Senator v.s. Representative

Senator V.S. Representative

         Many people believe that there is no difference between a senator and a representative when in fact there are things that do set them apart. The reason people believe that they are pretty much the same thing is because they are both part of congress and pass laws. The only reason why everyone thinks this is because many people don’t pay any attention in history class. So through out this paper I will be describing the difference between a senator and a representative and their similarities. But before I go off to tell you all this information I think it will be good to do a little history.
         Before we had this wonderful government system set up we had nothing our government was actually at the brink of collapse. So our founding fathers had meetings to help solve this problem. Well the big states felt that they should have more power in the government because they were bigger and had a bigger population. The smaller states wanted equal power because they wanted some power too. Well they argued for weeks and could not come up with a solution so they decided to take a break for the Fourth of July (it had been eleven years since we proclaimed our freedom). During this break two great man came with the greatest thing to happen to American government. The men were William Paterson and Roger Sherman. There amazing idea for the American government was called the Great Compromise. The Great Compromise was that the big states could have more representation in the house called the House of Representatives because of the amount of people they had. The smaller states were given equal power in the house called the Senate so no state would be cheated. Know that we know the history of Congress I can get started. I will first start with the Senate.
         A senator is made up of two senators from each state that means there are one hundred senators in the Senate right now. They have all different kinds of jobs and powers but there best known is the there power to help pass bills. What they do is first get them-selves recognized by the president of the Senate once recognized they can put up the bill for voting. After that it is all about trying to win votes for that bill which is usually done by debating and speeches. Besides helping pass bills they also have the power to hold impeachment trails, nominate, treaties, expulsion and censure, and filibustering and cloture. The power to hold impeachment trails is where the Senate holds impeachment trails in the Senate after the House of Representative has impeached someone. The power of nomination is when the Senate, according to the Constitution, can “nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States... (Article 2, Section 2)". The power of treaties is when the Senate can approve or disapprove a treaty given to them by the executive branch; it can only be passed by a two-thirds vote. The power of expulsion and censure, expulsion is where the Senate, by a two-thirds vote, can expel a senator and censure is where they show a form of disapproval of a Senator but he is not kicked out. The power of filibustering and cloture, filibustering is where a Senator, once recognized by president of the Senate, can talk about anything for as long as he wants as long as he does not yield to anyone or sit down and cloture is where the Senate can end a debate with a two- thirds vote of the Senate. These are all the powers and jobs a senator has. Now for the representative
         A representative has all lot of powers too but not as many as a senator does this is just to make it fair because the Senate is an equal number of people for each state. There best-known power is of course the help to pass a law. They do this by putting a bill in what is called the “hopper”, the “hopper is a small wooden box which in front of the House, once in the “hopper” the bill can be debated and be given speeches on to help win or lose votes for it to pass. There other powers of a representative are the powers to initiate revenue bills, impeach officials, and elect the President in Electoral College deadlocks. The power to initiate revenue bills, a revenue bill is all about raising money for the federal government to function. The power to impeach is where the house can choose to impeach a certain individual with in the government. The power to elect during electoral college deadlocks is when there is a dead lock during the presidental election and the House can break it by voting by two- thirds vote. That is the powers of a representative. Now that I have told you what powers and jobs they have I will now conlcude by telling you the difference between the two.
A senator once voted in is part of the Senate for six years. A representative once voted in is part of the House of Representatives for only two years. A senator has the power to hold impeachment trails, nominate, treaties, expulsion and censure, and filibustering and cloture; a Senator cannot impeach someone. A representative’s powers to initiate revenue bills, impeach officials, and elect the President in Electoral College deadlocks; a senator cannot elect a president but can elect a vice-president during an Electoral College deadlock. A representative has no power over nominations what so ever or the power of accepting treaties because the Senate allows an equal vote and voice of the states. That is the difference between a Senator and a representative