How Many House of Representatives Are There in California
The Us Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government and consists of two houses: the lower firm known equally the Business firm of Representatives and the upper house known as the Senate. The words "Congress" and "Firm" 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 chart
 | House of Representatives | Senate |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | The United states House of Representatives is one of the ii houses of the United States Congress. It is often referred to as the House. | The United states Senate is the upper business firm of the bicameral legislature of the United States Congress. |
| Type | Lower firm. Responds to the needs of the people faster since representatives only have a 2 year term. Laws dealing with revenue must start in the House. | Upper house. The six year term means the Senate tin can be slower and consider the long-term effects of laws. |
| Seats | 435 voting members, 6 non-voting members: 5 delegates, 1 resident commissioner | 100 |
| Seats apportioned | Based on the population of each country | 2 for each state |
| Length of term | ii years. All 435 seats are upward for reelection every two years. | six years. Here in that location is a continuous body idea. Only 1/iii of the senate seats are elected every two years. So but 34 or 33 senators are up for election at i time. |
| Term limits | None | None |
| Leadership | Nancy Pelosi (D) (Speaker); elected by the Firm of Representatives. | The President of the Senate [currently Kamala Harris (D) only votes in instance 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. |
| Majority Leader | Steny Hoyer (D) | Chuck Schumer (D) |
| Minority Leader | Kevin McCarthy (R) | Mitch McConnell (R) |
| Majority Whip | James Clyburn (D) | John Thune (R) |
| Minority Whip | Steve Scalise (R) | Dick Durbin (D) |
| Political groups | Democratic (219), Republican (211), 5 vacant seats | Republican (48), Democratic (48), Independent (ii) |
| Voting system | First-past-the-mail service | Offset-past-the-post |
| History | Based on Virginia Program | Based on New Jersey Plan |
Size of Senate vs. Firm
While at that place 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 state determined by the population).
The Reapportionment Act of 1929 set the final number of the House at the current 435, with commune sizes adapted according to population growth. However, as district borders were never divers definitively, they can and often do stretch into peculiar shapes due to a practise known as gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is used at the state legislature level to create districts that overwhelmingly favor one political party. Federal and Supreme Court rulings have overturned gerrymandering efforts that take been perceived to be based on race, but otherwise some districts accept been reconfigured to give one or some other political party an extreme political advantage, thus allowing that political party to secure more than power in the state and in the Firm of Representatives.
A line graph showing which political parties have controlled the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate over the years. Click to enlarge.
Roles of Representatives and Senators
The House plays a major part in government, mainly that of initiating all revenue-based legislation. Any proposal to raise taxes must come from the House, with Senate review and approving. The Senate, on the other hand, has sole power of approval on foreign treaties and chiffonier and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Court.
In cases of impeachment (e.g., Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998), the House determines if charges tin be brought against the official, and a simple majority vote approves or rejects the filing of charges (the impeachment process). If approved, the Senate then serves as the investigative/judicial body to determine if the charges merit removing the accused official from his or her role. However, the vote in the Senate has to represent "a significant majority," normally taken to mean 67 of the 100 votes.
Members of Congress are deemed to be "beyond the ability of arrest" while in role, except in cases of treason, murder, or fraud. This stipulation has been used past representatives and senators to avoid subpoenas and other judicial procedures. A senator tin waive the privilege at whatsoever time, just a member of the House has to submit his or her petition to a general vote. If a elementary majority approves, the privilege can be waived.
Congress has the power to subpoena any denizen. Noncompliance with a congressional amendment can carry up to a 1-year jail sentence. The instance is heard in a judicial forum, and penalization (a sentence) for those found guilty of "contempt of Congress" is handled strictly by the judicial system.
The succession gild in the federal government is president, vice president and and so Speaker of the House, the leader of the representatives. The vice president is considered the "president" of the Senate, though he or she is not required or even expected to attend most Senate sessions. The Senate elects a "President Pro Tempore," often the senior, or longest-serving, senator of the majority political party, who is responsible for managing mean solar day-to-24-hour interval business.
