United States Senate

United States Senate
Seal of the U.S. Senate
Flag of the U.S. Senate
Type
Type	Upper house of the United States Congress
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 3, 2025 (2025-1-3)
Leadership
President	JD Vance (R) since January 20, 2025
President pro tempore	Chuck Grassley (R) since January 3, 2025
Majority Leader	John Thune (R) since January 3, 2025
Minority Leader	Chuck Schumer (D) since January 3, 2025
Majority Whip	John Barrasso (R) since January 3, 2025
Minority Whip	Dick Durbin (D) since January 3, 2025
Structure
Seats	100
Political groups	Majority (53)   Republican (53) Minority (47)   Democratic (45)   Independent (2)[a]
Length of term	6 years
Elections
Voting system	Plurality voting in 46 states[b] Varies in 4 states Alaska & Maine: Instant-runoff voting Georgia & Louisiana:[c] Two-round system
Last election	United States Constitution
Rules
Standing Rules of the United States Senate

The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; the other is the U.S. House of Representatives. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the U.S. Constitution to pass or defeat federal legislation.

The Senate also has exclusive power to confirm U.S. presidential appointments, to approve or reject treaties, and to convict or exonerate impeachment cases brought by the House. The Senate and the House provide a check and balance on the powers of the executive and judicial branches of government. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution, which has been in continuous effect since March 4, 1789.^[2] Each of the 50 states is represented by two senators who serve staggered six-year terms. In total, the Senate consists of 100 members.^[3]

From its inception in 1789 until 1913, senators were appointed by the state legislature of their respective states. Since 1913, following ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, however, senators have been elected through a statewide popular vote.^[4] The Senate has several powers of

The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. Despite not being a senator, the vice president of the United States serves as presiding officer and president of the Senate by virtue of that office; the vice president may vote only if the Senate is equally divided. In the vice president's absence, the president pro tempore, who is traditionally the most senior member of the Senate's majority party, presides over the Senate, and more often by rule allows a junior senator to take the chair, guided by the parliamentarian. In the early 1920s, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began. The Senate's legislative and executive business is managed and scheduled by the Senate's majority leader, who on occasion negotiates some matters with the Senate's minority leader. A prominent practice in the Senate is the filibuster on some matters and its remedy the vote on cloture.

The drafters of the

Before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the individual state legislatures.^[17] Problems with repeated vacant seats due to the inability of a legislature to elect senators, intrastate political struggles, bribery and intimidation gradually led to a growing movement to amend the Constitution to allow for the direct election of senators.^[18]

In contrast to the House of Representatives, the Senate has historically had stronger norms of conduct for its members.^[19]

Senate approval is required to pass any federal legislation. The Constitution provides several unique functions for the Senate that form its ability to "checks and balances" the powers of other elements of the federal government. These include the requirement that the Senate may advise and must consent to some of the president's 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.

Bills may be introduced in either chamber of Congress. However, the Constitution's Origination Clause provides that "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives".^[20] As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds.^{[21][22][23][24]} Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, when the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. The constitutional provision barring the Senate from introducing revenue bills is based on the practice of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in which money bills approved by Parliament have originated in the House of Commons per constitutional convention.^[25]

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

The Senate's right to amend general appropriation bills has been allowed the widest possible scope. The upper house may add to them what it pleases; may go altogether outside of their original provisions and tack to them entirely new features of legislation, altering not only the amounts but even the objects of expenditure, and making out of the materials sent them by the popular chamber measures of an almost totally new character.^[26]

The approval of both houses is required for any bill, including a revenue bill, to become law. Both Houses must pass the same version of the bill; if there are differences, they may be resolved by sending amendments back and forth or by a conference committee, which includes members of both bodies.

