“Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were

elected to Congress… but I repeat myself.”

-Mark Twain

Our Congress is bicameral, meaning it has two houses

The larger house is the House of Representatives

The smaller house, which is for “the elite” of America is the Senate

There are 435 congressmenCongressmen are elected to a term of 2 years

There are 100 Senators (2 from each state)

Senators are elected to a term of 6 years

Since you get new congressmen every 2 years, we call each 2 year period a “term” of Congress

The terms are numbered consecutively… the one that ended Dec. 2012 was the 112th Congress

The one that is in session now is called the 113th Congress

A session of Congress is all the time it takes to finish their business for the year

So how many sessions are there in a term of Congress?

Seats are apportioned (given out) based on population

Every 10 years seats are reapportioned after the census

Ever since 1929, the number has been 435 (Reapportionment Act)

Every state divides itself into districts based on the number of seats apportioned to the state

For example, Arizona is given 9 seats based on our population.

25 years oldU.S. citizen for at least 7 years

Must live in the state you are elected in

I am in the house, and the things like

that. Clueless. Where is our nanny?

In the election years where there is no presidential election (2014, 2018), the president’s party usually loses seats in Congress

That really stinks, yo.

There will always be 2 seats per state in the Senate

50 States = 100 Senators

30 Years OldU.S. Citizen for 9 Years

Must live in the state you are elected in

Originally, congressmen were elected by the public, and Senators were elected by the state legislaturesFounding Fathers did not trust the public with all power

Copy below17th Amendment has since changed Senate elections to a public vote

Senators have a much longer termEntire House is elected at once, while only 1/3 of Senate is chosen at a time

House members appeal to one small district, Senators appeal to entire state

Constituency: Senate=state House=district

The Founding Fathers wanted to have one house that would quickly respond to the desires of the public (House of Reps)

And one house that would be moderate, and stop any crazy nonsense the House would try (Senate)

Congress is not at all demographically representative of the U.S. populationFor example…

U.S.Males – 49%Females – 51%

CongressMales – 82%Females – 18%

U.S.White – 75%Black – 12%Hispanic – 13%

Asian – 4%Native – 1%*Many people qualify as more than 1 race

CongressWhite – 87%Black – 7%Hispanic – 4%Asian – 1%Native – 0.6%

U.S.Millionaires – 0.7%

Non-Millionaires – 99.3%

CongressMillionaires – 29%

Non-Millionaires – 71%