Who Is the Leader of the House of Representatives Quizlet

Tabular array of Contents

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

The U.S. Congress is frequently referred to every bit a single entity, only it's actually 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 Firm 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 go on all three branches performance and prevent any single branch 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 being overshadowed past their more populous counterparts. They hoped that by dividing legislative power between 2 houses, they'd be able to ensure equal representation for residents of all states, as the U.S. Capitol Visitor 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 be assigned two per state. The Bang-up Compromise (or Connecticut Compromise) gives each land equal representation in the Senate while ensuring equal representation per citizen in the House.

Commodity I, Section ii: Composition and Office of the Firm of Representatives

Article 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 every bit a representative, as well as the method by 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 bedchamber because information technology has more members than the Senate — much elbowroom in deciding how it will operate.

Historic period, citizenship, term duration, and residency requirements

Representatives:

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

Allocation 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 be based on an enumeration (population census) that was to be made within iii years of the Constitution being ratified (canonical) by the 13 states, and then every 10 years thereafter.

The Circulation Act of 1911 and its successor, the Permanent Apportionment Human action of 1929, capped the number of representatives at 435. For this reason, equally of the 2010 Census, the average number of inhabitants in a congressional district is about 710,000. The Business firm of Representatives Archives states that the number of representatives was express to 435 considering 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.

Power to devise its own rules of operation

The Constitution allows each house of Congress to fix its ain rules. This has led to divergent practices and procedures in the Firm and Senate. The Library of Congress summarizes the operating rules of the Firm of Representatives:

• Only a numerical majority is required to pass legislation in the House, which allows bills to be processed quickly. Past contrast, Senate votes typically require a three-fifths majority, or 60 votes in favor.
• Majority political party leaders in the House control the priority of various policies and decide which bills make their manner to the House floor for debate. In the Senate, minority party leaders have more influence over such procedures, then the majority leaders must work more 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, as the Library of Congress' Constitution Annotated explains. Grounds for impeachment are "treason, bribery, 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 role. This follows a pattern established in the British government and American colonial governments dating dorsum to the 17th century, as the Senate website explains.

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Commodity I, Section 3: 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's legislature to represent that country. All the same, the 17th Amendment, approved in 1913, mandates the direct election of U.S. senators, which ways that they're elected by direct vote of the people rather than past state legislators.

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

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 represent. Senate terms are for six years; the terms are staggered so that approximately a third of all senate seats are up for ballot every two years. This is intended to protect the Senate from short-term political force per unit area and to ensure that turnover in the Senate occurs evenly, rather than having stasis for six years followed by upheaval.

Allotment of Senators: Ii per State

As the Senate website indicates, the reason the framers decided to allow each country to be represented by two senators was to forbid the large states from overpowering their smaller counterparts. Benjamin Franklin believed that states should have equal votes in all matters except those involving money. (Article I, Section eight assigns to the Business firm the power to tax and spend; this clause is described in the following department.)

Power to devise its own rules of operation

The Senate has the constitutional authority to ready 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 "just as a saucer is used to cool hot tea."

• In the Senate, individual senators have more options to deadening the progress of a bill past making procedural requests, such every bit keeping flooring argue open on the affair at hand. This is intended to encourage deliberation, or the conscientious discussion and consideration, of problems.
• Majority political party leaders in the Senate propose the priority of items to exist debated, just they must piece of work with minority party leaders — and often all senators — to make up one's mind 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 ain officers and president pro tempore to preside over the Senate when the vice president is unavailable.

Power to effort and pass judgment on all impeachments

Senators are empowered to try and judge impeachments; in this capacity, they serve under "oath or affirmation." In the case of a president'southward impeachment, the chief justice of the Us presides. An impeachment conviction requires a ii-thirds majority vote of the full Senate.

If the impeachment trial leads to a confidence, the punishment is removal from function and disqualification from "whatsoever office of honor, trust or profit under the United states of america," according to Article I, Section 3. However, the impeached person is "liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law."

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

• Cornell Law Schoolhouse'southward Legal Data Institute offers a fully annotated version of the Constitution and an explanation of the Constitution compiled by the Congressional Research Service.
• The S. Capitol Visitor Eye features a written report guide that explains the difference between the House and Senate. It poses six questions about the ramble 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 Business firm 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 one, as the Legal Information Institute explains.

In the early Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland, Main Justice John Marshall wrote that the government is "i of enumerated powers," which ways that information technology tin practice simply the powers that have been granted to information technology explicitly past the Constitution. Paired with this doctrine is the ruling that legislative powers may not be delegated to any other branch of government.

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

Enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent powers

Marshall'south decision expanded the telescopic of the legislative powers enumerated in the Constitution by including the ability to declare 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 "ways which are appropriate" to perform its constitutional duties, unless those ways 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, simply the regime assumes these powers are granted to information technology by inference based on prior Supreme Court decisions, every bit the Legal Dictionary explains.
• Resulting powers are those that Congress has considering they're needed for information technology to fulfill its duties. They're derived from other powers specifically granted to the regime so that information technology can exercise its enumerated powers. The Legal Information Institute gives every bit an example the power to acquire territory, which results from the enumerated powers to make war and treaties.
• Inherent powers are also called implied powers, equally the Constitution Annotated notes. They're powers that Congress possesses fifty-fifty though they've never been explicitly exercised. An example would be the power to tax internet service providers.