The president can make certain appointments only with the advice and consent of the Senate. Officials whose appointments require the Senate's approval include members of the Cabinet, heads of most federal executive agencies, ambassadors, justices of the Supreme Court, and other federal judges. Under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, a large number of government appointments are subject to potential confirmation; however, Congress has passed legislation to authorize the appointment of many officials without the Senate's consent (usually, confirmation requirements are reserved for those officials with the most significant final decision-making authority). Typically, a nominee is the first subject to a hearing before a Senate committee. Thereafter, the nomination is considered by the full Senate. The majority of nominees are confirmed; however, in a small number of cases each year, Senate committees purposely fail to act on a nomination to block it. In addition, the president sometimes withdraws nominations when they appear unlikely to be confirmed. Because of this, outright rejections of nominees on the Senate floor are infrequent (there have been only nine Cabinet nominees rejected outright in United States history).^[27]

The powers of the Senate concerning 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 appointment remains valid only temporarily; the office becomes vacant again at the end of the next congressional session. Nevertheless, presidents have frequently used recess appointments to circumvent the possibility that the Senate may reject the nominee. Furthermore, as the Supreme Court held in Myers v. United States, although the Senate's advice and consent are required for the appointment of certain executive branch officials, it is not necessary for their removal.^[28][29] Recess appointments have faced a significant amount of resistance and in 1960, the U.S. Senate passed a legally non-binding resolution against recess appointments to the Supreme Court.^[30][31]

The Senate also has a role in ratifying treaties. The Constitution provides that the president may only "make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur" 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 under U.S. domestic law, even if they are considered treaties under international law. Congress has passed laws authorizing the president to conclude

The House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted (one resigned before the Senate could complete the trial).[34] Only three presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill 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 case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction.

Under the

This article is part of a series on the
United States Senate
History of the United States Senate
Members
Current members (by seniority by class) Former members Hill committees (DSCC NRSC ) Women in the Senate President of the Senate (list ) President pro tempore (list) Presiding officer Party leaders Party leadership of the United States Senate Democratic Caucus Republican Conference
Politics and procedure
Advice and consent Blue slip Closed session (list) list ) Executive session Morning business Filibuster Journal Nuclear option Recess appointment Quorum Quorum call Salaries Seal Holds Senatorial courtesy Standing Rules Traditions Unanimous consent Vice presidential tie-breaking votes
Places
United States Capitol Senate chamber Old Senate Chamber Senate Reception Room Senate office buildings (Dirksen Hart Russell)
v t e

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.^[3] 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 be thirty years of age at least; as a representative must be twenty-five. And the former must have been a citizen 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 same time that the senator should have reached a period of life most likely to supply these advantages; and which, participating immediately in transactions with foreign nations, ought to be exercised by none who are not thoroughly weaned from the prepossessions and habits incident to foreign birth and education. The term of nine 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 confidence, and an indiscriminate and hasty admission of them, which might create a channel for foreign influence on the national councils.^[35]

The Senate (not the judiciary) is the sole judge of a senator's qualifications. During its early years, however, the Senate did not 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:

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution disqualifies as senators any federal or state officers who had taken the requisite oath to support the Constitution but who later engaged in rebellion or aided the enemies of the United States. This provision, which came into force soon after the end of the Civil War, was intended to prevent those who had sided with the Confederacy from serving. That Amendment, however, also provides a method to remove that disqualification: a two-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress.^[37]

Originally, senators were selected by the state legislatures, not by popular elections. By the early years of the 20th century, the legislatures of as many as 29 states had provided for popular election of senators by referendums.^[18] Popular election to the Senate was standardized nationally in 1913 by the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment.

Elections to the Senate are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years,

The manner by which the Seventeenth Amendment is enacted varies among the states. A 2018 report breaks this down into the following three broad categories (specific procedures vary among the states):[41]

• Four states – North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin – do not empower their governors to make temporary appointments, relying exclusively on the required special election provision in the Seventeenth Amendment.^{[41]: 7–8}
• Eight states – Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas, Vermont, and Washington – provide for gubernatorial appointments, but also require a special election on an accelerated schedule.^{[41]: 10–11}
• The remaining thirty-eight states provide for gubernatorial appointments, "with the appointed senator serving the balance of the term or until the next statewide general election".^{[41]: 8–9}

In ten states within the final category above – Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky,^[42] Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming – the governor must appoint someone of the same political party as the previous incumbent.^{[41]: 9 [43]}

In September 2009, Massachusetts changed its law to enable the governor to appoint a temporary replacement for the late senator Edward Kennedy until the special election in January 2010.^[44][45]

In 2004, Alaska enacted legislation and a separate ballot referendum that took effect on the same day, but that conflicted with each other. The effect of the ballot-approved law is to withhold from the governor authority to appoint a senator.^[46] Because the 17th Amendment vests the power to grant that authority to the legislature – not the people or the state generally – it is unclear whether the ballot measure supplants the legislature's statute granting that authority.^[46] As 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.

