Chapter 10, Sections 2 & 3

Chapter 10, Section 2

 Formal  Must be 25 years of age  Must have been a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years  Must be an inhabitant of the State from which he/she is elected  Informal  Must live in the district which he/she represents

 House can challenge or refuse to seat a member-elect  Rarely successful  May also be punished for “disorderly behavior” by majority vote  With 2/3 vote, can expel members ▪ Has only happened 5 times, most recently in 2002

 Constitution says the total number of seats in the House is apportioned, or distributed, among the states based on population  There are currently 435 members.  Each state is guaranteed at least one representative.  District of Columbia, Guam, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa also have a representative.

 Constitution says Congress must reapportion, or redistribute, the seats in the House after each census  A census occurs every 10 years.  Representatives serve 2-year terms  No constitutional limit on how many terms one person can serve

 Reapportionment Act of 1929  “Permanent” size of the House if 435 members ▪ Each seat represents ~ 650,000 people  After each census, the Census Bureau is to determine the number of seats each state has  When this plan is ready, the President will present it to Congress  If, within 60 days of receiving the plan, neither house rejects it, the plan becomes effective

 Tuesday following the first Monday of November in even-numbered years  Elections that occur in between presidential elections are called off-year elections  More often than not, the party in the presidency during off-year elections loses seats in Congress

 Some states have only one representative, so they represent the entire state  State legislatures responsible for drawing congressional districts within the state  Each district must be made up of “contiguous territory”  Districts should have as equal populations as possible

 What is gerrymandering?  Drawing a Congressional district to the advantage of a political party that controls the State legislature  Most often takes 1 of 2 forms:  Lines drawn to concentrate the opposition’s voters in one or a few districts, leaving the others safe for the dominant party  Lines drawn to spread the opposing party’s voters as thinly as possible among several districts, limiting the opposition’s ability to win elections in that region

Chapter 10, Section 3

 Formal  Must be 30 years of age  Must have been a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years  Must be an inhabitant of the state from which he/she is elected  Senate can also challenge or refuse to seat a member-elect, and be punished for “disorderly behavior” by majority vote  With 2/3 vote, can expel members

 States have equal representation  Every state has 2 Senators.  There are a total of 100 Senators.  Serve 6-year terms  No Constitutional limit on how many terms Senators can serve  Makes Senators less subject to the pressures of public opinion

 Terms in the Senate are staggered  Only a third of Senate terms expire every 2 years  Senate is a continuous body ▪ All of its seats are never up for election at once  Senators are elected  Only 1 Senate seat up for election at a time ▪ Unless other seat is vacated by death, resignation, or expulsion

Chapter 10, Section 4

 Five major roles  Legislators  Representatives of their constituents  Committee members  Servants of their constituents  Politicians

 Representatives of constituents  Must vote hundreds of time ▪ Trustees – vote on independent judgment ▪ Delegates – vote as they think their constituents would ▪ Partisans – vote in line with their party ▪ Politicos – try to balance all of the above  Servants of constituents  Help with government problems  Fulfill requests of constituents

 Committee Members  Screen proposed laws (bills) and decide which go to the floor for voting  Oversee various agencies of the executive branch

 “Average” member of Congress  White male in early 50s  Some cultural diversity  More women now than ever  Barack Obama was only the 5 th African American in the Senate when elected in 2004  Nearly all members are married with an average of 2 children  Nearly all went to college  Almost half of Senators are lawyers

 Congress chooses their salary  Today, Senators’ and Representatives’ salary is $162,00 annually ▪ Speaker of the House makes $208,100 ▪ President pro tem, majority leaders, minority leaders all make $180,100  “Fringe” benefits  Special tax deduction to help with maintaining two residencies  Generous travel allowances, healthcare, retirement  Franking privilege – mail letters postage-free