compare the british house of lords with american senate
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Notice that members of the House are elected every two years, whereas senators are elected for six-year terms. ... Senators are at least thirty years old and citizens for nine years. Another difference is who they represent. Senators represent their entire states, but members of the House represent individual districts.
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There is basically one HUGE difference….
Although the House of Lords was originally as powerful as the House of Commons, that has changed to where the House of Lords exerts far less influence. That is not to say that the Lords have NO influence, but they are kind of a legislative review committee. Their role these days is to examine each piece of legislation coming out of Commons and propose amendments they think would improve the bill; and those amendments are often accepted.
But the U.S. Senate is a chamber very similar in power to the House of Representatives in the United States government. There are some powers specific to the House of Reps… but there are OTHER powers, probably just as important, specific to the Senate only. On balance, they are very close in power, even though the Senate — with 2 members per state — is one of the least democratic parts of the U.S. Constitution.
In particular, in the U.K., when Commons passes a bill that Lords doesn’t like, the Lords can delay it from passing no more than six months… or 30 days if it is a money bill.
In the U.S., when the House of Representatives passes a bill, the Senate has an absolute power to say “NO,” and the House cannot get around this by simply resubmitting the bill three times, as Commons does in the U.K.
So… the U.K. has a bicameral system in which the lower house has 98% of the power, and the “upper chamber” exists mainly in an advisory role.
But the U.S. has a TRUE bicameral system in which each chamber is (roughly) equal in power, and either chamber can kill a bill by just not passing it. So in the U.S., the House of Reps and Senate split the power by roughly 50% to 50%.
Also, the special powers assigned to the Senate alone are now very great. The ability to vote up or down on judges and Supreme Court justices — which used to be exercised lightly — has now been strongly asserted, to the point where the Senate now routinely blocks nominees that do not agree with the judicial philosophy of the majority of senators. And in the United States, the effect of that is enormous.
Although the House of Lords was originally as powerful as the House of Commons, that has changed to where the House of Lords exerts far less influence. That is not to say that the Lords have NO influence, but they are kind of a legislative review committee. Their role these days is to examine each piece of legislation coming out of Commons and propose amendments they think would improve the bill; and those amendments are often accepted.
But the U.S. Senate is a chamber very similar in power to the House of Representatives in the United States government. There are some powers specific to the House of Reps… but there are OTHER powers, probably just as important, specific to the Senate only. On balance, they are very close in power, even though the Senate — with 2 members per state — is one of the least democratic parts of the U.S. Constitution.
In particular, in the U.K., when Commons passes a bill that Lords doesn’t like, the Lords can delay it from passing no more than six months… or 30 days if it is a money bill.
In the U.S., when the House of Representatives passes a bill, the Senate has an absolute power to say “NO,” and the House cannot get around this by simply resubmitting the bill three times, as Commons does in the U.K.
So… the U.K. has a bicameral system in which the lower house has 98% of the power, and the “upper chamber” exists mainly in an advisory role.
But the U.S. has a TRUE bicameral system in which each chamber is (roughly) equal in power, and either chamber can kill a bill by just not passing it. So in the U.S., the House of Reps and Senate split the power by roughly 50% to 50%.
Also, the special powers assigned to the Senate alone are now very great. The ability to vote up or down on judges and Supreme Court justices — which used to be exercised lightly — has now been strongly asserted, to the point where the Senate now routinely blocks nominees that do not agree with the judicial philosophy of the majority of senators. And in the United States, the effect of that is enormous.
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