Qualifications to Be in the House of Representatives and Senate

Table of Contents

1. Difference Between House and Senate
2. Business firm: Roles and Responsibilities
3. Senate: Roles and Responsibilities
4. How a Pecker Becomes Law
5. How Their Differences Make the House and Senate Stronger

The U.S. Congress is oftentimes referred to every bit a unmarried entity, but it'south actually a combination of ii distinct groups: the House of Representatives and the Senate. While both houses of Congress piece of work together to propose and enact the laws that govern our country, the differences between the House and Senate ensure that each chamber in this bicameral ("2 room") organisation has distinct roles and responsibilities.

Together, the House and Senate form the legislative branch of authorities. They interact with the executive and judicial branches to implement the checks and balances that keep all three branches performance and prevent any single co-operative from abusing its power.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution: Difference Betwixt 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 existence overshadowed by their more populous counterparts. They hoped that by dividing legislative ability between ii houses, they'd be able to ensure equal representation for residents of all states, every bit the U.Due south. Capitol Company Center explains.

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

Commodity I, Department ii: Composition and Function of the House of Representatives

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

The Constitution affords the House — known every bit the lower bedchamber because 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 exist citizens for at least 7 years.
• Are elected to a ii-year term.
• Must be residents of u.s.a. they represent.

Allotment of representatives based on population

Originally, the number of representatives was set at 1 per 30,000 inhabitants, but the representative count has since increased, as the U.Southward. House of Representatives History, Art, and Archives website describes. The apportionment was to exist based on an enumeration (population census) that was to be made within iii years of the Constitution being ratified (approved) by the thirteen states, and so every 10 years thereafter.

The Circulation Deed 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 about 710,000. The House of Representatives Archives states that the number of representatives was limited to 435 because the U.S. population was growing faster in urban states than in rural ones, which gave large states a higher proportion of representatives than smaller states.

Ability to devise its own rules of performance

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

• Just a numerical majority is required to pass legislation in the Business firm, which allows bills to be candy chop-chop. Past contrast, Senate votes typically require a three-fifths majority, or 60 votes in favor.
• Majority party leaders in the Firm control the priority of various policies and make up one's mind which bills make their way to the House floor for contend. In the Senate, minority party leaders have more than influence over such procedures, so the bulk leaders must work more closely with them.

Power of impeachment

Article I, Section two of the Constitution states that the Business firm "shall accept the sole power of impeachment." This ability applies to the offices of president, vice president, federal judges, and other federal officers, equally 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 part. 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: Composition and Function of the Senate

Article I, Section iii of the Constitution calls for ii senators from each land to exist selected past a land's legislature to represent that state. 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 country legislators.

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

Historic period, citizenship, term duration, and residency requirements

The Constitution requires that senators be at least 30 years one-time, U.Due south. citizens for at least nine years, and residents of the states they'll represent. Senate terms are for six years; the terms are staggered then that approximately a third of all senate seats are up for election every 2 years. This is intended to protect the Senate from short-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

Every bit the Senate website indicates, the reason the framers decided to allow each land to be represented past ii senators was to prevent the large states from overpowering their smaller counterparts. Benjamin Franklin believed that states should have equal votes in all matters except those involving coin. (Article I, Section 8 assigns to the House the ability to tax and spend; this clause is described in the following department.)

Power to devise its own rules of operation

The Senate has the ramble authority to ready its own rules, just as the House does. The Senate website quotes George Washington equally 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 accept more than options to slow the progress of a pecker by making procedural requests, such as keeping flooring debate open up on the matter at mitt. This is intended to encourage deliberation, or the careful discussion and consideration, of issues.
• Bulk party leaders in the Senate suggest the priority of items to be debated, just they must work with minority party leaders — and often all senators — to determine 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, but the vice president is allowed to vote only to suspension a tie. The Senate is empowered to choose its own 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 effort and guess impeachments; in this capacity, they serve under "oath or affidavit." In the case of a president's impeachment, the chief justice of the Usa presides. An impeachment conviction requires a two-thirds majority vote of the total Senate.

