House of Representatives

Election and Qualification

The United States Constitution provides for the members of the House of Representatives to meet certain qualifications and requirements. Furthermore, members to the House are also to be elected through popular votes. The qualifications for the members of the House of Representatives are similar to those of the Senate, but do vary in certain aspects.A qualified representative must be at least twenty-five years old and a citizen of the United States for at least seven years prior to membership consideration. The candidate must also be a resident of the State they are to represent. Candidates are to be elected by the states and the number of members representing each State will be contingent upon that State's population. The determination of how many representatives are to represent each State is calculated through the process of apportionment.

Committees

The House of Representatives has various committees in place that all have various purposes and responsibilities. Generally speaking, the committees are in charge of reviewing bills that are introduced in the House as well as broad oversight regarding the responsibilities of the Executive Branch.
Committee members are formally appointed by the entire membership of the House, but the nomination of members is done by the political parties. Typically, seniority takes precedence in appointing positions in committees, giving individuals with seniority the choice of committees to join. Generally speaking, the final makeup of the committees will reflect the overall composition of the House as a whole, with the Majority Party obtaining most of the seats in committees.
All committees will also have a Chairman, which is always from the Majority Party. Membership terms in committees will normally be set by the committees themselves, but there has been prior practice of the Majority Party to sometimes place a limit of the membership to particular committees.