Bill Introduced to Expand House of Representatives by 149 Seats

Following allegations that Earl Blumenauer’s wife was involved in insider trading after she bought $15,000 worth Amgen stock, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D.Ore.) introduced legislation to increase the number Congressmen and Congresswomen in D.C.

The Restoring Equal and Accountable Legislators in the House (REAL House) Act aims to increase the number of representatives and increase their “diversity,” Blumenauer believes that the congressional districts are too big, and this is in addition to the diversity of the Electoral College.

“The number of constituents living in a single congressional district has dramatically increased since the number of House members was arbitrarily capped in 1929,” Blumenauer said. “Current district sizes threaten the direct constituent connection on which the House was founded.”

There are currently 435 registered voters in the House of Representatives. This is an increase of 122 million since the time when there was only 122million people.

“The REAL House Act will help our government better reflect our districts and constituents’ needs,” Blumenauer made the statement in an online statement. “To restore the House’s direct link to the public and to foster greater diversity among members and the Electoral College, we must increase the number of representatives.”

The proposal did not outline how much it would cost to increase the size of the U.S. government by his suggested 149 seats.

Blumenauer claims that the U.S. has grown to more than 328 million people since 1929. As a result, the size and number of congressional districts have nearly tripled, while the number has remained static.

“The average congressional district now includes 800,000 constituents. If Congress fails to act, by 2050, each member of Congress is on track to represent more than one million people,” He stated.

In December 2022, the Democratic National Committee approved a move to remove Iowa as the first state on the party’s presidential nominating calendar—as has been tradition since 1972.

Instead, South Carolina is slated to replace Iowa in 2024, as is President Joe Biden’s preference given his performance in the Palmetto State in 2020. Biden stated that the state better reflects the diversity among Democrat voters.

Last month, Congress revised the Electoral Count Act, established in 1887 in a way that creates new rules for the presidential elections. For example, there is no question now that the vice president of the United States cannot discard any state’s electoral votes, while lawmaker objections to the results of a particular presidential election require support from both Chambers.

Blumenauer’s concern that congressional districts are too large emerged after the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) highlighted that, following Blumenauer’s wife’s purchase of Amgen stock, its price increased by 24 percent presumably because a week before, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) acquired $290 million worth of the Amgen medication, Nplate, in the event of radiological emergencies.

Blumenauer is a member the House Ways and Means Committee and its Health Subcommittee. This may have allowed him to gain insider knowledge of the fact that the drug was being bought by the U.S government, as it prepares for a nuclear attack according to FACT.

“Given the information that they have access to, under the ethics rules, members of Congress who sit on committees must meet a higher standard,” said FACT executive director Kendra Arnold. “Every time the public sees a transaction like this, it causes them to question the motivation of our elected officials, which is something the ethics rules are specifically designed to prevent.”

Blumenauer did not respond when asked.