Chapter 10

1. Chapter 10 Congress

2. Section 1- The National Legislature • U.S. is a representative democracy • Citizens elect representatives • Congress is the part of the U.S. government that makes laws. Two Houses(bicameral) • Senate and House of Representatives Constitutional Convention debated whether the States or the people should have more power • To make both side happy one house (the Senate) became a place where each State had two representatives and had equal power • In the second house (the House of Representatives) the States with more people sent more representatives. • Bicameral Congress was helpful- one house could double-check the other’s work.

3. Terms and Sessions of Congress • Congress’s term or length of service lasts for two years • Each term begins January 3 during every odd-numbered year • Congress holds one sessions or meeting period every year • Each term has two sessions • Congress can adjourn or end a session whenever it finishes its business • Today Congress meets all year round with several recesses or breaks • The President can call to Congress a special session to take action on a very important issue

4. Section 2- The House • The House of Representatives has 435 members • Must be at least 25 years old • The number of representatives from each State depends on how many people live in the State. • Congress apportions, or distributes, the seats among the States • Every state must send at least one representative to the House • The States that have the fewest people have one member in the House • California has the most people and therefore has the most representatives (53) • House members serve a term of two years • They may serve an unlimited number of terms if the people continue to elect them.

5. Reapportionment • Every 10 years the U.S. counts its population in the census • After each census the number of representatives a state has may change • May gain or lose seats • To redistribute the seats is called reapportionment

6. Congressional Elections • Congressional elections are held in November in even-numbered years • An off-year election is the congressional election held between presidential elections, which are held every 4 years • The President’s political party usually loses seats in the off-year election

7. The voters of a single congressional district vote for a member of the House • In a single-member district election voters select one candidate to represent a single geographical district in the House • An at-large election- all voters from the State (rather than district) vote for the officer • Once the Federal gov’t tells each State how many seats it has, the State draws the boundaries of its House districts. • Congress made rules for this process. • Each district must be contiguous (one piece of land), it must be compact (cover the smallest possible area), and each must have roughly the same number of people

8. States used to ignore these rules. Instead the party that controlled the State legislature drew boundaries to help its candidates win House elections. • This is known as gerrymandering • 1964 Wesberry v. Sanders- Supreme Court ruled that a state may not create some congressional districts with more people than others • Guaranteed “One-person one-vote”

9. Section 3- The Senate • 100 members, 2 from each of the 50 states • The Senate is the “upper house” in Congress • b/c of stricter qualifications • Must be at least 30 years old • 17th Amendment- people elect senators at-large in the regular November election (previously State legislatures chose their senators) • Each senator has a 6 year term • Only one-third of the senators’ terms ends at the same time. • Every 2 years about 33 senators are up for reelection • Senators have longer terms so they are able to focus on “big-picture” issues important to their state and nation.

10. Section 4- The Members