In May 2021, Oklahoma permitted its governor again to appoint a successor who is of the same party as the previous senator for at least the preceding five years when the vacancy arises in an even-numbered year, only after the appointee has taken an oath not to run in either a regular or special Senate election.^[43]

Senators serve terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the seats are up for election every two years. This was achieved by dividing the senators of the

The Constitution set the date for Congress to convene — Article 1, Section 4, Clause 2, originally set that date for the third day of December. The Twentieth Amendment, however, changed the opening date for sessions to noon on the third day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. The Twentieth Amendment also states that the Congress shall assemble at least once every year, and allows the Congress to determine its convening and adjournment dates and other dates and schedules as it desires. Article 1, Section 3, provides that the president has the power to convene Congress on extraordinary occasions at his discretion.^[47]

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

The Constitution requires that senators take an oath or

The annual salary of each senator, since 2009, is $174,000;^[50] the president pro tempore and party leaders receive $193,400.^[50][51] In 2003, at least 40 senators were millionaires;^[52] by 2018, over 50 senators were millionaires, partly due to inflation.^[53]

Along with earning salaries, senators receive retirement and health benefits that are identical to other federal employees, and are fully

By tradition, seniority is a factor in the selection of physical offices and in party caucuses' assignment of committees. When senators have been in office for the same length of time, a number of tiebreakers are used, including comparing their former government service and then their respective state population.^[54]

The senator in each state with the longer time in office is known as the senior senator, while the other is the junior senator. For example, minority leader Chuck Schumer is the senior senator from New York, having served in the senate since 1999, while Kirsten Gillibrand is New York's junior senator, having served since 2009.

Like members of the House of Representatives, Senators use the prefix "

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.

The "majority party" is the

One hundred desks are arranged in the chamber in a

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. Forty-eight of the desks date back to 1819, when the Senate chamber was reconstructed after the original contents were destroyed in the 1812 Burning of Washington. Further desks of similar design were added as new states entered the Union.^[58] It is a tradition that each senator who uses a desk inscribes their name on the inside of the desk's drawer with a pen.^[59]

Except for the president of the Senate (who is the vice president), the Senate elects its own officers,^[2] who maintain order and decorum, manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate, and interpret the Senate's rules, practices and precedents. Many non-member officers are also hired to run various day-to-day functions of the Senate.

Under the Constitution, the

The Constitution authorizes the Senate to elect a president pro tempore (Latin for "president for a time"), who presides over the chamber in the vice president's absence and is, by custom, the senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.^[61] 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, usually in blocks of one hour on a rotating basis. Frequently, freshmen senators (newly elected members) are asked to preside so that they may become accustomed to the rules and procedures of the body. It is said that, "in practice they are usually mere mouthpieces for the Senate's parliamentarian, who whispers what they should do".^[62]

The

Each party elects

In addition to the vice president, the Senate has several officers who are not members. The Senate's chief administrative officer is the

The Senate uses

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

A "hold" is placed when the leader's office 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 by the senator who placed it at any time. A senator may place a hold simply to review a bill, to negotiate changes to the bill, or to kill the bill. A bill can be held for as long as the senator who objects to the bill wishes to block its consideration.

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

The Constitution provides that a majority of the Senate constitutes a quorum to do business. Under the rules and customs of the Senate, a quorum is always assumed as 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 and notes which members are present. In practice, senators rarely request quorum calls to establish the quorum as present; instead, quorum calls are generally used to temporarily delay proceedings. Usually, such delays are used while waiting for a senator to reach the floor to speak or to give leaders time to negotiate. Once the need for a delay has ended, a senator may request unanimous consent to rescind the quorum call.

Journalist George Packer has argued that the Senate's arcane rules have rendered it obsolete and ineffective.^[63]

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.^[64]

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 adjournment; hence, it does not necessarily coincide with the calendar day. The length of these speeches is not limited by 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 debate is generally preserved.

Within the United States, the Senate is sometimes referred to as "world's greatest deliberative body".^[65][66][67]

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 extensive series of proposed amendments. The Senate may end a filibuster by invoking cloture. In most cases, cloture requires the support 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 two-thirds majority is required. In practice, the threat of filibuster is more important than its use; almost any motion that does not have the support of three-fifths of the Senate effectively fails. This means 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, so a bill that already has bipartisan support is rarely subject to threats of filibuster. However, motions for cloture have increased significantly in recent years.

