How Many House of Representatives Are There in the Us

Table of Contents

Departure Between Firm and Senate
House: Roles and Responsibilities
Senate: Roles and Responsibilities
How a Bill Becomes Law
How Their Differences Make the House and Senate Stronger

The U.S. Congress is often referred to as a single entity, but information technology'due south actually a combination of two distinct groups: the House of Representatives and the Senate. While both houses of Congress work together to propose and enact the laws that govern our state, the differences betwixt the House and Senate ensure that each chamber in this bicameral ("two room") system has distinct roles and responsibilities.

The U.S. Capitol building's east facade is shown with the U.S. flag flying in front of it.

Together, the House and Senate form the legislative branch of authorities. They collaborate with the executive and judicial branches to implement the checks and balances that go on all three branches operation and forestall any single branch from abusing its power.

Commodity I of the U.S. Constitution: Divergence Between House and Senate

The framers of the Constitution knew that it was of import to protect the smaller states of the newly formed Union from being overshadowed by their more populous counterparts. They hoped that by dividing legislative power between two houses, they'd be able to ensure equal representation for residents of all states, as the U.S. Capitol Visitor Centre explains.

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates from Connecticut proposed that the seats in the House be assigned based on population, while the seats in the Senate be assigned two per state. The Great Compromise (or Connecticut Compromise) gives each state equal representation in the Senate while ensuring equal representation per citizen in the House.

Article I, Section ii: Composition and Function of the Firm of Representatives

Commodity I of the Constitution specifies the powers, duties, and responsibilities of each of the two houses of Congress. Information technology lays out the rules for qualifying every bit a representative, besides equally the method by which the seats in the House of Representatives are assigned to united states and how vacancies are filled.

The Constitution affords the Business firm — known as the lower chamber because it has more members than the Senate — much leeway in deciding how it volition operate.

Historic period, citizenship, term duration, and residency requirements

Representatives:

Must be at least 25 years old.
Must be citizens for at least 7 years.
Are elected to a 2-year term.
Must be residents of the states they represent.

Resource allotment of representatives based on population

Originally, the number of representatives was gear up at 1 per 30,000 inhabitants, but the representative count has since increased, equally the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art, and Athenaeum website describes. The apportionment was to be based on an enumeration (population census) that was to be made within three years of the Constitution existence ratified (canonical) by the thirteen states, and then every x years thereafter.

The Circulation Human action of 1911 and its successor, the Permanent Circulation Act of 1929, capped the number of representatives at 435. For this reason, as of the 2010 Census, the average number of inhabitants in a congressional district is nearly 710,000. The House of Representatives Archives states that the number of representatives was express to 435 because the U.S. population was growing faster in urban states than in rural ones, which gave large states a college proportion of representatives than smaller states.

Ability to devise its own rules of operation

The Constitution allows each house of Congress to ready its ain rules. This has led to divergent practices and procedures in the Firm and Senate. The Library of Congress summarizes the operating rules of the House of Representatives:

Only a numerical majority is required to pass legislation in the Firm, which allows bills to be processed quickly. By contrast, Senate votes typically require a iii-fifths bulk, or sixty votes in favor.
Majority party leaders in the Business firm control the priority of various policies and decide which bills brand their way to the House floor for debate. In the Senate, minority political party leaders have more than influence over such procedures, then the majority leaders must work more closely with them.

Ability of impeachment

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the House "shall have the sole power of impeachment." This power applies to the offices of president, vice president, federal judges, and other federal officers, as the Library of Congress' Constitution Annotated explains. Grounds for impeachment are "treason, bribery, or other loftier crimes and misdemeanors."

The House determines whether to impeach and if an impeachment is called for; the Senate decides whether to convict and remove the official from part. This follows a pattern established in the British government and American colonial governments dating back to the 17th century, equally the Senate website explains.

Article I, Section 3: Limerick and Function of the Senate

Commodity I, Section iii of the Constitution calls for 2 senators from each state to be selected by a state'south legislature to represent that state. However, the 17th Amendment, approved in 1913, mandates the direct election of U.S. senators, which means that they're elected by straight vote of the people rather than by state legislators.

As the Senate website explains, the amendment was in response to corruption and other problems that prevented state legislatures from choosing U.S. senators. The Senate is known every bit the upper bedroom of Congress because it has fewer members than the Business firm.

Age, citizenship, term elapsing, and residency requirements

The Constitution requires that senators be at least 30 years old, U.S. citizens for at least ix years, and residents of the states they'll represent. Senate terms are for six years; the terms are staggered and so that approximately a third of all senate seats are up for ballot every ii years. This is intended to protect the Senate from brusk-term political pressure level and to ensure that turnover in the Senate occurs evenly, rather than having stasis for vi years followed by upheaval.

