How Many Republicans Are Now in the House of Representatives
The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government and consists of two houses: the lower house known as the House of Representatives and the upper house known every bit the Senate. The words "Congress" and "Firm" are sometimes used colloquially to refer to the Firm of Representatives. At that place are 535 members of Congress: 100 senators and 435 representatives in the Business firm.
Republicans currently control the Senate (54 to 44 Democrats) and the House (246 to 188).
Comparison chart
 | House of Representatives | Senate |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | The United States House of Representatives is one of the 2 houses of the United States Congress. It is frequently referred to as the House. | The United states Senate is the upper business firm of the bicameral legislature of the U.s. Congress. |
| Type | Lower house. Responds to the needs of the people faster since representatives only accept a two yr term. Laws dealing with revenue must start in the House. | Upper house. The six year term means the Senate can be slower and consider the long-term furnishings of laws. |
| Seats | 435 voting members, 6 not-voting members: 5 delegates, 1 resident commissioner | 100 |
| Seats apportioned | Based on the population of each state | 2 for each state |
| Length of term | ii years. All 435 seats are upwardly for reelection every two years. | vi years. Here there is a continuous body idea. Only i/3 of the senate seats are elected every two years. Then only 34 or 33 senators are up for election at one time. |
| Term limits | None | None |
| Leadership | Nancy Pelosi (D) (Speaker); elected by the House of Representatives. | The President of the Senate [currently Kamala Harris (D) only votes in instance of a tie. When he or she is not available, the President pro tempore, a senator elected by the Senate [currently Patrick Leahy (D)] takes over on his behalf. |
| Majority Leader | Steny Hoyer (D) | Chuck Schumer (D) |
| Minority Leader | Kevin McCarthy (R) | Mitch McConnell (R) |
| Bulk Whip | James Clyburn (D) | John Thune (R) |
| Minority Whip | Steve Scalise (R) | Dick Durbin (D) |
| Political groups | Democratic (219), Republican (211), 5 vacant seats | Republican (48), Democratic (48), Independent (ii) |
| Voting arrangement | Showtime-past-the-post | First-past-the-postal service |
| History | Based on Virginia Plan | Based on New Jersey Program |
Size of Senate vs. Business firm
While there are 100 seats in the Senate (two senators from each country), there are 435 seats in the Firm of Representatives (ane representative from each of the various congressional districts, with the number of congressional districts in each state adamant by the population).
The Reapportionment Act of 1929 set up the final number of the House at the current 435, with commune sizes adapted according to population growth. However, equally district borders were never defined definitively, they tin and often do stretch into peculiar shapes due to a practice known as gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is used at the state legislature level to create districts that overwhelmingly favor 1 political party. Federal and Supreme Court rulings have overturned gerrymandering efforts that have been perceived to exist based on race, but otherwise some districts have been reconfigured to requite i or another party an extreme political advantage, thus assuasive that party to secure more power in the state and in the Business firm of Representatives.
A line graph showing which political parties accept controlled the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate over the years. Click to overstate.
Roles of Representatives and Senators
The House plays a major role in government, mainly that of initiating all acquirement-based legislation. Whatever proposal to raise taxes must come from the Firm, with Senate review and approval. The Senate, on the other mitt, has sole power of approval on strange treaties and cabinet and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Courtroom.
In cases of impeachment (e.g., Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998), the House determines if charges tin can be brought against the official, and a simple bulk vote approves or rejects the filing of charges (the impeachment process). If approved, the Senate then serves every bit the investigative/judicial body to determine if the charges merit removing the accused official from his or her part. Nevertheless, the vote in the Senate has to represent "a pregnant bulk," ordinarily taken to hateful 67 of the 100 votes.
Members of Congress are accounted to be "beyond the power of arrest" while in office, except in cases of treason, murder, or fraud. This stipulation has been used by representatives and senators to avoid subpoenas and other judicial procedures. A senator can waive the privilege at any time, but a member of the House has to submit his or her petition to a general vote. If a simple majority approves, the privilege can exist waived.
Congress has the power to subpoena any citizen. Noncompliance with a congressional subpoena can deport up to a 1-year jail sentence. The case is heard in a judicial forum, and punishment (a sentence) for those found guilty of "contempt of Congress" is handled strictly by the judicial system.
