1. The Legislative Branch

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

7. = 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

8. 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

9. Gerrymandering
R = 2
B = 2

10. Gerrymandering
R = 1
B = 3

13. 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

14. Senate
47 Democrats
51 Republicans
2 Independent

15. House of Representatives
193 Democrats
237 Republicans
5 Vacant