Powers of the House of Representatives Vs Senate
The Usa Congress is the legislative branch of the federal authorities and consists of two houses: the lower business firm known as the House of Representatives and the upper house known as the Senate. The words "Congress" and "House" are sometimes used colloquially to refer to the Firm of Representatives. In that location 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).
Comparison chart
 | House of Representatives | Senate |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | The United States Business firm of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Us Congress. It is frequently referred to as the House. | The Us Senate is the upper firm of the bicameral legislature of the United States Congress. |
| Blazon | Lower firm. Responds to the needs of the people faster since representatives only have a two year term. Laws dealing with revenue must start in the House. | Upper house. The six year term means the Senate can be slower and consider the long-term furnishings of laws. |
| Seats | 435 voting members, half dozen non-voting members: 5 delegates, 1 resident commissioner | 100 |
| Seats apportioned | Based on the population of each land | Two for each state |
| Length of term | 2 years. All 435 seats are up for reelection every 2 years. | 6 years. Hither there is a continuous trunk thought. Merely ane/three of the senate seats are elected every ii years. So only 34 or 33 senators are up for election at i time. |
| Term limits | None | None |
| Leadership | Nancy Pelosi (D) (Speaker); elected past the House of Representatives. | The President of the Senate [currently Kamala Harris (D) simply votes in example of a tie. When he or she is non available, the President pro tempore, a senator elected past the Senate [currently Patrick Leahy (D)] takes over on his behalf. |
| Bulk 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), five vacant seats | Republican (48), Autonomous (48), Contained (two) |
| Voting system | Starting time-past-the-post | First-past-the-mail |
| History | Based on Virginia Plan | Based on New Bailiwick of jersey Plan |
Size of Senate vs. House
While there are 100 seats in the Senate (two senators from each state), there are 435 seats in the Business firm of Representatives (1 representative from each of the various congressional districts, with the number of congressional districts in each state determined by the population).
The Reapportionment Act of 1929 set the final number of the House at the electric current 435, with district sizes adjusted according to population growth. However, as district borders were never defined definitively, they can and frequently practise stretch into peculiar shapes due to a practice known equally gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is used at the state legislature level to create districts that overwhelmingly favor 1 party. Federal and Supreme Court rulings accept overturned gerrymandering efforts that take been perceived to be based on race, but otherwise some districts have been reconfigured to give one or some other party an farthermost political advantage, thus allowing that party to secure more than ability in the state and in the Business firm of Representatives.
A line graph showing which political parties accept controlled the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate over the years. Click to enlarge.
Roles of Representatives and Senators
The House plays a major office in government, mainly that of initiating all acquirement-based legislation. Any proposal to enhance taxes must come up from the Business firm, with Senate review and approval. The Senate, on the other hand, has sole power of approving on foreign treaties and cabinet and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Court.
In cases of impeachment (due east.g., Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998), the Business firm determines if charges can be brought against the official, and a elementary majority vote approves or rejects the filing of charges (the impeachment process). If approved, the Senate and then serves as the investigative/judicial trunk to determine if the charges merit removing the defendant official from his or her role. However, the vote in the Senate has to correspond "a significant majority," ordinarily taken to hateful 67 of the 100 votes.
Members of Congress are deemed to exist "beyond the power of arrest" 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 can waive the privilege at whatever fourth dimension, merely a fellow member of the Business firm has to submit his or her petition to a full general vote. If a elementary majority approves, the privilege tin exist waived.
Congress has the ability to subpoena any denizen. Noncompliance with a congressional subpoena can carry upwardly to a i-year jail sentence. The example is heard in a judicial forum, and punishment (a sentence) for those found guilty of "antipathy of Congress" is handled strictly past the judicial system.
The succession social club in the federal government is president, vice president and then 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 attend most Senate sessions. The Senate elects a "President Pro Tempore," often the senior, or longest-serving, senator of the bulk political party, who is responsible for managing twenty-four hour period-to-day business concern.
Length of Terms
Senators are elected for a six-year term, merely House representatives only have two-yr terms earlier they demand to seek reelection. Every member of the House is upwards for election or reelection every two years, merely the Senate has a staggered system wherein merely ane-third of the Senators are up for ballot or reelection every two years. It is possible for the Firm to modify to a big extent (in terms of party control) every ii years, but changes are slower in the Senate. In both chambers, incumbents have a smashing advantage over challengers, winning more than than xc% of all contested races.
Qualifications
To be eligible every bit a representative, a person needs to be at least 25 years old at the fourth dimension of the election and have lived continuously in the U.Southward. for at least 7 years. To get a senator, ane must be at to the lowest degree xxx years quondam at the time of the election and have lived continuously in the U.South. for at least 9 years. It is not a requirement to be a natural-born denizen in order to get a member of Congress.
Committees
Most of Congress' work takes place in committees. Both the Firm and Senate take standing, special, conference, and joint committees.
Standing committees are permanent and provide longer-serving members with power bases. In the House, key committees include Budget, Ways and Means, and Military machine, while the Senate has Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Judiciary committees. (Some committees be in both chambers, such every bit Budget, Armed Services, and Veterans Affairs.) Special committees are temporary, formed to investigate, analyze, and/or evaluate specific issues. Conference committees are formed when legislation is canonical in both the House and Senate; they finalize the linguistic communication in legislation. Articulation committees feature members of the Business firm and Senate, with leadership of each commission alternating between members of each bedchamber.
Committees also have subcommittees, which are formed to focus more closely on certain issues. Some have become permanent, but most are formed for limited time frames. Although useful for zeroing in on primal issues, the proliferation of committees, and especially 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 House than in the Senate, applicative at both the committee and whole-body levels. In the House, debate time is restricted and topics are set up 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 tin speak for as long equally the senator chooses, on any 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 called. This has resulted in sometimes comically absurd efforts on the part of senators. For instance, 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/large holding" populace. In colonial times, the proposed "legislative torso" 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 Bailiwick of jersey Plan that limited each state to the same number of representatives; the plan suggested that in that location be something betwixt 2 to five representatives per state. The New Bailiwick of jersey Plan was criticized for holding larger states "hostage" to smaller states, as each would take the aforementioned power base. This article in The New Yorker dissects it well:
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton absolutely hated the idea that each state should be entitled to the aforementioned number of senators regardless of size. Hamilton was withering on the topic. "Every bit states are a collection of individual men," he harangued his boyfriend-delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, "which ought we to respect nigh, the rights of the people composing them, or of the artificial beings resulting from the composition? Zip could be more preposterous or absurd than to sacrifice the former to the latter."
Per the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the United states of america adopted the bicameral organisation of the English language Parliament (i.e., House of Lords and Business firm of Eatables). The compromise was betwixt the Virginia plan (small country) and the New Jersey proposal (big state), two competing ideas on whether each state should get equal representation in the federal government or whether representation should be based on population. The compromise established that representatives in the lower firm (House of Representatives) volition exist based on a population number (called a "district") while the upper house (Senate) would incorporate two representative from each land. It was also decided that all classes would be eligible to go senators, subject field to age and residency restrictions.
References
- Congress.gov
- The Organisation 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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