The succession order in the federal government is president, vice president and so Speaker of the House, the leader of the representatives. The vice president is considered the "president" of the Senate, though he or she is not required or fifty-fifty expected to nourish about Senate sessions. The Senate elects a "President Pro Tempore," often the senior, or longest-serving, senator of the bulk political party, who is responsible for managing twenty-four hour period-to-solar day business.
Length of Terms
Senators are elected for a half-dozen-twelvemonth term, simply House representatives but have two-yr terms before they need to seek reelection. Every member of the House is up for election or reelection every two years, but the Senate has a staggered system wherein just 1-tertiary of the Senators are upward for ballot or reelection every two years. It is possible for the House to modify to a large extent (in terms of political party control) every two years, but changes are slower in the Senate. In both chambers, incumbents have a nifty advantage over challengers, winning more than than 90% of all contested races.
Qualifications
To be eligible every bit a representative, a person needs to be at least 25 years old at the time of the election and have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 7 years. To become a senator, one must be at least 30 years one-time at the time of the election and have lived continuously in the U.S. for at least 9 years. It is not a requirement to be a natural-born citizen in order to become a fellow member of Congress.
Committees
Most of Congress' work takes identify in committees. Both the House and Senate have continuing, special, conference, and joint committees.
Standing committees are permanent and provide longer-serving members with power bases. In the Business firm, central committees include Budget, Ways and Ways, and Armed Services, while the Senate has Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Judiciary committees. (Some committees exist in both chambers, such as Upkeep, Armed Services, and Veterans Affairs.) Special committees are temporary, formed to investigate, analyze, and/or evaluate specific bug. Conference committees are formed when legislation is canonical in both the Business firm and Senate; they finalize the language in legislation. Joint committees characteristic members of the House and Senate, with leadership of each commission alternate between members of each bedroom.
Committees besides accept subcommittees, which are formed to focus more closely on certain issues. Some accept become permanent, but near are formed for limited time frames. Although useful for zeroing in on key issues, the proliferation of committees, and especially subcommittees, has decentralized the legislative process and significantly slowed it, making Congress less responsive to irresolute trends and needs.
Debating legislation has stricter rules in the Firm than in the Senate, applicable at both the committee and whole-trunk levels. In the Business firm, debate time is restricted and topics are set beforehand, with discussions limited to the agenda. In the Senate, the tactic called filibustering is allowed. Once the flooring is ceded to a senator, he or she can speak for as long every bit the senator chooses, on any topic; no other business tin be transacted while the person speaks. A filibuster is used to cake potential legislation or Senate decisions until a favorable vote can be called. This has resulted in sometimes comically absurd efforts on the office of senators. For example, during a 2013 filibuster over the Affordable Care Human activity, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) read from Green Eggs and Ham.
Origins of Firm and Senate
In general, the Business firm represents the population, while the Senate represents a "landed/big property" populace. In colonial times, the proposed "legislative body" had two models. The Virginia Plan, endorsed by Thomas Jefferson, created a group of representatives based on population sizes, so that more populous states would accept a greater vocalism in legislative issues. Opposing it was the New Jersey Program that limited each country to the same number of representatives; the plan suggested that there be something between two to v representatives per state. The New Bailiwick of jersey Plan was criticized for holding larger states "hostage" to smaller states, every bit each would have the same power base. This article in The New Yorker dissects it well:
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton absolutely hated the idea that each state should be entitled to the same number of senators regardless of size. Hamilton was withering on the topic. "As states are a collection of individual men," he harangued his boyfriend-delegates at the Ramble Convention in Philadelphia, "which ought we to respect most, the rights of the people composing them, or of the artificial beings resulting from the composition? Nix could be more preposterous or absurd than to sacrifice the former to the latter."
Per the Connecticut Compromise at the Ramble Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the United States adopted the bicameral system of the English Parliament (i.e., Firm of Lords and House of Commons). The compromise was betwixt the Virginia plan (small state) and the New Jersey proposal (large land), two competing ideas on whether each state should get equal representation in the federal authorities or whether representation should exist based on population. The compromise established that representatives in the lower firm (House of Representatives) volition be based on a population number (chosen a "district") while the upper business firm (Senate) would contain two representative from each state. Information technology was too decided that all classes would be eligible to go senators, field of study to age and residency restrictions.
References
- Congress.gov
- The Organization of Congress - Cliff Notes
- Wikipedia: U.s. House of Representatives
- Wikipedia: United States Senate
- Wikipedia: Structure of the The states Congress
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