What Is the House of Representatives Vs the Senate

Table of Contents

1. Difference Betwixt House and Senate
2. House: Roles and Responsibilities
3. Senate: Roles and Responsibilities
4. How a Bill Becomes Police force
5. How Their Differences Make the House and Senate Stronger

The U.S. Congress is often referred to as a single entity, but it'southward really a combination of two distinct groups: the Business firm of Representatives and the Senate. While both houses of Congress piece of work together to propose and enact the laws that govern our state, the differences between the House and Senate ensure that each chamber in this bicameral ("two room") system has distinct roles and responsibilities.

Together, the House and Senate form the legislative branch of government. They interact with the executive and judicial branches to implement the checks and balances that keep all three branches operation and foreclose any unmarried branch from abusing its power.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution: Difference Between Business firm and Senate

The framers of the Constitution knew that it was important to protect the smaller states of the newly formed Wedlock from existence overshadowed by their more than populous counterparts. They hoped that by dividing legislative power between two houses, they'd be able to ensure equal representation for residents of all states, as the U.S. Capitol Company Center explains.

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates from Connecticut proposed that the seats in the House be assigned based on population, while the seats in the Senate be assigned 2 per state. The Great Compromise (or Connecticut Compromise) gives each country equal representation in the Senate while ensuring equal representation per citizen in the Firm.

Article I, Section two: Composition and Part of the House of Representatives

Commodity I of the Constitution specifies the powers, duties, and responsibilities of each of the ii houses of Congress. It lays out the rules for qualifying as a representative, every bit well as the method past which the seats in the Business firm of Representatives are assigned to the states and how vacancies are filled.

The Constitution affords the House — known as the lower sleeping accommodation considering it has more members than the Senate — much leeway in deciding how it will operate.

Age, citizenship, term elapsing, and residency requirements

Representatives:

• Must be at least 25 years old.
• Must be citizens for at to the lowest degree seven years.
• Are elected to a two-year term.
• Must exist residents of the states they represent.

Allotment of representatives based on population

Originally, the number of representatives was set at 1 per 30,000 inhabitants, simply the representative count has since increased, equally the U.Due south. House of Representatives History, Art, and Archives website describes. The apportionment was to be based on an enumeration (population census) that was to be made within 3 years of the Constitution being ratified (approved) by the 13 states, and then every 10 years thereafter.

The Apportionment Act of 1911 and its successor, the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, capped the number of representatives at 435. For this reason, as of the 2010 Demography, the boilerplate number of inhabitants in a congressional district is nearly 710,000. The House of Representatives Archives states that the number of representatives was limited to 435 considering the U.Due south. population was growing faster in urban states than in rural ones, which gave big states a college proportion of representatives than smaller states.

Power to devise its own rules of operation

The Constitution allows each business firm of Congress to fix its own rules. This has led to divergent practices and procedures in the House and Senate. The Library of Congress summarizes the operating rules of the House of Representatives:

• Only a numerical bulk is required to pass legislation in the House, which allows bills to be processed quickly. By contrast, Senate votes typically require a three-fifths majority, or threescore votes in favor.
• Bulk political party leaders in the Firm control the priority of various policies and determine which bills make their way to the House floor for fence. In the Senate, minority political party leaders take more influence over such procedures, so the majority leaders must work more closely with them.

Power of impeachment

Article I, Section ii of the Constitution states that the Firm "shall take the sole power of impeachment." This ability applies to the offices of president, vice president, federal judges, and other federal officers, as the Library of Congress' Constitution Annotated explains. Grounds for impeachment are "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

The Business firm determines whether to impeach and if an impeachment is called for; the Senate decides whether to convict and remove the official from office. This follows a pattern established in the British government and American colonial governments dating back to the 17th century, as the Senate website explains.

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Article I, Section three: Limerick and Function of the Senate

Article I, Section iii of the Constitution calls for two senators from each state to be selected by a country'south legislature to represent that land. However, the 17th Amendment, canonical in 1913, mandates the direct election of U.S. senators, which ways that they're elected by direct vote of the people rather than by state legislators.

Equally the Senate website explains, the amendment was in response to corruption and other problems that prevented land legislatures from choosing U.S. senators. The Senate is known as the upper sleeping room of Congress because it has fewer members than the Firm.

Age, citizenship, term duration, and residency requirements

The Constitution requires that senators be at least 30 years old, U.S. citizens for at least nine years, and residents of the states they'll stand for. Senate terms are for six years; the terms are staggered so that approximately a third of all senate seats are up for election every 2 years. This is intended to protect the Senate from brusque-term political pressure and to ensure that turnover in the Senate occurs evenly, rather than having stasis for half-dozen years followed by upheaval.

