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The Constitution guarantees absolute freedom of debate in both houses providing in the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution that "for any Speech or Debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any other Place" Accordingly a member of Congress may not be sued in court for slander because of remarks made in either house although each house has its own rules restricting offensive speeches and may punish members who transgress. . . From 1970 to 2009 the House expanded delegates along with their powers and privileges representing U.S citizens in non-state areas beginning with representation on committees for Puerto Rico's resident commissioner in 1970 in 1971 a delegate for the District of Columbia was authorized and in 1972 new delegate positions were established for U.S Virgin Islands and Guam 1978 saw an additional delegate for American Samoa and another for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands began in 2009 These six members of Congress enjoy floor privileges to introduce bills and resolutions and in recent congresses they vote in permanent and select committees in party caucuses and in joint conferences with the Senate They have Capitol Hill offices staff and two annual appointments to each of the four military academies While their votes are constitutional when Congress authorizes their House Committee of the Whole votes recent Congresses have not allowed for that and they cannot vote when the House is meeting as the House of Representatives, Revolutionary era Further information: Indian slave trade History of enslavement of indigenous peoples in California and Slavery in New France, U.S brig Perry confronting the slave ship Martha off Ambriz on June 6 1850. . 2.10 Spouses and children Outbreak of the war.

Concurrent Resolutions affect only both the House and Senate and accordingly are not presented to the president for approval later in the House they begin with "H.Con.Res." Main article: Slavery in the colonial United States; . Medical care for slaves was limited in terms of the medical knowledge available to anyone it was generally provided by other slaves or by slaveholders' family members Many slaves possessed medical skills needed to tend to each other and used folk remedies brought from Africa They also developed new remedies based on American plants and herbs. The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery except as punishment for a crime had been passed by the Senate in April 1864 and by the House of Representatives in January 1865 the amendment did not take effect until it was ratified by three fourths of the states which occurred on December 6 1865 when Georgia ratified it On that date all remaining slaves became officially free, Main article: Treatment of slaves in the United States, As part of the Compromise of 1850 Congress abolished the domestic slave trade (though not the legality of slavery) in the District of Columbia After 1854 Republicans argued that the Slave Power especially the pro-slavery Democratic Party controlled two of the three branches of the Federal government. In the late 20th century the media became more important in Congress's work. Analyst Michael Schudson suggested that greater publicity undermined the power of political parties and caused "more roads to open up in Congress for individual representatives to influence decisions". Norman Ornstein suggested that media prominence led to a greater emphasis on the negative and sensational side of Congress and referred to this as the tabloidization of media coverage. Others saw pressure to squeeze a political position into a thirty-second soundbite a report characterized Congress in 2013 as being unproductive gridlocked and "setting records for futility" in October 2013 with Congress unable to compromise the government was shut down for several weeks and risked a serious default on debt payments causing 60% of the public to say they would "fire every member of Congress" including their own representative. One report suggested Congress posed the "biggest risk to the US economy" because of its brinksmanship "down-to-the-wire budget and debt crises" and "indiscriminate spending cuts" resulting in slowed economic activity and keeping up to two million people unemployed. There has been increasing public dissatisfaction with Congress, with extremely low approval ratings which dropped to 5% in October 2013, Daniel Carroll Maryland 2 Yes Yes Nevertheless incumbent members of Congress running for reelection have strong advantages over challengers. They raise more money because donors fund incumbents over challengers perceiving the former as more likely to win and donations are vital for winning elections. One critic compared being elected to Congress to receiving life tenure at a university. Another advantage for representatives is the practice of gerrymandering. After each ten-year census states are allocated representatives based on population and officials in power can choose how to draw the congressional district boundaries to support candidates from their party As a result reelection rates of members of Congress hover around 90 percent, causing some critics to accuse them of being a privileged class. Academics such as Princeton's Stephen Macedo have proposed solutions to fix gerrymandering in the U.S Both senators and representatives enjoy free mailing privileges called franking privileges; while these are not intended for electioneering this rule is often skirted by borderline election-related mailings during campaigns, File:The United States Legislative Process Overview (1) - Library of Congress.webm. . ! .