If the impeachment trial leads to a confidence, the punishment is removal from role and disqualification from "any role of award, trust or profit under the United States," co-ordinate to Article I, Section 3. However, the impeached person is "liable and subject area to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, co-ordinate to law."

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

• Cornell Law School's Legal Information Establish offers a fully annotated version of the Constitution and an explanation of the Constitution compiled past the Congressional Enquiry Service.
• The S. Capitol Company Center features a report guide that explains the difference betwixt the House and Senate. It poses six questions near the constitutional basis for the two houses of Congress and provides sample answers.

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U.S. Business firm of Representatives: Roles and Responsibilities

The duties of the Business firm of Representatives are stated in Commodity I, Sections 7 and eight of the Constitution. Nevertheless, the powers granted to both houses of Congress are derived from Article I, Department ane, as the Legal Information Constitute explains.

In the early Supreme Courtroom case McCulloch 5. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the government is "i of enumerated powers," which means that it tin exercise only the powers that have been granted to it explicitly by the Constitution. Paired with this doctrine is the ruling that legislative powers may not be delegated to whatsoever other branch of government.

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

Enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent powers

Marshall'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'southward necessary and proper clause in Article I, Department viii.

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 and spirit of the Constitution."

• Implied powers are those that aren't explicitly stipulated in the Constitution, just the authorities assumes these powers are granted to it by inference based on prior Supreme Court decisions, as the Legal Dictionary 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 authorities so that it can do its enumerated powers. The Legal Data Institute gives equally an example the power to acquire territory, which results from the enumerated powers to make war and treaties.
• Inherent powers are also chosen implied powers, as the Constitution Annotated notes. They're powers that Congress possesses even though they've never been explicitly exercised. An example would be the power to tax 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 accept been used to broaden congressional authority over federal taxation and economical policy.

In addition, Congress' war powers have created a lot of friction between the executive and legislative branches. For instance, presidents have tried to expand their ability to engage the U.S. military in overseas conflicts, every bit the House of Representatives Annal describes. For example, in the flow after Globe War II, presidents committed troops to the Dominican Republic, Laos, and Vietnam, amidst other countries, without requesting or receiving dominance from Congress.

The House originates all revenue legislation

Article I, Department 7 of the Constitution states that bills intended to raise acquirement must originate in the Business firm. This is one of the major differences between the House and Senate. The Senate is allowed to advise amendments to spending and taxing legislation, merely as information technology can with other bills sent to it from the Firm.

Bills crave but a numerical bulk vote

The decision of the framers to allow bills to pass the House after getting a simple majority of votes was motivated by the want to permit legislation to exist enacted apace. The responsibility for assessing and developing bills belongs to standing committees that are chaired by members of the majority political party, merely are made up of members of both parties, as the Congressional Research Service explains.

Majority party powers and prerogatives

The important function 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 House than of the Senate, and then the majority party wields more power in the lower chamber.

Set policy agenda

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

Decide which legislation reaches the Firm floor

Among the duties of the speaker of the 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 trunk of representatives.

Chair all committees

While bulk party members are chosen to chair all House committees, they must piece of work with the ranking member of the minority political party to set 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 defined 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 House and Senate, usually to written report specific matters rather than to consider a piece of legislation.

Resources on 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 ability to tax 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

Commodity I, Section three of the Constitution describes the basic limerick, functioning, and duties of the Senate, although the Constitution grants the Senate leeway in determining how it 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. Equally described above for the House, the Senate's powers are either enumerated, or expressly stated in the Constitution, or derived from the enumerated powers through the Commodity I, Section viii necessary and proper clause.

