What Is The Political Makeup Of The Senate?

Upper house of the U.s.a. Congress

Coordinates: 38°53′26″N 77°0′32″W  /  38.89056°N 77.00889°W  / 38.89056; -77.00889

United states Senate
117th United states of america Congress
Seal of the U.S. Senate
Flag of the U.South. Senate
Blazon
Type	Upper house of the United States Congress
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 3, 2021 (2021-01-03)
Leadership
President of the Senate	Kamala Harris (D) since Jan xx, 2021
President pro tempore	Patrick Leahy (D) since January 20, 2021
Majority Leader	Chuck Schumer (D) since Jan 20, 2021
Minority Leader	Mitch McConnell (R) since January xx, 2021
Majority Whip	Dick Durbin (D) since Jan 20, 2021
Minority Whip	John Thune (R) since January 20, 2021
Structure
Seats	100 51 (or 50 plus the Vice President) for a majority
Political groups	Majority (l) [a] Democratic (48) Contained (ii) [b] Minority (50) Republican (l)
Length of term	6 years
Elections
Voting system	Plurality voting in 46 states[c] Varies in 4 states GA and MS: Ii-round system AK and ME: Ranked-selection voting
Concluding election	November iii, 2020[d] (35 seats)
Next election	November 8, 2022 (35 seats)
Coming together identify
Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, D.C. United states of america
Website
senate.gov
Constitution
United States Constitution
Rules
Standing Rules of the Us Senate

The United states of america Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower sleeping accommodation. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the U.s..

The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution.^[2] The Senate is composed of senators, each of whom represents a single state in its entirety. Each state is equally represented past two senators who serve staggered terms of six years. There are currently 100 senators representing the 50 states. The vice president of the The states serves every bit presiding officeholder and president of the Senate by virtue of that function, and has a vote simply if the senators are equally divided. In the vice president'due south absence, the president pro tempore, who is traditionally the senior fellow member of the political party property a majority of seats, presides over the Senate.

As the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers of advice and consent which are unique to it. These include the approving of treaties, and the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges (including Federal Supreme Court justices), flag officers, regulatory officials, ambassadors, other federal executive officials and federal uniformed officers. If no candidate receives a majority of electors for vice president, the duty falls to the Senate to elect 1 of the pinnacle ii recipients of electors for that office. The Senate conducts trials of those impeached by the Business firm.

The Senate is widely considered both a more deliberative^[three] and more prestigious^{[4] [5] [half dozen]} body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms, smaller size, and statewide constituencies, which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere.^[7]

From 1789 to 1913, senators were appointed by legislatures of usa they represented. They are at present elected past pop vote following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. In the early 1920s, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their flooring leaders began. The Senate'due south legislative and executive business is managed and scheduled by the Senate bulk leader.

The Senate chamber is located in the due north fly of the Capitol Edifice in Washington, D.C.

History

The drafters of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress primarily as a compromise betwixt those who felt that each state, since information technology was sovereign, should be equally represented, and those who felt the legislature must directly correspond the people, as the Business firm of Commons did in Great Britain. This thought of having 1 chamber stand for people as, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise. In that location was also a desire to take two Houses that could human activity as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a "People's Firm" directly elected by the people, and with short terms obliging the representatives to remain close to their constituents. The other was intended to correspond usa to such extent every bit they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation.^[8]

Start convened in 1789, the Senate of the The states was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate. The proper noun is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders (from senex significant erstwhile man in Latin).^[nine]

James Madison fabricated the following comment about the Senate:

In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the holding of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take identify. If these observations remain but, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the land against innovation. Landholders ought to take a share in the authorities, to support these invaluable interests, and to residual and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The Senate, therefore, ought to exist this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.^[ten]

—Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787

Article Five of the Constitution stipulates that no constitutional subpoena may exist created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that state's consent. The District of Columbia and all other territories are non entitled to representation or allowed to vote in either house of Congress. They have official non-voting delegates in the House of Representatives, but none in the Senate. The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico each additionally elect 2 "shadow senators", merely they are officials of their respective local governments and not members of the U.S. Senate.^[11] The United States has had l states since 1959,^[12] thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959.^[8]

Graph showing historical party control of the U.South. Senate, Business firm and Presidency since 1855^[13]

The disparity between the most and least populous states has grown since the Connecticut Compromise, which granted each land 2 members of the Senate and at least i member of the Firm of Representatives, for a full minimum of three presidential electors, regardless of population. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly seventy times the population of Wyoming, based on the 1790 and 2020 censuses. Earlier the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the individual state legislatures.^[14] Bug with repeated vacant seats due to the inability of a legislature to elect senators, intrastate political struggles, blackmail and intimidation gradually led to a growing movement to meliorate the Constitution to allow for the direct election of senators.^[fifteen]

Current composition and election results

Members of the United States Senate for the 117th Congress

Electric current party standings

The party limerick of the Senate during the 117th Congress:

Affiliation		Members
	Republican	50
	Democratic	48
	Independents	two[b]
Full		100

Membership

Qualifications

Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution, sets three qualifications for senators: (i) they must exist at least 30 years old; (2) they must accept been citizens of the Us for at least ix years; and (3) they must exist inhabitants of the states they seek to represent at the time of their ballot. The age and citizenship qualifications for senators are more stringent than those for representatives. In Federalist No. 62, James Madison justified this arrangement by arguing that the "senatorial trust" called for a "greater extent of information and stability of character":

A senator must exist thirty years of age at to the lowest degree; as a representative must be twenty-5. And the erstwhile must have been a denizen nine years; as seven years are required for the latter. The propriety of these distinctions is explained by the nature of the senatorial trust, which, requiring greater extent of information and stability of character, requires at the aforementioned time that the senator should take reached a period of life well-nigh likely to supply these advantages; and which, participating immediately in transactions with foreign nations, ought to exist exercised past none who are non thoroughly weaned from the prepossessions and habits incident to foreign birth and teaching. The term of ix years appears to be a prudent mediocrity between a total exclusion of adopted citizens, whose merits and talents may claim a share in the public conviction, and an indiscriminate and jerky access of them, which might create a aqueduct for strange influence on the national councils.^[16]

The Senate (not the judiciary) is the sole judge of a senator's qualifications. During its early years, notwithstanding, the Senate did non closely scrutinize the qualifications of its members. As a result, four senators who failed to meet the age requirement were nevertheless admitted to the Senate: Henry Clay (aged 29 in 1806), John Jordan Crittenden (anile 29 in 1817), Armistead Thomson Stonemason (aged 28 in 1816), and John Eaton (aged 28 in 1818). Such an occurrence, however, has non been repeated since.^[17] In 1934, Rush D. Holt Sr. was elected to the Senate at the age of 29; he waited until he turned 30 (on the side by side June 19) to accept the oath of office. In November 1972, Joe Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29, but he reached his 30th birthday before the swearing-in anniversary for incoming senators in January 1973.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution disqualifies as senators any federal or state officers who had taken the requisite oath to back up the Constitution merely who subsequently engaged in rebellion or aided the enemies of the Us. This provision, which came into force soon subsequently the end of the Civil War, was intended to forbid those who had sided with the Confederacy from serving. That Amendment, withal, also provides a method to remove that disqualification: a 2-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress.

