
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Oversight function
SERVANTS OF THE PEOPLE
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Helping the “folks back home”
Passport applications
 Small business loans
 Social Security benefits
 Etc.
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Tend to get overwhelmed with requests