House of Representatives Essay

The US federal legislature is bicameral, therefore it consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and in theory they should both be of equal power. However, in reality it is the Senate which is considered to hold the most power, although there are arguments to in favour of them having equal rights. In order to reach a balanced judgement I will consider both sides of the argument, beginning with the claim that the Senate is more powerful than the House of Representatives. Senators represent an entire state, as members of the House of Representatives only represent districts, highlighting from the outset their different abilities to reach a broader spectrum of people, along with Senates being 1 of 100, and House members being 1 of 435. Therefore Senators have an easier avenue to implement their work, as a House representative has far less status, due to them being far denser in numbers a clear example of this is that of Bill Frist who in January 2003 became majority leader after only eight years in the Senate. While at the same time Representative Nancy Pelosi became House minority leader, but she had been a member in the house since 1987. This further highlights the ability of those with the senate to gain more status. Power within Congress is very much concentrated within committees, rather than that of the Chamber floor in question, which further highlights the Senates greater status, as Senators are far more likely to chair committees, which furthe r heightens their status on Capitol Hill. Senators are known both state-wide and even some are known nationwide, as House members are generally known in neither category. As a typical American sitting in the public gallery of the senate probably would not find difficulty in recognising such Senators as John McCain and John Kerry, as both have been their party’s presidential candidate. This is a different story within the house as most people would be unable to recognise representatives other than their own however there have been few exceptions such as Ron Paul, although this does further highlight the lack of status the House members have and as a consequence hindered power. This point is backed up even more by the time members have before they face re-elections, as in the Senate this period is every six years but only every two in the house. Consequently displaying the implication of House members being less important than that of Senators who have a longer period to make themselves known to their people and carry o ut their work without the hindrance of elections. The senate is widely seen as a launching pad for a presidential campaign, as Presidents Obama, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy and Truman were all former members of the Senate. While no member of the House in recent years has been chosen to run for President apart from Ron Paul in 2012, showing the Senates dominance within Congress in this area, as further instilling this point is the fact that 14 out of the last 15 elections the Democrats have nominated a senator as their vice-presidential candidate. However, when it comes down to passing legislation the two chambers have mostly equal powers, as neither chamber can overturn the decision made by the other, therefore the senate cannot dominate the House. Along with the ruling that both chambers must approve constitutional amendments, the House does however have exclusive powers over money bills, but this is overshadowed by the Senates ability to ratify or even reject a treaty even though a super majority would be needed. The only power the House holds that would appear to make them more powerful is that over the president and Vice-President, as they have the ability to elect the resident in the rare event of deadlock within the Electoral College. Although this is an almost irrelevant power as the house has not exercised it since 1824. Overall, it is apparent that members of both chambers are paid equal amounts, even though this is not an overriding argument for the two holding equal powers, it does add weight to them both having relatively equal powers, with the Senate receiving a greater amount of status within American Politics, this does not however mean they have an increased amount of power, the house is purely hindered by some factors such as the amount of members, which then makes many claim the Senate to be far more powerful than the House of Representatives, when the reality is slightly contrasting.