US Senate Vs. The House of Representative.

Essay by siksik80 November 2003

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The United States Congress is made out of two markedly different, but coequal chambers, the senate and the House of Representatives. Although the senate and the house both exist within the same legislative institution, but they each has developed certain distinctive features that clearly distinguish life on one end of Capitol Hill from conditions on the other. The Senate wing is on the north side of the Capitol building, and the House wing is on the south side.

The central difference between the House of Representatives and the senate is the size. The House is much lager then the Senate. The House has 435 voting members plus delegates from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. The Senate only has 100 members. Members in the house are chosen from local districts, they are originally elected by voters and they have a two-year term.

Members in the senate are chosen from an entire state, they are originally elected by state legislatures and they have a six-year term.

And since the House is a lot bigger then the senate, it also needs a greater number of formal rules to govern activity in the House, and it has limited debate. In the senate, they have fewer rules and restrictions, but they normally permit extended debate on all issues that arise before it. In the House, representatives generally achieve less prestige and less individual notice; in the senate, members achieve more prestige and more media attention, especially those who openly express presidential ambitions are better able to gain media exposure. The senate members also have the power to advise the president on, and to consent to, presidential appointments and treaties; the House representatives only has power to originates bills for raising revenues. Moreover, member in the...