The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the United States Congress (a bicameral legislature). It is frequently referred to as the House. The other house is the Senate.
The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the United States Constitution. The major power of the House is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country although its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by the U.S. President before becoming law (unless both the House and Senate re-pass the legislation with a two-thirds majority in each chamber). The House has several exclusive powers: the power to initiate revenue bills, to impeach officials, and to elect the U.S. President in case there is no majority in the Electoral College.
Each U.S. state is represented in the House in proportion to its population but is entitled to at least one representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who presides over the chamber, is elected by the members of the House, and is therefore traditionally the leader of the House Democratic Caucus or the House Republican Conference, whichever party has more voting members.
The House meets in the South Wing of the United States Capitol.
Representatives in House of Cards
Major/supporting characters
- Frank Underwood (Democrat/SC-05/served 1991-2013/House Majority Whip, 2005-13)
- Bob Birch (Democrat/MI-09/Speaker of the House, 2013-15/House Minority Leader, 2015-present)
- Peter Russo (Democrat/PA-01/served until death in 2013)
- Donald Blythe (Democrat/NH/served 1993-2015)
- Jackie Sharp (Democrat/CA-05/served 2009-present/House Majority Whip, 2014-15/Deputy House Minority Whip, 2015-present)
- Terry Womack (Democrat/MO-05/House Majority Whip, 2013-14/House Minority Whip, 2015-present)
- Alex Romero (Independent/AZ-07/served at least 2017)
Minor characters
- Madeline McCarthy (Republican/Speaker of the House, 2016-17)
- Brett Cole (Republican/Speaker of the House, 2017-present)
- David Rasmussen (Democrat/House Majority Leader, 2013-17)
- Tabitha Lonnergan (Democrat/unknown constituency, 2013)
- Corey Phillips (Unknown party/constituency, 2013)
- Elaine Brooks (Unknown party/constituency, 2014)
- Wes Buchwalter (Democrat/unknown constituency, 2014)
- Ted Havemeyer (Democrat/CA/served at least 2014)
- Daniel Lanagin (Unknown party/constituency, 2014)
- Howard Webb (Democrat/unknown constituency, 2014)
Mentioned-only
Several names of Congressmen are seen during a close-up of a strategy board in "Chapter 17."
- R. Walker (Democrat/NY-04/served at least 2014)
- L. Fisher (Republican/PA-03/served at least 2014)
- J. Lewis (Democrat/NY-21/served at least 2014)
- G. Solomon (Democrat/NC-12/served at least 2014)
- C. Rodriguez (Democrat/FL-11/served at least 2014)
- B. Brooks II (Democrat/CA-39/served at least 2014)
- K. Shamburg (Democrat/TX-15/served at least 2014)
- E. Torres (Democrat/MN-02/served at least 2014)
- J. Disori (Democrat/NJ-01/served at least 2014)
- P. Lennon (Republican/MS-04/served at least 2014)
- L. Colon (Democrat/WI-04/served at least 2014)
- A. MacDonald (Republican/TN-03/served at least 2014)
- S. Matthews (Democrat/CA-48/served at least 2014)
- O. Wight (Democrat/UT-02/served at least 2014)
- A. Thompson (Democrat/NY-24/served at least 2014)
- T. McComas (Democrat/MD-03/served at least 2014)
- B. Furnas (Democrat/NY-10/served at least 2014)
- J. Stewart (Democrat/LA-02/served at least 2014)
- T. Clark (Democrat/GA-04/served at least 2014)
- B. Johnson (Democrat/NY-15/served at least 2014)
- K. Roman (Democrat/MD-04/served at least 2014)
- E. Tess (Republican/NJ-05/served at least 2014)
- C. Plantholt (Democrat/CA-15/served at least 2014)
- C. Beattie (Democrat/IA-02/served at least 2014)
- M. Catania (Democrat/IN-01/served at least 2014)
- J. Bartelle (Democrat/NY-28/served at least 2014)
- K. Nagy (Democrat/NM-03/served at least 2014)
- B. Stampley (Democrat/LA-04/served at least 2014)
- J. Conway (Democrat/FL-05/served at least 2014)
- S. Warsaw (Democrat/IL-06/served at least 2014)
- K. Goerschler (Democrat/CT-05/served at least 2014)
- J. Huro (Democrat/CT-04/served at least 2014)