Resource allotment of Senators: Two per Land

As the Senate website indicates, the reason the framers decided to permit each land to exist represented by two senators was to prevent the big states from overpowering their smaller counterparts. Benjamin Franklin believed that states should take equal votes in all matters except those involving money. (Article I, Section viii assigns to the House the power to taxation and spend; this clause is described in the following section.)

Power to devise its ain rules of performance

The Senate has the constitutional authorisation to prepare its own rules, just every bit the Business firm does. The Senate website quotes George Washington as explaining to Thomas Jefferson that the framers intended the Senate to "cool" legislation passed by the House "simply as a saucer is used to cool hot tea."

• In the Senate, individual senators take more options to slow the progress of a bill by making procedural requests, such equally keeping flooring debate open on the matter at manus. This is intended to encourage deliberation, or the careful discussion and consideration, of issues.
• Bulk party leaders in the Senate propose the priority of items to be debated, but they must work with minority political party leaders — and often all senators — to determine the floor agenda: the lodge in which items are brought before the Senate.

Vice president as president of the Senate

The Constitution makes the vice president the president of the Senate, but the vice president is immune to vote only to intermission a tie. The Senate is empowered to cull its own officers and president pro tempore to preside over the Senate when the vice president is unavailable.

Power to attempt and pass judgment on all impeachments

Senators are empowered to attempt and judge impeachments; in this chapters, they serve under "oath or affirmation." In the case of a president's impeachment, the primary justice of the United states of america presides. An impeachment conviction requires a 2-thirds majority vote of the full Senate.

If the impeachment trial leads to a conviction, the penalisation is removal from office and disqualification from "any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States," according to Commodity I, Section 3. However, the impeached person is "liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to constabulary."

Resources on the structure and function of the House of Representatives and Senate

• Cornell Law School'due south Legal Information Constitute offers a fully annotated version of the Constitution and an explanation of the Constitution compiled by the Congressional Research Service.
• The Due south. Capitol Visitor Middle features a study guide that explains the difference between the House and Senate. It poses half dozen questions about the constitutional ground for the two houses of Congress and provides sample answers.

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U.S. House of Representatives: Roles and Responsibilities

The duties of the House of Representatives are stated in Article I, Sections seven and 8 of the Constitution. However, the powers granted to both houses of Congress are derived from Article I, Section 1, as the Legal Data Plant explains.

In the early Supreme Court case McCulloch five. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the government is "1 of enumerated powers," which means that it can practice merely the powers that have been granted to it explicitly past the Constitution. Paired with this doctrine is the ruling that legislative powers may not be delegated to any other branch of authorities.

Subsequent rulings have modified these two doctrines, resulting in new categories of powers derived from this constitutional foundation.

Enumerated, unsaid, resulting, and inherent powers

Marshall's decision expanded the scope of the legislative powers enumerated in the Constitution by including the power to declare state of war, levy taxes, and regulate commerce. These powers are derived from the Constitution's necessary and proper clause in Commodity I, Section 8.

This gives Congress the right to exercise any "means which are appropriate" to perform its constitutional duties, unless those means are inconsistent with "the letter of the alphabet and spirit of the Constitution."

• Implied powers are those that aren't explicitly stipulated in the Constitution, merely the government assumes these powers are granted to it past inference based on prior Supreme Court decisions, as the Legal Dictionary explains.
• Resulting powers are those that Congress has because they're needed for information technology to fulfill its duties. They're derived from other powers specifically granted to the regime so that it can exercise its enumerated powers. The Legal Information Institute gives as an example the power to larn territory, which results from the enumerated powers to make state of war and treaties.
• Inherent powers are also chosen unsaid powers, as the Constitution Annotated notes. They're powers that Congress possesses fifty-fifty though they've never been explicitly exercised. An example would be the ability to revenue enhancement internet service providers.

Only congress may declare war, levy taxes, and regulate commerce

The power to declare war, levy taxes, and regulate commerce are among the congressional powers enumerated in Article I, Department 8 of the Constitution. The taxing and spending clause and the commerce clause have been used to broaden congressional dominance over federal tax and economic policy.

In addition, Congress' war powers have created a lot of friction betwixt the executive and legislative branches. For example, presidents have tried to expand their power to engage the U.Due south. military in overseas conflicts, every bit the House of Representatives Annal describes. For example, in the period after World State of war 2, presidents committed troops to the Dominican Republic, Laos, and Vietnam, amid other countries, without requesting or receiving authorization from Congress.

