These members of Parliament play an important role in passing any bill or law in the US. The American Parliament is called Congress. Like India, there are two houses here. Like India's lower house, i.e. Lok Sabha, there is the House of Representatives. Elections are held for all 435 seats. Like India's upper house, i.e. Rajya Sabha, the upper house there is called the Senate. It has 100 members but elections are being held only for one-third, i.e. 34 seats.
On this pretext, let us know what is the importance of these two houses in America, who has what kind of powers and why elections are not fought simultaneously for all 100 seats of the Senate like the House?
Accounts of the American Parliament
The House of Representatives is decided on the basis of district. One from each district. Their tenure is two years. On the other hand, the members of the Senate are representatives of the states. At present, there are 50 states in America, so two are elected from each state to the Senate. No matter how big or small the population of the state is. In this way, there are 100 senators. Their tenure is of 6 years.
This time elections are being held for 34 seats of the Senate. The reason behind this is the amendment in the US constitution due to which about one third of the members retire after two years. These retired people are replaced by new senators.
That is why votes are cast for these vacant posts in every general election. The tenure of both senators of a particular state is fixed in such a way that they do not retire at the same time. And this way the Senate never gets dissolved.
Whose hold is stronger in the Parliament?
The Republican Party currently has a majority in the House of Representatives. But with the lowest margin ever in the history of the House. The Republicans have 220 and the Democrats have 212. While three seats are vacant. The consequences of such a small difference have to be borne. If even five Republicans defect on any vote, they lose their majority.
Talking about the Senate, here too the situation is more or less the same but in favor of the Democrat Party. They have 47 seats and the support of four independents. So, the Democrats have a hold on a total of 51 seats, albeit weak.
The Republicans have 49 seats in the Senate. To strengthen their lead over Congress, the Democrats and Republicans want to hold on to the Senate as well so that if they are elected, there is no obstacle in front of the President in the future.
What are the powers of the Senate?
The Senate has a lot of power to take decisions. The Vice President of the country is the Chairman of the Senate. This post is currently held by the current Vice President Kamala Harris.
Another thing is that the Vice President presides over the House but is not a part of any debate. The Vice President can vote only when there is a tie in the Senate on any matter. In such a situation, he acts as a tie-breaking vote, meaning the side he supports is considered the final decision.
You can guess how powerful this part of the House is from the fact that the President's decisions have to go through it. If the President makes a decision that is not approved by the Senate, the decision is stopped. Approval of two-thirds of the members of the Senate is necessary for any treaty.
The Vice President's vote is important in the Senate
Out of 34 Senate seats, Republicans are contesting on 11 seats, Democrats on 19 seats and four seats are contested by independents who support the Democrats.
The Republicans do not need to do much to capture the Senate. Even if they do not win the White House, they need only 2 seats more and even if they win, they need only a 1-seat lead.
This is because the Vice President plays the role of a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. This means that if the votes are equal in the Senate on any matter, the decision taken by the Vice President is considered final.
So it is obvious that if the Republican Party wins the presidential election, then Trump's partner JD Vance will take over as the Chairman of the Senate. And if such a complicated situation arises, he will be in favor of the Republican Party.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is called the lower house of the US Congress. It has 435 members plus 3 members from Washington DC (District of Columbia). The tenure of the members of this House is 2 years. After this, new members of the House are elected immediately.
First any decision is taken in this House. After this it goes to the Senate and after getting consent from there, it reaches the President. Apart from this, the House of Representatives has many special powers. For example, if the members here want, they can take their own decision on all the bills related to revenue.
Apart from this, a very important power is also to directly elect the President. For example, if no one gets a majority in the Electoral College, then this House can elect the President. In American history, such a thing happened in the presidential election of the year 1824 when the House had to intervene and in this way John Quincy Adams became the 6th President of America.
The members of the House of Representatives have so much freedom that they can keep an eye on the work of the government. These people can also file an impeachment case against the President, when the President is accused of treason, massive corruption or rape.
