Questions tagged [house-of-representatives]
Questions related to the policies or governance of a House of Representatives (typically a lower house in a bicameral legislature or the only chamber in a unicameral legislature). Use with a relevant country tag.
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What did the Democrats have to gain by ousting Kevin McCarthy?
The Guardian in the UK reports that:
eight hard-right Republicans joined 208 Democrats in supporting McCarthy’s removal
So it was really the Democrats who ousted McCarthy. But McCarthy seemed as ...
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What can be done about a US president who refuses to co-operate with an impeachment panel?
Is it possible to prevent a sitting US President from hindering an impeachment investigation against him or her?
The Washington Post just reported that:
Trump personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani ...
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What are the legal requirements to be Speaker of the US House of Representatives?
The Speaker of the House in the US is not legally required to be an elected member of the House. For example, recently Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-5) suggested Colin Powell for the role. Given that, are there ...
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Exactly what, if anything, can the House do before electing a Speaker?
There's lots of questions currently about how the House elects its Speaker and what happens when it can't, and it's generally accepted that the House can't actually do anything else until a Speaker is ...
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Is there a time limit to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives?
As Kevin McCarthy is approaching his fifth defeat for a role as Speaker of the House of Representatives, I am interested to know whether there is a time limit (or special measures in place) until ...
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What happens in the event of a tie for a 12th amendment House vote?
Evan McMullin is running for president, hoping to be elected via the 12th amendment, which would require him to receive at least 1 EC vote, and there to not be a candidate that receives the minimum ...
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Can the Speaker of the House of Representatives be replaced?
What are the requirements to replace the Speaker of the House?
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In the US, what happens if Congressional subpoenas are defied?
In the ongoing attempts by Democrats to impeach Donald Trump, the media reports that the White House has refused to cooperate with the probe. Example. As I understand things now there are witnesses ...
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What happens to US representatives after a redistricting?
The US has a census every 10 years and the 435 seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned to reflect the population change. Sometimes states lose seats. New York state had 45 seats in the ...
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Can the US House function without a speaker?
For reasons that are off-topic to this question, McCarthy might lose a motion to vacate (some news are calling it a vote of no confidence, which is the wrong term); but it's clear that no other ...
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Does a Senate trial have more authority to call witnesses than a House impeachment hearing?
During the hearings for the impeachment of President Trump, the House subpoenaed the testimony of several witnesses. However, some of the witnesses refused to testify, defying the House subpoenas. At ...
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Is the "pairing" procedure used in the US Congress?
In the UK Parliament, there is a procedure whereby two MPs from opposite sides of the House can agree to both be absent for a vote, thereby preserving the same balance of votes as if both had attended....
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Why does a vote in the House go beyond its time limit?
In the US House of Representative, when a vote by Yeas and Nays is ordered, it is usually announced with a time limit (ex. "this is a fifteen minute vote"). However, voting often continues beyond ...
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How long can the Speaker of the House wait to pass the impeachment to the Senate?
By “dragging feet” in presenting articles of impeachment to the Senate which a majority of the House has voted to present, is Pelosi exceeding her authority?
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Can Trump use lawsuits to stop the electoral college from voting in order to use the House to install him as President?
Some news sources (like zeit.de, in German only, sorry) report that Trump could use a large number of lawsuits to keep the Electoral College from voting on Dec 14th. As I understand it, all legal ...
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Why isn't it mandatory for elected members of parliaments to have knowledge on the constitution?
In most democracies, elected members of parliament are representatives of people who elect them. They are also supposed to pass laws, make amendments and perform other functions. Being representatives,...
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How many congressional districts produced a split result in the 2020 House and Presidential elections?
I was trying to find out more about districts who voted for one party for president and the other for House. We have data on this for 1972 to 2016. I am asking because I'm researching polarization.
...
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In the United States, why aren't both legislative chambers involved in the Supreme Court confirmation process?
I'm following the situation around the recent Supreme Court vacancy left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a non-American, what's strange to me is that confirming a new SCOTUS Justice ...
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Why was Liz Cheney removed from House Republican leadership?
Yesterday, House Republicans voted to remove Liz Cheney of Wyoming from the #3 position in their leadership:
In a remarkable display of loyalty to Donald J. Trump, Republicans moved quickly to purge ...
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Would it be sensible for the House Democrats to vote for McCarthy as speaker?
It is my understanding that McCarthy is struggling to get elected, because some more extreme Republicans regard him as 'too moderate'. Doesn't that mean that the choice is basically McCarthy or ...
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What's to stop the House majority party from voting to expel every member of the House minority party from committees?
Marjorie Taylor Greene was expelled by the House of Representatives this week from committee assignments after her comments on conspiracy theories. The vote passed by 230-199 with 11 Republicans ...
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Why did the House not call every witness suggested to them during the 2019-2020 Impeachment inquiry?
Background
In the 2019-2020 House Impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, many requested witnesses did not testify nor provide documents. Many of these witnesses defied subpoenas either ...
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Can the Speaker of the House of Representatives disinvite the President to the State of the Union address?
Can the Speaker of the US House of Representatives legally rescind an invitation to the President to the State of the Union address? If the speaker merely postpones, is this a valid workaround if it ...
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Why would voting for a US House Speaker candidate from a majority party be "taboo" and punishable if you're a member of a minority party?
If I'm a US House representative and a member of the numerical minority party, and the majority party is struggling to get consensus on a candidate for House Speaker that I find particularly ...
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Was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rejection of Republican representatives Jordan and Banks "unprecedented"?
Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to block two Republican House members from the house select committee formed to investigate on January 6th. The Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy has ...
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Is there a documented rationale why the House Ways and Means chairman can demand tax info?
