Comparing and Contrasting Senate and House of Representatives

Table of Contents

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

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

Together, the Business firm and Senate form the legislative co-operative of government. They interact with the executive and judicial branches to implement the checks and balances that keep all three branches functioning and prevent whatever single branch from abusing its ability.

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 Union from being overshadowed past their more than populous counterparts. They hoped that by dividing legislative ability between two houses, they'd be able to ensure equal representation for residents of all states, as the U.S. Capitol Visitor Middle explains.

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

Article I, Section 2: Composition and Function of the House of Representatives

Article I of the Constitution specifies the powers, duties, and responsibilities of each of the 2 houses of Congress. It lays out the rules for qualifying equally a representative, equally well as the method past which the seats in the House of Representatives are assigned to the states and how vacancies are filled.

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

Age, citizenship, term elapsing, and residency requirements

Representatives:

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

Resource 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, as the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art, and Archives website describes. The apportionment was to be based on an enumeration (population census) that was to exist made within iii years of the Constitution being ratified (approved) by the 13 states, and 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 average number of inhabitants in a congressional district is near 710,000. The Firm of Representatives Archives states that the number of representatives was express to 435 because the U.S. population was growing faster in urban states than in rural ones, which gave big states a higher proportion of representatives than smaller states.

Power to devise its own rules of operation

The Constitution allows each house of Congress to set 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 majority is required to pass legislation in the Business firm, which allows bills to exist processed quickly. By contrast, Senate votes typically crave a iii-fifths majority, or sixty votes in favor.
• Bulk party leaders in the Business firm control the priority of various policies and determine which bills make their way to the House floor for debate. In the Senate, minority political party leaders accept more than influence over such procedures, so the majority leaders must work more than closely with them.

Power of impeachment

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the House "shall have the sole power of impeachment." This power applies to the offices of president, vice president, federal judges, and other federal officers, every bit the Library of Congress' Constitution Annotated explains. Grounds for impeachment are "treason, blackmail, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

The House determines whether to impeach and if an impeachment is called for; the Senate decides whether to captive 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, every bit the Senate website explains.

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Article I, Department 3: Composition and Role of the Senate

Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution calls for ii senators from each state to be selected by a state's legislature to represent that land. However, the 17th Amendment, approved in 1913, mandates the direct election of U.S. senators, which ways that they're elected by directly vote of the people rather than past state legislators.

As the Senate website explains, the subpoena was in response to abuse and other issues that prevented state legislatures from choosing U.S. senators. The Senate is known equally the upper bedroom of Congress because it has fewer members than the House.

Historic period, citizenship, term duration, and residency requirements

The Constitution requires that senators exist at least 30 years quondam, U.Southward. citizens for at least nine years, and residents of the states they'll correspond. Senate terms are for half dozen years; the terms are staggered so that approximately a 3rd of all senate seats are upward for election every two years. This is intended to protect the Senate from curt-term political pressure and to ensure that turnover in the Senate occurs evenly, rather than having stasis for six years followed by upheaval.

Allotment of Senators: Two per State

As the Senate website indicates, the reason the framers decided to let each state to be represented by 2 senators was to foreclose the large states from overpowering their smaller counterparts. Benjamin Franklin believed that states should have equal votes in all matters except those involving money. (Commodity I, Section 8 assigns to the House the ability to tax and spend; this clause is described in the following section.)

Ability to devise its ain rules of operation

The Senate has the constitutional say-so to set its ain rules, just equally the Firm does. The Senate website quotes George Washington equally explaining to Thomas Jefferson that the framers intended the Senate to "cool" legislation passed by the Firm "only every bit a saucer is used to cool hot tea."

• In the Senate, private senators have more options to tiresome the progress of a bill past making procedural requests, such as keeping floor debate open on the matter at hand. This is intended to encourage deliberation, or the careful discussion and consideration, of problems.
• Bulk party leaders in the Senate propose the priority of items to exist debated, but they must piece of work with minority party leaders — and often all senators — to decide the floor agenda: the order in which items are brought before the Senate.

