The Senate

in Lawmaking

The Senate chamber, with only 100 desks, is smaller than the House chamber.

Senate rules are designed to make certain that all senators have maximum freedom to express their ideas.

Senators may debate a proposal on and off for months before taking action on an issue.

Leadership in the Senate closely parallels leadership in the House.

The vice president presides in the Senate but may not vote except to break a tie.

Because Senate rules are more flexible, party leaders in the Senate may not have as much influence over other senators as their counterparts in the House.

As presiding officer of the Senate, the vice president does not have the same role and power as the Speaker of the House.

The vice president may recognize members and put questions to a vote, but he may not take part in Senate debates.

The vice president may cast a vote in the Senate, but only in the event of a tie.

The majority and minority leaders are the most important officers in the Senate.

Elected by the members of their political parties, the majority and minority leaders in the Senate are party officials rather than official Senate officers.

The majority leader’s main job is to steer the party’s bills through the Senate.

Because the Senate usually allows unlimited debate on a bill, one way for senators to defeat a bill they oppose is to filibuster against it.

To filibuster means to keep talking until a majority of the Senate either abandons the bill or agrees to modify its most controversial provisions.

• A filibuster by a group of senators could go on for weeks or even months.
• A filibuster can be stopped when three-fifths of the Senate (60 members) votes for cloture–a procedure that allows each senator to speak only 1 hour on a bill under debate.

The Senate

Leadership in the Senate

President Pro Tempore

Majority and Minority Leaders

Mike Pence

Standing Committees

Committees that oversee bills dealing with certain kinds of issues are called standing committees because they continue from one Congress to the next.

Because the majority party in each house controls the standing committees, it selects a chairperson for each from among its party members.

Party membership on committees is usually divided in direct proportion to each party’s strength in each house.

President Pro Tempore

Charles Ernest Grassley

Conference Committees

No bill can be sent from Congress to the president until both houses have passed it in identical form.

A conference committee is a temporary committee set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill.

The job of the conference committee is to resolve the differences between the two versions of the bill.

When the conference committee’s report–the compromise bill it has finally worked out–reaches the floor of each house, it must be considered as a whole.

Joint Committees

Made up of members from both the House and the Senate, joint committees may be either temporary or permanent.

In theory, joint committees coordinate the work of the two houses of Congress. In practice, lawmakers usually limit joint committees to handling routine matters.

Joint committees do not have the authority to deal directly with bills or to propose legislation to Congress.

Select Committees

Filibuster

From time to time, each house has created temporary committees called select committees to study one specific issue and report their findings to the Senate or the House.

In practice, however, select committees may be renewed and continue to meet for several terms of Congress.

Selecting The SS

Constitutional Amendments

" The Judiciary Act of 1789 formally established the Supreme Court and federal court system The Senate Judiciary Committee, established in 1816, considers topics ranging from criminal justice to antitrust and intellectual property law, as well provides advice and consent for judicial nominations. The committee typically conducts confirmation hearings for nominees to the Supreme Court, courts of appeals (circuit courts), and district courts. These judicial officers, known as Article III judges, are appointed for a life term.

• All 27 Amendments have been ratified after two-thirds of the House and Senate approve of the proposal and send it to the states for a vote. Then, three-fourths of the states must affirm the proposed Amendment.