Size of the U.S. House of Representatives
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The size of the United States House of Representatives refers to the total number of congressional districts (or seats) into which the land area of the United States proper has been divided. The number of seats is currently set at 435 voting representatives and 5 non-voting delegates for a total of 440 seats.
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[edit] History
The original size and apportionment of the House was set by Article One, Section 2.2C Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
The last time the number of seats was increased, to 435, was in 1910.
The number was later fixed at 435 by the Reapportionment Act of 1929 and the Apportionment Act of 1941.
For a brief period from 1959 to 1962, the admission of the states of Hawaii and Alaska to the United States required the temporary addition of two additional representatives for a new total of 437 voting seats. The number of seats reverted to 435 following reapportionment after the 1960 census.
[edit] Delegates
There are an additional four delegates to the House of Representatives. They represent the District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico also elects a resident commissioner every four years. The Northern Mariana Islands does not currently elect any sort of representative to Congress, although legislation was introduced by former Rep. Richard Pombo of California that would have allowed the commonwealth to do so.
[edit] Controversy
During the period that the current U.S. Constitution has been in effect, the number of citizens per congressional district has risen from an average of 30,000 in 1789 to over 700,000 as of 2005. It has been suggested that a new reapportionment act is needed to significantly raise the number of representatives toward the end of creating more equitable districts. [1]