Vice president every bit president of the Senate

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

Power to try and pass judgment on all impeachments

Senators are empowered to try and approximate impeachments; in this capacity, they serve under "oath or affidavit." In the instance of a president'south impeachment, the chief justice of the Us presides. An impeachment confidence requires a two-thirds majority vote of the full Senate.

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

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

• Cornell Police School's Legal Information Plant offers a fully annotated version of the Constitution and an explanation of the Constitution compiled by the Congressional Research Service.
• The S. Capitol Visitor Center features a study guide that explains the difference between the House and Senate. It poses six questions most the constitutional basis for the 2 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 7 and 8 of the Constitution. Withal, the powers granted to both houses of Congress are derived from Article I, Section ane, as the Legal Information Plant explains.

In the early Supreme Court instance McCulloch v. Maryland, Main Justice John Marshall wrote that the government is "1 of enumerated powers," which means that it tin exercise but the powers that accept been granted to it explicitly by the Constitution. Paired with this doctrine is the ruling that legislative powers may not be delegated to any other branch of government.

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

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

• Implied powers are those that aren't explicitly stipulated in the Constitution, but the government assumes these powers are granted to it by inference based on prior Supreme Court decisions, as the Legal Lexicon explains.
• Resulting powers are those that Congress has because they're needed for it to fulfill its duties. They're derived from other powers specifically granted to the regime then that it tin exercise its enumerated powers. The Legal Data Found gives as an case the power to acquire territory, which results from the enumerated powers to make war and treaties.
• Inherent powers are also called implied powers, as the Constitution Annotated notes. They're powers that Congress possesses even though they've never been explicitly exercised. An instance would exist the power to tax cyberspace 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, Section 8 of the Constitution. The taxing and spending clause and the commerce clause take been used to broaden congressional authority over federal tax and economical policy.

In addition, Congress' war powers take created a lot of friction betwixt the executive and legislative branches. For instance, presidents take tried to expand their ability to engage the U.S. military in overseas conflicts, as the Firm of Representatives Archive describes. For example, in the period afterwards Globe War II, presidents committed troops to the Dominican Republic, Lao people's democratic republic, and Vietnam, among other countries, without requesting or receiving authority from Congress.

The House originates all revenue legislation

Commodity I, Department 7 of the Constitution states that bills intended to heighten revenue must originate in the House. This is i of the major differences between the House and Senate. The Senate is allowed to propose amendments to spending and taxing legislation, but as information technology can with other bills sent to it from the House.

Bills require only a numerical majority vote

The decision of the framers to let bills to pass the Business firm afterwards getting a simple bulk of votes was motivated past the desire to allow legislation to be enacted quickly. The responsibility for assessing and developing bills belongs to standing committees that are chaired by members of the majority party, simply are made upward of members of both parties, equally the Congressional Research Service explains.

Majority political party powers and prerogatives

The important role of political parties in the organization and functioning of the House is described by the House of Representatives Archive. The majority party elects a speaker of the house and chooses other leadership positions, including the chair of all House committees. There are more members of the Business firm than of the Senate, then the bulk party wields more power in the lower chamber.

Set 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 Firm policy agenda is much more limited.

Make up one's mind which legislation reaches the House floor

Amongst the duties of the speaker of the business firm are presiding over all House 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 bulk party members are called to chair all House committees, they must work with the ranking fellow member of the minority party to fix bills for deliberation by all House members. The House of Representatives Archives describes the three types of House committees:

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

Resources on Business firm of Representatives roles and responsibilities

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

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U.S. Senate: Roles and Responsibilities

Article I, Section iii of the Constitution describes the bones limerick, functioning, and duties of the Senate, although the Constitution grants the Senate elbowroom in determining how it will acquit its business organization. The Senate website describes the powers and procedures of the legislative trunk, 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'due south powers are either enumerated, or expressly stated in the Constitution, or derived from the enumerated powers through the Article I, Department 8 necessary and proper clause.

Simply the Senate confirms presidential nominations and treaties

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

Similarly, the Senate is empowered to corroborate treaties proposed by the president by a two-thirds majority vote. The Senate as well has the power to change a treaty'due south terms. (The president'southward power to constitute executive agreements with other nations doesn't require Senate blessing.)

