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| Legislatures by country |
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Amember of congress (MOC), also known as acongressman,congresswoman orcongressperson[1] is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called acongress, typically to represent a particular constituency in alegislature. The termmember of parliament (MP) is an equivalent term within aparliamentary system of government.
In theCongress of the Philippines, the titlemember of congress is almost never used; instead, legislators are calledcongressmen orcongresswomen. However, these terms apply only to members of theHouse of Representatives, not to members of theSenate, who are calledsenators.
In referring to an individual lawmaker's capacity of serving in theUnited States Congress, abicameralfederallegislature, the termmember of congress is used less often than other terms in theUnited States. This is because in the United States, the wordCongress is used as a descriptive term for the collective body of legislators from both of its houses: theSenate and theHouse of Representatives.
While a member of the Senate is typically referred to asSenator (followed by "name fromstate"),[a] a member of the House of Representatives is typically referred to asCongressman orCongresswoman (followed by "name fromstate's nth district");[b] or, removing any ambiguity,Representative ("name fromstate's nth district").[c] Although senators are members of Congress, they are not normally referred to or addressed as "congressman" or "congresswoman".
Members of Congress in both houses are elected bydirect popular vote. Senators are elected via a statewide vote and representatives by votes in eachcongressional district. Congressional districts areapportioned to thestates, once every ten years, based onpopulation figures from the most recentnationwide census. Each of the 435 members of the House of Representatives is elected to serve a two-year term representing the people of that person's district. Each state, regardless of its size, has at least one representative. Each of the 100 members of the Senate is elected to serve a six-yearterm representing the people of that person's state. Each state, regardless of its size, has two senators. Senatorial terms arestaggered, so every two years approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election. Each staggered group of one-third of the senators is called a 'class'. No state has both its senators in the same class.[2]
The United States Congress was created inArticle I of theConstitution, which laid out the limitations and powers of Congress. Article I grants Congresslegislative power, lists theenumerated powers and allows Congress to make laws that arenecessary and proper to carry out the enumerated powers. It specifies the election and composition of the House of Representatives, and the election and composition of the Senate, and the qualifications necessary to serve in each chamber.
TheSeventeenth Amendment changed how senators were elected. Originally, senators were elected bystate legislatures. The Seventeenth Amendment changed this to senators being elected directly by popular vote.
Controversy surrounds the question of whether the federal government or any other governmental entity has the right to regulate how many times representatives and senators can hold office.