The House of Representatives What are the duties and responsibilities of the House of Representatives in the American System of Government?

Today, Congress is divided up into a bicameral, or two house, legislature. One house is the Senate and the other is called the House of Representatives.

House of Representatives – Quick Facts Representatives are elected every TWO YEARS Members are elected by direct popular vote Majority wins Supposed to act as the most direct channel to citizens of the U.S.

Districts Each state is divided into districts based on population and, unfortunately, political affiliation Usually One representative is assigned to one district

How Many Citizens Per Representative? Approximately 710,000 people are allotted per representative Wyoming: Population: 550,000 gets 1 representative South Dakota: Population: 865,000 gets 1 representative Florida: Population: 20,610,000 gets 27 representatives

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Reapportionment and Redistricting Every 10 years the U.S. conducts a census and the number of representatives each state is assigned may shift because of a change in population. Reduced population = less seats Increased population = more seats Redistricting or re-drawing the lines of each district within a state is left to the states

Redistricting The political party that is currently a majority in the House would like to stay a majority Majority party = POWER This causes the redistricting to become unfair in order for certain political parties to win as many districts as they possibly can… This phenomenon is called…

Gerrymandering Gerrymandering – Drawing district boundaries for political advantage Gerrymandering is used to create “safe” districts that allow a political party to win more votes in a state

Work in partners On a sheet of paper, answer the following: If you were the purple party, which of these district set ups would allow you to win? What if you were the green party? HINT: The black lines are the district boundaries

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/gerrymandering-how-drawing-jagged- lines-can-impact-an-election-christina-greer https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=gerrymandering&&view=det ail&mid=D585B0A9CE14C1BDDA34D585B0A9CE14C1BDDA34&&FOR M=VDRVRV

Leadership In The House Speaker of the House – Most powerful member of the House of Representatives Elected by members of the majority party Constitution does not specify the speaker’s powers However, due to tradition and House rules, speaker presides over debates inside the house speaker assigns bills to particular committees Assigns representatives to particular committees Who is the Speaker of the House under the Trump administration?

Committees No member of Congress could possibly have or acquire all the knowledge needed on the topics the House covers Health care, agriculture, transportation, commerce, etc. The House has a system of committees that concentrate on a specific area of public policy

Committees Standing Committees: Permanent committees that address major areas where laws are most frequently proposed Agriculture, Foreign affairs Complete list will be on pg. 142 of your book Select Committees: Carry out specific tasks not already covered by existing committees Joint Committees: Address broad issues that affect both the House and the Senate For example, the joint committee on tax policy