New York State Test Prep Social Studies 5 (Grade 4) Local and State Government

The West Front of the Capitol

Congress

The House of Representatives and the Senate make up the United States Congress. Congress is the legislative, or lawmaking, branch of our government. The job of Congress is to pass bills and make laws. Congress meets in Washington D.C., the capitol of our nation.

The House of Representatives is known as the lower house of Congress. The Senate is called the upper house. Both the Senate and the House have about the same power, although their powers are different.

Senate

Representatives to the Senate are called senators. Each state has equal representation in the Senate. Two senators are elected by the voters to represent each state. Senators are elected for six year terms, however elections for a state's senators are not held during the same election years. In other words, no two senators are elected in a state at the same time.

In order to be qualified to run for senator, a candidate must be at least 30 years old. He or she must have been a citizen of the United States for at least 9 years, and must live in the state he or she represents.

The Vice President of the United States serves as the chairman or leader of the Senate. This means that it is his or her job to supervise the sessions, or meetings, of the Senate. The Vice President may not vote in any of the decisions the Senate makes unless the vote is a tie. The Vice President may then vote to break the tie.

House of Representatives

In the House of Representatives the number of representatives is based on the population of the state. There are 435 representatives in all. Every state has at least one representative. The states with the largest populations have the most representatives, and the states with the smallest populations have the fewest representatives. States with just one representative are Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. The state with the greatest population is California. There are 52 representatives from California. New York has 31 representatives.

Each member of the House represents a certain area of his or her state. This area is known as a congressional district. Representatives are elected by the voters in that congressional district for a term of two years.

Requirements for representatives are different than those of the senators. Representatives must be 25 years of age or older. They must have been citizens of the United States for at least 7 years, and must live in the state they will represent.

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population: the number of people living in an area