Allotment of Senators: Two per State

Equally the Senate website indicates, the reason the framers decided to let each state to be represented by two senators was to prevent the large states from overpowering their smaller counterparts. Benjamin Franklin believed that states should have equal votes in all matters except those involving coin. (Article I, Section 8 assigns to the House the power to tax and spend; this clause is described in the following section.)

Power to devise its own rules of performance

The Senate has the constitutional potency to set its ain rules, just as the Firm does. The Senate website quotes George Washington as explaining to Thomas Jefferson that the framers intended the Senate to "absurd" legislation passed by the House "just as a saucer is used to absurd hot tea."

In the Senate, individual senators have more than options to slow the progress of a neb by making procedural requests, such every bit keeping floor argue open on the matter at hand. This is intended to encourage deliberation, or the careful discussion and consideration, of bug.
Majority party leaders in the Senate propose the priority of items to be debated, but they must work with minority party leaders — and ofttimes all senators — to make up one's mind the floor agenda: the gild in which items are brought before the Senate.

Vice president as president of the Senate

The Constitution makes the vice president the president of the Senate, simply the vice president is immune to vote only to break a necktie. The Senate is empowered to cull its own officers and president pro tempore to preside over the Senate when the vice president is unavailable.

Power to try and pass judgment on all impeachments

Senators are empowered to effort and judge impeachments; in this capacity, they serve under "oath or affirmation." In the instance of a president's impeachment, the chief justice of the United States presides. An impeachment conviction requires a two-thirds majority vote of the full Senate.

If the impeachment trial leads to a conviction, the penalisation is removal from part and disqualification from "whatsoever office of honor, trust or turn a profit nether the United States," according to Article I, Section iii. Notwithstanding, the impeached person is "liable and discipline to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law."

Resource on the construction and part of the Business firm of Representatives and Senate

Cornell Police School's Legal Information Institute offers a fully annotated version of the Constitution and an explanation of the Constitution compiled by the Congressional Enquiry Service.
The S. Capitol Visitor Heart features a study guide that explains the divergence between the House and Senate. It poses six questions about the constitutional basis for the two houses of Congress and provides sample answers.

U.S. Business firm of Representatives: Roles and Responsibilities

The duties of the House of Representatives are stated in Article I, Sections 7 and eight of the Constitution. However, the powers granted to both houses of Congress are derived from Article I, Department 1, as the Legal Data Institute explains.

In the early Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the regime is "one of enumerated powers," which means that it can exercise simply the powers that have been granted to it explicitly past the Constitution. Paired with this doctrine is the ruling that legislative powers may not be delegated to whatsoever other branch of regime.

Subsequent rulings accept modified these 2 doctrines, resulting in new categories of powers derived from this constitutional foundation.

Enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent powers

Marshall's determination expanded the scope of the legislative powers enumerated in the Constitution by including the power to declare state of war, levy taxes, and regulate commerce. These powers are derived from the Constitution's necessary and proper clause in Article I, Section 8.

This gives Congress the right to practise whatever "means which are appropriate" to perform its constitutional duties, unless those means are inconsistent with "the alphabetic character and spirit of the Constitution."

Implied powers are those that aren't explicitly stipulated in the Constitution, but the government assumes these powers are granted to it by inference based on prior Supreme Court decisions, equally the Legal Dictionary explains.
Resulting powers are those that Congress has considering they're needed for information technology to fulfill its duties. They're derived from other powers specifically granted to the government so that information technology can exercise its enumerated powers. The Legal Information Establish gives as an example the ability to acquire territory, which results from the enumerated powers to make war and treaties.
Inherent powers are too chosen implied powers, as the Constitution Annotated notes. They're powers that Congress possesses even though they've never been explicitly exercised. An example would be the power to revenue enhancement cyberspace service providers.

Only congress may declare war, levy taxes, and regulate commerce

The power to declare war, levy taxes, and regulate commerce are among the congressional powers enumerated in Commodity I, Section eight of the Constitution. The taxing and spending clause and the commerce clause have been used to broaden congressional potency over federal revenue enhancement and economic policy.

In addition, Congress' war powers take created a lot of friction betwixt the executive and legislative branches. For example, presidents have tried to expand their power to engage the U.Southward. armed forces in overseas conflicts, every bit the House of Representatives Archive describes. For example, in the catamenia later World War II, presidents committed troops to the Dominican Republic, Laos, and Vietnam, among other countries, without requesting or receiving authorization from Congress.

