Who will control the Senate?
Jan 21, 2021 · Who now controls the Senate? Chuck Schumer became majority leader following the swearing in of Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Alex Padilla of California by Kamala Harris on January 20, 2021. Warnock, 51, and Ossoff, 33, had won special elections earlier in the month that determined control of the Senate.
Who is the current Majority Leader of the Senate?
U.S. Senate. The U.S. Senate, together with the U.S. House of Representatives, makes up the U.S. Congress. The Senate holds certain unique powers and obligations. Its makeup is different too: two senators represent each state, and senators serve staggered six-year terms.
Which party controls US Senate?
Aug 27, 2012 · President Barack Obama. Mark Wilson / Getty Images News. The 114th Congress was notable because Republicans won their largest majorities in the House and Senate in decades after voters used the midterm election in 2014 to express dissatisfaction with a Democratic president, Barack Obama. Democrats lost control of the Senate in the 2014 elections.
Who are the majority leaders of the Senate?
203 rows · The U.S. Senate has 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats (including two independents). There are 35 seats up in 2020 – including special elections in Arizona and Georgia – of which 23 are held by the GOP. Democrats will need to gain 3 or 4 seats to take control. This 3-part Senate map lets you view the current Senate, make a forecast for the 2020 …
Where is the Senate located?
The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol Building in Washington , D.C.
What is the Senate?
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution.
When are the 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 coincide with elections for the House of Representatives. 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.
How many senators have been expelled from the Senate?
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.
What is the role of a vice president in the Senate?
Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as president of the Senate . They may vote in the Senate ( ex officio, for they are not an elected member of the Senate) in the case of a tie, but is not required to. For much of the nation’s history the task of presiding over Senate sessions was one of the vice president’s principal duties (the other being to receive from the states the tally of electoral ballots cast for president and vice president and to open the certificates “in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives”, so that the total votes could be counted). Since the 1950s, vice presidents have presided over few Senate debates. Instead, they have usually presided only on ceremonial occasions, such as swearing in new senators, joint sessions, or at times to announce the result of significant legislation or nomination, or when a tie vote on an important issue is anticipated.
What is the Senate’s chief administrative officer?
The Senate’s chief administrative officer is the secretary of the Senate, who maintains public records, disburses salaries, monitors the acquisition of stationery and supplies, and oversees clerks. The assistant secretary of the Senate aids the secretary’s work. Another official is the sergeant at arms who, as the Senate’s chief law enforcement officer, maintains order and security on the Senate premises. The Capitol Police handle routine police work, with the sergeant at arms primarily responsible for general oversight. Other employees include the chaplain, who is elected by the Senate, and pages, who are appointed.
Is the Senate considered the greatest deliberative body?
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”.
How many seats did the Democrats hold in the Senate?
Senate: Democrats held 49 seats, Republicans held 49 seats; there was one independent and one independent Democrat. *Notes: U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut was reelected in 2006 as an independent candidate and became an Independent Democrat.
How many seats does the House of Representatives have?
White House: Republican ( Donald Trump) House: As of October 2019, Republicans held 197 seats, Democrats held 234 seats; there was one independent (a former Republican) and three vacancies.
When was the 112th Congress elected?
Members of the 112th Congress were elected in a 2010 midterm election “shellacking” of the Democratic Party. Republicans won back the House two years after voters handed control of the White House and both chambers of Congress to the Democrats.
What happens if the Senate is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans?
A Senate split evenly between Democrats and Republicans raises the potential for tie votes. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution states that, “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
When will the 116th Congress end?
The current Congress, the 116th, will conclude sometime between now and January 3, 2021, and at Noon that day the 117th Congress will begin (unless the date is delayed by an act of the 116th Congress). Here are the likely scenarios:
Overview
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is composed of senators, each of whom represents a single state in its …
History
The drafters of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress primarily as a compromise between those who felt that each state, since it was sovereign, should be equally represented, and those who felt the legislature must directly represent the people, as the House of Commons did in Great Britain. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise. T…
Membership
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. 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 th…
Majority and minority parties
The “majority party” is the political party that either has a majority of seats or can form a coalition or caucus with a majority of seats; if two or more parties are tied, the vice president’s affiliation determines which party is the majority party. The next-largest party is known as the minority party. The president pro tempore, committee chairs, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the “ranking members” of committees) in th…
Officers
Except for the president of the Senate (who is the vice president), the Senate elects its own officers, 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 vice president serves as president of the Senate. They may vote in th…
Procedure
The Senate uses Standing Rules for operation. Like the House of Representatives, the Senate meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. At one end of the chamber of the Senate is a dais from which the presiding officer presides. The lower tier of the dais is used by clerks and other officials. Sessions of the Senate are opened with a special prayer or invocation and typically convene on weekdays. Sessions of the Senate are generally open to the public and are broadcas…
Criticism
Recent criticisms of the Senate’s operations object to what the critics argue is obsolescence as a result of partisan paralysis and a preponderance of arcane rules.
The Senate filibuster is frequently debated. The Constitution specifies a simple majority threshold to pass legislation, and some critics feel the de facto three-fifths threshold for general legislation prevents beneficial laws from passing. (The nuclear option was exercised by both parties in the 2…
Functions
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”. 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. Historically, the Senate h…