The House of Representatives has 435 members. Each state gets to send a
number of people to the House of Representatives based on the state's
population. Each state is divided into approximately equal districts, and
we vote for one person from our local district area. New York sends 31 people to the House of Representatives.
The U.S. Senate has 100 members. Every state gets to elect 2 U.S. Senators.
Senators serve for 6 years. There are no limits on the number of times they
can be re-elected.
The House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate work in a way that balances
each other, giving neither too much power. This helps to ensure that laws
are made in the best interest of our whole country. Congress also acts as a
check and balance between the other two branches of government by approving
all key political appointees, including the President's Cabinet and Supreme
Court Justices.
A new law starts as a bill in either the House of Representatives or the
U.S. Senate. No matter where it starts, both the House of Representatives
and the Senate have to pass the bill in identical forms by a majority vote
of each of their members.
The first draft of a bill is given a number which it will keep all through
the steps until it is law. If the bill starts in the House of
Representatives it gets the letters "H.R." in front of its number. If it
starts in the Senate it gets the letter "S" in front of its number.
When both the House and Senate finally approve the same bill, it goes to the
President. He can approve it or, if he doesn't like it, he can veto it.
The House of Representatives and the Senate get one more chance to pass the
bill. They can try to override the President's veto, but they need 2/3 of
all their members to override a veto. Remember, when they first passed the
bill on to the President, they only needed a majority of their members. Now
they need even more votes to win.
It can take a lot of time to get a bill through all these steps. But that's
good. Look at how many places there are for people like us to make sure it
is a good law.
