Joint session of the United States Congress

United States Congress Joint Session
Type
Type	Bicameral
Leadership
Speaker of the House of Representatives as leader of Joint Sessions	Paul Ryan (R)
Vice President as leader for Electoral College vote counting	Mike Pence (R)
Structure
Seats	535
Political groups	Republican (301)   Democratic (232)      Independent (2)      Vacant (0)
Meeting place
House chamber of the U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. United States

A Joint session of the United States Congress is a gathering together of the two chambers of the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Joint sessions are held on special occasions, such as: when the President delivers a State of the Union Address; when they gather to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College (United States) following a presidential election; or when they convene on the occasion of a presidential inauguration.

Joint sessions and meetings are traditionally presided over by the Speaker of the House and take place at the House chamber. However, the Constitution requires the Vice President (as President of the Senate) to preside over the counting of electoral votes.

At some time during the first two months of each session, the President customarily delivers the State of the Union Address, a speech in which an assessment is made of the state of the country, and the presidents' legislative agenda is outlined. The speech is modeled on the Speech from the Throne, given by the British monarch. There is a major difference, however. The President is the principal author of his own State of the Union message, while the Speech from the Throne is customarily written by the Prime Minister.