The United States House of Representatives is, along with the United
States Senate, one of the two houses of the Congress of the United
States. Each state is represented in the House proportionally to its
population, but each state is entitled to at least one
Representative.
The total number of Representatives is currently fixed at 435 by the
Reapportionment Act of 1929, though Congress could increase that
number. Each Representative serves for a two-year term and may be
re-elected an unlimited number of times. The presiding officer of
the
House is known as the Speaker. The bicameral Congress arose from the
desire of the Founders to create a "house of the people" that would
closely resemble and follow public opinion, in addition to a more
deliberative, learned and reserved Senate which would be less
susceptible to the frenzies of mass sentiment. It is conventional to
consider the House as the "lower house," and the Senate as the "upper
house," although the Constitution does not use such language. The
Constitution provides that the approval of both houses is necessary
for the passage of legislation.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
French Revolution: The National Convention voted to implement terror
measures, beginning the Reign of Terror.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror)
1836:
Sam Houston was elected as the first President of the Republic of
Texas.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston)
1905:
The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
in New Hampshire, USA, officially ending the Russo-Japanese War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Portsmouth)
1972:
Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black
September" attacked Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Massacre)
1977:
NASA launched the Voyager 1 spaceprobe, currently the most distant
man-made object from Earth.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"I've probably saved thousands of peoples' lives with my educational
message on snake bites — how to get in around venomous anything.
Yeah,
I'm a thrill seeker, but crikey, education's the most important
thing." -- Steve Irwin
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin)