Congress
The Legislative Branch
Basic Facts
Bicameral Legislature
Two houses
Senate
House of Representatives
Congressional Term
Start January 3 on odd numbered years
Runs for two years
Ends when they vote to adjourn
House of Representatives
Qualifications:
25 years old
Citizen of U.S. for 7
years
Legal resident of the
state that elects you
Term of Office:
Two year term
All of the House is
reelected every time
Representation
435 members of the House of
Representatives
Divided amongst states by population
Each state gets a minimum of 1
Currently seven states with only 1
Georgia has 13
California has most with 53
Representation
Each state is divided into Congressional
districts
A Representatives is elected for each
district
Every 10 years we have a census
Based on that census states can gain or lose
representatives
This causes “Redistricting”
Georgia’s Congressional Districts
Redistricting Problems
Gerrymandering
Arranging the districts in a way that favors
one party over another
Packing: putting most of one party’s members
in one district
Cracking: splitting a party’s members up over
many districts
Some states require that the districts
divide the state’s population evenly
Georgia’s Representatives
Rep. Kingston, Jack (R-GA-1st)
Rep. Bishop, Sanford (D-GA-2nd)
Rep. Westmoreland, Lynn (R-GA-3rd)
Rep. Johnson, Hank (D-GA-4th)
Rep. Lewis, John (D-GA-5th)
Rep. Price, Tom (R-GA-6th)
Rep. Woodall, Rob (R-GA-7th)
Rep. Scott, Austin (R-GA-8th)
Rep. Graves, Tom (R-GA-9th)
Rep. Broun, Paul (R-GA-10th)
Rep. Gingrey, Phil (R-GA-11th) This one represents you.
Rep. Barrow, John (D-GA-12th)
Rep. Scott, David (D-GA-13th)
Senate
Qualifications:
30 years old
Citizen of U.S. for 9
years
Legal resident of
the state that elects
you
Term of Office:
Six year term
1/3 of Senate is
elected every two
years
Representation
100 members of the Senate
2 Senators per state
Both Senators are “at-large” meaning they
both represent the entire state
Georgia’s Senators
Saxby Chambliss
Republican
2nd Term
(Through 2015)
Johnny Isakson
Republican
2nd Term
(Through 2017)
Salary and Benefits
The Salary for Congressmen is set by . . .
The Congressmen
Originally was $6 a day
Now is $174,000 per year
27th Amendment
Any change in Congressional salaries does not
go into affect until after the next election
Statistics by Party
Senate
Democrats: 51
Republican: 47
Independent: 2
House of Representatives
Democrats: 193 (44%)
Republican: 242 (56%)
Statistics by Gender
Senate
Men: 83
Women: 17
House of Representatives
Men: 360 (83%)
Women: 75 (17%)
Statistics by Ethnicity
House Senate
White 332 81
Black 42 1
Jewish 30 14
Hispanic 25 2
Asian 5 2
Native American 1 0
Statistics by Religion
For all of Congress*
African Methodist Episcopal - 4 Lutheran - 21
Anglican - 1 Methodist - 49
Assembly of God - 1 Moravian - 1
Baptist - 58 Mormon - 14
Buddhist - 2 Muslim - 2
Catholic - 157 Not Affiliated - 1
Christian - 33 Not Stated - 15
Christian Reformed - 1 Presbyterian - 41
Christian Science - 3 Protestant - 24
Church of Christ - 3 Reformed Church of America - 1
Church of the Nazarene - 1 Roman Catholic - 4
Community of Christ - 1 Serbian Orthodox - 1
Congregationalist - 3 Seventh-day Adventist - 2
Disciples of Christ - 2 Southern Baptist - 3
Episcopal - 35 Unitarian - 2
Evangelical - 1 United Church of Christ - 1
Greek Orthodox - 6 United Methodist - 1
Jewish - 42
* - This is not for the current Congress as I couldn’t find these statistics on them.
Reelection
Incumbent: In an election, the person
who is currently in the office and running
for it again.
In Congress the Incumbent wins 90% of
the time.