The House originates all revenue legislation

Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution states that bills intended to raise revenue must originate in the House. This is one of the major differences between the House and Senate. The Senate is immune to propose amendments to spending and taxing legislation, merely equally it can with other bills sent to it from the Business firm.

Bills require only a numerical majority vote

The decision of the framers to allow bills to pass the Business firm after getting a unproblematic majority of votes was motivated by the desire to allow legislation to exist enacted chop-chop. The responsibleness for assessing and developing bills belongs to standing committees that are chaired by members of the majority political party, simply are fabricated upwards of members of both parties, as the Congressional Research Service explains.

Majority party powers and prerogatives

The important function of political parties in the organization and performance of the House is described by the House of Representatives Archive. The majority political party elects a speaker of the house and chooses other leadership positions, including the chair of all House committees. At that place are more members of the House than of the Senate, so the bulk political party wields more ability in the lower chamber.

Gear up policy calendar

The speaker of the business firm usually selects the House majority leader. The House majority leader is charged with formulating the party's legislative agenda, as described by USHistory.org. The minority party chooses a minority leader whose impact on the House policy agenda is much more express.

Determine which legislation reaches the House floor

Amongst the duties of the speaker of the house are presiding over all Business firm proceedings, determining which bills go to which committees, influencing committee assignments for new Business firm members, and deciding the priorities for bills to be debated and voted upon past the entire trunk of representatives.

Chair all committees

While majority political party members are chosen to chair all Business firm committees, they must work with the ranking member of the minority political party to prepare bills for deliberation by all House members. The House of Representatives Athenaeum describes the three types of House committees:

Standing committees are permanent; their jurisdiction is defined in the Business firm rules.
Select committees are temporary; they're created by resolution and charged with conducting investigations or researching specific topics.
Joint committees include members from the House and Senate, ordinarily to report specific matters rather than to consider a piece of legislation.

Resources on House of Representatives roles and responsibilities

The legal site Justia details the powers that the House derives from the taxing and spending clause of Article I, Section 8, including the types of taxes permitted and limits imposed on the ability to tax and spend.
The House of Representatives website explains the composition and functions of the House, including its leadership, committees, commissions, schedule, rules, and history.

Dorsum To Tiptop

U.S. Senate: Roles and Responsibilities

Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution describes the bones composition, operation, and duties of the Senate, although the Constitution grants the Senate leeway in determining how information technology will bear its business concern. The Senate website describes the powers and procedures of the legislative torso, which include trying impeachments, reviewing and approving presidential nominees, approving treaties, and managing internal matters.

Powers

The Senate receives all its authority from the Constitution. As described above for the Business firm, the Senate's powers are either enumerated, or expressly stated in the Constitution, or derived from the enumerated powers through the Article I, Section 8 necessary and proper clause.

Only the Senate confirms presidential nominations and treaties

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the president ability to nominate and appoint ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, and "other officers of the United States." However, the Constitution requires that nominations and appointments be made "with the Advice and Consent of the Senate."

Similarly, the Senate is empowered to approve treaties proposed by the president by a two-thirds majority vote. The Senate also has the ability to alter a treaty's terms. (The president'southward ability to establish executive agreements with other nations doesn't require Senate approving.)

Senate rules and procedures encourage deliberation rather than speed

The Senate website explains that the framers modeled the upper sleeping accommodation of Congress after early state senates and the governor's councils of the Colonial era. To shield senators from short-term political pressure, their terms were set at six years rather than the ii-yr terms of Firm representatives.

The Senate was intended to act more than deliberately than the Firm. This emphasizes the Senate's duty to advise on and consent to actions taken in the House and past the executive co-operative of government. In this role, the framers expressed their "suspicion of the presidency" by allowing the Senate to serve as a cheque on executive powers. Information technology also serves equally a check against the impulsiveness of the House.

Individual senators have pregnant procedural leverage

The continuing rules of the Senate promote deliberation by assuasive senators to "debate at length" and by requiring greater than a simple majority to cease debate on a matter, as the Congressional Research Service explains. The rules as well let Senators advise floor amendments to pending bills that are exterior of the subject matter of the bills themselves. For case, the Existent ID Human action of 2005 passed as a "rider": an additional provision to a military machine spending act that in its original version made no reference to traveler identification, equally ThoughtCo explains.

The result is an unpredictable daily flooring schedule for Senate business and the possibility that bills volition exist proposed whose subjects oasis't been researched or debated in committee. To bring some gild to Senate proceedings, the bulk leader is given priority in beingness recognized to speak and to propose the bills and legislation that the body will consider.

