This is the launch of a campaign focused on explaining how government works and encouraging dialogue and understanding among Butler County residents.

As Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, begins his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, he says there is no “normal” work day for a congressman.

At a time where the House of Representatives and the Senate are making decisions that relate to wars around the world, assassination attempts, UFOs and government shutdown threats, Kelly said those within the two legislative bodies keep consistently busy.

Over the span of a month, he said, elected officials in Congress are drafting and voting on legislation, participating in committee meetings and keeping up with constituents back home, among other duties.

“When we are in our districts, we are meeting with local leaders, constituents in our offices in Butler, Erie and Sharon, and we attend local events,” Kelly said.

And when in Washington, D.C., where the role demands his presence more often, he said he’s busy working to act on what he’s heard from those he represents.

“On average, the U.S. House of Representatives spends three weeks in Washington per month and one week in our districts for our district work periods,” Kelly said.

Pennsylvania’s 17 representatives are tasked with juggling the needs and desires of multiple counties with residents who are often in a variety of economic and social situations.

Kelly, in particular, is representing an area that stretches from his home county of Butler all the way to Erie County. In between the two, he also serves Crawford, Lawrence and Mercer counties and a portion of Venango County.

“We always remain busy,” he said.

How U.S. Congress is set up

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U.S. Senate

100 members

Two members from each state

Pennsylvania is represented by John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican.

Members of the House are elected every two years.

U.S. House of Representatives

435 voting members

Number of members depends on state’s population

Pennsylvania has 17 in total. Butler County is represented by Mike Kelly.

Senators are elected every six years.

The House of Representatives consists of 435 elected members with varying representation from each state. The number of representatives allocated to each state is determined by its population.

While Pennsylvania has 17 representatives, most of the states bordering the Keystone State have far fewer. Delaware has 1; West Virginia has 2; New Jersey has 12; Maryland has 8; and Ohio has 15. Only New York to the north has more with 26 total.

Every one of the 50 states has at least one voting member, and additionally, there are six nonvoting members to represent the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The legislative body is led by the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the Representatives. Speaker of the House for the 119th Congress is Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana.

The members of the House are elected every two years.

The Senate, unlike the House, offers the same number of representatives for each state.

With 50 states, the total number of senators sits at 100. Pennsylvania’s senators include John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican.

As the 119th Congress began earlier this month, the makeup of Pennsylvania’s representation in the U.S. Senate has changed. With the election and swearing-in of McCormick, a first-time senator, a Republican will once again represent Pennsylvania in the Senate after two years of an all-blue delegation.

McCormick challenged and defeated Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey in November in a close election. McCormick will join Fetterman, who is still in his first term in office after defeating Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022.

Fetterman has said publicly that he will work with McCormick for the best interest of Pennsylvanians. According to a report from the Penn Capital-Star, the two met over dinner recently to discuss how that will look.

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO and combat veteran, challenged and defeated Casey largely by touting himself as the choice for Pennsylvanians weary of years of inflation and tight purse strings. He harshly criticized the incumbent’s economic, energy, and social policies, and his close ties to President Joe Biden.

McCormick will have plenty of time to try to see through his agenda before he comes up for reelection.

Unlike representatives, who serve only two years at a time, senators serve six-year terms in office, barring resignation or death. Fetterman’s seat will come up for reelection in 2028, McCormick’s in 2030.

The terms for the senators are staggered in a way that only one third of the body is up for reelection every two years.

From a distance, the duties of a senator aren’t that different from those of a representative. Both chambers of Congress are charged with drafting and debating on legislation, meeting with various committees, and appearing before the public in the states that they represent.

The White House’s website, which details the responsibilities of all three branches of government, explains that the Constitution grants Congress — the legislative branch consisting of the House and the Senate — the “sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, the right to confirm or reject many Presidential appointments and substantial investigative powers.”

Those investigative powers were put to use recently with a task force led by Kelly that investigated the assassination attempts against now President-elect Donald Trump.

It was Kelly who sponsored the legislation to create the task force following the assassination attempt at the Butler Farm Show grounds on July 13. This was one of 38 bills which Kelly sponsored in the 118th Congress, along with 315 he cosponsored.

There are, however, some powers assigned specifically to each body.

Exclusive powers to the House include the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials and elect the president, in the case of an Electoral College tie.

Meanwhile, the Senate has the sole power to confirm presidential appointments, and to provide advice and consent to ratify treaties, according to a White House resource. Further, these responsibilities come with exceptions that include how the House must also approve appointments to the vice presidency and treaties involving foreign trade.

In order for legislation to reach the president’s desk, both the House and the Senate must pass the bill by a majority vote. The legislation then either is approved by the president and goes into effect, or it comes back to the legislative branch in the case of a veto.

If the president vetoes a bill, Congress may override this by passing the bill again with at least two-thirds of each body’s support.

Because Kelly spends so much of his time in Washington, D.C., he has offices in there as well as Butler, Erie and Mercer counties and a staff that assists him in gathering what his constituents want him to know.

Kelly is a member of more than two dozen Congressional committees, subcommittees and caucuses, serving as the chairman or co-chairman of some of them. These range from groups as consequential as the congressional China and Taiwan caucuses, to as niche as the Congressional Candy Caucus.

“Some groups are more active than others, but all of them play a significant role in the legislative process,” Kelly said.

Of note is his role as chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Tax Subcommittee.

“Ways and Means is among the most historic committees in the U.S. House of Representatives and is perhaps the most influential in all of Congress because tax policy originates in our committee,” Kelly said.

McCormick is planning to open six branch offices across Pennsylvania — in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, State College, Erie, Allentown, and Scranton — in addition to his offices in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., which are already up and running. Fetterman already has offices in Washington, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie and Wilkes-Barre.

Fetterman is on the committees for Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Environment and Public Works; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Joint Economic Committee.

Neither replied to requests from the Butler Eagle for comment.