Compare and Contrast the House of Representatives and the Senate
The Us Congress is the legislative branch of the federal regime and consists of 2 houses: the lower firm known as the House of Representatives and the upper house known as the Senate. The words "Congress" and "Business firm" are sometimes used colloquially to refer to the Business firm 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).
Comparison nautical chart
 | Business firm of Representatives | Senate |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | The United states House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the United states of america Congress. It is often referred to as the House. | The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the The states Congress. |
| Type | Lower business firm. Responds to the needs of the people faster since representatives only take a two year term. Laws dealing with revenue must start in the House. | Upper house. The half-dozen year term means the Senate tin be slower and consider the long-term effects of laws. |
| Seats | 435 voting members, vi non-voting members: five delegates, i resident commissioner | 100 |
| Seats apportioned | Based on the population of each country | Two for each land |
| Length of term | 2 years. All 435 seats are up for reelection every two years. | vi years. Hither there is a continuous torso idea. Only i/3 of the senate seats are elected every two years. Then simply 34 or 33 senators are upwardly for election at one time. |
| Term limits | None | None |
| Leadership | Nancy Pelosi (D) (Speaker); elected by the Firm of Representatives. | The President of the Senate [currently Kamala Harris (D) merely 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), five vacant seats | Republican (48), Democratic (48), Independent (2) |
| Voting system | First-past-the-mail | Kickoff-by-the-postal service |
| History | Based on Virginia Programme | Based on New Jersey Program |
Size of Senate vs. House
While in that location are 100 seats in the Senate (two senators from each state), there are 435 seats in the House of Representatives (ane representative from each of the diverse congressional districts, with the number of congressional districts in each state adamant by the population).
The Reapportionment Act of 1929 gear up the concluding number of the House at the current 435, with district sizes adjusted co-ordinate to population growth. However, equally commune borders were never divers definitively, they tin can and often do stretch into peculiar shapes due to a exercise known every bit gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is used at the state legislature level to create districts that overwhelmingly favor one party. Federal and Supreme Court rulings take overturned gerrymandering efforts that have been perceived to be based on race, merely otherwise some districts take been reconfigured to give 1 or another party an extreme political advantage, thus allowing that political party to secure more than power in the state and in the Firm of Representatives.
A line graph showing which political parties have controlled the U.Due south. House of Representatives and Senate over the years. Click to enlarge.
Roles of Representatives and Senators
The Firm plays a major role in government, mainly that of initiating all revenue-based legislation. Any proposal to raise taxes must come from the Business firm, with Senate review and approval. The Senate, on the other manus, has sole power of approval on foreign treaties and cabinet and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Court.
In cases of impeachment (e.g., Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998), the Firm determines if charges can be brought against the official, and a simple majority vote approves or rejects the filing of charges (the impeachment process). If approved, the Senate then serves equally the investigative/judicial body to determine if the charges merit removing the accused official from his or her part. Withal, the vote in the Senate has to represent "a significant bulk," unremarkably 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 avert subpoenas and other judicial procedures. A senator tin waive the privilege at any time, but a fellow member of the House has to submit his or her petition to a general vote. If a simple majority approves, the privilege can be waived.
Congress has the power to subpoena any citizen. Noncompliance with a congressional subpoena can behave upward to a ane-yr jail sentence. The case is heard in a judicial forum, and punishment (a sentence) for those institute guilty of "contempt of Congress" is handled strictly by the judicial system.
The succession lodge 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 non 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 majority party, who is responsible for managing 24-hour interval-to-day business organisation.
Length of Terms
Senators are elected for a half-dozen-yr term, but Business firm representatives but have ii-yr terms earlier they need to seek reelection. Every member of the House is up for election or reelection every two years, just the Senate has a staggered system wherein only one-tertiary of the Senators are upwardly for ballot or reelection every ii years. It is possible for the Business firm to change to a big extent (in terms of party control) every two years, but changes are slower in the Senate. In both chambers, incumbents have a great reward over challengers, winning more than 90% of all contested races.
Qualifications
To be eligible equally a representative, a person needs to be at least 25 years old at the time of the election and take lived continuously in the U.Southward. for at least 7 years. To become a senator, one must be at least xxx years sometime at the fourth dimension of the election and take lived continuously in the U.Southward. for at least 9 years. Information technology is not a requirement to be a natural-built-in citizen in order to become a member of Congress.
Committees
Virtually of Congress' work takes place in committees. Both the House and Senate accept standing, special, conference, and joint committees.
Standing committees are permanent and provide longer-serving members with power bases. In the House, key committees include Upkeep, Ways and Means, and Armed services, while the Senate has Appropriations, Strange Relations, and Judiciary committees. (Some committees exist in both chambers, such as Budget, Armed Services, and Veterans Affairs.) Special committees are temporary, formed to investigate, clarify, and/or evaluate specific problems. Conference committees are formed when legislation is approved in both the Firm and Senate; they finalize the language in legislation. Articulation committees feature members of the Business firm and Senate, with leadership of each committee alternating between members of each sleeping room.
Committees also accept subcommittees, which are formed to focus more closely on certain issues. Some have go permanent, but about are formed for limited fourth dimension frames. Although useful for zeroing in on key issues, the proliferation of committees, and especially subcommittees, has decentralized the legislative process and significantly slowed information technology, making Congress less responsive to irresolute 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, argue time is restricted and topics are set beforehand, with discussions limited to the agenda. In the Senate, the tactic called filibustering is immune. One time the flooring is ceded to a senator, he or she tin speak for as long every bit the senator chooses, on any topic; no other business concern can exist transacted while the person speaks. A delay is used to cake 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 example, during a 2013 filibuster over the Affordable Care Deed, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) read from Green Eggs and Ham.
Origins of House and Senate
In general, the Business firm represents the population, while the Senate represents a "landed/big holding" populace. In colonial times, the proposed "legislative body" had two models. The Virginia Program, endorsed by Thomas Jefferson, created a grouping of representatives based on population sizes, so that more populous states would have a greater vocalism in legislative bug. Opposing it was the New Jersey Plan that limited each state to the aforementioned number of representatives; the plan suggested that there be something between two to five representatives per state. The New Bailiwick of jersey Programme was criticized for holding larger states "earnest" to smaller states, equally each would have the same power base. This article in The New Yorker dissects it well:
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton admittedly hated the idea that each state should exist 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 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 than preposterous or absurd than to cede the quondam to the latter."
Per the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the United States adopted the bicameral system of the English Parliament (i.eastward., House of Lords and Firm of Commons). The compromise was between the Virginia plan (small state) and the New Jersey proposal (large state), two competing ideas on whether each state should go equal representation in the federal government or whether representation should exist based on population. The compromise established that representatives in the lower house (Business firm of Representatives) volition be based on a population number (called a "district") while the upper firm (Senate) would contain two representative from each country. It was also decided that all classes would be eligible to become senators, field of study 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: Structure of the United States Congress
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