Bulk political party powers and prerogatives

In add-on to the Senate majority leader's power to control debates on the Senate flooring, the majority political party is granted other rights in the operation of the Senate.

Proposes items for consideration

The duties of the Senate majority leader include treatment all procedural matters that arise on the Senate flooring and informing members of the majority political party nigh the content, implications, and status of all pending legislation. In collaboration with Senate committee chairs, the majority leader addresses any conflicts that may prevent proposed bills from beingness passed.

Negotiates with the minority party to comport Senate flooring action

Most Senate deportment require greater than a simple majority to pass. Therefore, the majority party must piece of work more closely with the Senate minority party than is typical in the Business firm, which needs only a simple majority to corroborate measures. The Senate website describes the relationship betwixt the majority and minority parties in the Senate every bit "one of compromise and mutual forbearance" that's intended to forestall stalemates from arising on important matters of legislation.

Chairs all committees

Similarly, members of the Senate majority party are called to chair all committees. However, the nature of the Senate requires that the bulk leaders of committees work with the ranking member of the minority party to accomplish the commission's goals. The Senate website explains that the bulk party controls almost committee staff and resource, simply the minority party retains a level of control based on its share of Senate seats.

Resources on Senate roles and responsibilities

The Senate website details the institution's history and operation, including biographies of past senators, historical highlights, and a complete chronology.
The Library of Congress profiles current members of the Senate and explains the body's policies and procedures. The site links to active legislation and flooring activity, as well every bit specific committees, leadership, and officers.

Back To Elevation

How a bill becomes constabulary

The procedure that Congress must follow to enact legislation is described in Commodity I, Section 7 of the Constitution. USA.gov explains that anyone who has an idea for a new law is encouraged to contact their U.Due south. representative or senator to advise it. Nonetheless, most bills originate in the offices of one or more than of their legislative sponsors.

Step 1: The pecker is introduced in either the Firm or the Senate

A bill can be introduced by a representative or a senator; that person becomes the bill's sponsor (note that bills can have multiple sponsors). After coming together in small groups to discuss the neb's merits, representatives or senators assign the bill to a commission for further research, discussion, and potential amendments.

Step 2: The bill is debated and put to a vote

Once the bill is released by the committee, representatives or senators debate it and suggest amendments or other changes prior to putting the pecker to a vote. After passing in the initial body (House or Senate), the pecker goes to the other body, where it's researched, discussed, and amended further.

Afterwards both chambers have the bill, joint committees work out the differences between the two versions. Both houses then vote on the exact same bill. If the bill passes, it'southward sent to the president for blessing.

Stride three: The president considers the bill

The president has 10 days to sign or veto bills that Congress sends to the White Business firm for blessing. (A presidential veto prevents the legislation from taking issue.) If the president approves the nib, information technology'southward signed into law. If the president rejects the pecker, it's returned to Congress with an explanation for the veto.

If Congress adjourns before the 10-24-hour interval menstruation for signing the bill expires, the president can simply cull non to sign the bill, and the pecker won't become law. This is chosen a "pocket veto."

Stride 4: Congress may vote to override a presidential veto

Congress has the power to override a presidential veto by a ii-thirds majority vote of both the House and Senate. If the veto is overridden, the beak becomes law. A pocket veto by the president tin't be overridden by Congress.

Resources on how a bill becomes police force

The House of Representatives website explains the legislative process, including how bills and resolutions are proposed, introduced, amended, debated, voted on, and enacted.
Vote Smart examines each step in the procedure of a bill becoming law in both the House and Senate, including committee activity, flooring action, conference committees, and presidential review.

Decision: How Their Differences Brand the House and Senate Stronger

The framers of the Constitution worked carefully to ensure that the powers wielded by the three branches of regime — legislative, executive, and judicial — were carefully balanced so that the duties of each co-operative were clear and no one branch would overpower the other two. The bicameral legislature that splits legislative duties between a large Firm of Representatives and a smaller Senate is a key component of the framers' power-sharing strategy.

Despite struggles and challenges that arose early on in our country'due south history and persist today, the division of responsibilities and sharing of power have succeeded in keeping the wheels of government turning relatively effectively more than than ii centuries after the Constitution was written. While few constitutional experts and political scholars would argue that the bicameral legislative system works perfectly, near would agree that the formulation has stood the test of fourth dimension.

Additional Resources

The New York Times, "When the House and the Senate Are Controlled by Ii Different Parties, Who Wins?"

U.S. Congress, "The Legislative Procedure: Overview"

U.S. National Athenaeum, "The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription"

U.South. Senate, "Constitution of the The states"

Vote Smart, "Regime 101: Congress"

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