What Is the Senate? - December 07, 2018

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1. 0:00The Senate is one of the two parts of the United States Congress, the legislature that makes the country's laws.
2. 0:09The Congress has two parts because the men who wrote the U.S.
3. 0:15Constitution could not agree on details of the new form of government.
4. 0:21Men from states with large populations thought they should be able to send more lawmakers to Congress.
5. 0:28Congress. After all, their states had more people.
6. 0:33But men from states with smaller populations thought each state should have the same number of lawmakers.
7. 0:41After all, people in small states did not want their voices to be lost.
8. 0:48So the Constitution writers agreed that part Part of Congress should be based on states' populations,
9. 0:56and the other part of Congress should have equal representation.
10. 1:02The Senate is the part with equal representation.
11. 1:06Each state has two senators, no matter how big or small its population.
12. 1:14The Constitution writers expected members of the Senate, called senators,
13. 1:21to help set limits on the office of the president.
14. 1:26They gave senators the power to decide whether to try and remove the president
15. 1:32and other government officials accused of wrongdoing.
16. 1:37Senators also approve or reject the President's choices
17. 1:43for top government positions, including Supreme Court justices.
18. 1:50And senators have powers to approve treaties with other countries.
19. 1:56At the same time, the Constitution writers wanted the Senate to limit what
20. 2:02they feared would be the strong emotions of voters.
21. 2:07James Madison called it a fence against the passion of the people.
22. 2:12George Washington reportedly said the Senate would cool laws proposed by House members,
23. 2:20who were more closely connected with everyday Americans.
24. 2:25Because senators have so much responsibility,
25. 2:29the Constitution Education writers required them to be a little older than House members,
26. 2:35at least 30 years old, compared to 25.
27. 2:40And they decided that each senator would serve six years, compared to two for members of the House.
28. 2:49A longer time in office would make the Senate stronger and reduce political pressures, they reasoned.
29. 2:56However, not all senators finish their terms at once.
30. 3:02Every two years, one-third of senators must leave their office or seek re-election.
31. 3:09The other two-thirds remain in place.
32. 3:13Finally, the Constitution writers decided that state lawmakers would elect the state's senators.
33. 3:21senators. This situation would permit states some additional power in the federal government.
34. 3:29However, in 1913, the Constitution was changed to permit voters to elect senators directly.
35. 3:39The Senate does its lawmaking work through 16 regular committees.
36. 3:45They study and make decisions on the federal budget, foreign relations, national laws, and other issues.
37. 3:55Senators also gather together to talk a lot about why they plan to vote a certain way
38. 4:02and why other senators should support them.
39. 4:06Unlike in the House of Representatives, the Senate permits senators to debate at length.
40. 4:12Because of all their talk, the Senate has been called the world's greatest deliberative body.
41. 4:21But others have pointed out that the Senate is a group of very different, independent individuals.
42. 4:29Getting a majority to agree can be extremely difficult.
43. 4:35One former Senate leader said, Instead, trying to get them to move together was like herding cats.
44. 4:43Another described it as loading frogs into a wheelbarrow.
45. 4:48I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.