Personnel Mail And Office Expenses
House members are eligible for a Member’s Representational Allowance to support them in their official and representational duties to their district. The MRA is calculated based on three components: one for personnel, one for official office expenses and one for official or franked mail. The personnel allowance is the same for all members; the office and mail allowances vary based on the members’ district’s distance from Washington, D.C., the cost of office space in the member’s district, and the number of non-business addresses in their district. These three components are used to calculate a single MRA that can fund any expenseâeven though each component is calculated individually, the franking allowance can be used to pay for personnel expenses if the member so chooses. In 2011 this allowance averaged $1.4 million per member, and ranged from $1.35 to $1.67 million.
The Personnel allowance was $944,671 per member in 2010. Each member may employ no more than 18 permanent employees. Members’ employees’ salary is capped at $168,411 as of 2009.
United States House Of Representatives
| United States House of Representatives |
|---|
| Flag of the U.S. House of Representatives |
| Type |
| Plurality voting in 46 statesVaries in 4 states |
The United States House of Representatives is the lower house of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper house. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The House’s composition is established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of representatives who sit in congressional districts allocated to each state on a basis of population as measured by the U.S. Census, with each district having one representative, provided that each state is entitled to at least one. Since its inception in 1789, all representatives have been directly elected. The number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. If enacted, the DC Admission Act would permanently increase the number of representatives to 436. In addition, there are currently six non-voting members, bringing the total membership of the House of Representatives to 441 or fewer with vacancies. As of the 2010 Census, the largest delegation is that of California, with 53 representatives. Seven states have only one representative: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.
Comparison To The Senate
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 are a sole Senate privilege. The House, however, has the exclusive power to initiate bills for raising revenue, to impeach officials, and to choose the president if a presidential candidate fails to get a majority of the Electoral College votes. 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 , and larger constituencies per member. The Senate is referred to as the “upper” house, and the House of Representatives as the “lower” house.
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Voting Members By State
As of July;30,2021:
| District |
|---|
| Executive Director of EMILY’s ListPolitical aide |
| Delaware Health and Social Services SecretaryDelaware Labor Secretary |
| Assistant General Counsel to the Florida Department of Community AffairsPresident of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers |
| McLean County Board of CommissionersAir Force pilot |
| President of the Maryland Board of Higher Education |
As of January;3,2021:
| District |
|---|
States That Lost Seats
California continues to be the most populous state in the country, but its pace of growth has slowed enough that it will lose a seat in the next Congress. That means the states independent redistricting commission will have to decide what part of the state loses representation, which could hurt one party. Based on population growth, the endangered seat could very well be a district located completely or partly in Los Angeles County. And because Democrats control almost all of those seats, that could mean they will suffer a net loss from Californias redistricting. However, the removal of a district could make Republican Rep. Mike Garcias seat in northern Los Angeles County even more Democratic-leaning than it already is Biden carried it by 10 points if the districts new lines stretch further southward, which would give Democrats a better chance of capturing that seat.
Lastly, we know for sure that Republicans will be the ones to lose a seat in West Virginia. All three current members of Congress from the Mountain State belong to the GOP, so at least one out of Reps. David McKinley, Alex Mooney or Carol Miller will not be in the next Congress. Expect a lot of intrigue surrounding how, exactly, the seat is redrawn and perhaps a rare incumbent-vs.-incumbent primary election.
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Gop Women Made Big Gains
While the majority of the Republican caucus will still be men come 2021, there will be far more Republican women in Congress than there were this year. So far, it looks like at least 26 GOP women will be in the House next year, surpassing the record of 25 from the 109th Congress. Thats thanks in part to the record number of non-incumbent Republican women 15 whove won House contests. And its also because of how well Republican women did in tight races. The table below shows the Republican women who ran in Democratic-held House districts that were at least potentially competitive,1 according to FiveThirtyEights forecast. As of this writing, seven of them have won.
GOP women have flipped several Democratic seats
Republican women running for potentially competitive Democratic-held House seats and the status of their race as of 4:30 p.m Eastern on Nov. 11
| District | |
|---|---|
| D+22.1 |
Results are unofficial. Races are counted as projected only if the projection comes from ABC News. Excludes races in which the Republican candidate has either a less than 1 in 100 chance or greater than 99 in 100 chance of winning.
Worst Midterm Election Losses
During the midterm election, one-third of the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are at stake.
In the 21 midterm elections held since 1934, only twice has the presidents party gained seats in both the Senate and the House: Franklin Delano Roosevelts first midterm election and George W. Bushs first midterm election.
On four other occasions, the presidents party gained Senate seats and once it was a draw. On one occasion, the presidents party gained House seats. The worst midterm losses tend to occur in a presidents first term.
Modern midterm election results include:
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About The House Of Representatives
The United States is also divided into 435 congressional districts with a population of about 750,000 each. Each district elects a representative to the House of Representatives for a two-year term.
As in the Senate, the day-to-day activities of the House are controlled by the majority party. Here is a count of representatives by party:
Annual Congressional Competitiveness Report 2020
Ballotpediaâs Annual Congressional Competitiveness report for 2020 includes information on the number of elections featuring candidates from both major parties, the number of open seats, and more.
HIGHLIGHTS
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Three Key States To Watch In The 2020 Us House Elections
There are competitive House races across the country on Tuesday, from first-term Democrats trying to win reelection in Oklahoma and Utah with Trump on the ballot to vulnerable Republicans in Arkansas and Oklahoma hoping the president can help carry them to victory.
California and New York have a lot of House seats, and therefore a good number of close races. On the other end of that spectrum, Don Young, Alaskas only at-large representative since 1973, is facing maybe his most serious reelection challenge to date.
But a handful of presidential swing states will also play an outsized role in the make-up of the House. Here is a sampling of some of the races were watching.
