February 23, 2009

The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provides the number of Representatives in the House of Representatives shall not exceed 1 for every 30,000 people. Public Law 62-5, passed on August 8, 1911, fixed the number of Representatives at 433, with 1 additional for Arizona and 1 for New Mexico. Thus the number 435 exists today which means that there is approximately 1 Representative for every 689,000 people (assuming a population of 300 million). If, as expected the Congress passes a law giving the District of Columbia 1 voting representative the number of Representatives will be 436.