Brianna Lewis
3/3/15
Dr. Hua Xu
CH 6 research activity #7
Introduction to American Politics 2020 online
The House of Representatives and the Senate are both chose through the direct election. They both also represent the United States Congress. The lower class is represented by the House of Representatives. The upper house is represented by the Senate. They both have to represent the people of their states they got elected for. At the same time, there are many differences between the two. An example of this includes the voting that takes place. The Senate has the right to agree on the President’s judicial nominees. But, the Representatives have no rights or responsibility to make this decision. The Founding Fathers wanted them to be the total opposite of each other. The Senate was to be smaller on purpose because they wanted more people in the House to control more than the Senate. So to solve this, they made fewer people in the Senate so this group can have less control from the people. Also the Senate is for the “landed/ large property” as the House is for the population. By making these two, they made sure the long and short terms served would be effected to the account.
The House of Representatives have several powers. These include the power to initiate bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the President if necessary. The Senate has power to approve the President’s appointments to ratify treaties. In order for a bill to be accepted, the Senate and the House have to pass the bill by the majority vote. One of the first things that are different between the two is the terms of people that are present in the Congress. There are 100 Senators total in Congress. There are two from each state. This number includes the independence of the state’s population. Representatives on the other hand are determined by the population of each state. There are 435 Representatives in total and at least one is represented by each state in the Congress. Another difference is the terms both representatives serve. A Senator represents their state for six years as the Representatives serve only two years a term.
Even though it is really weird, the ages and citizenship for the two differ also. A Senator must be at least 30 years old and have nine years of being a United States citizen underneath them. To be a Representative, the person only has to be the age of 25 with seven years underneath them as a United States citizen. Both of these have to have to be residents in order for them to become part of the Congress.
Senators and Representatives have different responsibilities. The Representatives’ job is to choose the President during the Electoral College, where they cannot come up with a decision. They also have the job to vote on the beginning of the impeachment process. Senators on the other side may have a chance to be called in to vote for a Vice President if the votes are tied. They also have the right to vote to approve certain treaties and they are the ones that grip trials (impeached public officials).
There are also many differences between the Committee procedures. The House of Representatives introduced their bills to “the hopper” and they also refer their Speaker by the committee. The advantage is the Speaker can create committees that are called as hoc. Also, the committee action has a better effect than the floor action for final decisions. On the other hand, The Senate introduces their bills and basically uses the committee to go by the majority leader. Unlike the Representatives, Senators cannot create the ad hoc committees. The flexible floor they use in their group makes the rule be protected by minority.
Generalists and Specialists play a role in the differences also. Generalists are from the Senate. They try to make conscious decisions that offer broader spectrum of things of they might not