The House originates all revenue legislation

Article I, Department seven of the Constitution states that bills intended to heighten acquirement must originate in the House. This is one of the major differences between the Firm and Senate. The Senate is allowed to propose amendments to spending and taxing legislation, but as it tin with other bills sent to it from the Firm.

Bills crave merely a numerical majority vote

The decision of the framers to allow bills to pass the House after getting a simple bulk of votes was motivated past the desire to let legislation to exist enacted quickly. The responsibility for assessing and developing bills belongs to standing committees that are chaired by members of the majority party, but are fabricated upwardly of members of both parties, as the Congressional Enquiry Service explains.

Majority party powers and prerogatives

The of import role of political parties in the arrangement and functioning of the House is described by the House of Representatives Archive. The majority political party elects a speaker of the house and chooses other leadership positions, including the chair of all House committees. At that place are more members of the Firm than of the Senate, so the majority party wields more power in the lower chamber.

Prepare policy agenda

The speaker of the house usually selects the House majority leader. The House majority leader is charged with formulating the party's legislative agenda, as described by USHistory.org. The minority party chooses a minority leader whose impact on the House policy calendar is much more limited.

Decide which legislation reaches the Business firm flooring

Amidst the duties of the speaker of the house are presiding over all Business firm proceedings, determining which bills go to which committees, influencing committee assignments for new House members, and deciding the priorities for bills to be debated and voted upon by the entire body of representatives.

Chair all committees

While majority party members are chosen to chair all House committees, they must work with the ranking member of the minority political party to prepare bills for deliberation by all House members. The House of Representatives Athenaeum describes the three types of House committees:

• Standing committees are permanent; their jurisdiction is defined in the House rules.
• Select committees are temporary; they're created by resolution and charged with conducting investigations or researching specific topics.
• Articulation committees include members from the Business firm and Senate, usually to study specific matters rather than to consider a slice of legislation.

Resource on Business firm of Representatives roles and responsibilities

• The legal site Justia details the powers that the Firm derives from the taxing and spending clause of Article I, Department 8, including the types of taxes permitted and limits imposed on the power to tax and spend.
• The House of Representatives website explains the composition and functions of the Business firm, including its leadership, committees, commissions, schedule, rules, and history.

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U.South. Senate: Roles and Responsibilities

Article I, Section iii of the Constitution describes the basic limerick, operation, and duties of the Senate, although the Constitution grants the Senate leeway in determining how information technology will conduct its business. The Senate website describes the powers and procedures of the legislative body, which include trying impeachments, reviewing and approving presidential nominees, approving treaties, and managing internal matters.

Powers

The Senate receives all its authority from the Constitution. Every bit described above for the House, the Senate'southward powers are either enumerated, or expressly stated in the Constitution, or derived from the enumerated powers through the Article I, Section 8 necessary and proper clause.

Only the Senate confirms presidential nominations and treaties

Commodity II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the president power to nominate and appoint ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, and "other officers of the The states." However, the Constitution requires that nominations and appointments be fabricated "with the Advice and Consent of the Senate."

Similarly, the Senate is empowered to approve treaties proposed past the president by a ii-thirds majority vote. The Senate likewise has the power to alter a treaty's terms. (The president's ability to establish executive agreements with other nations doesn't crave Senate approval.)

Senate rules and procedures encourage deliberation rather than speed

The Senate website explains that the framers modeled the upper chamber of Congress after early land senates and the governor's councils of the Colonial era. To shield senators from short-term political pressure, their terms were set at six years rather than the two-yr terms of House representatives.

The Senate was intended to human action more deliberately than the Business firm. This emphasizes the Senate's duty to advise on and consent to actions taken in the House and by the executive branch of authorities. In this part, the framers expressed their "suspicion of the presidency" by assuasive the Senate to serve as a check on executive powers. Information technology also serves as a check confronting the impulsiveness of the House.

Individual senators take pregnant procedural leverage

The standing rules of the Senate promote deliberation by allowing senators to "debate at length" and by requiring greater than a simple majority to stop debate on a matter, equally the Congressional Research Service explains. The rules also let Senators propose floor amendments to pending bills that are exterior of the subject matter of the bills themselves. For example, the Existent ID Human action of 2005 passed as a "rider": an additional provision to a military spending deed that in its original version made no reference to traveler identification, every bit ThoughtCo explains.

The event is an unpredictable daily floor schedule for Senate business and the possibility that bills volition exist proposed whose subjects haven't been researched or debated in committee. To bring some order to Senate proceedings, the majority leader is given priority in beingness recognized to speak and to propose the bills and legislation that the body will consider.

