Is the Senate too big for Small States?
But this is not the case. The Senate gives a big advantage to voters in small states, because every state gets an equal number of Senators. Thus, California’s 39 million people get two senators in Washington, while two Senators also represent states like Wyoming (578,000 people), Vermont (626,000 people), and Alaska (737,000 people).
Why does the Senate have so many senators?
The Senate gives a big advantage to voters in small states, because every state gets an equal number of Senators. Thus, California’s 39 million people get two senators in Washington, while two Senators also represent states like Wyoming (578,000 people), Vermont (626,000 people), and Alaska (737,000 people).
Is the Senate more powerful than the House of Representatives?
But there are some areas that give the Senate, and individual Senators, an edge. Since there are fewer Senators, each one has more power than an individual Representative. Their longer term also gives them more opportunity to build personal power. Each Senator represents the entire state, whereas Representatives only speak for their own districts.
How do the Senate Coalitions compare between Democrats and Republicans?
Put another way, about half of the Democratic senators represent the 20 largest states, while over two-thirds of the Republicans represent the 30 smallest states. The contrast between the two Senate coalitions emerges even more clearly when looking at the total population of the states each side represents.
What does the Senate benefit?
Along with earning salaries, senators receive retirement and health benefits that are identical to other federal employees, and are fully vested after five years of service. Senators are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).
Does the makeup of the Senate favor large states?
The makeup of the Senate favors the large states. There are times when members of Congress may not be arrested. All representatives are men.
How does the Senate represent the states?
In the United States Senate all states are represented equally. Regardless of size or population, each state has two senators, who serve six-year terms.
Why does the Senate have 2 per state?
The Convention approved two senators per state by unanimous vote. At the same time, the delegates provided that senators would vote as individuals rather than having one vote per state, abandoning the practice used in Congress under the Articles of Confederation and in the Constitutional Convention.
What favored the large states?
Proportional representation was the idea that the large states favored. It said that the states with more people should have more votes. Before the convention began, James Madison had drafted a plan for a national government, the Virginia Plan.
Does the population of a state affect the number of representatives it receives?
Article I, Section II of the Constitution says that each state shall have at least one U.S. Representative, while the total size of a state's delegation to the House depends on its population. The number of Representatives also cannot be greater than one for every thirty thousand people.
Do senators represent the whole state?
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives each represent a portion of their state known as a Congressional District, which averages 700,000 people. Senators however, represent the entire state.
Why did people from small states states with fewer people want all states to have the same number of votes in the federal legislature What did they fear?
Small states wanted equal representation because they feared that states with a larger population would control the national government. But larger states thought that a state with more people should have more votes.
Why do states have equal representation in the Senate?
To balance the interests of both the small and large states, the Framers of the Constitution divided the power of Congress between the two houses. Every state has an equal voice in the Senate, while representation in the House of Representatives is based on the size of each state's population.
How does the size of the Senate affect its operation?
How does the size of the Senate affect its operation? The Senate is relatively small in size which has significantly affected how it operates. There is large deference to minority views and because of the small size all senators are given the opportunity to speak their word on the different issues.
Is the Senate based on equal representation?
About the Senate & the U.S. Constitution | Equal State Representation. During the summer of 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia established equal representation in the Senate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
Why do some states have more representatives than other states?
The U.S. House of Representatives has 435 voting members. The number of U.S. Representatives for each state depends on the population. Some states have more representatives because they have more people. If the state has a large population, there are more representatives.
What advantage do small states have in the Senate?
The advantage small states enjoy in the Senate is echoed in the Electoral College, where each state is allocated votes not only for its House members (reflecting the state’s population) but also for its senators (a two-vote bonus). Image. PETER AUST, a chamber of commerce president for Washington County, N.Y.:
Who is the Vermont senator who took credit for the national funding?
As the money started arriving, Senator Bernard Sanders, the Vermont independent, took credit for having delivered a “hefty share of the national funding.”. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, vowed to fight for her state’s “fair share.”.
How many senators are there in Wyoming?
The 38 million people who live in the nation’s 22 smallest states, including Wyoming, are represented by 44 senators.
How many times does Vermont have voting power?
That means that a Vermonter has 30 times the voting power in the Senate of a New Yorker just over the state line — the biggest inequality between two adjacent states. The nation’s largest gap, between Wyoming and California, is more than double that. The difference in the fortunes of Rutland and Washington Counties reflects ...
What was the most important achievement of the Supreme Court?
Board of Education, which ordered the desegregation of public schools, and Gideon v. Wainwright, which guaranteed lawyers for poor people accused of serious crimes.
What was the result of the Great Compromise?
Equal representation of the states in the Senate is a consequence of the Great Compromise, the 1787 deal that resolved a seemingly intractable dispute between the smaller states and a handful of large ones like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia. But the country was very different then.
Which legislature does not adhere to the principle of equal representation?
The United States Senate is hardly the only legislature that does not stick strictly to the principle of equal representation. Political scientists use the term “malapportioned” to describe the phenomenon, and it is common around the world. But the Senate is in contention for the least democratic legislative chamber.