Length of Terms
Senators are elected for a six-year term, just House representatives only take 2-year terms before they need to seek reelection. Every fellow member of the Business firm is up for election or reelection every ii years, but the Senate has a staggered organization wherein merely one-third of the Senators are upwardly for election or reelection every two years. Information technology is possible for the House to change to a large extent (in terms of party control) every two years, simply changes are slower in the Senate. In both chambers, incumbents take a great reward over challengers, winning more than 90% of all contested races.
Qualifications
To be eligible equally a representative, a person needs to exist at least 25 years old at the time of the election and have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 7 years. To get a senator, one must be at to the lowest degree 30 years old at the time of the election and have lived continuously in the U.Due south. for at least 9 years. It is not a requirement to be a natural-born citizen in order to get a member of Congress.
Committees
Most of Congress' piece of work takes place in committees. Both the Business firm and Senate have standing, special, conference, and joint committees.
Standing committees are permanent and provide longer-serving members with power bases. In the Business firm, primal committees include Budget, Ways and Means, and Military machine, while the Senate has Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Judiciary committees. (Some committees exist in both chambers, such as Upkeep, Military, and Veterans Diplomacy.) Special committees are temporary, formed to investigate, analyze, and/or evaluate specific problems. Conference committees are formed when legislation is approved in both the Firm and Senate; they finalize the language in legislation. Joint committees characteristic members of the Firm and Senate, with leadership of each committee alternating between members of each chamber.
Committees as well have subcommittees, which are formed to focus more closely on certain issues. Some have become permanent, but most are formed for limited time frames. Although useful for zeroing in on cardinal issues, the proliferation of committees, and specially 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 House than in the Senate, applicative at both the commission and whole-body levels. In the Firm, debate time is restricted and topics are set up beforehand, with discussions limited to the agenda. In the Senate, the tactic called filibustering is immune. Once the floor is ceded to a senator, he or she tin speak for equally long equally the senator chooses, on any topic; no other business tin can be transacted while the person speaks. A filibuster is used to block potential legislation or Senate decisions until a favorable vote can be chosen. This has resulted in sometimes comically absurd efforts on the office of senators. For example, during a 2013 delay over the Affordable Care Human activity, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) read from Green Eggs and Ham.
Origins of House and Senate
In full general, the House represents the population, while the Senate represents a "landed/large property" populace. In colonial times, the proposed "legislative body" had two models. The Virginia Plan, endorsed by Thomas Jefferson, created a group of representatives based on population sizes, so that more than populous states would accept a greater voice in legislative issues. Opposing it was the New Jersey Plan that limited each state to the same number of representatives; the programme suggested that there be something between ii to five representatives per state. The New Jersey Programme was criticized for holding larger states "hostage" to smaller states, as each would have the same ability base. This commodity in The New Yorker dissects it well:
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton absolutely hated the idea that each state should be 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 Ramble Convention in Philadelphia, "which ought we to respect most, the rights of the people composing them, or of the bogus beings resulting from the composition? Goose egg could be more preposterous or absurd than to sacrifice the onetime to the latter."
Per the Connecticut Compromise at the Ramble Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the U.s. adopted the bicameral system of the English Parliament (i.eastward., Firm of Lords and House of Commons). The compromise was between the Virginia plan (modest state) and the New Jersey proposal (large state), ii competing ideas on whether each state should get equal representation in the federal government or whether representation should be based on population. The compromise established that representatives in the lower firm (House of Representatives) will be based on a population number (called a "district") while the upper house (Senate) would contain two representative from each state. It was also decided that all classes would exist eligible to get senators, field of study to historic period and residency restrictions.
References
- Congress.gov
- The Organisation of Congress - Cliff Notes
- Wikipedia: United states of america Firm of Representatives
- Wikipedia: United states of america Senate
- Wikipedia: Structure of the United states Congress
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