How Is the Senate Different From the House of Representatives
The United states of america Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government and consists of two houses: the lower house known as the House of Representatives and the upper house known every bit the Senate. The words "Congress" and "House" are sometimes used colloquially to refer to the House of Representatives. There are 535 members of Congress: 100 senators and 435 representatives in the House.
Republicans currently control the Senate (54 to 44 Democrats) and the House (246 to 188).
Comparing chart
 | Firm of Representatives | Senate |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | The Usa House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the United States Congress. Information technology is ofttimes referred to as the House. | The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States Congress. |
| Blazon | Lower house. Responds to the needs of the people faster since representatives only have a two year term. Laws dealing with revenue must outset in the Business firm. | Upper house. The half dozen twelvemonth term ways the Senate tin can exist slower and consider the long-term effects of laws. |
| Seats | 435 voting members, six non-voting members: five delegates, 1 resident commissioner | 100 |
| Seats apportioned | Based on the population of each country | Two for each state |
| Length of term | ii years. All 435 seats are up for reelection every two years. | 6 years. Here there is a continuous body thought. Simply 1/3 of the senate seats are elected every ii years. Then only 34 or 33 senators are upwardly for election at 1 time. |
| Term limits | None | None |
| Leadership | Nancy Pelosi (D) (Speaker); elected by the House of Representatives. | The President of the Senate [currently Kamala Harris (D) but votes in case of a tie. When he or she is not available, the President pro tempore, a senator elected by the Senate [currently Patrick Leahy (D)] takes over on his behalf. |
| Majority Leader | Steny Hoyer (D) | Chuck Schumer (D) |
| Minority Leader | Kevin McCarthy (R) | Mitch McConnell (R) |
| Majority Whip | James Clyburn (D) | John Thune (R) |
| Minority Whip | Steve Scalise (R) | Dick Durbin (D) |
| Political groups | Democratic (219), Republican (211), 5 vacant seats | Republican (48), Democratic (48), Independent (2) |
| Voting system | First-past-the-mail | Beginning-past-the-postal service |
| History | Based on Virginia Plan | Based on New Jersey Program |
Size of Senate vs. Business firm
While at that place are 100 seats in the Senate (ii senators from each state), in that location are 435 seats in the Firm of Representatives (one representative from each of the diverse congressional districts, with the number of congressional districts in each state determined by the population).
The Reapportionment Act of 1929 prepare the final number of the House at the current 435, with district sizes adapted according to population growth. However, every bit district borders were never defined definitively, they can and often do stretch into peculiar shapes due to a do known as gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is used at the state legislature level to create districts that overwhelmingly favor one party. Federal and Supreme Court rulings have overturned gerrymandering efforts that have been perceived to be based on race, but otherwise some districts take been reconfigured to give one or another party an extreme political advantage, thus allowing that party to secure more than ability in the state and in the House of Representatives.
A line graph showing which political parties take controlled the U.South. House of Representatives and Senate over the years. Click to overstate.
Roles of Representatives and Senators
The Business firm plays a major role in government, mainly that of initiating all revenue-based legislation. Any proposal to raise taxes must come up from the House, with Senate review and blessing. The Senate, on the other hand, has sole power of approval on foreign treaties and chiffonier and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Court.
In cases of impeachment (e.1000., Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998), the Business firm determines if charges can be brought against the official, and a unproblematic majority vote approves or rejects the filing of charges (the impeachment process). If approved, the Senate then serves every bit the investigative/judicial body to determine if the charges merit removing the accused official from his or her office. However, the vote in the Senate has to represent "a significant bulk," usually taken to hateful 67 of the 100 votes.
Members of Congress are deemed to be "across the power of abort" while in office, except in cases of treason, murder, or fraud. This stipulation has been used by representatives and senators to avoid subpoenas and other judicial procedures. A senator tin waive the privilege at any time, but a member of the House has to submit his or her petition to a full general vote. If a simple majority approves, the privilege tin can be waived.
Congress has the power to subpoena whatever citizen. Noncompliance with a congressional amendment can bear up to a one-year jail sentence. The case is heard in a judicial forum, and penalization (a sentence) for those found guilty of "contempt of Congress" is handled strictly by the judicial system.