Senate rules and procedures encourage deliberation rather than speed

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

The Senate was intended to human action more than deliberately than the House. This emphasizes the Senate's duty to advise on and consent to actions taken in the Business firm and by the executive co-operative of government. In this role, the framers expressed their "suspicion of the presidency" past assuasive the Senate to serve as a check on executive powers. It also serves as a check against the impulsiveness of the Business firm.

Individual senators have significant procedural leverage

The standing rules of the Senate promote deliberation by allowing senators to "debate at length" and by requiring greater than a uncomplicated majority to stop fence on a matter, equally the Congressional Enquiry Service explains. The rules likewise permit Senators propose flooring amendments to pending bills that are outside of the subject field matter of the bills themselves. For example, the Existent ID Act of 2005 passed as a "passenger": an boosted provision to a military spending deed that in its original version made no reference to traveler identification, every bit ThoughtCo explains.

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

Majority party powers and prerogatives

In addition to the Senate majority leader's power to control debates on the Senate floor, the majority 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 ascend on the Senate flooring and informing members of the bulk party about the content, implications, and condition of all pending legislation. In collaboration with Senate committee chairs, the majority leader addresses whatsoever conflicts that may prevent proposed bills from being passed.

Negotiates with the minority party to bear Senate floor action

Most Senate actions require greater than a elementary majority to laissez passer. Therefore, the majority party must work more closely with the Senate minority party than is typical in the House, which needs only a uncomplicated bulk to corroborate measures. The Senate website describes the human relationship between the bulk and minority parties in the Senate equally "one of compromise and mutual forbearance" that's intended to prevent stalemates from arising on important matters of legislation.

Chairs all committees

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

Resources on Senate roles and responsibilities

• The Senate website details the institution's history and functioning, including biographies of past senators, historical highlights, and a complete chronology.
• The Library of Congress profiles current members of the Senate and explains the torso'due south policies and procedures. The site links to active legislation and flooring action, also equally specific committees, leadership, and officers.

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How a bill becomes police

The procedure that Congress must follow to enact legislation is described in Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution. USA.gov explains that anyone who has an idea for a new police force is encouraged to contact their U.South. representative or senator to propose it. Withal, most bills originate in the offices of one or more than of their legislative sponsors.

Pace i: The neb is introduced in either the House or the Senate

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

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

One time the bill is released by the committee, representatives or senators debate it and advise amendments or other changes prior to putting the beak to a vote. Subsequently passing in the initial torso (House or Senate), the neb goes to the other torso, where it'due south researched, discussed, and amended further.

After both chambers have the bill, joint committees piece of work out the differences between the ii versions. Both houses then vote on the exact same nib. If the bill passes, it's sent to the president for approval.

Footstep iii: The president considers the nib

The president has 10 days to sign or veto bills that Congress sends to the White House for approving. (A presidential veto prevents the legislation from taking effect.) If the president approves the bill, it's signed into law. If the president rejects the neb, it's returned to Congress with an explanation for the veto.

If Congress adjourns before the 10-day period for signing the bill expires, the president tin can just choose not to sign the bill, and the beak won't become law. This is called a "pocket veto."

Pace 4: Congress may vote to override a presidential veto

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

Resources on how a bill becomes law

• The House 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 process of a beak becoming law in both the House and Senate, including committee activity, floor action, conference committees, and presidential review.

Conclusion: How Their Differences Make the House and Senate Stronger

The framers of the Constitution worked carefully to ensure that the powers wielded by the three branches of authorities —  legislative, executive, and judicial — were carefully balanced so that the duties of each branch were clear and no one branch would overpower the other two. The bicameral legislature that splits legislative duties between a big Business firm of Representatives and a smaller Senate is a primal component of the framers' ability-sharing strategy.

Despite struggles and challenges that arose early in our land's history and persist today, the division of responsibilities and sharing of power have succeeded in keeping the wheels of government turning relatively effectively more than than two centuries after the Constitution was written. While few constitutional experts and political scholars would debate that the bicameral legislative system works perfectly, near would agree that the conception has stood the test of time.

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Additional Resources

The New York Times, "When the House and the Senate Are Controlled past Two 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, "Authorities 101: Congress"

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

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