Elections and term

Originally, senators were selected by the state legislatures, non by popular elections. By the early years of the 20th century, the legislatures of every bit many as 29 states had provided for popular election of senators by referendums.^[15] Popular election to the Senate was standardized nationally in 1913 by the ratification of the Seventeenth Subpoena.

Term

Senators serve terms of half-dozen years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the seats are up for ballot every two years. This was achieved by dividing the senators of the 1st Congress into thirds (called classes), where the terms of one-third expired after two years, the terms of some other third expired afterwards four, and the terms of the final 3rd expired subsequently six years. This system was also followed subsequently the admission of new states into the union. The staggering of terms has been arranged such that both seats from a given state are not contested in the aforementioned full general election, except when a vacancy is being filled. Current senators whose six-year terms are prepare to elapse on Jan 3, 2023, belong to Grade III. In that location is no ramble limit to the number of terms a senator may serve.

The Constitution set the date for Congress to convene — Commodity 1, Section iv, Clause 2, originally set that date for the third day of December. The Twentieth Amendment, notwithstanding, inverse the opening engagement for sessions to noon on the third day of Jan, unless they shall past law appoint a different day. The Twentieth Subpoena also states that the Congress shall assemble at least one time every twelvemonth, and allows the Congress to make up one's mind its convening and adjournment dates and other dates and schedules equally information technology desires. Commodity 1, Section 3, provides that the president has the power to convene Congress on boggling occasions at his discretion.^[eighteen]

A member who has been elected, just not yet seated, is called a senator-elect; a fellow member who has been appointed to a seat, just not yet seated, is called a senator-designate.

Elections

Elections to the Senate are held on the start Tuesday after the kickoff Monday in November in even-numbered years, Election Twenty-four hours, and coincide with elections for the House of Representatives.^[xix] Senators are elected past their state equally a whole. The Elections Clause of the United States Constitution grants each state (and Congress, if it and then desires to implement a uniform law) the ability to legislate a method past which senators are elected. Ballot access rules for independent and minor party candidates also vary from state to state.

In 45 states, a primary ballot is held beginning for the Republican and Autonomous parties (and a select few third parties, depending on the land) with the general election following a few months subsequently. In most of these states, the nominee may receive only a plurality, while in some states, a runoff is required if no majority was accomplished. In the full general election, the winner is the candidate who receives a plurality of the popular vote.

However, in five states, different methods are used. In Georgia, a runoff between the top ii candidates occurs if the plurality winner in the general election does not also win a majority. In California, Washington, and Louisiana, a nonpartisan blanket primary (likewise known as a "jungle primary" or "height-two primary") is held in which all candidates participate in a single master regardless of political party affiliation and the elevation two candidates in terms of votes received at the chief election accelerate to the general ballot, where the winner is the candidate with the greater number of votes. In Louisiana, the blanket primary is considered the general ballot and candidates receiving a majority of the votes is declared the winner, skipping a run-off. In Maine and Alaska, ranked-choice voting is used to nominate and elect candidates for federal offices, including the Senate.^[xx]

Vacancies

The Seventeenth Subpoena requires that vacancies in the Senate be filled past special ballot. Whenever a senator must be appointed or elected, the secretarial assistant of the Senate mails ane of three forms to the state'due south governor to inform them of the proper wording to certify the engagement of a new senator.^[21] If a special election for ane seat happens to coincide with a general ballot for the land's other seat, each seat is contested separately. A senator elected in a special ballot takes office as before long as possible subsequently the election and serves until the original vi-yr term expires (i.e. not for a full-term).

The Seventeenth Amendment permits state legislatures to empower their governors to make temporary appointments until the required special ballot takes identify.

The manner by which the Seventeenth Amendment is enacted varies amidst united states of america. A 2018 report breaks this downward into the following three broad categories (specific procedures vary amongst the states):^[22]

• V states – North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin – exercise not empower their governors to make temporary appointments, relying exclusively on the required special ballot provision in the Seventeenth Amendment.^{[22] : seven–viii}
• Nine states – Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas, Vermont, and Washington – provide for gubernatorial appointments, just also require a special election on an accelerated schedule.^{[22] : 10–11}
• The remaining thirty-half-dozen states provide for gubernatorial appointments, "with the appointed senator serving the balance of the term or until the next statewide full general ballot".^{[22] : viii–nine}

In vi states within the final category above – Arizona, Hawaii, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming – the governor must appoint someone of the same political party as the previous incumbent.^{[22] : 9}

In September 2009, Massachusetts changed its law to enable the governor to engage a temporary replacement for the late senator Edward Kennedy until the special election in Jan 2010.^{[23] [24]}

In 2004, Alaska enacted legislation and a separate ballot referendum that took effect on the same twenty-four hours, only that conflicted with each other. The consequence of the election-approved law is to withhold from the governor authority to appoint a senator.^[25] Because the 17th Amendment vests the power to grant that potency to the legislature – not the people or the country generally – it is unclear whether the election measure supplants the legislature's statute granting that authority.^[25] Every bit a result, it is uncertain whether an Alaska governor may appoint an interim senator to serve until a special election is held to fill the vacancy.

