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Apportionment
Apportionment is an action, taken after each decennial census, of allocating the number of seats in the House to each state. The size of the House is fixed by law, as of 2013, at 435 members. The number of seats a state gets is based on its proportion of the nation's total population. All states, under the Constitution, have at least one representative, no matter the size of their populations. The remainder is distributed under a mathematical formula called the method of equal proportions. Each decennial census has been a traumatic moment for many states, at least for those—such as in the Midwest or the Northeast—that have been losing population to the South and Southwest. That population shift meant that some states would lose seats, and thereby clout, in Congress for the next decade. (See Reapportionment and redistricting.)
Closer Look
Each year, Congress must pass twelve general appropriations bills to fund various parts of the federal government, although the number has varied somewhat in recent years and for several decades totaled thirteen. About one half of federal spending each year is funded through this process. The other half is funded automatically, by the authority granted by laws governing entitlement and other mandatory programs.
The twelve regular appropriations bills are:
- Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration
- Commerce, Justice, Science
- Defense
- Energy and Water Development
- Financial Services and General Government
- Homeland Security
- Interior, Environment
- Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
- Legislative Branch
- Military Construction, Veterans Administration
- State, Foreign Operations
- Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development
- appropriations bills
- seating
- appropriation
- censuses
- billing
- funding
- proportion
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