The BBC says:
House Ways and Means chairman Richard Neal said failure to comply with the new deadline would be interpreted as a denial of request.
One of Mr Trump's top aides said last week that the ...
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Why did House of Representatives need to condemn Trumps Tweets?
Can someone elaborate on the reason why the House of Representatives needed to pass a resolution to condemn Trump's tweets?
Many people in government have criticized Trump's tweets before, but I don'...
user27452
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Can the US House/Congress impeach/convict a private citizen that hasn't held office?
The current debate right now is whether or not the US Senate can hold an impeachment trial and potentially convict an ex-president who is now technically considered a private citizen. To be clear, the ...
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First day a 2022 US congress could vote to shut down Jan 6th commission? How quickly after could the commission be effectively curtailed or shut down?
After about 02:36 in the CNN video Retired generals warn an insurrection could succeed next time, Seung Min Kim, Washington Post White House reporter says (my transcription):
...and obviously this ...
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When and why did the House rules change to permit an inquiry without a vote?
This other question asks whether the House requires a vote to begin an impeachment inquiry, but several of the answers (including the accepted one) point out that the rules have changed since Clinton'...
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The authority to convene a new House of Representatives
On the wikipedia page for the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, there is a passage:
To preserve the legal continuity of the House, the existence of the House is vested in the Clerk at the ...
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In the United States, can the distribution of congressional representatives be adjusted in response to dramatic population shifts?
In the United States, elections are run by state governments. Each state is allotted a certain number of congressional representatives based on its population. The population of each state is ...
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Why don't members of the minority party in the U.S. House of Representative ever force a vote to vacate the Speakership?
My understanding is that the current rules of the U.S. House of Representatives allow any member of the House - including members of the minority party - to offer a motion to vacate the office of ...
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Has there ever been a presidential election where every state voted the same way as in the midterms?
Has there ever been a presidential election where every state voted for the same party as in the House elections in the previous midterm? If so, when was it? And, if there has never been as of writing,...
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What are the consequences if the House of Representatives condemns Trump?
The US House of Representatives is preparing to vote to condemn Donald Trump for the tweets he wrote this week regarding several Congresswomen, which have been widely characterized as racist. Are ...
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What is the cost of running in an election in the USA?
How much does it cost a major party to contest a seat in the House of Representatives?
Uncontested elections to House and Senate are relatively common in the American political system. When a popular ...
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What happens if a non-representative is elected speaker of the House?
On the seventh and eighth ballots, Matt Gaetz cast a vote for Donald Trump.
What would have happened if Donald Trump (or any other person) had won a majority and had wanted to take that function?
In ...
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What if the Presidency is to be decided by the US House, but the House refuses?
If the electoral college fails to select a majority candidate for President, the US House decides who becomes President, voting by state blocks.
But what if the House simply... doesn't? If the Senate ...
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How many seats are physically on House floor?
In 10/20/2015 Speaker election, 434 members were present (435 minus Rep. Gregory Meeks [D]), I saw several members brought their kids to House floor but there were still 10+ vacant seats.
According ...
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In which house of Congress of the USA is a bill introduced first?
US Congress has two houses, Senate (called Upper house), House of Representatives ( Lower). When a bill is introduced, which house is it supposed to be first or can it be introduced in either? Are ...
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Why was the primary for the NY-3 district canceled, allowing George Santos to run as a Republican uncontested?
According to Ballotpedia:
The Republican primary election was canceled. George Devolder-Santos advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 3.
Why was it canceled? Did no ...
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Who limits what sensitive/secret information is shared with the US House Armed Services Committee? Can they get whatever they want for "oversight"?
Background; elected officials considered "vetted" by election and receive no formal background check before receiving sensitive/secret information
Politico's January 5, 2023 Speaker debacle ...
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Is "The West Wing" accurate when a spouse takes over following a Representative's death?
Season 1, episode 6 of The West Wing, “Mr. Willis of Ohio”, features the titular Mr Willis, who is a school-teacher temporarily filling the seat of his recently departed wife in the House of ...
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Could the Democrats (almost) unilaterally remove the Republican House Speaker?
My understanding is that, under the current rules, any single house member can force a vote on removing the (Republican) House Speaker, including any Democrat.
Should this happen, a very few ...
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Does anything bind the speaker of the House to a previous concession made for support?
A lot of the holdout for McCarthy seems to be dissolving because of backroom deals. Are these backroom deals binding? Does anything for example force McCarthy to accept a motion to vacate (remove the ...
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What are the rules governing the House of Representatives after expiry of the preceding Congress and before or absent of rules being adopted?
The Rules of the House are adopted usually shortly after the election of the Speaker and of the various officers of the House. I'm interested in what - apart from the Constitution of course - governs ...
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Rita Hart (2nd District Iowa) appeal. How many precedents were there?
I have just come across the article about Rita Hart appeal of the race to U.S. House in Iowa's 2nd congressional district. Particularly I was surprized by the sentence:
Given that, she said, she is ...
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Does the election of a Speaker of the US House of Representatives immediately install them, or can they refuse the position?
With all the shenanigans surrounding the election of McCarthy, I got to wondering: does being elected Speaker mean that you immediately become Speaker, or do you have an opportunity to refuse? If ...
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What if there is a tie in a House election in Iowa?
In Iowa's second district, there was a race settled by exactly six votes. The Republican candidate, Marianette Miller-Meeks defeated Democratic candidate Rita Hart in a very close election. Let's say ...
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Is it possible for a sitting Senator to be Speaker of the House?
In the United States a person doesn't actually need to be a member of the House of Representatives to be the Speaker of the House. I'm wondering if it is legal (i.e. constitutional) for a sitting ...
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