Oath

The Constitution requires that senators take an adjuration or affidavit to back up the Constitution.^[26] Congress has prescribed the following oath for all federal officials (except the President), including senators:

I, ___ ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I volition support and defend the Constitution of the Us against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear truthful faith and fidelity to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully belch the duties of the office on which I am almost to enter. So assistance me God.^[27]

Salary and benefits

The almanac salary of each senator, since 2009, is $174,000;^[28] the president pro tempore and political party leaders receive $193,400.^{[28] [29]} In June 2003, at least 40 senators were millionaires;^[30] in 2018, over 50 senators were millionaires.^[31]

Along with earning salaries, senators receive retirement and health benefits that are identical to other federal employees, and are fully vested after 5 years of service.^[29] Senators are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). FERS has been the Senate's retirement system since January 1, 1987, while CSRS applies only for those senators who were in the Senate from December 31, 1986, and prior. As it is for federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Under FERS, senators contribute ane.3% of their salary into the FERS retirement programme and pay 6.2% of their salary in Social Security taxes. The corporeality of a senator'southward pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest three years of their bacon. The starting amount of a senator's retirement annuity may non exceed fourscore% of their final salary. In 2006, the boilerplate annual pension for retired senators and representatives under CSRS was $60,972, while those who retired under FERS, or in combination with CSRS, was $35,952.^[29]

Seniority

Seniority is a gene in the selection of physical offices and in party caucuses' assignment of committees.^[32]

Expulsion and other disciplinary actions

The Senate may expel a senator by a two-thirds vote. Fifteen senators accept 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 take called to resign when faced with expulsion proceedings – for instance, 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 function. Some senators have opted to withdraw from their re-election races rather than face certain censure or expulsion, such equally Robert Torricelli in 2002.

Majority and minority parties

The "majority party" is the party that either has a majority of seats or can course a coalition or caucus with a majority of seats; if two or more parties are tied, the vice president's amalgamation determines which party is the majority political party. The side by side-largest party is known every bit the minority party. The president pro tempore, committee chairs, and some other officials are generally from the majority political party; they take counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. Independents and members of third parties (so long as they practice not caucus support either of the larger parties) are not considered in determining which is the majority party.

Seating

At one end of the sleeping accommodation of the Senate is a dais from which the presiding officer presides. The lower tier of the dais is used by clerks and other officials. One hundred desks are bundled in the sleeping room in a semicircular pattern and are divided by a wide cardinal aisle. The Democratic Political party traditionally sits to the presiding officer's correct, and the Republican Party traditionally sits to the presiding officer'southward left, regardless of which party has a majority of seats.^[33]

Each senator chooses a desk based on seniority within the political party. By custom, the leader of each political party sits in the front row along the middle aisle. Xl-eight of the desks appointment back to 1819, when the Senate sleeping accommodation was reconstructed after the original contents were destroyed in the 1812 Called-for of Washington. Farther desks of similar blueprint were added as new states entered the Wedlock.^[34] It is a tradition that each senator who uses a desk-bound inscribes their name on the inside of the desk'south drawer.^[35]

Officers

Except for the president of the Senate (who is the vice president), the Senate elects its own officers,^[ii] who maintain order and decorum, manage and schedule the legislative and executive business organization of the Senate, and translate the Senate's rules, practices and precedents. Many not-member officers are too hired to run various twenty-four hours-to-solar day functions of the Senate.

Presiding officer

Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as president of the Senate. They may vote in the Senate (ex officio, for they are non an elected fellow member of the Senate) in the example of a necktie, but are not required to.^[36] For much of the nation'south history the task of presiding over Senate sessions was one of the vice president'due south 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 Firm of Representatives", then that the total votes could be counted). Since the 1950s, vice presidents have presided over few Senate debates. Instead, they have unremarkably presided simply on ceremonial occasions, such as swearing in new senators, articulation sessions, or at times to denote the result of significant legislation or nomination, or when a tie vote on an of import issue is predictable.

The Constitution authorizes the Senate to elect a president pro tempore (Latin for "president for a time"), who presides over the sleeping room in the vice president'southward absence and is, past custom, the senator of the majority party with the longest tape of continuous service.^[37] Like the vice president, the president pro tempore does not normally preside over the Senate, but typically delegates the responsibility of presiding to a majority-party senator who presides over the Senate, commonly in blocks of 1 hour on a rotating basis. Often, freshmen senators (newly elected members) are asked to preside so that they may go accustomed to the rules and procedures of the body. Information technology is said that, "in do they are usually mere mouthpieces for the Senate's parliamentarian, who whispers what they should practise".^[38]

The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the Senate chamber. The powers of the presiding officeholder of the Senate are far less extensive than those of the speaker of the Firm. The presiding officer calls on senators to speak (by the rules of the Senate, the commencement senator who rises is recognized); ruling on points of order (objections by senators that a dominion has been breached, subject to entreatment to the whole chamber); and announcing the results of votes.

Party leaders

Each political party elects Senate party leaders. Floor leaders act as the party chief spokesmen. The Senate majority leader is responsible for controlling the agenda of the sleeping accommodation past scheduling debates and votes. Each party elects an assistant leader (whip), who works to ensure that his party's senators vote every bit the party leadership desires.

Non-member officers

In addition to the vice president, the Senate has several officers who are non members. The Senate'south chief authoritative 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'southward work. Some other official is the sergeant at artillery who, equally the Senate's primary police force enforcement officer, maintains club and security on the Senate bounds. The Capitol Law handle routine police work, with the sergeant at arms primarily responsible for general oversight. Other employees include the clergyman, who is elected by the Senate, and pages, who are appointed.

Process

Daily sessions

The Senate uses Standing Rules for functioning. Like the House of Representatives, the Senate meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. At one end of the chamber of the Senate is a dais from which the presiding officer presides. The lower tier of the dais is used by clerks and other officials. Sessions of the Senate are opened with a special prayer or invocation and typically convene on weekdays. Sessions of the Senate are generally open to the public and are broadcast alive on boob tube, ordinarily by C-SPAN two.

Senate procedure depends not only on the rules, merely also on a variety of customs and traditions. The Senate normally waives some of its stricter rules by unanimous consent. Unanimous consent agreements are typically negotiated beforehand by political party leaders. A senator may block such an understanding, merely in practice, objections are rare. The presiding officer enforces the rules of the Senate, and may warn members who deviate from them. The presiding officeholder sometimes uses the gavel of the Senate to maintain guild.

A "hold" is placed when the leader'south role is notified that a senator intends to object to a request for unanimous consent from the Senate to consider or pass a measure. A hold may be placed for any reason and can be lifted past a senator at any fourth dimension. A senator may place a concur just to review a neb, to negotiate changes to the bill, or to kill the bill. A nib tin be held for as long as the senator who objects to the beak wishes to block its consideration.

