The Legislative Branch of

Government

What do they do?

• The main job of the Legislative Branch is to make laws

• This is a long process done with the assistance of the other branches of government

Who are they?

• The Congress is the legislative branch for the United States government

• Congress is a bicameral, or 2-house legislature. Its two houses are the Senate and the House of Representatives

• Do you remember why a bicameral was created at the Constitutional Convention?

Why Bicameral?

• The 2 house system was set up to please both the large and small states

• In one (The Senate) representation is equal, in the other (House of Representatives) it is based on population

The House of Representatives• This is the “lower”

house• Each state gets

representation based on population

• The states have from 1-53 members of the house, based on their relative size

• The numbers are adjusted every 10 years, after the census

Changing House

• Originally, the House had 65 members

• Each state got a representative for every 30,000 residents

• Why did they change?

• How many representatives would there be now, with the U.S. population over 290 million? 9667

• Virginia Beach alone would have about 14!

The Modern House• The House now has 435

members, spread over 50 states. It breaks down to about 1 representative for every 646,952 people

• Virginia has 11 representatives

• California has the most (53), Texas has 32 and New York 29

• Wyoming, Montana, Delaware, Vermont and Alaska each get only 1 as they have the lowest populations

•

The People’s House?

• Of its 435 members, 352 are men, 81 are women

• 233 are Republicans,200 are Democrats There are two vacancies.

• 346 are white, 44 are African-Americans, 31 are Hispanic-Americans, 12 are Asian-Americans

• The average age of the Representatives is 58 years old

Who’s in the House

• The House of Representatives has 435 members

• They are all elected every 2 years

• The “Speaker of the House” is elected by the Representatives to be the leader of the House

Help Wanted: Legislator

• To be a member of the House of representatives the Constitution requires only 3 things

• You must be at least 25 years old

• Be a United States citizen for at least 7 years

• Live in the state you are representing

• The job pays $174,000 a year

Who represents you?• Scott Ridgell represents the

2nd district of Virginia, which includes all of Virginia Beach

• You are one of his constituents, or people who live in a district

• There are 10 other districts in the state

• The borders of the districts are adjusted every 10 years

• Sometimes districts are adjusted in unusual ways to benefit a particular political party. This is called gerrymandering

Virginia’s Congressional DistrictsDo you see any gerrymandering?

The Senate• The Senate is the

“upper house” of Congress

• Each state gets 2 Senators, regardless of size

• California and Delaware get the same number.

• How many Senators were there originally? How many are there now?

Senate Statistics

• There are a total of 100 Senators

• Each Senator serves a 6 year term

• Each Senator represents an entire state, they do not divide it like the House

• The Senate is led by the Vice-President of the United States. His title is “President of the Senate”. He can only vote when there is a tie

President Pro Tempore

• In reality, the Vice President rarely attends the Senate

• When the Vice President is absent, the President Pro Tempore leads the Senate

• The member of the majority party with the most experience serves as President Pro Tempore

• Patrick Leahy of VT currently holds this office.

Who wants to be a Senator?

• The Constitution requires the following:

• At least 30 years old• Citizen of the U.S. for

at least 9 years• Resident of the state

you represent• Senators make

$174,000 a year

Who’s in the Senate• There are currently 53

Democrats, 45 Republicans, and 2 Independents in the Senate.

• In Ancient Rome, the Senate was called the “assembly of old men”

• That is semi-accurate today• The average age in the Senate

is 63 years old• There are 80 men and 20

women in the Senate• 96 are white, 2 Hispanic-

Americans and 1 Asian-American and 1 African- American.

• Only 7 African-Americans have ever served in the history of the Senate

Virginia’s Senators• Mark Warner and Tim

Kaine are the Senators from Virginia

• Warner is up for re-election in 2014

• Kaine in 2018

Benefits of being in Congress• Members of both

houses get many benefits

• They can take free trips• The “franking privilege”

allows them to send free mail

• They get free office space and even have a private subway to take them to the Capitol

State Legislative Branch

• The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative branch for state government

• It is also bicameral, made up of the House of Delegates and the Senate

• It meets at the state Capitol in Richmond

Our State Representatives Barry Knight Jeff McWaters

Local Legislative Branch

• The City Council is the legislative branch for our local government

• It is led by the Mayor and City Manager

• In Virginia’s counties there is a Board of Supervisors instead of City Council