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

The ability 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 authority over federal revenue enhancement and economical policy.

In addition, Congress' war powers accept created a lot of friction between the executive and legislative branches. For instance, presidents have tried to expand their ability to engage the U.Due south. military in overseas conflicts, as the House of Representatives Archive describes. For example, in the catamenia subsequently Globe War II, presidents committed troops to the Dominican Commonwealth, Laos, and Vietnam, amid other countries, without requesting or receiving authorization from Congress.

The House originates all acquirement legislation

Commodity I, Section 7 of the Constitution states that bills intended to raise revenue must originate in the 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, only as it can with other bills sent to it from the Business firm.

Bills crave only a numerical majority vote

The decision of the framers to allow bills to pass the House after getting a uncomplicated majority of votes was motivated by the desire to permit legislation to be enacted chop-chop. The responsibility for assessing and developing bills belongs to standing committees that are chaired by members of the majority party, but are fabricated up of members of both parties, as the Congressional Research Service explains.

Majority party powers and prerogatives

The important role of political parties in the organization and functioning of the Business firm 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. In that location are more members of the Firm than of the Senate, so the majority party wields more power in the lower bedroom.

Set policy calendar

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

Make up one's mind which legislation reaches the Business firm floor

Among the duties of the speaker of the house are presiding over all Firm proceedings, determining which bills become to which committees, influencing committee assignments for new House members, and deciding the priorities for bills to exist debated and voted upon past the entire body of representatives.

Chair all committees

While majority political party members are called to chair all Business firm committees, they must work with the ranking member of the minority party to prepare bills for deliberation by all House members. The House of Representatives Archives describes the 3 types of House committees:

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

Resources on House 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, Department 8, including the types of taxes permitted and limits imposed on the power to tax and spend.
• The Firm 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, Department iii of the Constitution describes the basic composition, operation, and duties of the Senate, although the Constitution grants the Senate leeway in determining how it volition deport its business organisation. 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. As described to a higher place for the Business firm, 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

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the president power to nominate and engage ambassadors, Supreme Court justices, and "other officers of the United 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 by the president by a 2-thirds bulk vote. The Senate also has the power to modify a treaty's terms. (The president's power to establish 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 afterwards early on state senates and the governor's councils of the Colonial era. To shield senators from short-term political pressure, their terms were fix at six years rather than the two-year terms of House representatives.

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

Individual senators accept significant 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 end debate on a matter, as the Congressional Research Service explains. The rules also allow Senators propose flooring amendments to pending bills that are outside of the subject area matter of the bills themselves. For example, the Real ID Act of 2005 passed every bit a "passenger": an additional provision to a military spending act that in its original version made no reference to traveler identification, equally 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 society to Senate proceedings, the majority leader is given priority in being recognized to speak and to propose the bills and legislation that the trunk will consider.

Majority party powers and prerogatives

In add-on to the Senate bulk 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 floor and informing members of the bulk political 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 beingness passed.

Negotiates with the minority party to conduct Senate floor action

Almost Senate actions require greater than a simple majority to pass. Therefore, the bulk party must piece of work more closely with the Senate minority party than is typical in the House, which needs only a elementary majority to corroborate measures. The Senate website describes the relationship betwixt the majority and minority parties in the Senate as "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 political party are chosen to chair all committees. However, the nature of the Senate requires that the majority leaders of committees work with the ranking fellow member of the minority party to accomplish the committee's goals. The Senate website explains that the majority party controls almost committee staff and resources, but the minority party retains a level of control based on its share of Senate seats.

Resource on Senate roles and responsibilities

• The Senate website details the institution'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 trunk's policies and procedures. The site links to active legislation and flooring activity, as well as specific committees, leadership, and officers.

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How a bill becomes police force

The procedure that Congress must follow to enact legislation is described in Article I, Department seven of the Constitution. United states.gov explains that anyone who has an thought for a new law is encouraged to contact their U.S. representative or senator to suggest it. Even so, most bills originate in the offices of 1 or more than of their legislative sponsors.

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

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

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

One time the neb is released by the committee, representatives or senators debate information technology and propose amendments or other changes prior to putting the bill to a vote. After passing in the initial body (House or Senate), the bill goes to the other body, where it's researched, discussed, and amended further.

Later on both chambers accept the nib, joint committees work out the differences between the ii versions. Both houses then vote on the exact same bill. If the bill passes, it'southward sent to the president for approval.

Step 3: The president considers the bill

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

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

Step four: 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 pecker becomes police. A pocket veto by the president tin can't be overridden by Congress.

Resources on how a bill becomes law

• The 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 Business firm and Senate, including committee activity, floor activeness, briefing committees, and presidential review.

Decision: How Their Differences Brand the Firm and Senate Stronger

The framers of the Constitution worked advisedly to ensure that the powers wielded by the iii branches of government —  legislative, executive, and judicial — were carefully counterbalanced 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 House 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 country'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 two centuries afterward the Constitution was written. While few ramble experts and political scholars would argue that the bicameral legislative system works perfectly, most would agree that the formulation has stood the exam of time.

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Additional Resources

The New York Times, "When the House and the Senate Are Controlled by Two Different Parties, Who Wins?"

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

U.Due south. National Archives, "The Constitution of the United states of america: 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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