Holds tin can be overcome, only require time-consuming procedures such as filing cloture. Holds are considered individual communications between a senator and the leader, and are sometimes referred to equally "secret holds". A senator may disclose the placement of a agree.

The Constitution provides that a bulk of the Senate constitutes a quorum to practice business. Nether the rules and customs of the Senate, a quorum is e'er causeless present unless a quorum call explicitly demonstrates otherwise. A senator may request a quorum call by "suggesting the absence of a quorum"; a clerk then calls the roll of the Senate and notes which members are present. In practice, senators rarely request quorum calls to establish the presence of a quorum. Instead, quorum calls are mostly used to temporarily delay proceedings; usually, such delays are used while waiting for a senator to achieve the floor to speak or to give leaders time to negotiate. Once the demand for a filibuster has ended, a senator may request unanimous consent to rescind the quorum telephone call.

Fence

Debate, like most other matters governing the internal performance of the Senate, is governed past internal rules adopted past the Senate. During a fence, senators may merely speak if called upon by the presiding officeholder, but the presiding officer is required to recognize the kickoff senator who rises to speak. Thus, the presiding officer has little command over the course of the debate. Customarily, the majority leader and minority leader are accorded priority during debates even if some other senator rises outset. 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 3rd person. In most cases, senators practice not refer to each other by name, but past state or position, using forms such as "the senior senator from Virginia", "the admirer from California", or "my distinguished friend the chairman of the Judiciary Committee". Senators address the Senate continuing next to their desks.^[39]

Apart from rules governing civility, there are few restrictions on the content of speeches; there is no requirement that speeches pertain to the matter before the Senate.

The rules of the Senate provide that no senator may make more than two speeches on a motion or bill on the same legislative day. A legislative day begins when the Senate convenes and ends with banishment; hence, information technology does not necessarily coincide with the calendar day. The length of these speeches is non limited past the rules; thus, in most cases, senators may speak for as long as they please. Often, the Senate adopts unanimous consent agreements imposing time limits. In other cases (for example, for the budget process), limits are imposed by statute. However, the right to unlimited argue is mostly preserved.

Within the United States, the Senate is sometimes referred to as "world's greatest deliberative trunk".^{[forty] [41] [42]}

Delay and cloture

The filibuster is a tactic used to defeat bills and motions by prolonging debate indefinitely. A filibuster may entail long speeches, dilatory motions, and an all-encompassing series of proposed amendments. The Senate may end a filibuster past invoking cloture. In nearly cases, cloture requires the back up of three-fifths of the Senate; however, if the matter before the Senate involves changing the rules of the body – this includes amending provisions regarding the filibuster – a ii-thirds bulk is required. In current do, the threat of filibuster is more than of import than its utilize; almost whatever move that does not take the back up of three-fifths of the Senate effectively fails. This ways that 41 senators can make a filibuster happen. Historically, cloture has rarely been invoked because bipartisan support is usually necessary to obtain the required supermajority, then a neb that already has bipartisan back up is rarely subject to threats of delay. Notwithstanding, motions for cloture have increased significantly in recent years.

If the Senate invokes cloture, the fence does not necessarily stop immediately; instead, information technology is express to up to xxx additional hours unless increased past another three-fifths vote. The longest filibuster speech in the Senate's history was delivered by Strom Thurmond (D-SC), who spoke for over 24 hours in an unsuccessful attempt to cake the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.^[43]

Under certain circumstances, the Congressional Upkeep Act of 1974 provides for a procedure chosen "reconciliation" by which Congress tin pass bills related to the upkeep without those bills beingness subject to a delay. This is accomplished past limiting all Senate floor debate to 20 hours.^[44]

Voting

When the fence concludes, the movement in question is put to a vote. The Senate oftentimes votes by phonation vote. The presiding officer puts the question, and members respond either "Yea/Aye" (in favor of the movement) or "Nay" (against the motion). The presiding officer so announces the effect of the voice vote. A senator, however, may challenge the presiding officer'southward assessment and request a recorded vote. The request may exist granted just if it is seconded by one-fifth of the senators present. In practice, however, senators second requests for recorded votes equally a matter of courtesy. When a recorded vote is held, the clerk calls the roll of the Senate in alphabetical order; senators reply when their name is called. Senators who were non in the chamber when their proper name was called may still cast a vote so long every bit the voting remains open. The vote is closed at the discretion of the presiding officer, but must remain open for a minimum of 15 minutes. A majority of those voting determines whether the move carries.^[45] If the vote is tied, the vice president, if nowadays, is entitled to cast a necktie-breaking vote. If the vice president is not nowadays, the motion fails.^[46]

Filibustered bills require a iii-fifths majority to overcome the cloture vote (which usually means 60 votes) and get to the normal vote where a simple bulk (usually 51 votes) approves the bill. This has caused some news media to confuse the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster with the 51 votes needed to corroborate a bill, with for instance U.s.a. Today erroneously stating "The vote was 58–39 in favor of the provision establishing concealed behave permit reciprocity in the 48 states that have concealed weapons laws. That vicious two votes short of the lx needed to approve the measure".^[45]

Closed session

On occasion, the Senate may go into what is called a secret or closed session. During a closed session, the chamber doors are closed, cameras are turned off, and the galleries are completely cleared of anyone not sworn to secrecy, non instructed in the rules of the closed session, or not essential to the session. Closed sessions are rare and normally held simply when the Senate is discussing sensitive subject field affair such as information critical to national security, individual communications from the president, or deliberations during impeachment trials. A senator may phone call for and force a closed session if the motion is seconded by at least 1 other member, merely an agreement usually occurs beforehand.^[47] If the Senate does not corroborate the release of a secret transcript, the transcript is stored in the Function of Senate Security and ultimately sent to the national archives. The proceedings remain sealed indefinitely until the Senate votes to remove the injunction of secrecy.^[48] In 1973, the House adopted a rule that all committee sessions should be open unless a majority on the committee voted for a closed session.

Calendars

The Senate maintains a Senate Calendar and an Executive Calendar.^[49] The former identifies bills and resolutions pending Senate floor deportment. The latter identifies executive resolutions, treaties, and nominations reported out past Senate committee(south) and awaiting Senate floor action. Both are updated each solar day the Senate is in session.

