The Issues, No. 5 - Congress is Too Big

Congress is way too big to function efficiently. The Senate has 100 members; 2 from each state. The number of members in the House of Representatives was originally to be determined by population as a result of the census which is performed every 10 years but the membership had grown so large that in 1911 Congress fixed the number of members at 435.

Besides being too large, there are the two "chambers" of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, that seem to trip over each other in attempting to perform their legislative duties. This "bicameral" Congress with 2 Senators per state and however many Congressmen determined by the census may have worked well in the early days of the nation when we had a few states and a small population. But today, with 50 states and a very large population, the size of Congress, currently fixed at 535 members, and the fact that it has two "chambers" makes it clumsy and inneficient.

There also is very little difference between what the Senate does and what the House of Representatives does. Everything could be done by one body with a fixed membership (no more than 200) determined by the relative population of each state. However, to take such action would, again, require an amendment to the Constitution that would require Congress itself to initiate the process.

If you believe that a reorganization and downsizing of Congress would improve its functionality and responsiveness to the needs of the country, let your representatives in Congress and your state representatives know. If you want more information on the size of Congress, you can do an internet search on "number of Senators" and/or "number of Congressmen" or look at the Constitution.