Congress FAQs

The Office of the Clerk has developed a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the House of Representatives in general. It can be found here. You can also look at any of the questions below.

How many members of Congress are there?

There are 535 Members of Congress: 435 Representatives in the House, usually called Congressmen or Congresswomen, and 100 Senators in the Senate.

Additionally, there are 4 non-voting delegates sent from American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam and the United States Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico sends a non-voting Resident Commissioner who serves a four-year term.

The House used to expand as the population of the country grew until 1913, when it was set at the current number of 435. There have always been two Senators for every state.

How often do Members of Congress switch parties?

Not very often. In the last few years, only one Senator has switched parties. Senator James Jeffords switched from being a Republican to being an Independent aligned with the Democrats. In 2006, Senator Joe Lieberman lost his primary election, but ran successfully as an independent. He has chosen to caucus with the Democrats. In the House, since January 1, 1999, one Republican became a Democrat (Michael Forbes, NY, was who defeated for re-election in 2000) and one Democrat became an Independent who later officially became a Republican (Virgil Goode, VA, who was re-elected).

How often are Representatives and Senators up for re-election?

All 435 House seats - Representatives or Congressmen/women — are up for election every two years (in even numbered years, 2002, 2004, 2006, etc.).

Senators are elected for six-year terms. Unlike the House where everyone is up for re-election at the same time, every two years about 1/3 of the Senators are up for re-election. In 2008, 33 seats are up for election.

How many people do Congressmen/women and Senators represent?

Members of the House each represent part of their state, a Congressional District, which average about 600,000 people. There are 100 Senators, two per state. Both represent the entire state. This never changes.

The number of Representatives each state has is based on population, but each state has at least one.

What’s the biggest difference between the House and the Senate in how they operate?

In the House, the party with the majority number of seats has the power. The House conducts most of its important business by passing rules bills. These are literally bills that determine how the House will consider a bill. Because a rule requires only a simple majority, the party with the most votes has the upper hand.

In the Senate, while the majority still enjoys a tremendous advantage, any single Senator has immense power and can stop anything on their own. As a result, the Senate conducts a great amount of its business through something called unanimous consent agreements. Everyone must agree or things can’t move forward.

How much do Representatives and Senators get paid?

The current salary is $165,200. The only exceptions are the Speaker, who makes $212,100 and the Majority and Minority Leaders who make approximately $183,500.

Every year, Congressmen and Senators get an automatic “cost of living adjustment” - a boost in their salary equal to inflation - unless they vote to deny themselves the raise. 

(CRS Report on Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Officials: Process for Adjusting Pay and Current Salaries (RL3324))

How much do they get to spend on expenses?

Every member in the House and the Senate gets an allotment (called a Members Representational Allowance in the House) which they can use to hire and pay staff, buy office supplies, lease office space in their home state or district, mail official documents, answer mail, travel back and forth between Washington and their home, and generally try to serve their constituents. The amount each office gets is based on a formula, and in 2006, the amounts ranged from just over $1 million to $1.5 million. There are limits on how many people you can hire (18 permanent, 4 part time) and on how much you can pay people (max is $159,828 in 2006). It varies from member to member, but most offices spend the most on staff salaries, then mail, then office rent, travel, supplies, etc.

Members are expressly prohibited from using their taxpayer-financed office money for campaign activities, personal expenses, or primarily social activities. Members also can’t accept support from private sources for their official duties (except for travel).

(CRS Report on the Members Representational Allowance (RL30064))

Isn’t Congress full of attorneys?

There are quite a few attorneys in Congress. However, there are also schoolteachers, scientists, doctors, talk-show hosts and farmers.

(CRS Report on profile of members of the 108th Congress (RS21379), 109th Congress (RS22007) and 110th Congress (RS22555))

How does a bill become a law?

See our How a Bill Becomes a Law section.

Whenever I turn on C-SPAN, it doesn’t look like anyone is there? Why?

Visitors to the House Gallery or Viewers of C-SPAN are often surprised to see that a majority of Members of the House are not present during debate, speeches or other business conducted on the floor.

There are several reasons that this situation exists. While Representatives are required to be on the floor of the U.S. House in order to cast their votes - which are collected and tallied electronically - House rules allow for certain types of business to be conducted with the consent of a majority of Members, even though they may not be present for the entire process. This is often the case when Members are allowed to speak in favor or against legislation that may be voted upon at a later time.

Representatives must also spend time each week in committee hearings or meetings and attending to other official duties which may prevent their presence on the House floor. Legislation that is voted upon by the House of Representatives must be approved, in most instances, through the committee process before it can be considered before the full body.

In addition to votes, you will see Members of both the Senate and the House gathered in one chamber to listen to the President's annual State of the Union Address. Debate and discussion on major events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq are also occasions where one is likely to see nearly every Member of the House filling their respective seats.

Does it make any difference if I email, write, or call Congresswoman Giffords?

Yes, contacting your representative makes a difference. Any form of correspondence is an additional piece of information your Member of Congress may use to make their decision when voting. With the number of issues before Congress, your email, letter, or phone call could be the only way that your Member knows how their constituency feels about a particular issue.

Emails are the most preferable way of contacting the Congresswoman. Since September 11th, it can take up to four weeks for our office to receive mail, delaying the conveyance of your opinions and concerns as well as our response. Emails are the fastest and most efficient form of communication and are treated in the same manner as “normal” mail.

For more information, see our Contact section.

Why does Congress use a Committee System?

Congress deals with too many things for individual Members of Congress to debate everything, and so many things are non-controversial that they don’t need much time or debate. Every year a member will vote about 600 times on dozens of issues. It’s impossible for any one person to know every issue in the detail that is necessary to make an informed decision. The Committee System helps members specialize in certain areas and gain expertise, while still allowing the entire House or Senate to work its will.