Comparing and Contrasting the House and Senate

Since the United States runs on a bicameral legislature, there are glaring differences between each house.The Senate is an assembly or a council of citizens having the highest deliberative and legislative functions in a government. The House is a legislative or deliberative assembly that starts the political process. However, both houses are required to work together in order for government to work properly. This article will examine the many differences and similarities between two of the most important parts of American Government.

Of course there are the physical differences between the House and Senate. The Senate seats 100 Senators, two from each state, and the House seats 435 based on state population. Senators stay in office for six years and must be at least 30 years old, where as a Congressman is elected for 2 years and at least 25 years old. But putting numbers aside both a Senator and a Congressman have two completely different jobs. The House was created to initiate the American political process. This is where all laws begin their journey to ratification to the Constitution. Unlike the Senate, the House has power less equally distributed. The strongest person in the House is of course the Speaker of the House. Then there are the individual whips and lower positions of power. In the Senate the power is more equally distributed since there are only 100 members, although party control is still important, it isn’t as important or defined as it is in the House of Representatives.

The similarities between each organization are less defined and few and far between. Both houses are elected by their people, the Congress has more local support since they are supposed to represent their smaller districts. Members of either House must live in their represented states. The Senators are elected by the state as a whole. In terms of jobs, both Houses create committees to address certain issues. Some committees exist in both Houses such as the budget and judiciary committees. Both members have to vote on the same bill in order for the bill to get close to ratification. Both Houses have the power to borrow money and regulate commerce with foreign nations.

In conclusion both branches of the legislative system are equally important for our nation. Even though their functions are different, their end goal remains the same.