The US Capitol is a familiar landmark to people around the world. But do we know as much about the inside as we do about the outside? Let’s take a peek at what goes on there.
Let’s Make a Law
The Capitol is home to the U.S. Congress. We elect the men and women who work here. The Congress is a bicameral or two chambers arrangement — one chamber is called the House of Representatives (the people who work there are called representatives) and the other is called the Senate (the people who work there are called — that’s right — senators.)
There are always 100 members of the Senate but the House changes size — right now it has 435. That’s due to something called the Great Compromise: Every state always has two members in the Senate but in the House a state has Representatives in proportion to how many people it has. For example California has 53 Representatives while Vermont has only 1.
Representatives and senators are called legislators which means they are the ones who create the laws. (A law is a rule that everyone in a state or country must follow. An amendment is a change to a law.)
Congress makes laws that affect the entire nation like deciding if the country needs stronger defenses. Imagine if a few members of the House of Representatives feel that the country needs a new army plane. What do they do?
Create a free account to keep reading.
