What is the difference between congress and senate houses

Each state has two senators in the Senate. The number of representatives a state has is determined by its population. While the house and senate are similar, there are some differences. If you want more information on the House or Senate, check out: Congress.

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Continue to secure page ». Government For Teachers. Education Government Congress The legislative branch of the federal government.

Major Differences Between the Two Houses of Congress: House members serving two-year terms Speaker's referral of bills to committee is hard to challenge. Rules Committee powerful; controls time of debate, admissibility of amendments. Committees almost always consider legislation first. Debate usually limited to one hour.

In the upper chamber, or the Senate, each of the members is only up for election every six years. It works on a rotating basis, so every two years one third is up for election and two thirds stay on. It also means that typically Senators can afford to be less responsive to the needs of their constituents the citizens who they represent. In the lower chamber on the other hand, each of the over House members serve only two-year terms, and they all go up for election at once.

The House was always intended to be the chamber that was closest to the people , meanwhile Senators are not expected to be as influenced by the changing tides of popular opinion. With four times more members than the Senate, the functioning of the House, by necessity, is far more controlled and formal. For instance before legislation comes before the House, more often than not it will be considered before a committee but in the Senate this step is easily bypassed.

The House usually also limits its debate times to one hour but in the Senate discussion is unlimited. Senators may speak on issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced.

Party leaders and committees function differently in the House and Senate. The Speaker, currently Nancy Pelosi, is in charge of which bills are debated and when.

She also influences the House Rules Committee in deciding which legislation will be considered. The Senate does not have a position with similar control to the House Speaker.

In the Senate, the majority and minority leaders generally work together in consultation with all members to determine the schedule. Both chambers are reliant upon the other when it comes to passing laws, they are intertwined in this way. How does a bill become a law? Passing legislation into law is a complicated and lengthy process between the House and Senate before the bill is presented before the President to be signed into law. For a thorough explanation of the legislation process, please see the How a Bill Becomes a Law section on the House website.

Do Members of Congress pay into the social security system? Since January 1, , all Members of Congress participate in the Social Security system and are required to pay Social Security taxes.

What kind of retirement plan do Members of Congress have? What kind of health care do Members of Congress receive? Skip to main content. You are here. How Congress Works. The required qualifications are found in Article 1 of the Constitution: House of Representatives 25 years of age A citizen of the United States for at least 7 years At the time of election, be a resident of the state U.

The number of representatives with full voting rights is , a number set by Public Law on August 8, , and in effect since The number of representatives per state is proportionate to population. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution provides for both the minimum and maximum sizes for the House of Representatives. A resident commissioner represents Puerto Rico.

The delegates and resident commissioner possess the same powers as other members of the House, except that they may not vote when the House is meeting as the House of Representatives.

To be elected, a representative must be at least 25 years old, a United States citizen for at least seven years and an inhabitant of the state he or she represents. Enter your ZIP code in the banner of this page to find the representative for your congressional district.

After extensive debate, the framers of the Constitution agreed to create the House with representation based on population and the Senate with equal representation. This agreement was part of what is referred to as The Great Compromise. House leadership includes the speaker, majority and minority leaders, assistant leaders, whips and a party caucus or conference.

The speaker acts as leader of the House and combines several institutional and administrative roles. Majority and minority leaders represent their respective parties on the House floor. Whips assist leadership in managing their party's legislative program on the House floor. A party caucus or conference is the name given to a meeting of or organization of all party members in the House.

During these meetings, party members discuss matters of concern. The majority party members and the minority party members meet in separate caucuses to select their leader. Third parties rarely have had enough members to elect their own leadership, and independents will generally join one of the larger party organizations to receive committee assignments.

Learn more about the history of the majority and minority leaders from the Office of the Clerk. Curious about who else has been Speaker of the House or Majority Leader?