Committees

The Senate uses committees (and their subcommittees) for a diversity of purposes, including the review of bills and the oversight of the executive co-operative. Formally, the whole Senate appoints committee members. In practice, however, the choice of members is made by the political parties. Generally, each party honors the preferences of individual senators, giving priority based on seniority. Each party is allocated seats on committees in proportion to its overall strength.

Well-nigh committee work is performed by xvi standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a field such as finance or foreign relations. Each standing committee may consider, amend, and report bills that fall under its jurisdiction. Furthermore, each standing committee considers presidential nominations to offices related to its jurisdiction. (For instance, the Judiciary Committee considers nominees for judgeships, and the Foreign Relations Committee considers nominees for positions in the Department of State.) Committees may block nominees and impede bills from reaching the floor of the Senate. Standing committees besides oversee the departments and agencies of the executive co-operative. In discharging their duties, standing committees have the power to hold hearings and to subpoena witnesses and evidence.

The Senate also has several committees that are non considered standing committees. Such bodies are by and large known as select or special committees; examples include the Select Committee on Ethics and the Special Committee on Crumbling. Legislation is referred to some of these committees, although the bulk of legislative work is performed by the standing committees. Committees may be established on an ad hoc basis for specific purposes; for instance, the Senate Watergate Commission was a special committee created to investigate the Watergate scandal. Such temporary committees finish to be afterwards fulfilling their tasks.

The Congress includes joint committees, which include members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Some articulation committees oversee independent government bodies; for instance, the Joint Committee on the Library oversees the Library of Congress. Other joint committees serve to make advisory reports; for example, there exists a Joint Committee on Tax. Bills and nominees are not referred to joint committees. Hence, the power of joint committees is considerably lower than those of standing committees.

Each Senate commission and subcommittee is led by a chair (usually a member of the majority party). Formerly, commission chairs were determined purely by seniority; as a effect, several elderly senators connected to serve as chair despite astringent physical infirmity or fifty-fifty senility.^[l] Committee chairs are elected, but, in do, seniority is rarely bypassed. The chairs hold all-encompassing powers: they control the committee's agenda, and and then determine how much, if any, time to devote to the consideration of a bill; they human activity with the power of the committee in disapproving or delaying a bill or a nomination by the president; they manage on the flooring of the full Senate the consideration of those bills the committee reports. This last function was peculiarly important in mid-century, when flooring amendments were thought non to be collegial. They also have considerable influence: senators who cooperate with their committee chairs are likely to accomplish more good for their states than those who practise not. The Senate rules and customs were reformed in the twentieth century, largely in the 1970s. Committee chairmen have less power and are by and large more moderate and collegial in exercising information technology, than they were before reform.^[51] The second-highest fellow member, the spokesperson on the commission for the minority party, is known in about cases as the ranking member.^[52] In the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Commission on Ethics, however, the senior minority fellow member is known as the vice-chair.

Criticism

Recent criticisms of the Senate's operations object to what the critics debate is obsolescence as a result of partisan paralysis and a preponderance of arcane rules.^{[53] [54]}

The Senate filibuster is oftentimes debated. The Constitution specifies a simple majority threshold to pass legislation, and some critics feel the de facto iii-fifths threshold for general legislation prevents beneficial laws from passing. (The nuclear selection was exercised past both parties in the 2010s to eliminate the filibuster for confirmations.) Supporters more often than not consider the filibuster to be an important protection for the minority views and a check against the unfettered single-political party rule when the same political party holds the Presidency and a majority in both the House and Senate.

Though this was an intentional part of the Connecticut Compromise, critics accept described the fact that representation in the Senate is not proportional to the population as "anti-democratic" and "minority rule".^{[55] [56]} New York Times opinion columnist David Leonhardt points out^[57] that because small states are disproportionately non-Hispanic European American, African Americans have 75% of their proportionate voting ability in the Senate, and Hispanic Americans accept just 55%. The approximately 4 million Americans that have no representation in the Senate (in the District of Columbia and U.S. territories) are heavily African and Hispanic American. Leonhardt and others advocate for admitting Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico as states (both have more residents than the smallest existing states) to reduce this inequity.

Senate office buildings

External video
Senate Building, Washington DC, Hd from 35mm

There are presently three Senate office buildings located along Constitution Avenue, due north of the Capitol. They are the Russell Senate Role Edifice, the Dirksen Senate Function Building, and the Hart Senate Office Edifice.

Functions

Legislation

Bills may be introduced in either bedroom of Congress. However, the Constitution's Origination Clause provides that "All bills for raising Acquirement shall originate in the House of Representatives".^[58] Every bit a result, the Senate does not take the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not accept the ability to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds.^{[59] [60] [61] [62]} Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated past the House. All the same, when the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practise. The constitutional provision barring the Senate from introducing revenue bills is based on the practise of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in which money bills canonical past Parliament have originated in the House of Commons per ramble convention.^[63]

Although the Constitution gave the House the power to initiate revenue bills, in do the Senate is equal to the Firm in the respect of spending. As Woodrow Wilson wrote:

The Senate'due south right to amend general cribbing bills has been immune the widest possible scope. The upper house may add to them what it pleases; may go birthday outside of their original provisions and tack to them entirely new features of legislation, altering not only the amounts only even the objects of expenditure, and making out of the materials sent them by the popular chamber measures of an almost totally new character.^[64]

The blessing of both houses is required for any bill, including a revenue beak, to go law. Both Houses must pass the same version of the beak; if at that place are differences, they may be resolved by sending amendments dorsum and forth or by a conference commission, which includes members of both bodies.

Checks and balances

The Constitution provides several unique functions for the Senate that class its ability to "bank check and balance" the powers of other elements of the federal government. These include the requirement that the Senate may suggest and must consent to some of the president'south government appointments; also the Senate must consent to all treaties with foreign governments; it tries all impeachments, and it elects the vice president in the event no person gets a majority of the electoral votes.