If the Senate invokes cloture, the debate does not necessarily end immediately; instead, it is limited to up to 30 additional hours unless increased by 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 block the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.^[68]

Under certain circumstances, the

Filibustered bills require a three-fifths majority to overcome the cloture vote (which usually means 60 votes). To pass a bill, a simple majority (usually 51 votes) is needed. Some news media have confused the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster with the 51 votes needed to approve a bill with for example USA Today erroneously stating "The vote was 58–39 in favor of the provision establishing concealed carry permit reciprocity in the 48 states that have concealed weapons laws. That fell two votes short of the 60 needed to approve the measure".^[70]

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, not instructed in the rules of the closed session, or not essential to the session. Closed sessions are rare and usually held only when the Senate is discussing sensitive subject matter such as information critical to national security, private communications from the president, or deliberations during impeachment trials. A senator may call for and force a closed session if the motion is seconded by at least one other member, but an agreement usually occurs beforehand.^[72] If the Senate does not approve the release of a secret transcript, the transcript is stored in the Office 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.^[73] 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.

The Senate uses committees (and their subcommittees) for a variety of purposes, including the review of bills and the oversight of the executive branch. 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.

Most committee work is performed by 16 standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a field such as

Each Senate committee and subcommittee is led by a chair (usually a member of the majority party). Formerly, committee chairs were determined purely by seniority; as a result, several elderly senators continued to serve as chair despite severe physical infirmity or even senility.^[74] Committee chairs are elected, but, in practice, seniority is rarely bypassed. The chairs hold extensive powers: they control the committee's agenda, and so decide how much, if any, time to devote to the consideration of a bill; they act with the power of the committee in disapproving or delaying a bill or a nomination by the president; they manage on the floor of the full Senate the consideration of those bills the committee reports. This last role was particularly important in mid-century, when floor amendments were thought not 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 do not. The Senate rules and customs were reformed in the twentieth century, largely in the 1970s. Committee chairmen have less power and are generally more moderate and collegial in exercising it, than they were before reform.^[75] The second-highest member, the spokesperson on the committee for the minority party, is known in most cases as the ranking member.^[76]

External videos
Senate Building, Washington DC, HD from 35mm

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

The Senate has been characterized as a uniquely counter-majoritarian institution in relation to legislatures in other countries. Political scientist Robert Dahl wrote of the Senate, "the degree of unequal representation in the U.S. Senate is by far the most extreme [and a] profound violation of the democratic idea of political equality among citizens."^[77] The countermajoritarianism is rooted in two features. First, the Senate's apportionment scheme, which apportions seats based on states rather than population, resulting in a small-state advantage. Second, the filibuster enables a minority of the chamber to block action in the chamber.^[77]

The Senate's structure gives states with smaller populations the same number of senators (two) as states with larger populations. Historian Daniel Wirls contends that this structure makes the Senate "non-democratic",

By the beginning of the 21st century, two-thirds of legislatures globally had become unicameral, with the remaining upper houses tending to become more representative or less powerful; in contrast, the U.S. Senate remained an outlier by not following what Ziblatt and Levitsky refer to as a democratizing trend.[89]

James Madison emphasized that the Senate serves as a check against the potential tyranny of the majority, ensuring that the interests of smaller states are not drowned out by the more populous ones. This was despite Madison being initially opposed to equal suffrage before coming around to support it.^[90] In Federalist No. 62 Madison writes about this tradeoff:

It must be acknowledged that this complicated check on legislation may in some instances be injurious as well as beneficial; and that the peculiar defense which it involves in favor of the smaller States, would be more rational, if any interests common to them, and distinct from those of the other States, would otherwise be exposed to peculiar danger. But as the larger States will always be able, by their power over the supplies, to defeat unreasonable exertions of this prerogative of the lesser States…

Today, whereas a populous state like Texas is granted equal suffrage to smaller states, Texas has a congressional delegation several times larger than many smaller states in the House of Representatives.

