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2.1 Congress (Overview) - Notes

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11 views2 pages

2.1 Congress (Overview) - Notes

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patabee5
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© © All Rights Reserved
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2.

1 Congress (Overview)

Congress is the bicameral legislature that writes the laws for the nation. It is made up of the House of
Representatives which has 435 members and the Senate which has 100 members.

House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is supposed to represent the population of each individual state; the
census determines the number of congressional districts in each state. The state redraws the
congressional districts to make sure each district is equal in population.

The political party in charge of the state legislature controls how the districts are drawn. It is possible that
the legislature will gerrymander the districts to give their political party a power advantage in future
elections.

Every two years, there is an election for all 435 seats of the House of Representatives and once elected
they serve two year terms. The elections for congressional seats take place within each congressional
district. To be a member of the House of Representatives, one must be at least 25 years old, live in the
district, and be a citizen of the state. The congressional districts have a smaller constituency and many
house members have safe seats leading to high incumbent election rates.

The Senate
The Senate is based on equal representation meaning each state has two senators. With each of the 50
states having two senators there is a total of 100 senators in the United States Senate.

Every two years, one-third of the Senate is up for re-election and when elected they serve six year terms.
The elections take place on a statewide basis.

To become a senator one must be at least 30 years old. There are more rules in the House than in the
Senate due to the sizes of their memberships.

The Senate is designed to represent states equally, while the House is designed to represent the
population. The different term lengths of the chambers affects coalitions.

Powers
The enumerated and implied powers in the Constitution allow the creation of public policy by Congress,
which includes:

● passing a federal budget


● raising revenue
● coining money
● declaring war
● maintaining the armed forces

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