What are the powers of the Senate?
The Senate is a major force in determining fiscal policy by guiding federal spending and taxation. The 1974 Budget Control Act gave it that power. It also gives Congress three additional powers: 1 Have its own standing budget committee to create its own version of the budget. It bases this on the president's budget and on hearings held with agency officials. 2 Meet in a Conference Committee with the House to create a final budget resolution. 3 Review the spending appropriation bills prepared by the House for each agency. The revised and approved bills go to the president for signature as the final step in the federal budget process. 2
Why were two senators chosen?
Two Senators were chosen for logical reasons. One would not be enough, because the state would have no representation if he became ill. Three or more were too expensive for states at that time. Some of the Founding Fathers argued that the Senate should be representational like the U.S. House of Representatives.
How many senators were elected to the presidency?
As a result of this power and national exposure, 17 senators became presidents. Of those, three went directly from the Senate to the White House. There were 19 representatives who became president, but only nine did not also become Senators. Only the Senate approves federal judges.
How many committees are there in the Senate?
They have access to expert information that provides an advantage when debating bills on the floor. Committee chairs have the most power. There are 26 committees.
What are the most influential assignments in the Senate?
The most influential assignments are Appropriations, Armed Services, Commerce, Finance, and Foreign Relations. These committees control spending and crucial government functions. Every Senator sits on at least one of them. Leaders of investigations also gain power by holding hearings that grab media attention.
What is the Senate in 2021?
Updated March 18, 2021. The Senate is the senior body in the U.S. Congress. The junior body is the House of Representatives . Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government. The other two branches are the executive and judicial branches. The executive branch is the president and federal workers.
What are special committees?
Special committees investigate problems and issue reports. Joint committees are composed of members of the House and Senate. They handle matters that require joint jurisdiction. These include the Postal Service, the Government Printing Office, and the Joint Economic Committee.
Which states have the smallest House of Representatives?
For example, the 12 smallest states today—Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming together account for only 17 (of 435) representatives in the House, or 3.9% of the total.
What is the election law for 2020?
One of the many unusual features of the Electoral College established by Article II, Section 1 , of the United States Constitution is the provision that specifies that each state shall have “a Number of Electors equal to the whole Number ...
Is the Senate a democratic institution?
The Real Problem with The Senate’s Small-State Bias. As you all surely know, the Senate is not a terribly democratic institution. A voter in Wyoming — population 533,000 — has about 70 times more ability to influence the Senate’s direction than one in California — population 36.8 million. And the lack of representativeness can be particularly acute ...
Do senators from small states have more incentive to placate special interests?
But for the most part, something the opposite is true, and senators from small states in fact have more incentive to placate special interests. It is worth noting, by the way, that the six senators on Baucus’s mini-committee are especially egregious in this regard.
Is there a relationship between PAC contributions and the population of a senator's state?
On the other hand, there is no relationship between the amount of PAC contributions and the population of a senator’s state; PACs know that one senator’s vote is just as good as another.
Why is the Senate important?
The Senate gives a big advantage to voters in small states, because every state gets an equal number of Senators. Thus, California’s 39 million people get two senators in Washington, while two Senators also represent states like Wyoming (578,000 people), Vermont (626,000 people), and Alaska (737,000 people).
How many states have passed the National Popular Vote Compact?
Both the Senate and the Electoral College are strange constitutional relics, whose problems would be hard to fix. But the difference is that, for the Electoral College, there is a viable plan for curing its pathologies. Currently, 15 states with 189 electoral votes have passed the National Popular Vote Compact (NPV), under which states set in state law a policy that they will give all their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner. The NPV’s text says it will go into effect if enough states join to constitute a majority of Electoral College votes. The Compact is only 81 electoral votes short of a majority.
What are the two parts of the Constitution?
Two parts in the original Constitution, written in 1787, that are often criticized by pundits and political scientists are the Senate and the Electoral College . It is easy to conflate the two, but here I want to point out they have important differences and thus pose distinct challenges in adapting to the modern world.
Why was the question motion removed from the Senate rules?
A previous question motion was removed from the Senate’s rules in 1806 in a move to clean up unnecessary and unused portions of the rules.
Which party voted for Burr?
This time, Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party had more supporters in the Electoral College, but the Democratic-Republican electors all voted for Burr with their second ballot, throwing the decision to the House of Representatives.
When did the Senate adopt the Cloture Rule?
In 1917 , the Senate adopted a “cloture rule” under which two-thirds of senators present could end debate. Only a few bills were blocked by a minority of Senators in the mid-decades of the twentieth century, although those were mostly crucial civil rights and anti-lynching legislation.
Which president won the popular vote if not for rampant suppression of the black vote in the former Confederacy?
The exceptions are 1824 (where third parties threw the election to the House of Representatives), 1877 (where President Hayes might have won a majority of the popular vote if not for rampant suppression of the black vote in the former Confederacy), 1888, 2000, and 2016.
How many Senate seats do Republicans hold?
