Let’s say you’re in a group of friends, and you just cannot decide where to go out to eat. Half of the group wants burgers and the other half wants pizza. No matter what you do to convince the other side, no one will budge. Someone in the group decides the only way to move forward is to compromise. The group will go to both places—that way, everyone will get something they like! This simple analogy relates to how the United States came to have its bicameral legislature. The House of Representatives is a result of a compromise, and it both shares characteristics with the Senate and also has its own unique powers and requirements.
House of Representatives Definition
Fig. 1. Seal of the U.S. House of Representatives - Wikimedia Commons
The Legislative Branch in the United States is a bicameral legislature. There are two chambers or houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bicameral legislature is a characteristic of a government with checks and balances. No bill can become a law without the agreement of both houses. Membership in The House of Representatives is determined by state population, and there are always 435 members.
Speaker of the House
The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House. The Speaker of the House is always a member of the majority party in the House. Their position is the only legislative office mandated by the Constitution. The Speaker is usually a more experienced member of Congress, having held office for a long time. The Speaker is third in line to succession. Their responsibilities include:
- Presiding over the House
- Assigning members to Committees
- Helping to assign bills to committees
- The Speaker has informal and formal clout. When the Speaker’s party is out of power in the Presidency, the Speaker is often seen as their party's highest ranking leader.
Majority and Minority Leader
The Majority leader is a member of the majority party and is the political ally of the Speaker of the House. They have the power of assigning bills to committees and scheduling bills. Along with the whips, they work to round up votes on their party’s legislation.
The Minority Leader is a member of the party out of power in the House. They are the leader of their party in the House of Representatives.
Whips
Both the majority and minority parties have whips. Whips are responsible for counting votes before the formal votes in the House. They lean on members of their respective parties to make sure they vote the way the party leaders want them to.
Fig 2. House Chamber, Wikipedia
Role of the House of Representatives
Members of the House of Representatives represent the people of their districts, and they are policymakers. They are empowered to create laws that are in the interest of the public good. There are more than 11,000 bills introduced in Congress every term. Very few become law. Members of the House serve on committees that best reflect the interests of themselves and their constituents.
All bills related to taxation must start in the House of Representatives. The House, along with the Senate, also has the job of legislative oversight. As a check on the executive branch, Congress can monitor the bureaucracy through committee hearings. The House of Representatives is the government institution closest to the people. They are supposed to reflect and be responsible to the will of the people.
House of Representatives Term
The term for a member of the House of Representatives is two years. There are no term limits in Congress; therefore, members of the House can run for reelection repeatedly.
Congressional Session
A session of Congress lasts two years. A new Congress begins on January 3 of odd-numbered years and each Congress has two sessions, and they last one year each.
House of Representatives Election
The entire membership of the House of Representatives is up for reelection every two years. Running for a congressional office is an expensive, stressful, and time-consuming task. It typically costs millions of dollars to run successfully for a seat in the House of Representatives. Members of Congress earn $174,000 per year. Incumbents often win elections.
Incumbents: Individuals who already hold an office.
Incumbents have name recognition and can claim credit for successes that occurred while they were in office. Incumbents can more readily raise money for campaigns than a candidate who has never held office before. Because incumbents typically win elections, this allows for a level of stability in Congress. At the same time, because there are no term limits, and many people criticize longevity in Congress as resulting in a legislative body insulated from change.
Difference between the Senate and House of Representatives
The framers of the United States Constitution intended the legislative branch to be both a representative and policymaking body. Members of Congress have difficult jobs, and Representatives and Senators have a responsibility to the people of the U.S. Although they both focus on creating legislation, the two chambers vary in different ways.
The Senate of the United States is intended to represent states as a whole on an equal basis, as each state, no matter the size, is allotted two Senators. The House of Representatives was created to represent the population of the states; therefore, each state has a different number of representatives.
The Connecticut Compromise (also called the "Great Compromise") resulted in the creation of America's Bicameral Legislature. The question of how to fairly achieve representation in Congress had been a source of frustration for the founding fathers. The creation of the House of Representatives and the Senate was the brainchild of Roger Sherman of Connecticut, who led a committee that combined the two proposals for the structure of Congress: The Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan would grant each state representation based on population. This made the small states uneasy. The New Jersey Plan would give each state an equal number of representatives. This seemed unfair to the larger states. The Great Compromise satisfied both large and small states.
The Senate has 100 members. The House of Representatives has 435. The difference in numbers allows for differences in the formality of rules in each chamber. For instance, The House of Representatives has stricter rules for debate. The House is more institutionalized and more formal.
Senators run for reelection every six years. Representatives are up for reelection every two years. The difference in term length results in different abilities to build coalitions and relationships. Representatives must focus attention on campaigns on a more regular basis than their counterparts in the Senate.
The House of Representatives is often referred to as the “People’s House” because the House more closely represents the people than any other branch of government. While both chambers must work together to create legislation, The House of Representatives has distinct constitutional responsibilities such as taxation, while the Senate has other duties, such as the power of confirmation and treaty ratification.
The Senate is seen as the “upper house.” Senators must be at least 30 years of age, and have been a citizen of the United States for at least 9 years. Representatives must be 25 years of age or older and have been a citizen for at least 7 years. They both must live in the state they represent. Senators serve longer terms and are typically older.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen." - Article 1 Section 2, U.S. Constitution
The House of Representatives has the sole power to bring charges of impeachment. The Senate conducts trials in impeachment cases. This is an example of both a check on another branch and an intra-branch check.
House Rules Committee
A unique characteristic of the House is the House Rules Committee. The Rules Committee plays a central role in lawmaking. Membership in the Rules Committee is considered a powerful position, as the Rules committee reviews bills out of committee before they go to the floor for full debate and vote. The Rules Committee schedules bills on the full House calendar and has the power to determine rules of debate and the number of amendments allowed on a bill.
House of Representatives - Key takeaways
The Legislative Branch in the United States is a bicameral legislature. There are two chambers or houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bicameral legislature is a characteristic of a government with checks and balances. No bill can become a law without the agreement of both houses. Membership in The House of Representatives is determined by state population, and there are always 435 members.
Representatives are up for reelection every two years.
Representatives must be 25 years of age or older and have been a citizen for at least 7 years.
The House of Representatives is often referred to as the “People’s House” because the House more closely represents the people than any other branch of government.
A unique characteristic of the House is the House Rules Committee
The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House
References
- Edwards, G. Wattenberg, M. Howell, W. Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy. Pearson. 2018.
- https://clerk.house.gov/Help/ViewLegislativeFAQs#:~:text=A%20session%20of%20Congress%20is,is%20meeting%20during%20the%20session.
- https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained
- Fig. 1, Seal of United States House of Representatives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives) by Ipankonin Vectorized from File:House large seal.png, In Public Domain
- Fig. 2, United States House of Representatives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives) by Office of Speaker of the House (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives) In Public Domain
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