Chapter 10

 Congress makes laws  Bicameral – made up of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate  Gives fair representation to both large and small states

 Terms of Congress – length of time official serve  Begins on Jan 3 of every odd-numbered year and last for two years

 Congress’s Meeting period – one session each year  Therefore, each term has two sessions  Congress adjourns its session when it finishes its business for the year  Today, Congress meets almost year-round with several recesses

 435 members elected every two years  Congress apportions, or distributes, the House seats among the states according to their population  Reapportioned every 10 years with the census  Numbers for each state may change

 After reapportionment, new state congressional district line are drawn  Gerrymandering, drawing districts in a way that is advantageous to the state legislature’s controlling party is illegal

 Allows the voters of each congressional district to choose one representative from a pool of candidates associated with that district

 25 years old  Citizen of the US for 7 years  Live in the state that he or she wishes to represent  Elected for a 2-year term and may be elected an unlimited number of time  Elections held in November of even- numbered years  Off-year election – one which is held between presidential elections

 Has 100 members  Called the “Upper House”

 More strict and serve longer  30 years old  Citizen for 9 years  Serve 6 year terms  Staggered by 1/3  Represent large size and geographic diversity of constituencies  Have more power and prestige  More likely to be seen as national political leaders

 White, upper-middle class, and male  More women and more minorities in recent years  Most have political experience

 Trustees –consider each bill’s merits, regardless of the views of constituents  Delegates - base their votes on the wishes of the “folks back home,” their constituents.  Partisans - vote in line with their political party.  Politicos - consider all of these factors when they vote.

 As members, screen proposed bills and decide which should be acted on  Exercise the oversight function - checking that the executive branch is working effectively and in line with the policies that Congress has set.

 Help those they represent solve problems with the National Government

 Act as legislators  Representatives of their constituents  Committee members  Servants of their constituents  politicians

 Salary  Franking privileges – sending mail postage- free