The president can make certain appointments only with the advice and consent of the Senate. Officials whose appointments require the Senate'due south blessing include members of the Cabinet, heads of most federal executive agencies, ambassadors, justices of the Supreme Court, and other federal judges. Under Article 2, Department two, of the Constitution, a large number of government appointments are subject field to potential confirmation; however, Congress has passed legislation to authorize the engagement of many officials without the Senate's consent (usually, confirmation requirements are reserved for those officials with the most meaning concluding decision-making dominance). Typically, a nominee is the first subject area to a hearing before a Senate committee. Thereafter, the nomination is considered past the total Senate. The majority of nominees are confirmed, but in a small number of cases each year, Senate committees purposely fail to act on a nomination to block it. In improver, the president sometimes withdraws nominations when they appear unlikely to be confirmed. Because of this, outright rejections of nominees on the Senate flooring are exceptional (at that place take been merely ix Cabinet nominees rejected outright in United States history).^[65]

The powers of the Senate apropos nominations are, however, subject to some constraints. For instance, the Constitution provides that the president may make an appointment during a congressional recess without the Senate's advice and consent. The recess engagement remains valid just temporarily; the office becomes vacant again at the end of the adjacent congressional session. Nevertheless, presidents take frequently used recess appointments to circumvent the possibility that the Senate may turn down the nominee. Furthermore, as the Supreme Courtroom held in Myers five. United States, although the Senate's advice and consent are required for the date of certain executive branch officials, it is non necessary for their removal.^{[66] [67]} Recess appointments have faced a meaning amount of resistance and in 1960, the U.S. Senate passed a legally not-binding resolution confronting recess appointments.^{[ commendation needed ]}

The Senate too has a part in ratifying treaties. The Constitution provides that the president may only "brand Treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present agree" in order to benefit from the Senate's advice and consent and give each state an equal vote in the process. However, not all international agreements are considered treaties nether U.S. domestic law, even if they are considered treaties under international law. Congress has passed laws authorizing the president to conclude executive agreements without activity past the Senate. Similarly, the president may make congressional-executive agreements with the approval of a elementary bulk in each Business firm of Congress, rather than a two-thirds bulk in the Senate. Neither executive agreements nor congressional-executive agreements are mentioned in the Constitution, leading some scholars such as Laurence Tribe and John Yoo^[68] to suggest that they unconstitutionally circumvent the treaty-ratification procedure. However, courts accept upheld the validity of such agreements.^[69]

The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other loftier Crimes and Misdemeanors" and empowers the Senate to try such impeachments. If the sitting president of the United States is being tried, the chief justice of the United States presides over the trial. During an impeachment trial, senators are constitutionally required to sit on oath or affidavit. Conviction requires a 2-thirds bulk of the senators present. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in add-on, the Senate may stipulate that the accused exist banned from property office. No farther penalty is permitted during the impeachment proceedings; even so, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal courtroom of constabulary.

The House of Representatives has impeached 16 officials, of whom vii were convicted (one resigned before the Senate could complete the trial).^[70] Simply 3 presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Neb Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021. The trials of Johnson, Clinton and both Trump trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's example, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction.

Under the Twelfth Amendment, the Senate has the power to elect the vice president if no vice-presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the Balloter College. The Twelfth Amendment requires the Senate to choose from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Balloter College deadlocks are rare. The Senate has only cleaved a deadlock once; in 1837, it elected Richard Mentor Johnson. The Firm elects the president if the Electoral College deadlocks on that choice.

See also

• Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate
• Elections in the The states
• List of African-American United states senators
• The states presidents and control of Congress
• Women in the U.s. Senate

Notes

1. ^ Democrats are in the majority due to the tiebreaking power of Autonomous Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves ex officio equally the president of the Senate.
2. ^ ^{a b} The independent senators, Angus Male monarch of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, caucus with the Democrats.^[i]
3. ^ Alaska (for its primary elections only), California, and Washington additionally utilize a nonpartisan blanket chief, and Louisiana uses a Louisiana primary, for their respective primary elections.
4. ^ Also the Georgia runoff election and the Georgia special runoff ballot held on Jan 5, 2021.