Political scientist William F. Connelly Jr., in his book "James Madison Rules America: The Constitutional Origins of Congressional Partisanship," argues that this structure "provides stability and continuity, balancing the rapidly changing political winds of the House of Representatives".^[91] Yale legal scholar Akhil Reed Amar, in his book "America's Constitution: A Biography," explains that the Senate's structure is integral to the federal system, ensuring that smaller states have a voice in the democratic process.^[92] Stanford political theorist Bruce E. Cain writes that equal representation in the Senate "fosters a more inclusive and representative democracy, where diverse regional interests are considered in the legislative process" ensuring that legislation must account for a wide array of perspectives, promoting broader national cohesion.^[93]

On the one hand, some claim the U.S. Senate has a bias against Republicans. However, since 1920, Democrats have controlled the Senate for about 58 years. During most of that period Senate Democrats earned a larger share of Senate seats than their share of the national House vote. Since filibuster rules were revised in 1975, the Democratic Party earned filibuster-proof supermajorities three times after the 1974, 1976 and 2008 Senate elections. The last time Republicans earned the same was in the 1920s. Equal representation for smaller states was pivotal for the legislative accomplishments of the Clinton presidency, like the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, and the Obama presidency, like the Affordable Care Act, at a time when Democrats earned more seats in lower population states like North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, West Virginia, Nebraska, and Iowa.^[94]

Other nations have adopted comparable structures that provide for equal representation of sub-national regions, regardless of population. These include Australia, where the Senate allocates twelve senators to each of the six original states (and two to each territory) and Switzerland, where each canton receives two seats (and each half canton receives one seat) in the Council of States (Ständerat), regardless of population size.^[95] In South Africa, a unitary state, each of the nine provinces is accorded an equal delegation of ten representatives, irrespective of population size, in the National Council of Provinces (the upper house of Parliament).^[96]

• Divided government in the United States
• Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate
• Elections in the United States
• Minoritarianism

References

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22. ^ Wirls, Daniel and Wirls, Stephen. The Invention of the United States Senate Archived February 12, 2021, at the Wayback Machine (Taylor & Francis 2004). p. 188
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25. ^ Sargent, Noel. "Bills for Raising Revenue Under the Federal and State Constitutions Archived January 7, 2021, at the Wayback Machine", Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 4, p. 330 (1919).
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Bibliography

Further information: U.S. senator bibliography (congressional memoirs)

• Baker, Richard A. The Senate of the United States: A Bicentennial History Krieger, 1988.
• Baker, Richard A., ed., First 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, Process, and Political Change in Congress: New Perspectives on the History of Congress (2002)
• The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Vol. 3: Master of the Senate
  . Knopf, 2002.
• Comiskey, Michael. Seeking Justices: The Judging of Supreme Court Nominees U. Press 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, as 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 XIII has been announced 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. Press, 2001.
• Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek, eds. (1998). Congress and Its Members, 6th ed. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly. (Legislative procedure, informal practices, and member information)
• Gould, Lewis L. The Most Exclusive Club: A History Of The Modern United States Senate (2005)
• Hernon, Joseph Martin. Profiles in Character: Hubris and Heroism in the U.S. Senate, 1789–1990 Sharpe, 1997.
• Hoebeke, C. H. The Road to Mass Democracy: Original Intent and the Seventeenth Amendment. Transaction Books, 1995. (Popular elections of senators)
• Lee, Frances E. and Oppenheimer, Bruce I. Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. U. of Chicago Press 1999. 304 pp.
• MacNeil, Neil and Richard A. Baker. The American Senate: An Insider's History. Oxford University Press, 2013. 455 pp.
• McFarland, Ernest W. The Ernest W. McFarland Papers: The United States Senate Years, 1940–1952. Prescott, Ariz.: Sharlot Hall Museum, 1995 (Democratic majority leader 1950–52)
• Malsberger, John W. 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 University Press.
• Ritchie, Donald A. (2001). The Congress of the United States: A Student Companion (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Ritchie, Donald A. (2010). The U.S. Congress: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
• Rothman, David. Politics and Power the United States Senate 1869–1901 (1966)
• Swift, Elaine K. The Making of an American Senate: Reconstitutive Change 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 Building of Democracy (2004) (overview)

Official Senate histories

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

The following are published by the

Senate Historical Office

.

• 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's operation and powers
  • Vol. III, Classic Speeches, 1830–1993
  • Vol. IV, Historical Statistics, 1789–1992
• Dole, Bob. Historical Almanac of the United States Senate
• Hatfield, Mark O., with the Senate Historical Office. Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993 (essays reprinted online)
• Frumin, Alan S. Riddick's Senate Procedure. Washington, D.C.:
  Government Printing Office
  , 1992.

External links

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