Amend Constitution: House of Representatives

House of Representatives is the other half of Congress, larger than the Senate. The House is designed to be more “responsive” to its constituents, and the Senate more “deliberative.”

The entire House membership is up for election every two years. Senators serve staggered six-year terms so that approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years.

Two Senators are elected at large from each state, regardless of population. Representatives are elected and serve a smaller district within a state, with the number of Representatives dependent upon the population.

The problem for Representatives is two-fold. The entire House membership is over-concerned with running for re-election each term, and the number of Representatives has grown too large for cohesive operations. The House started out with 65 members but has grown over the years to 435 members.

A constitutional amendment can reduce the number of Representatives to a more manageable 300 members. Election turmoil can be reduced by changing from 2-yr terms to 4-yr terms so that only half the membership is up for election, instead of every member, always running for election every term.

Reasonable term limits, in conjunction with Senate term limits, helps prevent members from becoming stale or overly concerned with lifetime re-election. The amendment can be made effective over the years so that no current member is unfairly removed from office. See text below.

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding election and number of House of Representatives.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of each House concurring therein,

That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

AMENDMENT. Revising the number and terms of members of the House of Representatives.

SECTION 1. The term of office for members of the House of Representatives shall be four years.  No Representative may serve more than three 4-year terms in office, whether said terms are consecutive or non-consecutive.  In no event may a Representative serve more than Twenty-Two (22) years combined service as a Representative and Senator.

SECTION 2. The election of Representatives shall occur on even-numbered years so that approximately half of the Representatives for each state shall be elected at each election.

SECTION 3. This amendment shall have prospective effect with regard to maximum years of service permitted.  Any Representative already serving, at the time this Amendment becomes effective, may continue to serve successive terms without limit.

SECTION 4. The number of Representatives shall be reduced from 435 to 300.  The process of apportioning the Representatives shall occur during an election year for the House of Representatives until the number of Representatives apportioned to the states is reduced to 300. 

SECTION 5. The process of apportioning the reduced Representatives shall be similar to the manner in which Representatives have been added.

SECTION 6. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.