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“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 congressmenCongressmen are elected to a term of 2 years
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.
25 years oldU.S. citizen for at least 7 years
Must live in the state you are elected in
I am in the house, and the things like
that. Clueless. Where is our nanny?
In the election years where there is no presidential election (2014, 2018), the president’s party usually loses seats in Congress
That really stinks, yo.
There will always be 2 seats per state in the Senate
50 States = 100 Senators
30 Years OldU.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 legislaturesFounding Fathers did not trust the public with all power
Copy below17th Amendment has since changed Senate elections to a public vote
Senators have a much longer termEntire 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. populationFor example…
U.S.Males – 49%Females – 51%
CongressMales – 82%Females – 18%
U.S.White – 75%Black – 12%Hispanic – 13%
Asian – 4%Native – 1%*Many people qualify as more than 1 race
CongressWhite – 87%Black – 7%Hispanic – 4%Asian – 1%Native – 0.6%
U.S.Millionaires – 0.7%
Non-Millionaires – 99.3%
CongressMillionaires – 29%
Non-Millionaires – 71%