Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(December 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
The make up of the United States Government.
 Congress
is made up of two houses, one house called the Senate,
and the other, the House of Representatives.
Each of the fifty States in the Union sends two Senators
to the United States Senate for a total of one hundred
Senators and each Senator has a term of office of six
years.
One third of the Senators go out of office every two years
and if they wish to still serve in the Senate have to
put up for re-election. A Senator may reside in any part
of the state he represents.
 The
number of Representatives, in the House of Representatives,
from any one state depends upon the population of that
state and each state is entitled to at least one Representative,
no matter how small that state may be, with the basis
of representation being assessed and changed every ten
years following the taking of a United States census.
When the Constitution was adopted, the basis of representation
was one Representative for every 30,000 people but the
present basis, to the best of my knowledge, is one Representative
for every 500,000+ people. The Representatives are known
as Congressmen/Congresswomen and it is customary for a
Representative to be a resident of the district, which
he or she represents.
The present house of Representatives has 435 members,
plus I believe a resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico
who may take part in discussions but does not have a vote.
 There
are age limitations for candidates for office. For the
position of United States Senator one must be at least
thirty years of age, and for the position of United States
Representative the minimum age is twenty five years.
There is no mandatory retirement age, which can be witnessed
by the longevity of Senator Strom Thurmond who retired
a few days ago and is within a couple of weeks of reaching
the ripe old age of 100 years.
This is ridiculous!
Even the Chinese Government recognizes the fact that
in today’s world that the elderly representatives
have to be replaced by younger and more agile, (mentally
and physically), government officials, and subsequently
a week or so ago the top echelon of their government retired
and were replaced by younger officials.
The Vice President of the United States presides over
the Senate and can vote only in the case of a tie in the
Senate.
I could enlighten you further as to the make up and workings
of the other branches of government such as the Executive
and Judicial branches of United States government but
enough is enough.
As you can see it is complicated, but it works, (well
in a fashion).
So endeth the lesson.
Composition of the current American Government.
The before and after election position of the
composition of the American congress is/was as follows:
Before the 2002 election: (106th Congress 1999/2001).
House of Representatives: 223 Republican seats, 211 Democratic
seats, 1 Independent seat.
Senate: 51 Democratic seats, 48 Republican seats, 1 Independent
seat.
After the 2002 election: (107th Congress 2001/2003).
House of Representatives: 223 Republican seats, 208 Democratic
seats, I Independent seat, and 3 vacancies.
Senate: 49 Republican seats, 49 Democratic seats, 2 Independent
seats.
Hope that I have these figures correct!
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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