With 435 members, the House of Representatives includes more elected officials than any other part of the United State government.
Members of the House vote on bills and resolutions; any legislation with the force of law must be approved by a majority of the members of the House and a majority in the Senate.
Each state gets a number of House seats based on its population size, though no state can receive less than one seat. Washington, D.C. and U.S. territories like Puerto Rico send non-voting delegates to the House.
Because of its large size and the fact that its members are elected from individual districts, House debates can be sharper than their Senate counterparts, and party leaders often have a greater deal of control in the lower chamber.
The House has no say in presidential appointees or the approval of international treaties, areas reserved for the Senate under the Constitution. However, all spending bills have to begin the House, as must any effort to remove the president, vice president or federal judges from office through impeachment.
The Speaker of the House, technically elected by a vote of the House but almost always the choice of the majority party, runs the chamber and usually decides which bills will be debated. The salaries of House members vary based on whether they have a leadership position.
The speaker makes $212,100 a year, majority and minority leaders make $183,500 a year and members without a leadership position make $165,200 a year. An automatic pay raise for 2007 was frozen under a spending bill passed earlier this year, but a raise for 2008 will go into effect unless Congress takes further action. Representatives serve two-year terms.