References

1. ^ "Maine Contained Angus King To Conclave With Senate Democrats". Political leader. November fourteen, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2020. Angus King of Maine, who cruised to victory last week running as an contained, said Midweek that he will caucus with Senate Democrats. [...] The Senate's other contained, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, also caucuses with the Democrats.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Constitution of the Us". Senate.gov. March 26, 2009. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
3. ^ Amar, Vik D. (January ane, 1988). "The Senate and the Constitution". The Yale Police force Journal. 97 (half dozen): 1111–1130. doi:ten.2307/796343. JSTOR 796343. S2CID 53702587.
4. ^ Stewart, Charles; Reynolds, Mark (January 1, 1990). "Boob tube Markets and U.South. Senate Elections". Legislative Studies Quarterly. fifteen (iv): 495–523. doi:x.2307/439894. JSTOR 439894.
5. ^ Richard Fifty. Berke (September 12, 1999). "In Fight for Control of Congress, Tough Skirmishes Within Parties". The New York Times.
6. ^ Joseph S. Friedman (March 30, 2009). "The Rapid Sequence of Events Forcing the Senate's Hand: A Reappraisal of the Seventeenth Amendment, 1890–1913". Curej – College Undergraduate Research Electronic Periodical.
7. ^ Lee, Frances E. (June xvi, 2006). "Agreeing to Disagree: Agenda Content and Senate Partisanship, 198". Legislative Studies Quarterly. 33 (2): 199–222. doi:10.3162/036298008784311000.
8. ^ ^{a b} "U.Due south. Constitution: Commodity 1, Department ane". Retrieved March 22, 2012.
9. ^ "Merriam-Webster'due south Online Lexicon: senate". Retrieved March 22, 2012.
10. ^ Robert Yates. Notes of the Secret Debates of the Federal Convention of 1787 . Retrieved March 17, 2017.
11. ^ "Non-voting members of Congress". Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
12. ^ "Hawaii becomes 50th country". History.com . Retrieved March 22, 2011.
13. ^ "Political party In Power – Congress and Presidency – A Visual Guide To The Residuum of Power In Congress, 1945–2008". Uspolitics.about.com. Archived from the original on November ane, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
14. ^ Commodity I, Department iii: "The Senate of the United States shall exist equanimous of ii senators from each state, chosen past the legislature thereof, for vi years; each Senator shall take one vote."
15. ^ ^{a b} "Direct Ballot of Senators". U.S. Senate official website. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
16. ^ Federalist Papers, No. 62, Library of Congress.
17. ^ 1801–1850, November sixteen, 1818: Youngest Senator. U.s. Senate. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
18. ^ Dates of Sessions of the Congress. United States Senate. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
19. ^ 2 The statesC. § 1
20. ^ Brooks, James (December xiv, 2020). "Election audit confirms win for Election Measure ii and Alaska's new ranked-choice voting system". Anchorage Daily News . Retrieved January x, 2021.
21. ^ "The Term of A Senator – When Does Information technology Begin and End? – Senate 98-29" (PDF). United States Senate. United States Printing Role. pp. 14–xv. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
22. ^ ^{a b c d due east} Neale, Thomas H. (April 12, 2018). "U.S. Senate Vacancies: Gimmicky Developments and Perspectives" (PDF). fas.org. Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 5, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2018. NOTE: wherever present, references to folio numbers in superscripts refer to the electronic (.pdf) pagination, not equally plant printed on the bottom margin of displayed pages.
23. ^ DeLeo, Robert A. (September 17, 2009). "Temporary Appointment of US Senator". Massachusetts Swell and General Court.
24. ^ DeLeo, Robert A. (September 17, 2009). "Temporary Appointment of US Senator Shall non be a candidate in special ballot". Massachusetts Great and General Court.
25. ^ ^{a b} "Stevens could keep seat in Senate". Anchorage Daily News. Oct 28, 2009. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009.
26. ^ United States Constitution, Article VI
27. ^ See: 5 U.South.C. § 3331; see also: U.S. Senate Adjuration of Part
28. ^ ^{a b} Salaries. United states of america Senate. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
29. ^ ^{a b c} "US Congress Salaries and Benefits". Usgovinfo.about.com. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
30. ^ Sean Loughlin and Robert Yoon (June 13, 2003). "Millionaires populate U.S. Senate". CNN. Retrieved June 19, 2006.
31. ^ "Wealth of Congress". Roll Call . Retrieved November 8, 2018.
32. ^ Baker, Richard A. "Traditions of the Us Senate" (PDF). Page 4.
33. ^ "Seating System". Senate Chamber Desks. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
34. ^ "Senate Sleeping accommodation Desks – Overview". United States Senate.
35. ^ "Senate Bedroom Desks – Desk-bound Occupants". United States Senate.
36. ^ "Glossary Term: vice president". senate.gov. U.s.a. Senate. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
37. ^ "Glossary Term: president pro tempore". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
38. ^ Mershon, Erin (August 2011). "Presiding Loses Its Prestige in Senate". Roll Call. rollcall.com. Retrieved February viii, 2017.
39. ^ Martin B. Golden, Senate Procedure and Practice, p.39: Every fellow member, when he speaks, shall address the chair, standing in his identify, and when he has finished, shall sit down down.
40. ^ "The World's Greatest Deliberative Torso". Fourth dimension. July 5, 1993. Archived from the original on August xi, 2009.
41. ^ "World's greatest deliberative body watch". The Washington Post.
42. ^ "Senate reform: Lazing on a Senate afternoon". The Economist . Retrieved October 4, 2010.
43. ^ Quinton, Jeff. "Thurmond's Delay". Backcountry Conservative. July 27, 2003. Retrieved June 19, 2006.
44. ^ Reconciliation, ii U.S.C. § 641(e) (Procedure in the Senate).
45. ^ ^{a b} "How majority rule works in the U.S. Senate". Nieman Watchdog. July 31, 2009.
46. ^ "Yea or Nay? Voting in the Senate". Senate.gov. Retrieved April eleven, 2011.
47. ^ Amer, Mildred (March 27, 2008). "Clandestine Sessions of Congress: A Brief Historical Overview" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2009.
48. ^ Amer, Mildred (March 27, 2008). "Secret Sessions of the House and Senate" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2009.
49. ^ "Calendars & Schedules" via Senate.gov
50. ^ Come across, for examples, American Dictionary of National Biography on John Sherman and Carter Glass; in general, Ritchie, Congress, p. 209
51. ^ Ritchie, Congress, p. 44. Zelizer, On Capitol Loma describes this process; one of the reforms is that seniority within the majority party can now be bypassed, so that chairs do run the chance of being deposed by their colleagues. Meet in particular p. 17, for the unreformed Congress, and pp.188–9, for the Stevenson reforms of 1977.
52. ^ Ritchie, Congress, pp .44, 175, 209
53. ^ Mark Murray (Baronial two, 2010). "The inefficient Senate". Firstread.msnbc.msn.com. Archived from the original on Baronial ten, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
54. ^ Packer, George (January 7, 2009). "Filibusters and arcane obstructions in the Senate". The New Yorker . Retrieved Oct iv, 2010.
55. ^ How Democratic Is the American Constitution?
56. ^ Sizing Up the Senate
57. ^ The Senate: Affirmative Action for White People
58. ^ "Constitution of the United states of america". Senate.gov. Retrieved January i, 2012.
59. ^ Saturno, James. "The Origination Clause of the U.Due south. Constitution: Estimation and Enforcement", CRS Report for Congress (Mar-15-2011).
60. ^ Wirls, Daniel and Wirls, Stephen. The Invention of the United States Senate, p. 188 (Taylor & Francis 2004).
61. ^ Woodrow Wilson wrote that the Senate has extremely broad subpoena authority with regard to appropriations bills, every bit distinguished from bills that levy taxes. Meet Wilson, Woodrow. Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics, pp. 155–156 (Transaction Publishers 2002).
62. ^ Co-ordinate to the Library of Congress, the Constitution provides the origination requirement for revenue bills, whereas tradition provides the origination requirement for cribbing bills. See Sullivan, John. "How Our Laws Are Fabricated Archived October 16, 2015, at the Wayback Machine", Library of Congress (accessed August 26, 2013).
63. ^ Sargent, Noel. "Bills for Raising Revenue Under the Federal and State Constitutions", Minnesota Law Review, Vol. iv, p. 330 (1919).
64. ^ Wilson Congressional Government, Chapter Three: "Revenue and Supply". Text common to all printings or "editions"; in Papers of Woodrow Wilson it is Vol.four (1968), p.91; for unchanged text, come across p. 13, ibid.
65. ^ King, Elizabeth. "This Is What Happened Last Time a Cabinet Nomination Was Rejected". time.com. Time U.s.a., LLC. Retrieved Apr 11, 2020.
66. ^ Recess Appointments FAQ (PDF). U.s. Senate, Congressional Research Service. Retrieved November 20, 2007
67. ^ Ritchie, Congress p. 178.
68. ^ Bolton, John R. (Jan five, 2009). "Restore the Senate'south Treaty Power". The New York Times.
69. ^ For an case, and a discussion of the literature, see Laurence Tribe, "Taking Text and Structure Seriously: Reflections on Complimentary-Class Method in Constitutional Interpretation", Harvard Police Review, Vol. 108, No. 6. (April 1995), pp. 1221–1303.
70. ^ Consummate listing of impeachment trials. Archived December eight, 2010, at WebCite United States Senate. Retrieved November 20, 2007

