The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress.

The
Senate and the United States House of Representatives (which is the lower chamber of
Congress) comprise the federal bicameral legislature of the United States. Together, the
Senate and the House have the authority under Article One of the U.S. Constitution to
pass or defeat federal legislation. The Senate has exclusive power to confirm U.S.
presidential appointments to high offices, approve or reject treaties, and try cases
of impeachment 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 by Article One of the United
States Constitution.[6] Each of the 50 states is represented by two senators who
serve staggered six-year terms. In total, the Senate consists of 100 members.[7] From its
inception in 1789 until 1913, senators were appointed by the state legislature of their
respective states. However, since 1913, following the ratification of the Seventeenth
Amendment, senators have been elected through a statewide popular vote.[8]

As the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers of advice and
consent. These include the approval of treaties, as well as the confirmation of Cabinet
secretaries, federal judges (including justices of the Supreme Court), flag officers,
regulatory officials, ambassadors, other federal executive officials, and federal
uniformed officers. If no candidate receives a majority of electors for vice president, the
duty falls to the Senate to elect one of the top two recipients of electors for that office.
The Senate conducts trials of officials who have been impeached by the House. The
Senate has typically been considered both a more deliberative[9] and prestigious[10][11]
[12]
body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms, smaller size, and
statewide constituencies, which historically led to a more collegial and
less partisan atmosphere.[13]

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.

History
Main article: History of the United States Senate
The drafters of the Constitution debated more about how to award representation in the
Senate than about any other part of the Constitution.[14] While bicameralism and the idea
of a proportional "people's house" were widely popular, discussions about Senate
representation proved contentious. In the end, some small states—unwilling to give up
their equal power with larger states under the Articles of Confederation—threatened to
secede[15] in 1787, and won the day by a vote of 5–4 in what became known as
the Connecticut Compromise. The Connecticut Compromise provided, among other
things, that each state—regardless of population—would be represented by two
senators.[16]

First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of
the ancient Roman Senate. The name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of
elders, derived from senex, meaning old man in Latin.[17] Article Five of the
Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a
state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that state's consent. The United States
has had 50 states since 1959,[18] thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959.[19]

Graph showing historical party

control of the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and the Presidency since 1855[20]
Before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by
the individual state legislatures.[21] 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.[22]

In contrast to the House of Representatives, the Senate has historically had

stronger norms of conduct for its members.[23]

Membership
See also: List of current United States senators
 Members of the United States
Senate by class from the staggered term system for the 118th United States Congress
Qualifications

This article is part of a series on the

United States Senate

History of the United States Senate

Members

 Current members
o (by seniority
o by class)
 Former members
 Hill committees
o (DSCC
o NRSC)
 Women in the Senate
 United States Vice President (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)

o Cloture
o Committees (list)

o Executive session
o Morning business

o Filibuster
o Journal
o Nuclear option
 Recess appointment

o Quorum
o Quorum call
o Salaries

o Saxbe fix
o Seal
o Holds

o Senatorial courtesy
o Standing Rules

 o Traditions
o Unanimous consent
 Vice presidential tie-breaking votes

Places
 United States Capitol
 Senate chamber
 Old Senate Chamber
 Senate Reception Room
 Senate office buildings
o (Dirksen
o Hart
o 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.[7] 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.[24]
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: Henry Clay (aged 29 in 1806), John Jordan
Crittenden (aged 29 in 1817), Armistead Thomson Mason (aged 28 in 1816), and John
Eaton (aged 28 in 1818). Such an occurrence, however, has not been repeated since.
[25]
In 1934, Rush D. Holt Sr. was elected to the Senate at the age of 29; he waited until
he turned 30 (on the next June 19) to take the oath of office. On November 7, 1972, Joe
Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29, which was only 13 days prior to his
30th birthday on November 20, 1972. Therefore, he reached his 30th birthday before
the swearing-in ceremony for incoming senators in January 1973.

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.[26]

Elections and term

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.[22] Popular election to the
Senate was standardized nationally in 1913 by the ratification of the Seventeenth
Amendment.

Elections
Further information: List of United States Senate elections
Elections to the Senate are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
in even-numbered years, Election Day, and occur simultaneously with elections for
the House of Representatives.[27] Senators are elected by their state as a whole.
The Elections Clause of the United States Constitution grants each state (and
Congress, if it so desires to implement a uniform law) the power to legislate a method
by which senators are elected. Ballot access rules for independent and minor party
candidates also vary from state to state.