Texas: The Cook Political Report put seven House seats in Texas in their most competitive categories . Democrats hoped to have a good shot to pick up at least a couple seats. One race in the 24th District is still close, but they are few other signs of a blue wave in the state.
Iowa: Three of Iowas four House races were expected to be competitive on election night, according to Cook, thanks to the states independent redistricting commission that aims to prevent partisan gerrymandering. Two have been called, but the Iowa Second District seat is still a tight race as votes come in.
Correction, 6:30 pm ET: This post has been updated to accurately reflect poll closing times in Alaska and Hawaii.
Govtrackus Is Taking A New Focus On Civic Education
Help us develop the tools to bring real-time legislative data into the classroom.
If youve visited a bill page on GovTrack.us recently, you may have noticed a new study guide tab located just below the bill title. This is part of a new project to develop better tools for bringing real-time legislative data into the classroom. We hope to enable educators to build lesson plans centered around any bill or vote in Congress, even those as recent as yesterday.
Were looking for feedback from educators about how GovTrack can be used and improved for your classroom. If you teach United States government and would like to speak with us about bringing legislative data into your classroom, please reach out!
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A Note About Room Numbering
The three primary House office buildingsCannon, Longworth and Rayburnshare a room numbering system for above-ground rooms that might confuse visitors at first.; The system is fairly straight forward and can be used to identify most member and committee offices merely by knowing the correct room number regardless of building.
All Cannon above-ground rooms are three digits.; As you would expect, the first digit indicates the floor level.; For example, 303 Cannon is on the 3rd floor.
All above-ground Longworth rooms are four digits and start with the number 1.; The second digit from the left indicates the floor.; For example, 1309 is on the third floor of the Longworth building.
All above-ground Rayburn rooms are also four digits, but start with a 2. The second digit indicates the floor number. For example, 2125 is on the first floor of Rayburn.
U.S. House of Representatives
Republicans Are Well Positioned To Take The House In 2022
Although we dont yet know the winners of some House races, we can already look ahead to the 2022 midterms and see a fairly straightforward path for the GOP to capture the House. Midterm elections historically go well for the party thats not in the White House, and the out-of-power party is especially likely to do well in the House, since every seat is up for election .
Since the end of World War II, the presidential party has lost an average of 27 House seats in midterm elections, as the chart below shows. No matter how many seats Democrats end up with after 2020s election at this point, they will probably end up somewhere in the low 220s a loss of that magnitude would easily be enough for Republicans to retake the House.
The recent history of midterms in a Democratic presidents first term seems especially promising for the GOP, too. Following Bill Clintons election in 1992, Democrats lost more than 50 seats in 1994, and after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, Democrats lost more than 60 seats.
If Democrats had added five to 10 seats this year, they could have survived a 20-seat loss in the midterms. Instead, Republicans will probably need to win fewer than 10 seats to gain a slender majority in 2022.
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Voting With The Party
This section was last updated in 2014.
The following data comes from OpenCongress, a website that tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of their party caucus.
- The average Republican voted with the party approximately 93.6 percent of the time.
- The average Republican voted with the party approximately 94.3 percent of the time.
- The top Republican voted with the party approximately 98.2 percent of the time.
- The bottom Republican voted with the party approximately 75.1 percent of the time.
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Membership Qualifications And Apportionment
Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states by population, as determined by the census conducted every ten years. Each state is entitled to at least one representative, however small its population.
The only constitutional rule relating to the size of the House states: “The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative.” Congress regularly increased the size of the House to account for population growth until it fixed the number of voting House members at 435 in 1911. In 1959, upon the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, the number was temporarily increased to 437 , and returned to 435 four years later, after the reapportionment consequent to the 1960 census.
What Was The Outlook Prior To The Election
Republicans needed to get to 218 seats to win back the majority they lost in 2018. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, in early 2019 identified dozens of Democratic-held districts to target. They included;30 Democrats;who were elected or re-elected in 2018 in districts that voted for President Donald Trump in 2016. All but one Dave Loebsack of Iowa sought re-election. Most were first-term members who defeated or succeeded Republicans in the 2018 election. Republicans won some of these Trump Democrat districts but needed to unseat most to win back control of the House.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats, identified more than 40 Frontline Democrats it expected to have very competitive re-election campaigns. Many of these members represented;suburban districts;that have diversified their populations in recent years. In most of these districts, Democrats were running for re-election for the first time. The Frontline Democrats amassed large campaign funds.
Democrats also identified more than three dozen Republican-held districts they intended to target, including seven in Texas.
Democrats also made a play for the suburban Texas districts of retiring Republican Reps.;Pete Olson;of the 22nd District and Kenny Marchant of the 24th District. They lost the 22nd District, but the 24th is currently too close to call, with Republican Beth Van Duyne leading.
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The Battleground States Advancing Controversial Election And Voting Bills
May 7, 2021 / 9:51 AM / CBS News
Washington Several battleground states controlled by Republicans have pushed for big changes in voting and election laws in recent months, in the wake of former President Donald Trumps electoral loss and a rise in mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
These states are considering changes to election laws, such as measures to enforce additional ID requirements, restrict access to dropboxes and shrink the pool of voters.
Arizona, Florida, and Texas each have growing and increasingly diverse populations and play a substantial role in the outcome of presidential contests. All three have Republican legislatures and governorships. Michigan has a Democratic governor, but its Republican-controlled legislature is considering several bills that could make absentee voting more difficult.
Arizona and Michigan narrowly supported President Biden in the 2020 election, and Mr. Trump won Florida and Texas. Georgia, which Mr. Biden also won, has already passed a controversial voting law including some new restrictions.
Here is a rundown of some of the key states states proposing changes to voting and election laws:
