Do Now What are some of the extra powers given to the federal government in our current Constitution compared to the Articles of Confederation?

House of Representatives • The House of Representatives

is the larger of the two houses of the legislative branch, with 435 members. That number has been set since 1911 because more representatives would not fit in the physical building where the House meets.

• Each representative is chosen from a particular geographical area called a congressional district.

• The only requirements to become a representative in the House are laid out in the Constitution: they must be at least 25 years old, and have been a US citizen for at least 7 years.

• In practice, representatives are usually much older than that (the current average is 57 years old). They're almost always college-educated (often holding advanced degrees like Masters' and PhD's), and were usually successful in some other field before they entered politics (usually law or business).

• Representatives in the House are elected every 2 years, but there's no limit to how many times they can be re-elected.

• The current longest-serving representative is John Conyers, a Democrat. He's been a representative from a district in Detroit, Michigan since 1964. Even though he's now 87 years old, he still has no plans to retire any time soon.

• In general, being a House representative is a good job to have. Besides giving you a lot of power, it also pays $174,000 a year (aside from living and travel expenses), and gives free health insurance and pension for the rest of your life afterwards.

John Conyers

• Nevada only has a total of 4 representatives in the House.

• Equipo is located in Nevada's 1st congressional district. It's a large area that stretches from the edge of Summerlin all the way to Sunrise Mountain, including all of Downtown Las Vegas and the Strip.

• Our current representative is a woman named Dina Titus. She's 66 years old and was first elected in 2012, then re-elected in 2014. She's up for re-election again next week. Titus spent most of her adult life as a professor of political science at UNLV, where she still occasionally teaches classes in her spare time.

Special Roles • Aside from being just an ordinary representative,

members of the House can also have special jobs. The most important jobs are Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, and Minority Leader.

• The Speaker of the House is basically the leader of the entire House of Representatives. They have a lot of power in deciding what bills get voted on, and how often the House meets. The Speaker is chosen by the whole House, and always belongs to whatever political party has more members. It's a very competitive position because it is so powerful.

• Besides controlling many aspects of the House of Representatives, the Speaker is also the next in line of succession after the Vice President if the President dies.

• The Majority Leader is the head of the political party in the House that has the most members. They're not as important as the Speaker, but it's a position of honor and authority within your political party.

• The Minority Leader is the same thing, they're just the head of whatever political party has fewer members in the House.

Paul Ryan, the current Speaker of the House

Senate • The Senate is the smaller of the

two houses of the legislative branch, with 100 members (2 from each state). The number of members has remained the same since Alaska and Hawaii became the last two states in 1959, but could change if more states are eventually added (like Washington DC or Puerto Rico).

• Each state gets 2 senators, but they don't represent certain parts of the state; both senators represent the whole thing.

• The requirements to become a senator are also in the Constitution: at least 30 years old, and a US citizen for at least 9 years.

• Like members of the House, though, senators are usually much older than that. The average age of a senator is actually slightly older, currently 61 years old.

• Becoming a senator is considered even more powerful and prestigious than a member of the House because there are fewer of them. So as a whole, they tend to be even more well-educated and successful than House representatives.

• Senators only have to run for re-election every 6 years, but like the House, there is no limit on how many times a senator can be re-elected.

• Senators used to be chosen by the state governments that they came from, instead of being elected by ordinary people. That changed in 1913 when members of the Senate started being elected by a regular vote.

• The current longest-serving senator is Patrick Leahy, a Democratic senator from Vermont since 1974. Even though he's been a senator for a really long time, he's only 76 years old, because he became a senator at an unusually young age (only 34 when he was first elected). He will probably serve for many more years to come.

• Although the job is considered more exclusive and prestigious, senators have the exact same pay and benefits as members of the House.

Patrick Leahy

Special Roles • Like the House, the Senate also has some special roles.

The leader of the Senate is called the President Pro Tempore. The job is pretty much exactly the same as the Speaker of the House, giving a lot of power to decide what bills the Senate votes on and when they meet, just with a different title.

• The President Pro Tempore of the Senate is the next in line of succession after the Speaker of the House in case something happens to the president AND vice president AND speaker.

• The Senate also has a Majority Leader and Minority Leader - heads of the larger and smaller political parties in the Senate.

• One of Nevada's senators, Harry Reid, was the Senate Majority Leader from 2007 to 2015, when Democrats were in control of it. When Republicans gained control of the Senate in 2015, Harry Reid was then chosen to be the Minority Leader, which he still is today.

• When Harry Reid soon retires and his successor is chosen (either Catherine Cortez-Masto or Joe Heck), they will not inherit his title of Minority Leader.

Harry Reid

What does the legislative branch do? • The short answer is: make laws. The long

answer is: a lot. • Because the federal government collects

taxes in many forms (income taxes, businesses taxes, estate taxes, etc.), they have a lot of money.

• One of the biggest things they have to do every year is vote on the federal budget (how to spend the government's money).

• This is always a big source of debate because different representatives sometimes have very different opinions on how that money should be used, even if they belong to the same political party.

• Here's an overview of 2016's budget: Total revenue = $3.34 trillion Total expenses = $3.95 trillion Total debt = $17.4 trillion

• The House of Representatives and Senate also make laws about all other aspects of life. Some examples are: food safety, job safety, trade deals with other countries, reforms of exisiting taxes and laws, statements of support/condemnation, and many others.

• Here's a list of the most recent bills that were signed by the president to become laws:

Oct 14 - Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act (to create a program to help Native American children, introduced by Heidi Heitkamp, a senator from North Dakota) Oct 7 - Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act (to make prizes won by athletes in the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games tax-free, introduced by Bob Dold, a representative from Illinois) Oct 7 - To amend title 49, US Code, with respect to certain grant assurances (to change an existing law about leasing space in airports, introduced by Fred Upton, a representative from Michigan) Oct 7 - To designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Pueblo, Colorado as the PFC James Dunn VA Clinic (to name a building, introduced by Cory Gardner, a senator from Colorado) Oct 7 - Survivors' Bill of Rights Act (to establish certain rights for sexual assault survivors, introduced by Mimi Walters, a representative from California)

Exit Ticket

1. How often are representatives and senators re-elected? a. rep's every 2 years, senators every 4 years b. rep's every 6 years, senators every 2 years c. rep's every 4 years, senators every 6 years d. rep's every 2 years, senators every 6 years 2. What are the areas called that members of the House of Representatives represent? a. congressional districts b. representative districts c. members regions d. members of the House don't represent certain areas

3. Which of the following best describes the role of the Speaker of the House? a. the Speaker decides which members can vote on which bills b. the Speaker plays a part in deciding which bills get voted on and lead the House c. the Speaker is really just an honorary title and they don't actually do much d. the Speaker breaks a tie in case the House is evenly split in a vote 4. Congress makes laws about all of the following EXCEPT: a. taxes b. budget c. court cases d. naming government buildings

5. How many representatives does Nevada have in the House, and who is the representative for this area? a. 2; Dean Heller b. 4; Harry Reid c. 4; Dina Titus d. 8; Carolyn Goodman