# United States House of Representatives The **United States House of Representatives** is the lower chamber of [[Congress]]: 435 voting members apportioned among the states by population, every one of them elected every two years. It originates revenue bills, holds the sole power of impeachment, and judges its own members' elections. Because its seats are redrawn each decade — and, in 2025–26, mid-decade — it is the federal institution most directly shaped by [[Gerrymandering]]. ## Size and apportionment Article I, §2 ties House seats to the decennial [[Census]]. The House grew with the population until it reached 435 after the 1910 census. When Congress failed to reapportion after 1920, the [[Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929]] froze the size at 435 and made reapportionment automatic after each census. Within states, [[Wesberry v. Sanders]] (1964) requires districts of substantially equal population. The arithmetic is in [[Congressional Apportionment Mathematics]]; the line-drawing and its legal challenges are in [[How a Redistricting Map Is Drawn and Challenged]] and [[Mid-Decade Redistricting]]. ## Powers - **Revenue.** Bills for raising revenue must originate in the House (Art. I, §7). By custom appropriations start there too, which makes [[House Ways and Means Committee]] and [[House Appropriations Committee]] the first movers on the [[Power of the Purse]]. - **Impeachment.** The House impeaches by simple majority; the Senate tries. See [[Impeachment and Removal Process Flow]]. - **Contingent election.** If no presidential candidate wins an Electoral College majority, the House chooses, one vote per state delegation ([[Twelfth Amendment]]). - **Judging its members.** Each chamber judges the "Elections, Returns and Qualifications" of its members (Art. I, §5). ## How the majority runs the floor The Speaker, elected by the full House at the start of each Congress, controls committee referrals and the schedule and is second in the line of presidential succession. The [[House Rules Committee]] writes the rule for nearly every major bill, setting which amendments are allowed and how long debate runs. That gatekeeping is the majority's main instrument. The minority's main counter is the [[Discharge Petition]], which forces a floor vote once 218 members sign. The speakership has been unstable. [[Kevin McCarthy]] needed 15 ballots to win the gavel in January 2023 and on October 3, 2023 became the first Speaker removed by a motion to vacate. [[Mike Johnson]] was elected on October 25, 2023. The [[Freedom Caucus]] has repeatedly used the narrow margin as a veto. ## Seating and contested elections [[Powell v. McCormack]] (1969) held that the House may not exclude a member-elect who meets the Constitution's age, citizenship and inhabitancy requirements. Its remedy for misconduct is expulsion by a two-thirds vote, used against [[George Santos]] in 2023. Challenges to a member's election run under the [[Federal Contested Elections Act]], with the House as final judge; see [[Refusal to Seat]] and [[How a Midterm Election Is Certified]]. ## Current composition (as of October 2026) | Bloc | Seats | |---|---| | Republicans | 218 | | Independent caucusing with Republicans | 1 — [[Kevin Kiley]] (CA), who left the GOP in March 2026 | | Democrats | 214 | | Vacant | 2 — TX-23 (Tony Gonzales, resigned April 14, 2026) and FL-20 (Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, resigned April 21, 2026) | Speaker [[Mike Johnson]] leads the majority and [[Hakeem Jeffries]] the minority. With 433 members seated, a party-line majority is 217, so Republicans plus Kiley (219) can lose only two votes. Membership churned through 2026 — [[Marjorie Taylor Greene]]'s resignation, two deaths, further resignations and a run of special elections — so attendance, not the nominal majority, often decides outcomes. All 435 seats are on the ballot on November 3, 2026; see [[2026 Midterms Hub]]. ## See Also - [[Congress]] · [[Congress Hub]] · [[Committees Hub]] · [[United States Senate]] - [[House Rules Committee]] · [[Discharge Petition]] · [[Freedom Caucus]] · [[Power of the Purse]] - [[Gerrymandering]] · [[Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929]] · [[Powell v. McCormack]] · [[Federal Contested Elections Act]]