House of Representatives

Seal of the House

The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress. Combined with the Senate they form the bicameral legislature of the United States, as laid out within the constitution.

The House composition was established by Article One of the United States Constitution. It is comprised of representatives who sit in single member congressional districts, allocated to each state on the basis of population as measured by the United States Census. Each district has one representatives, provided that each state is entitled to at least one. Since 1789, all representatives have been directly elected, with universal suffrage being introduced with the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

There are currently thirty members of the House.

The duties and responsibilities of the House include passing federal legislation, initiating revenue bills, impeaching federal officers, and electing the president on the condition there is no majority candidate from the Electoral College.

They meet in the south wing of the United States Capitol building, with a Speaker presiding over the House, once elected to do so by its members.

## Membership and Qualifications

### Apportionments

The membership of the House of Representatives is apportioned among the states by population, as determined by the census conducted federally every ten years. Each state is entitled to at least one representative, regardless of the size of it's population.

The federal ruling on the size of the House guarantees one for each state, and more depending on the size of the population of the state, but not more than one for every thirty thousand non-representative citizens.

### Districting

Since 1967 states have been divided into single member districts. Commonly, states withdraw their boundaries following their own internal censuses, however this is not always the case.

Wesberry vs Sanders was a landmark Supreme Court case which ensured that districts are roughly the same size in terms of population, but the exact layout and boundaries of the district are still up to the State itself. Federal Courts have also repeatadly allowed states to engage in gerrymandering, so long as it is not being done to further discrimination, or violating the Wesberry vs Sanders rule of equal populations.

### Qualifications

Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution establishes the three basic requirements needed to be selected as a representative.

* Twenty five years of age
* U.S citizen, non stop, for the last seven years
* An inhabitant of the state they represent.

The article serves as the maximum requirements for Representatives. Congress could loosen the requirements via regular legislation, but it could not tighten them. Similarly, State Governments could not put up internal requirements that limit or barrier the entry into running to become a Representative.

## Current Composition as of 21 May 2023 (Jan 2014)

### Republican Caucus

* Minority Leader Irvindemo (R-MW)
* Rep. Protokyne (R-FR)
* Rep. Aidan Dion DeSantis (R-MW)
* Rep. Nenrrn (R-NE)
* Rep. Gretchen Whitmer (R-MW)
* Rep. Fitzgerald Grant (R-SO)
* Rep. Nikki Haley (R-SO)