Merely 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 approve treaties proposed by the president by a 2-thirds majority vote. The Senate also has the power to alter a treaty's terms. (The president's power to institute executive agreements with other nations doesn't require 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'due south councils of the Colonial era. To shield senators from short-term political pressure, their terms were set at six years rather than the 2-yr terms of Business firm representatives.

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

Private senators have significant procedural leverage

The standing rules of the Senate promote deliberation by assuasive senators to "debate at length" and past requiring greater than a simple bulk to stop debate on a thing, as the Congressional Research Service explains. The rules also allow Senators advise floor amendments to awaiting bills that are outside of the subject thing of the bills themselves. For case, the Real ID Act 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, as ThoughtCo explains.

The result 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 order 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 flooring, 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 handling all procedural matters that arise on the Senate floor and informing members of the majority party about the content, implications, and status of all pending legislation. In collaboration with Senate commission chairs, the majority leader addresses any conflicts that may prevent proposed bills from existence passed.

Negotiates with the minority party to comport Senate floor action

Most Senate actions require greater than a elementary bulk to pass. Therefore, the majority party must work more closely with the Senate minority party than is typical in the House, which needs just a simple majority to corroborate measures. The Senate website describes the relationship between the majority and minority parties in the Senate as "one of compromise and mutual abstinence" 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. Nonetheless, the nature of the Senate requires that the majority leaders of committees work with the ranking member of the minority party to attain the committee's goals. The Senate website explains that the majority party controls most committee staff and resource, but 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 establishment's history and performance, including biographies of past senators, historical highlights, and a complete chronology.
• The Library of Congress profiles current members of the Senate and explains the body's policies and procedures. The site links to active legislation and floor action, too as specific committees, leadership, and officers.

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How a bill becomes law

The process that Congress must follow to enact legislation is described in Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution. U.s..gov explains that anyone who has an idea for a new law is encouraged to contact their U.S. representative or senator to suggest it. Still, most bills originate in the offices of one or more of their legislative sponsors.

Step 1: The beak is introduced in either the House or the Senate

A bill tin exist introduced by a representative or a senator; that person becomes the bill's sponsor (note that bills can have multiple sponsors). After meeting in small groups to discuss the beak's merits, representatives or senators assign the pecker to a committee for further enquiry, give-and-take, and potential amendments.

Pace 2: The bill is debated and put to a vote

Once the bill is released by the committee, representatives or senators fence information technology and propose amendments or other changes prior to putting the bill to a vote. Afterward passing in the initial torso (Business firm or Senate), the bill goes to the other torso, where it's researched, discussed, and amended further.

After both chambers accept the nib, articulation committees work out the differences between the two versions. Both houses then vote on the exact same pecker. If the neb passes, it's sent to the president for approval.

Step three: The president considers the pecker

The president has 10 days to sign or veto bills that Congress sends to the White Firm for approval. (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 bill, information technology's returned to Congress with an explanation for the veto.

If Congress adjourns earlier the 10-day menstruum for signing the bill expires, the president can simply choose not to sign the pecker, and the nib won't become law. This is chosen a "pocket veto."

Step iv: Congress may vote to override a presidential veto

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

Resources on how a bill becomes police force

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

Conclusion: How Their Differences Brand the House and Senate Stronger

The framers of the Constitution worked carefully to ensure that the powers wielded past the three branches of regime —  legislative, executive, and judicial — were advisedly balanced so that the duties of each branch were articulate and no one branch would overpower the other two. The bicameral legislature that splits legislative duties between a large Firm of Representatives and a smaller Senate is a central component of the framers' ability-sharing strategy.

Despite struggles and challenges that arose early in our country's history and persist today, the division of responsibilities and sharing of ability have succeeded in keeping the wheels of government turning relatively effectively more than two centuries after the Constitution was written. While few ramble experts and political scholars would argue that the bicameral legislative system works perfectly, most would concur that the formulation has stood the test of time.

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Additional Resource

The New York Times, "When the House and the Senate Are Controlled by Two Different 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, "Regime 101: Congress"

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

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