Final answer:
If you added up the senators and representatives in the U.S. Congress, the total would be 535. This is the sum of 100 senators and 435 representatives in the House, with the count fixed by the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929.
Step-by-step explanation:
If you added up the number of senators and representatives in the U.S. Congress in Washington, you would get 535. This total comes from the combination of 100 senators (two from each of the 50 states) and 435 representatives in the House of Representatives. The United States Congress is a bicameral (two-chamber) institution, which includes the Senate and the House of Representatives as its two chambers.
The number of representatives is based on the population of each state as determined by the census, which occurs every ten years. Although there are changes in how many representatives each state may have after every census, the total number of representatives has been fixed at 435 since the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929.
Moreover, the District of Columbia, while not having voting representation in the Congress, does contribute to the Electoral College votes. For electoral purposes, Washington, DC, gets as many electors as it would have if it were a state—but it must not have more electors than the least populous state. Currently, that means DC has 3 electors, but again, this does not change the combined total of senators and representatives, which remains at 535.