United States Senate

B

Who Serves in the Senate

The high cost of Senate races tends to narrow the pool of Senate candidates to experienced politicians with extensive networks of wealthy donors and to wealthy individuals willing to finance their own races. As a result, members of the Senate tend to be somewhat older than their House counterparts, and many are more politically experienced. Some senators are former state governors, and about a third have served in the House. A small number are political novices who largely financed their own campaigns. Because there are relatively few senators and because senators generally represent considerably more people than do House members, they receive more attention from the press and the public. Some become presidential contenders: In 1996, for example, the Senate produced four Republican presidential hopefuls, including the eventual nominee, Senate majority leader Bob Dole. In 2000, several senators or former senators were major contenders for their party’s nomination, and a number of Democratic senators cast their eyes on the 2004 presidential contest.

Members of the Senate often have relatively wealthy backgrounds, and many senators are millionaires. The unusual wealth of senators stems partly from the fact that about three-fourths of senators work in banking, business, or law before winning election to the chamber. Few working-class people—those who work for others and earn an hourly wage—come even close to winning a Senate seat. The scarcity of working-class senators is caused by many factors, including the high cost of campaigns and the need for connections to the political and social elite to mount an effective campaign.

The Senate membership also fails to reflect the country’s racial composition. Only five African Americans—Carol Moseley Braun, Edward Brooke, Blanche Bruce, Barack Obama, and Hiram Revels—have ever held Senate seats. Other minorities have also found it difficult to win Senate seats. In 1993, when Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado took his Senate seat, he stood as the lone Native American in the chamber, and the first elected to the body since the 1930s. Octaviano Larrazolo of New Mexico became the first Hispanic American elected to the Senate in 1928. Hiram Fong of Hawaii, the first Asian American in the Senate, served from 1959 to 1977. Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii became the first native Hawaiian elected to the Senate in 1990.

Women have also found it difficult to win Senate seats, although senators’ wives have often been appointed to fill seats when their husbands have died in office. Hattie Caraway became the first woman to win a full six-year term in 1932. By 2003, 33 women had served in the Senate, more than half of whom were elected to six-year terms. In the 108th Congress (2003-2005), 14 women served in the Senate. In 2000 Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of U.S. president Bill Clinton, became the first first lady elected to the Senate.

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IV

What the Senate Does

A

Powers

Along with the House of Representatives, the Senate wields lawmaking powers of the national government granted to Congress by the U.S. Constitution. This includes the broad enumerated (listed) powers of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution—for example, issuing currency, regulating banking and interstate or foreign commerce, providing for military forces, and declaring war. Article I, Section 8, also gives Congress implied powers—to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out the enumerated powers, and to investigate and oversee the executive branch. The Senate also has the power to conduct impeachment trials against the president, federal judges, and other officials. The Senate can only impeach someone after the House brings charges, however. A two-thirds majority vote of the senators in the chamber is necessary for a conviction.

The Senate has two special duties not shared by the House. When the president negotiates treaties with other countries, they must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the Senate before becoming law. Although the Senate rejects few treaties outright, it often refuses to act or it tries to change them. The Senate approves without change about seven of every ten treaties submitted by the president. The Senate also confirms by a majority vote the president’s choices for cabinet members, ambassadors, federal judges, and many other important government officials. The Senate usually allows presidents free rein in selecting cabinet officers and other members of their own administrations. On the other hand, the Senate often closely scrutinizes nominees for the Supreme Court and other judicial positions, which are lifetime appointments.

Some bicameral (two-house) political systems have an upper chamber with more power than the second, lower chamber. Some experts claim that one house of Congress is more important than the other—for example, that the Senate has more prestige or that the House pays more attention to legislative details. However, the two houses stoutly defend their equal roles and zealously guard their powers. Although the Senate was the stage for eloquent debates before the Civil War, and the House and its committees shaped federal programs in more recent decades, neither chamber dominates today.

B

The Committee System

The Senate has a system of specialized committees similar to that in the House of Representatives. Permanent legislative committees—usually called standing committees—have the most important duties. The Senate’s 16 standing committees and their nearly 70 subcommittees hold hearings, draft new bills, review bills proposed outside the committee, and supervise legislative research staff. The committees and subcommittees then make recommendations to the Senate as a whole to approve or reject the bills. The Senate normally follows these recommendations. Standing committees also supervise government agencies that fall under their area of specialization.

