Download Constitutional Establishment Clauses: Congress. Voting Procedures

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of
the United States Congress (a bicameral legislature). It is frequently
referred to as The House. The other house is the Senate.
The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of
the United States Constitution. The major power of the House is to
pass federal legislation that affects the entire country, although
its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by
the U.S. President before becoming law (unless both the House and
Senate re-pass the legislation with a two-thirds majority in each chamber).
The House has some exclusive powers: the power to
initiate revenue bills,[1] to impeach officials (impeached officials are
subsequently tried in the Senate),[2] and to elect the U.S. President in case
there is no majority in the Electoral College.[3]
Each U.S. state is represented in the House in proportion to
its population as measured in the census, but every state is entitled to at
least one representative. The most populous state, California, currently has
53 representatives. On the other end of the spectrum, there are seven
states with only one representative each (Alaska, Delaware, Montana,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming). The total number of
voting representatives is fixed by law at 435.[4] In addition there are six nonvoting Representatives who have a voice on the floor and a vote in
committees, but no vote on the floor.
The Speaker of the House, who presides over the chamber, is elected by
the members of the House, and is therefore traditionally the leader of
the House Democratic Caucus or the House Republican Conference,
whichever party has more voting members. The House meets in the south
wing of the United States Capitol.
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was a unicameral body in
which each state held only one vote. After eight years of a more limited
federal government under the Articles, numerous political leaders, such
as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, initiated the Constitutional
Convention in 1787, which received the Confederation Congress's
permission to "amend the Articles of Confederation". All states
except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates.
The issue of how Congress was to be structured was one of the most
divisive among the founders during the Convention. Edmund
Randolph's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house
would be "of the people", elected directly by the people of the United States
and representing public opinion, and a more deliberative upper house that
would represent the individual states, and would be less susceptible to
variations of mass sentiment, would be elected by the lower house.
The House is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being
the upper house, although the United States Constitution does not use that
terminology. Both houses' approval is necessary for the passage
of legislation. The Virginia Plan drew the support of delegates from large
states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for
representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored
the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal
representation for the states.
Eventually, the Convention reached the Connecticut Compromise, or the
Great Compromise, under which one house of Congress (the House of
Representatives) would provide representation proportional to each state's
population, whereas the other (the Senate) would provide equal
representation amongst the states. The Constitution was ratified by the
requisite number of states (nine out of the 13) in 1788, but its
implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House began work on April
1, 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time.
During the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict
with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery.
The North was much more populous than the South, and therefore
dominated the House of Representatives. However, the North held no such
advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states
prevailed.
Historical graph of party control of the Senate and House as well as the
Presidency[5]
Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery. One
example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by
the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso, which sought to ban slavery in the land
gained during the Mexican-American War. Conflict over slavery and other
issues persisted until the Civil War (1861–1865), which began soon after
several southern states attempted to secede from the Union. The war
culminated in the South's defeat and in the abolition of slavery. Because all
southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the
beginning of the war, the Senate did not have the balance of power
between North and South during the war.
The years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for
the Republican Party, which many Americans associated with the Union's
victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction
period ended in about 1877; the ensuing era, known as the Gilded Age,
was marked by sharp political divisions in the electorate.
The Democratic and the Republican Party held majorities in the House at
various times.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw a dramatic increase in the
power of the Speaker of the House. The rise of the Speaker's influence
began in the 1890s, during tenure of
As a check on the regional, popular, and rapidly changing politics of the
House, the Senate has several distinct powers. For example, the "advice
and consent" powers (such as the power to approve treaties) are a sole
Senate privilege.[19] The House, however, has the exclusive power to
initiate bills for raising revenue, to impeach officials, and to choose
the President in the event that a presidential candidate fails to get a
majority of the Electoral College votes.[20] The Senate and House are
further differentiated by term lengths and the number of districts
represented: the Senate has longer terms of six years, fewer members
(currently one hundred, two for each state), and (in all but seven
delegations) larger constituencies per member. The Senate is informally
referred to as the "upper" house, and the House of Representatives as the
"lower" house.
How Are Laws Made?
Laws begin as ideas. First, a representative sponsors a bill. The bill is then
assigned to a committee for study. If released by the committee, the bill is
put on a calendar to be voted on, debated or amended. If the bill passes by
simple majority (218 of 435), the bill moves to the Senate. In the Senate,
the bill is assigned to another committee and, if released, debated and
voted on. Again, a simple majority (51 of 100) passes the bill. Finally, a
conference committee made of House and Senate members works out any
differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The
resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval. The
Government Printing Office prints the revised bill in a process called
enrolling. The President has 10 days to sign or veto the enrolled bill.
Bills
A bill is the form used for most legislation, whether permanent or
temporary, general or special, public or private. A bill originating in the
House of Representatives is designated by the letters “H.R.”, signifying
“House of Representatives”, followed by a number that it retains throughout
all its parliamentary stages. Bills are presented to the President for action
when approved in identical form by both the House of Representatives and
the Senate.
Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process
whereby the Constitution may be altered. Altering the Constitution consists
of proposing an amendment or amendments and subsequent ratification.[1]
Amendments may be adopted and sent to the states for ratification by
either:

Two-thirds (supermajority) of both the Senate and the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress;
OR

By a national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of
at least two-thirds (at present 34) of the states.
To become part of the Constitution, an amendment must be ratified by
either (as determined by Congress):

The request of legislatures of three-fourths (at present 38) of the states;
OR

State ratifying conventions in three-fourths (at present 38) of the states.

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it
necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the
application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall
call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case,
shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution,
when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states,
or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other
mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that
no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand
eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth
clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state,
without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
Senate.[2]

Procedure for amending the Constitution

Thirty-three amendments to the United States Constitution have been
approved by the United States Congress and sent to
the states for ratification. Twenty-seven of these amendments have
been ratified and are now part of the Constitution. The first ten
amendments were adopted and ratified simultaneously and are
known collectively as the Bill of Rights. Six amendments adopted by
Congress and sent to the states have not been ratified by the
required number of states and are not part of the Constitution. Four of
these amendments are still technically open and pending, one is
closed and has failed by its own terms, and one is closed and has
failed by the terms of the resolution proposing it (though this is in
dispute). There have been many other proposals for amendments to
the United States Constitution. Approximately 11,539 measures have
been introduced in Congress since 1789,[3] only to die in committee or
on the floor of the House or Senate, and were therefore not sent to
the states for ratification.