The Legislative Branch

Congress The Constitution emphasized the Legislative branch Madison said the Congress is “the First Branch of government” Set up as a Bicameral legislature, two houses Senate House of Representatives Congress initiates and approves national laws

Congressional Term Each term starts on January 3 of odd-numbered years and lasts 2 years The 115th Congress began in January 2017 Each term is divided into two sessions Each session lasts a year and includes breaks for holidays and vacations Both Houses vote to adjourn a session The president can call congress back for a Special Session

House of Representatives 435 members representing the 50 states Members serve a 2 year term Elections held in November of even years Official Qualifications: Must be at least 25 years old to hold office Citizen of the US for the last 7 years Must live in the state that they represent, they do not need to live in the district they represent

Apportionment Apportionment – the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives among the states Apportioned based on state population Reapportioned every 10 years when the census is taken Every state must receive at least one member of the House of Reps

= Why do some states get more seats? Wyoming New Hampshire Hawaii Alaska LA County 10,170,000 Vermont = Maine Montana Rhode Island South Dakota North Dakota Delaware

Congressional Districts Congressional Districts – The areas within the state that members of the House of Reps represent When a state’s number of seats change, it redraws the borders of the Congressional Districts, known as Redistricting Redrawing of the districts to favor one party over the other is called gerrymandering Districts must contain roughly the same number of people

Gerrymandering R = 2 B = 2

Gerrymandering R = 1 B = 3

Senate The “Upper” house of Congress Every state has 2 senators, 100 total Senators serve a 6 year term, 1/3 of Senators are up for reelection every 2 years Qualifications: Must be at least 30 years old to hold office A citizen for the last 9 years Must live in the state that they represent

Senate 47 Democrats 51 Republicans 2 Independent

House of Representatives 193 Democrats 237 Republicans 5 Vacant