REFLECTING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE

House of Representatives:

Formal Qualifications

House members are chosen directly by the people

Members must be at least 25 years oldMust be a citizen of the U.S. at least 7 yearsMust be a resident in state he/she representsHouse can expel a member with a 2/3 voteThis has only happened 5 times in U.S. historyLast happened in 2002, when James Traficant

was convicted of taking bribes/income tax evasion.

Informal Qualifications

House candidates must be able to appeal to voters in his or her district.

The ability to raise money for a campaign is critical – winning/losing candidates spend $1.5 million combined on an election.

Other candidate qualities vary, but may include wealth, fame, charisma, and military backgrounds

Reapportionment

Each state gets at least one representativeEvery ten years, the House must be

reapportioned, in which seats are redistributed based on census results

States that gain population may gain seats; states that lose population may lose seats

Congress used to just add seats as the population grew, but this changed in 1929 when the number of seats became fixed.

Recently, southern and western states have gained seats.

Gerrymandering

Congress has the responsibility of reapportioning seats among states.

But redistricting, the job of creating district boundaries within the states, is left to the state governments.

The party in power (Democrat or Republican) tends to draw the boundaries to its own advantage politically.

Gerrymandering (cont’d)

Such boundaries are drawn to divide and weaken the opponent’s strength.

Tactic gives your party best chance of winning.

Drawing district boundaries for political advantage is called gerrymandering.

House Leadership

Speaker of the House – most powerful member and presiding officer (Nancy Pelosi – 1st female Speaker)

-comes from the majority party; is elected by fellow members of Congress

Powers of the Speaker:-presides over debates and recognizes speakers-assigns bills to particular committees-determines when/how an issue is debatedSpeaker is second in line to Presidential

succession

Other Leaders

Floor leader – one for each party in the House-majority leader (floor leader for majority party)

is the assistant to the Speaker of the House-minority leader (floor leader for minority party)

tries to keep his or her party united against the majority party.

Whips – people who encourage fellow party members to vote as the party leaders desire

Party caucus – a meeting at the beginning of a term where party officers are elected

Committees

Standing Committees: permanent committees that address major areas under which most laws fall.

-such as agriculture, the budget, and armed services

Ways and Means Committee – deals with taxes and other revenue raising measures; oversees programs like Social Security.

Standing committees have at least 4 subcommittees, which focus even more narrowly on an issue.

Other Committees

Rules Committee: very powerful; acts like a “traffic cop” for the House

-it can speed up or delay passage of a billSelect Committees: usually serve a limited

duration; cover tasks not already covered by existing committees, such as investigations.

Joint Committees: address broad issues that affect both chambers (like a conference committee)

Committee Chairs

Chairs are chosen by the majority partyChairs used to be chosen based on the

committee member who served in the committee longest.

In the 1970s, Congress began holding elections for committee chairs.

Seniority is still important, but is no longer the only factor considered.

Today there is a 6-year term limit for chairs.

Committee Membership

Members request committee assignments.May seek a post because it is important to

their constituents or because it is politically powerful or based on personal interests.

A member may have to campaign among colleagues

Paid staff do much of the background preparation work for the committee members.

Typical committee’s staff include: managers, lawyers, policy experts, and office staff.