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United States Senate

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The United States Senate is the upper house of the Congress of the United States, the lower house of which is the U.S. House of Representatives. Together, they comprise the legislative branch of the United States government.

The name of the U.S. Senate is taken from the ancient Roman Senate.

The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the U. S. Capitol building, in Washington, D.C..

Each state elects two senators through statewide elections, for a total of 100 senators. If a vacancy occurs between elections, generally the governor of the state appoints a replacement to serve as senator until the next biennial election.

The Constitution of the United States endows the U.S. Senate with the responsibility to confirm important Presidential appointments, particularly federal judges (as part of the system of checks and balances), and with the authority to accept or reject international treaties negotiated by the executive.

Operation

Unlike the United States House of Representatives there are no strict rules regarding the debate, and one strategy used by senators to kill a bill is to filibuster which is to continue to debate the bill thereby preventing its passage. On March 8, 1917 the power of the filibuster was considerably reduced in theory by the cloture rule in which 60 senators can sign a petition to end debate (the initial version of the rule called for 2/3 but that was later reduced to 60). In practice, this rule is rarely used as Senators are reluctant to end debate so forcefully and may avoid breaking a filibuster to prevent retaliation against possible future filibusters of their own. The first ongoing filibuster in the Senate began on February 18, 1841 and lasted until March 11. The longest filibuster in the US Senate was delivered by Strom Thurmond. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to block the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He began by reading the entire text of each state's election laws.

Leadership

Composition and elections

With two Senators from each state, the Senate presently has 100 members. For details, see the current list of United States Senators. The Senate originally had 26 members. Senators serve for terms of six years; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years: each time there are elections in about 33 states for one of the two seats. They coincide with the elections for the House of Representatives; alternately they coincide with the presidential election; when they do not, they are called mid-term elections.

When the major parties are evenly split, the party affiliation of the Vice President, as the tie-breaker vote, determines which is the majority party.

Committees

Much of the business of the Senate is done in committee. There are three categories of committee: Standing, Joint and "Special, Select or Other." Committees usually have their own staffs, separate from the staffs of individual members. Committees often have subcommittees. Each committee has a chairperson and a ranking minority leader.

Because the Senate is smaller, the committees within the Senate are generally less powerful than the corresponding committees in the House. The exceptions to this are the Judiciary Committee which reviews Presidential appointments to federal judgeships, and the Foreign Relations Committee which reviews treaties.

Standing Committees of the U.S. Senate

  • Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Appropriations
  • Armed Services
  • Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Budget
  • Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Energy and Natural Resources
  • Environment and Public Works
  • Finance
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governmental Affairs
  • Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Judiciary
  • Rules and Administration
  • Small Business and Entrepreneurship
  • Veterans Affairs

Joint Committees of Congress

  • Joint Committee on Printing
  • Joint Committee on Taxation
  • Joint Committee on the Library
  • Joint Economic Committee

Special, Select and Other Committees of the U.S. Senate

  • Indian Affairs
  • Select Committee on Ethics
  • Select Committee on Intelligence
  • Special Committee on Aging

During the 108th Congress (2003-2005)

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -


+Republicans: 51 -Independent: 1

(James Jeffords (I-VT) votes with the Democrats.)

*Democrats: 48 +


  • Senate Pages

History

The first session of Senate to be open to the public was held on February 11, 1794 and on February 27, 1986 the Senate allowed its debates to be televised on a trial basis (which was later made permanent).

Senate Salaries

Historical information on the salaries Senators have been paid:

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