Republicans now hold 35 Senate seats and Democrats just 25 across the 30 smallest states. Democrats in turn hold 24, and Republicans just 16, Senate seats in the 20 largest states. Put another way, about half of the Democratic senators represent the 20 largest states, while over two-thirds of the Republicans represent the 30 smallest states.
Why is small state bias important?
Yet the small-state bias may now be more relevant than ever, because it aligns more precisely than at earlier points in American history with the tectonic forces separating the two parties, including urbanization, racial and religious diversity, and the transition to an information-based economy.
How many people does each California senator represent?
That divergence is sometimes summarized as the ratio between California and Wyoming, the largest and smallest states: Each California senator represents nearly 19.8 million people, over 68 times as many as the 290,000 each Wyoming senator represents. Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/Getty Images.
What states were wildly different in their religions, manners and agricultural economies?
As Lee and her co-author, Bruce Oppenheimer, recount in “Sizing Up the Senate,” Madison tried to assuage small state fears by noting that the era’s largest states – Massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania – were wildly different in their religions, manners and agricultural economies.
Which states are Republicans in?
Republicans currently hold all the Senate seats across the large and growing Sun Belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Arizona – though Democrats are growing more competitive in each of them. Democrats in turn remain strong in smaller New England states including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island.
Do minorities have less representation in the Senate?
Minorities have less representation in Senate. David Shor, a senior analyst at Civis Analytics, a Democratic-oriented data consulting firm, has quantified how the Senate has increasingly diluted the electoral impact of minority voters over time.
How does the Senate differ from the House of Commons?
In this respect, the Senate differs from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom and other parliamentary bodies in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. Each senator chooses a desk based on seniority within the party. By custom, the leader of each party sits in the front row along the center aisle.
How does the Senate debate work?
Debate, like most other matters governing the internal functioning of the Senate, is governed by internal rules adopted by the Senate. During a debate, senators may only speak if called upon by the presiding officer, but the presiding officer is required to recognize the first senator who rises to speak. Thus, the presiding officer has little control over the course of the debate. Customarily, the majority leader and minority leader are accorded priority during debates even if another senator rises first. All speeches must be addressed to the presiding officer, who is addressed as "Mr. President" or "Madam President", and not to another member; other Members must be referred to in the third person. In most cases, senators do not refer to each other by name, but by state or position, using forms such as "the senior senator from Virginia", "the gentleman from California", or "my distinguished friend the chairman of the Judiciary Committee". Senators address the Senate standing next to their desks.
What is the Senate's chief administrative officer?
The Senate's chief administrative officer is the secretary of the Senate, who maintains public records, disburses salaries, monitors the acquisition of stationery and supplies, and oversees clerks. The assistant secretary of the Senate aids the secretary's work. Another official is the sergeant at arms who, as the Senate's chief law enforcement officer, maintains order and security on the Senate premises. The Capitol Police handle routine police work, with the sergeant at arms primarily responsible for general oversight. Other employees include the chaplain, who is elected by the Senate, and pages, who are appointed.
What is the role of a vice president in the Senate?
Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as president of the Senate . They may vote in the Senate ( ex officio, for they are not an elected member of the Senate) in the case of a tie, but is not required to. For much of the nation's history the task of presiding over Senate sessions was one of the vice president's principal duties (the other being to receive from the states the tally of electoral ballots cast for president and vice president and to open the certificates "in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives", so that the total votes could be counted). Since the 1950s, vice presidents have presided over few Senate debates. Instead, they have usually presided only on ceremonial occasions, such as swearing in new senators, joint sessions, or at times to announce the result of significant legislation or nomination, or when a tie vote on an important issue is anticipated.
How many senators have been expelled from the Senate?
The Senate may expel a senator by a two-thirds vote. Fifteen senators have been expelled in the Senate's history: William Blount, for treason, in 1797, and fourteen in 1861 and 1862 for supporting the Confederate secession. Although no senator has been expelled since 1862, many senators have chosen to resign when faced with expulsion proceedings – for example, Bob Packwood in 1995. The Senate has also censured and condemned senators; censure requires only a simple majority and does not remove a senator from office. Some senators have opted to withdraw from their re-election races rather than face certain censure or expulsion, such as Robert Torricelli in 2002.
What is the seniority of a senator?
Seniority. Main article: Seniority in the United States Senate. According to the convention of Senate seniority, the senator with the longer tenure in each state is known as the "senior senator"; the other is the "junior senator".
How old do you have to be to be a senator?
Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution, sets three qualifications for senators: (1) they must be at least 30 years old; (2) they must have been citizens of the United States for at least nine years; and (3) they must be inhabitants of the states they seek to represent at the time of their election.
What Does The Senate do?
How It Works
Number of Senators
Senate Term Length
Who Has More Power, The House Or The Senate?
How The Senate Affects The U.S. Economy
- The Senate is a major force in determining fiscal policy by guiding federal spending and taxation. The 1974 Budget Control Act gave it that power. It also gives Congress three additional powers: 1. Have its own standing budget committee to create its own version of the budget. It bases this on the president's budget and on hearings held with agency...
How It Affects You