[ 4.2 ] The Two Houses

A new Congress – the 115th – is sworn in today! The House and Senate – Review/Preview A new Congress – the 115th – is sworn in today!

Size of the House?? Why the discrepancy? 1. Who / What determines the size of the House? 2. How many total members does the House currently have? 3. How many voting members? 4. Which States have just 1 House seat, and why? Why the discrepancy?

TPS: Arguments for and against term limits??? House Size and Terms Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms. Although there have been recent movements to limit terms, there are no limits set on the number of terms a representative may serve TPS: Arguments for and against term limits??? The exact size of the House of Representatives, currently at 435 (voting) members, is determined by Congress. The Constitution provides that the total number of seats in the House shall be apportioned (distributed) among the States on the basis of their respective populations.

Term Limits??

Reapportionment As the United States grew in population, the number of representatives in the House also grew. - 1920 census and Congressional failure The Reapportionment Act of 1929 set the “permanent” size of the House at 435 members, and provided for “automatic reapportionment.” - Shifted responsibility to the census Bureau…Why would Congress give up this duty? Article I of the Constitution directs Congress to reapportion the seats in the House every ten years, after each census (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3). Until a first census could be taken, the Constitution set the size of the House at 65 seats. That many members served in the First and Second Congresses (1789–1793). The census of 1790 showed a national population of 3,929,214 persons; so in 1792, Congress increased the number of House seats by 41, to 106.

Reapportionment of Congress The 2010 census determined how the 435 seats in the House were reapportioned among the States. Analyze Maps What regions gained or lost population?

Reapportionment of Congress Describe the difference between the single member district and at large methods for selecting a state’s delegates to the House of Representatives. 2. Which method is more equitable and why? 3. Who is responsible for re-drawing House district maps?

Congressional Districts Under the single-member district arrangement, the voter’s in each district elect one of the State’s representatives. The general-ticket system provided that all of a State’s seats were filled at-large. Eliminated in 1842

Congressional Districts and Re-Districting State legislatures are in charge of re-drawing district maps. However, by 1901 Congress had established three general rules for redistricting…What were those Rules?? Contiguous territory Equal population Compact territory

Congressional Districts and Re-Districting What did the Court rule in Wood v Broom, 1932 (p. 139)? Why did the Court rule that way? What was the impact of that decision on how district were drawn? Explain the significance of the following cases (p. 140): Gomillion v Lightfoot Wesberry v Sanders Davis v. Bandemer

Districts and Gerrymandering Gerrymandering refers to the act of drawing congressional districts to the advantage of the political party that controls the State legislature.

Top ten most gerrymandered districts Massachusetts Define: Cracking, Packing, Hijacking, Kidnapping http://www.propublica.org/article/redistricting-a-devils-dictionary

Redistricting in Wisconsin? 2000 Census 2010 Census

Reapportionment of Congress The graph shows how House seats were reapportioned after each census. Analyze Graphs How did the number of seats change for each of the four States between 1970 and 2010?

…one state is allowed to hold theirs in October…any guesses? House Elections According to the Constitution, any person whom a State allows to vote for members of “the most numerous Branch” of its own legislature is qualified to vote in congressional elections (Article I, Section 2, Clause 1). The Constitution also provides that Congress sets the date of House elections Since 1872 Congressional elections have been held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year… However… …one state is allowed to hold theirs in October…any guesses?

House Elections Off-year elections are those congressional elections held between presidential elections. The party of the president typically loses seats in off-year elections…Why?

Qualifications for House Members The Constitution says that a member of the House… (1) must be at least 25 years of age, (2) must have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years, and (3) must have been an inhabitant of the State from which he or she is elected. The realities of politics also require some informal qualifications, such as party identification, name familiarity, gender, ethnic characteristics, political experience, fund-raising ability.

Qualifications for Office in the House The youngest U.S. senator is 39-year-old Tom Colton (R-Arkansas) who was elected in 2014. Elise Stefanik (R-New York-21), who was born on July 2, 1984 (age 32) and elected in 2014 is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, and the youngest member of the 115th Congress

Qualifications for Office in the House Imposing Additional Standards: * The House can refuse to seat a member by a simple majority vote… - However…Powell v McCormack has made that much more difficult…WHY (p. 142) * The House can also expel a member with a 2/3 vote

The Senate In the Senate, representation is equal: each state has two senators. Senators were originally elected by state legislatures until the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913. The amendment gave voters the right to directly elect senators, and also allowed a governor to appoint a replacement senator should a sudden vacancy occur.

The Senate (the UPPER house of congress)－Size, Election, and Terms You should not be very surprised by these facts: Nearly a third of the present members of the Senate once served in the House of Representatives; none of the current members of the House has ever served in the Senate. Indeed, many of the men and women who now serve in the House look forward to the day when, they hope, they will sit in the Senate.

Translate “It is indispensable that besides the House of Representatives which runs on all fours with popular sentiment, we should have a body like the Senate which may refuse to run with it at all when it seems to be wrong - A body which has time and security enough to keep it’s head, if only now and then, and but for a little while, till other people have had time to think.” Woodrow Wilson “The Senate is a necessary fence against the fickleness and passion of the House of Representatives” James Madison

The Senate Use the Constitution, Article 1, section 3 (p.13) to answer the following : 1. Number of Senators from each state and how they are to be chosen. 2. Length of term 3. How many are up for re-election every two years? 4. How are vacant seats (between elections) to be filled? 5. Age citizenship and residency requirement? 6. Who will serve as the president of the Senate? Under what conditions may that person vote in the Senate? 7. Who presides over the Senate when the president of the Senate is absent? 8. How did the 17th Amendment (p.20) change the way Senators are chosen ?

Size, Election, and Terms The Constitution says that the Senate “shall be composed of two Senators from each State.” Today’s Senate consists of 100 Senators. Originally, the Constitution provided that senators were chosen by the State legislatures. In 1912 the Seventeenth Amendment was passed and called for the popular election of senators. Senators serve for six-year terms. The Senate is a continuous body, meaning that all of its seats are never up for election at the same time. Has the 17th amendment ruined the framers plan?

The Senate: Facts A “continuous body” One-third of the Senate comes up for reelection every two years Senators can run for reelection as often as they desire The Senate is a “continuous body,” which means that unlike the House it does not reorganize from time to time due to changes in population. In addition, to minimize upheaval elections for senators are structured so that only one-third of the Senate comes up for reelection every two years. The framers of the Constitution set up the Senate as a continuous body because they envisioned it as the upper house of the legislature, with more responsibilities in the checks and balances system. Senators can run for reelection as often as they desire. The Senate in 1939

The Senate－Size, Election, and Terms The number of seats in the House grew rapidly until 1929. The number of seats in the Senate grew more slowly and then leveled off. Analyze Graphs What are the reasons for these trends?

Higher Qualifications for Senate Membership Must be at least 30 years old Must live in the state he or she represents Must have been a U.S. citizen for at least nine years Members of the House of Representatives must be at least 30 years old, must live in the state he or she represents, and must have been a U.S. citizen for at least nine years. The chamber of the U.S. Senate

The “fickle” public??

House and Senate Review Study Guide Review 4.2