Key committees include the Appropriations Committee, which recommends annual federal spending amounts; the Finance Committee, which considers revenue measures; and the Budget Committee, which prepares the annual budget. Other standing committees, roughly paralleling those in the House, consider such subjects as foreign relations, the armed services, banking, commerce, and agriculture. Normally a senator sits on about three committees and seven subcommittees.

The Senate also creates joint committees in cooperation with the House. Joint committees, which usually have an equal number of members from the House and the Senate, can conduct hearings but cannot consider legislation. The Senate also establishes select, or investigative, committees to conduct inquiries into specific scandals or problems. Select committees usually have temporary authority, and most lack the power to formally consider legislation.

C

Leadership

As in the House of Representatives, power in the Senate is generally distributed according to the seniority system, in which political parties appoint their members to committee positions based on their years of service in the chamber. The most senior senators— those with the most years in the chamber—are ensured of appointment to the most influential committees, but because the Senate is relatively small, even junior senators usually serve on at least one important committee. The Senate is less structured than the House of Representatives. Because the Senate’s rules allow virtually unlimited debating time for its members, senators can potentially block any type of legislation by prolonging debate. This tactic, known as a filibuster, means that individual senators can try to influence virtually any bill before the Senate by threatening to block the measure.

The majority and minority parties in the Senate select floor leaders to organize their members. These leaders, sometimes called the majority and minority leaders, are helped by assistants called whips. The whips try to persuade members of their parties to support the party on Senate votes. When the two parties cannot agree on legislation, these party leaders help negotiate a compromise. Responsibility for particular bills falls upon leaders called floor managers, generally the bill’s prime sponsor or the chair of the committee responsible for it. The floor manager of the majority party tries to shepherd the bill through the Senate, and the minority floor manager tries to alter the measure or defeat it outright.

The Senate conducts votes, debates, and other business under the direction of the Senate’s presiding officer. The presiding officer is usually a junior senator who is assisted by a parliamentarian—an expert in Senate procedure. The duties of the presiding officer are sometimes assumed by the Senate’s president pro tem (temporary president), who is usually the most senior member of the majority party. On even more unusual occasions, the vice president of the United States presides over the Senate. Article I, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution grants this authority to the vice president, but vice presidents usually limit their appearances to ceremonial events and infrequent instances when a Senate vote is tied. The vice president cannot vote unless the chamber is tied.

D

Rules and Procedures

The Senate follows rules governing procedures for amending and voting on bills, quorum requirements (the minimum number of senators needed to conduct business), and many other matters. These rules give Senate leaders less control over their members than their House counterparts. Because only a third of the Senate changes with each election, Senate rules remain in place from session to session. In contrast, House rules are modified and adopted after each election, every two years. The Senate often speeds its business by unanimously agreeing on how to consider a bill. This procedure, which is known as a unanimous consent agreement, allows the majority and minority leaders to arrange procedures that will satisfy all senators who have a special interest in the measure at hand.

The Senate follows more elaborate rules when the chamber is divided over a bill. These procedures can sometimes slow the proceedings to a crawl. Senators cherish their right to be consulted on bills being considered, to offer amendments, and to speak at length on measures. The Senate rules that permit filibusters give members the power to obstruct legislation merely by threatening to use the procedure. A filibuster can only be stopped if 60 senators vote to invoke cloture, a rule that imposes time limits on further discussion of the issue at hand. Because of the flexible rules for debating, and thereby blocking, legislation, Senate leaders spend much of their time seeking compromises that will satisfy their colleagues and allow the chamber to act. The House of Representatives, in contrast, imposes much more restrictive time constraints on debates.

Senate floor debate is quiet and even leisurely compared to that of the House of Representatives, and (as in the House) attendance is usually sparse. Senators address the chamber from assigned desks on the Senate floor, taking their time and engaging their colleagues in prolonged exchanges called colloquies. An informal code of conduct prevents senators from insulting one another. For floor votes—votes of the entire Senate—a clerk calls the roll and records senators’ votes individually. Senators stream onto the floor to cast votes or answer quorum calls, but even then the hubbub is subdued.