The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.

The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution. The major power of the House is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country although its bills must also be passed by the Senate and further agreed to by the President before becoming law (unless both the House and Senate re-pass the legislation with a two-thirds majority in each chamber). Each state receives representation in the House in proportion to its population but is entitled to at least one representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. The total number of voting representatives is fixed by law at 435. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, traditionally the leader of the majority party is the presiding officer of the chamber, elected by the members of the House.

The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national states. In some countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often called a "Senate". In other countries, the House of Representatives is the sole chamber of a unicameral legislature. The functioning of a house of representatives can vary greatly from country to country, and depends on whether a country has a parliamentary or a presidential system. Members of a house of representatives are typically apportioned according to population rather than geography.

"The House of Representatives" is the name of the lower house of the legislature in the following countries:

In the following countries it is the sole chamber in a unicameral system:

In Indonesia, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) is generally known in English as the "House of Representatives", as is the Dewan Rakyat of the Parliament of Malaysia.

Under apartheid, the House of Representatives was the house for South Africa's mixed race 'Coloured' community, in the Tricameral Parliament of 1984 to 1994.

Gabrielle Dee "Gabby" Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American politician. As a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, she represented Arizona's 8th congressional district from 2007 until her resignation on January 25, 2012, having been elected to Congress three times. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress. Considered a "Blue Dog" Democrat, her stances on health care reform and illegal immigration were sources of attention for those opposed to her candidacy and have made her a recipient of criticism from various conservative groups. She has described herself as a "former Republican."

Giffords is a native of Tucson, Arizona, and a graduate of Scripps College and Cornell University. Prior to her election to the United States Congress, Giffords served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 until 2003 and the Arizona State Senate from 2003 until 2005, when she resigned to run for the seat held by then-Congressman Jim Kolbe. She also worked as an associate for regional economic development in New York City and as CEO of El Campo Tire Warehouses, a local automotive chain owned by her grandfather. She is married to former astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Mark E. Kelly.

Tony Cardenas (born March 31, 1963) is an American politician. He is currently a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the Sixth Council District which covers portions of the southeast San Fernando Valley, including the communities of Arleta, Pacoima, Sun Valley, North Hollywood, Panorama City, Van Nuys and Lake Balboa. He was elected to the California State Assembly for three consecutive terms and served as chair of the budget committee. In 2003, he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council and re-elected in 2007 and 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Cardenas is one of eleven children of Andres Cardenas and Maria Quezada, who immigrated to the United States shortly after marrying in Jalisco, Mexico in 1946. Andres Cardenas was a farmworker near Stockton, California before the family relocated to Pacoima, California in 1954.