The succession order in the federal authorities is president, vice president and so Speaker of the House, the leader of the representatives. The vice president is considered the "president" of the Senate, though he or she is not required or even expected to nourish almost Senate sessions. The Senate elects a "President Pro Tempore," oft the senior, or longest-serving, senator of the majority party, who is responsible for managing twenty-four hour period-to-day business.
Length of Terms
Senators are elected for a six-yr term, but House representatives only have two-yr terms earlier they demand to seek reelection. Every member of the Firm is up for election or reelection every ii years, merely the Senate has a staggered system wherein only one-tertiary of the Senators are up for election or reelection every two years. Information technology is possible for the House to alter to a large extent (in terms of party command) every two years, but changes are slower in the Senate. In both chambers, incumbents accept a bully advantage over challengers, winning more than ninety% of all contested races.
Qualifications
To exist eligible as a representative, a person needs to be at to the lowest degree 25 years quondam at the fourth dimension of the ballot and accept lived continuously in the U.S. for at to the lowest degree 7 years. To become a senator, one must be at to the lowest degree xxx years old at the fourth dimension of the election and have lived continuously in the U.Due south. for at least 9 years. It is not a requirement to be a natural-born citizen in order to get a fellow member of Congress.
Committees
Most of Congress' piece of work takes identify in committees. Both the Firm and Senate have continuing, special, briefing, and joint committees.
Continuing committees are permanent and provide longer-serving members with ability bases. In the Firm, key committees include Upkeep, Ways and Means, and Military, while the Senate has Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Judiciary committees. (Some committees be in both chambers, such as Upkeep, Military machine, and Veterans Affairs.) Special committees are temporary, formed to investigate, clarify, and/or evaluate specific bug. Conference committees are formed when legislation is canonical in both the House and Senate; they finalize the linguistic communication in legislation. Joint committees characteristic members of the House and Senate, with leadership of each committee alternating between members of each chamber.
Committees also have subcommittees, which are formed to focus more closely on certain issues. Some have become permanent, only well-nigh are formed for limited time frames. Although useful for zeroing in on primal problems, the proliferation of committees, and particularly subcommittees, has decentralized the legislative process and significantly slowed it, making Congress less responsive to changing trends and needs.
Debating legislation has stricter rules in the Business firm than in the Senate, applicable at both the committee and whole-body levels. In the House, contend time is restricted and topics are set beforehand, with discussions limited to the agenda. In the Senate, the tactic called filibustering is immune. Once the floor is ceded to a senator, he or she can speak for equally long as the senator chooses, on whatsoever topic; no other business can be transacted while the person speaks. A filibuster is used to block potential legislation or Senate decisions until a favorable vote can be chosen. This has resulted in sometimes comically cool efforts on the part of senators. For example, during a 2013 filibuster over the Affordable Care Act, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) read from Green Eggs and Ham.
Origins of House and Senate
In general, the House represents the population, while the Senate represents a "landed/big property" populace. In colonial times, the proposed "legislative body" had ii models. The Virginia Plan, endorsed by Thomas Jefferson, created a group of representatives based on population sizes, so that more populous states would have a greater voice in legislative issues. Opposing it was the New Jersey Plan that limited each state to the aforementioned number of representatives; the program suggested that there be something between ii to 5 representatives per state. The New Bailiwick of jersey Plan was criticized for holding larger states "hostage" to smaller states, equally each would accept the same power base. This article in The New Yorker dissects it well:
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton absolutely hated the idea that each country should be entitled to the same number of senators regardless of size. Hamilton was withering on the topic. "Every bit states are a collection of individual men," he harangued his fellow-delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, "which ought nosotros to respect most, the rights of the people composing them, or of the artificial beings resulting from the composition? Nothing could be more preposterous or absurd than to cede the sometime to the latter."
Per the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the The states adopted the bicameral organization of the English Parliament (i.east., Firm of Lords and House of Commons). The compromise was between the Virginia plan (small state) and the New Jersey proposal (large state), two competing ideas on whether each land should get equal representation in the federal authorities or whether representation should be based on population. The compromise established that representatives in the lower business firm (House of Representatives) will be based on a population number (called a "district") while the upper house (Senate) would contain 2 representative from each state. It was as well decided that all classes would be eligible to become senators, subject to age and residency restrictions.
References
- Congress.gov
- The Organization of Congress - Cliff Notes
- Wikipedia: United States House of Representatives
- Wikipedia: United States Senate
- Wikipedia: Construction of the United States Congress
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