Bibliography

• Bakery, Richard A. The Senate of the United states of america: A Bicentennial History Krieger, 1988.
• Baker, Richard A., ed., Showtime Among Equals: Outstanding Senate Leaders of the Twentieth Century Congressional Quarterly, 1991.
• Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 1976: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (1975); new edition every two years
• David W. Brady and Mathew D. McCubbins. Party, Procedure, and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002)
• Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Vol. 3: Main of the Senate. Knopf, 2002.
• Comiskey, Michael. Seeking Justices: The Judging of Supreme Courtroom Nominees U. Printing of Kansas, 2004.
• Congressional Quarterly Congress and the Nation XII: 2005–2008: Politics and Policy in the 109th and 110th Congresses (2010); massive, highly detailed summary of Congressional activity, every bit well as major executive and judicial decisions; based on Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report and the annual CQ almanac. The Congress and the Nation 2009–2012 vol Thirteen has been appear for September 2014 publication.
  • Congressional Quarterly Congress and the Nation: 2001–2004 (2005);
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1997–2001 (2002)
  • Congressional Quarterly. Congress and the Nation: 1993–1996 (1998)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1989–1992 (1993)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1985–1988 (1989)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1981–1984 (1985)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1977–1980 (1981)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1973–1976 (1977)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1969–1972 (1973)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1965–1968 (1969)
  • Congressional Quarterly, Congress and the Nation: 1945–1964 (1965), the first of the series
• Cooper, John Milton, Jr. Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations. Cambridge U. Printing, 2001.
• Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek, eds. (1998). Congress and Its Members, 6th ed. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly. (Legislative process, informal practices, and fellow member information)
• Gould, Lewis L. The Near Exclusive Club: A History Of The Modern United states Senate (2005)
• Hernon, Joseph Martin. Profiles in Grapheme: Hubris and Heroism in the U.S. Senate, 1789–1990 Sharpe, 1997.
• Hoebeke, C. H. The Route to Mass Commonwealth: Original Intent and the Seventeenth Amendment. Transaction Books, 1995. (Popular elections of senators)
• Lee, Frances E. and Oppenheimer, Bruce I. Sizing Upwardly the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. U. of Chicago Printing 1999. 304 pp.
• MacNeil, Neil and Richard A. Baker. The American Senate: An Insider's History. Oxford University Printing, 2013. 455 pp.
• McFarland, Ernest W. The Ernest W. McFarland Papers: The U.s.a. Senate Years, 1940–1952. Prescott, Ariz.: Sharlot Hall Museum, 1995 (Democratic majority leader 1950–52)
• Malsberger, John West. From Obstruction to Moderation: The Transformation of Senate Conservatism, 1938–1952. Susquehanna U. Press 2000
• Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights. Harcourt Brace, 1996
• Ritchie, Donald A. (1991). Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents. Harvard Academy Press.
• Ritchie, Donald A. (2001). The Congress of the United states: A Student Companion (second ed.). Oxford University Printing.
• Ritchie, Donald A. (2010). The U.Due south. Congress: A Very Brusk Introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Rothman, David. Politics and Power the United States Senate 1869–1901 (1966)
• Swift, Elaine One thousand. The Making of an American Senate: Reconstitutive Modify in Congress, 1787–1841. U. of Michigan Press, 1996
• Valeo, Frank. Mike Mansfield, Majority Leader: A Different Kind of Senate, 1961–1976 Sharpe, 1999 (Senate Democratic leader)
• VanBeek, Stephen D. Post-Passage Politics: Bicameral Resolution in Congress. U. of Pittsburgh Press 1995
• Weller, Cecil Edward, Jr. Joe T. Robinson: Always a Loyal Democrat. U. of Arkansas Press, 1998. (Arkansas Democrat who was Majority leader in 1930s)
• Wilson, Woodrow. Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1885; also 15th ed. 1900, repr. by photoreprint, Transaction books, 2002.
• Wirls, Daniel and Wirls, Stephen. The Invention of the United states Senate Johns Hopkins U. Press, 2004. (Early history)
• Zelizer, Julian E. On Capitol Hill : The Struggle to Reform Congress and its Consequences, 1948–2000 (2006)
• Zelizer, Julian E., ed. The American Congress: The Edifice of Republic (2004) (overview)

Official Senate histories

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–1989

The post-obit are published by the Senate Historical Role.

• Robert Byrd. The Senate, 1789–1989. Four volumes.
  • Vol. I, a chronological series of addresses on the history of the Senate
  • Vol. II, a topical series of addresses on various aspects of the Senate'south operation and powers
  • Vol. III, Archetype Speeches, 1830–1993
  • Vol. IV, Historical Statistics, 1789–1992
• Dole, Bob. Historical Almanac of the United states of america Senate
• Hatfield, Marking O., with the Senate Historical Part. Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993 (essays reprinted online)
• Frumin, Alan S. Riddick'due south Senate Procedure. Washington, D.C.: Authorities Press Office, 1992.

External links

This audio file was created from a revision of this commodity dated 4 August 2006 (2006-08-04), and does not reverberate subsequent edits.

• The United States Senate Official Website
  • Sortable contact data
  • Senate Sleeping room Map
  • Standing Rules of the Senate
  • Biographical Directory of the United states Congress, 1774 to Present
• List of Senators who died in office, via PoliticalGraveyard.com
• Nautical chart of all U.Southward. Senate seat-holders, past state, 1978–present, via Texas Tech University
• A New Nation Votes: American Ballot Returns 1787–1825 Archived July 25, 2008, at the Wayback Car, via Tufts Academy
• Bill Hammons' American Politics Guide – Members of Congress by Committee and Country with Partisan Voting Index Archived December xxx, 2014, at the Wayback Motorcar
• Works by or about United States Senate at Cyberspace Archive
• First U.S. Senate session aired by C-SPAN via C-Span
• Senate Manual via govinfo.gov (U.S. Regime Publishing Office)
• The states Senate Calendars and Schedules
• Information about U.S. Bills and Resolutions Archived January ii, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
• Works by United states of america Senate at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

What Is The Political Makeup Of The Senate?,

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate

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