Majority party powers and prerogatives

In add-on to the Senate majority leader's power to control debates on the Senate floor, the majority political party is granted other rights in the operation of the Senate.

Proposes items for consideration

The duties of the Senate majority leader include treatment all procedural matters that arise on the Senate floor and informing members of the bulk political party about the content, implications, and status of all awaiting legislation. In collaboration with Senate committee chairs, the majority leader addresses whatsoever conflicts that may preclude proposed bills from being passed.

Negotiates with the minority party to conduct Senate floor action

About Senate actions crave greater than a simple majority to pass. Therefore, the bulk political party must work more closely with the Senate minority political party than is typical in the House, which needs only a simple bulk to corroborate measures. The Senate website describes the human relationship betwixt the majority and minority parties in the Senate as "i of compromise and mutual forbearance" that's intended to prevent stalemates from arising on of import matters of legislation.

Chairs all committees

Similarly, members of the Senate majority party are chosen to chair all committees. Yet, the nature of the Senate requires that the majority leaders of committees work with the ranking member of the minority party to accomplish the committee's goals. The Senate website explains that the majority party controls most commission staff and resource, but the minority party retains a level of control based on its share of Senate seats.

Resources on Senate roles and responsibilities

• The Senate website details the establishment'southward history and operation, including biographies of past senators, historical highlights, and a complete chronology.
• The Library of Congress profiles electric current members of the Senate and explains the body's policies and procedures. The site links to active legislation and floor activity, as well every bit specific committees, leadership, and officers.

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How a nib becomes law

The process that Congress must follow to enact legislation is described in Article I, Section seven of the Constitution. The states.gov explains that anyone who has an idea for a new law is encouraged to contact their U.S. representative or senator to propose it. Nevertheless, almost bills originate in the offices of one or more of their legislative sponsors.

Step i: The pecker is introduced in either the House or the Senate

A bill tin be introduced by a representative or a senator; that person becomes the nib's sponsor (note that bills can accept multiple sponsors). After meeting in small groups to discuss the bill'south merits, representatives or senators assign the bill to a commission for further research, discussion, and potential amendments.

Stride 2: The beak is debated and put to a vote

Once the bill is released by the commission, representatives or senators fence information technology and advise amendments or other changes prior to putting the beak to a vote. Subsequently passing in the initial trunk (House or Senate), the pecker goes to the other body, where it'southward researched, discussed, and amended further.

After both chambers accept the bill, joint committees work out the differences between the two versions. Both houses then vote on the exact same bill. If the pecker passes, it'southward sent to the president for approving.

Step 3: The president considers the nib

The president has ten days to sign or veto bills that Congress sends to the White House for blessing. (A presidential veto prevents the legislation from taking effect.) If the president approves the beak, it's signed into law. If the president rejects the bill, information technology's returned to Congress with an explanation for the veto.

If Congress adjourns before the 10-twenty-four hours period for signing the nib expires, the president tin simply cull not to sign the beak, and the neb won't become police force. This is called a "pocket veto."

Step 4: Congress may vote to override a presidential veto

Congress has the power to override a presidential veto by a ii-thirds majority vote of both the House and Senate. If the veto is overridden, the bill becomes law. A pocket veto by the president can't be overridden by Congress.

Resources on how a bill becomes law

• The Business firm of Representatives website explains the legislative process, including how bills and resolutions are proposed, introduced, amended, debated, voted on, and enacted.
• Vote Smart examines each step in the procedure of a bill becoming constabulary in both the House and Senate, including committee activeness, flooring action, conference committees, and presidential review.

Conclusion: How Their Differences Brand the Business firm and Senate Stronger

The framers of the Constitution worked carefully to ensure that the powers wielded by the three branches of government —  legislative, executive, and judicial — were carefully balanced so that the duties of each branch were clear and no one branch would overpower the other ii. The bicameral legislature that splits legislative duties betwixt a large House of Representatives and a smaller Senate is a key component of the framers' power-sharing strategy.

Despite struggles and challenges that arose early in our land'south history and persist today, the division of responsibilities and sharing of ability take succeeded in keeping the wheels of government turning relatively finer more than two centuries after the Constitution was written. While few constitutional experts and political scholars would argue that the bicameral legislative system works perfectly, most would concord that the formulation has stood the examination of time.

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Boosted Resources

The New York Times, "When the House and the Senate Are Controlled past Ii Unlike Parties, Who Wins?"

U.S. Congress, "The Legislative Process: Overview"

U.S. National Archives, "The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription"

U.S. Senate, "Constitution of the United States"

Vote Smart, "Government 101: Congress"

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Source: https://online.maryville.edu/blog/difference-between-house-and-senate/

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