Today the votes will be cast for the US presidential elections.
Right now, the eyes of the entire world are on the presidential elections that will be held today in the United States. Everyone is curious to know who will take the reins of the American superpower for the next four years. But did you know that today in the United States not only will votes be cast for the president, but voters will also elect members of the US Congress, that is, Parliament?
These members of Parliament play an important role in passing any bill or law in the United States. The American Parliament is called Congress. Just like in India, there are two houses here. Like the lower house of India, i.e. the Lok Sabha, there is a House of Representatives. For which elections are held for the 435 seats. Like the Upper House of India i.e. Rajya Sabha, the Upper House is called the Senate. It has 100 members, but elections are only held for one third, that is, 34 seats.
Under this pretext, what is the importance of these two chambers in the United States, who has what powers and why are elections not held simultaneously for the 100 Senate seats like the House?
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American Parliament Accounts
The House of Representatives is decided by districts. One from each district. His term is two years. While the members of the Senate are representatives of the states. There are currently 50 states in the United States, so from each state two are elected to the Senate. It doesn’t matter how big or small the state’s population is. In this way there were 100 senators left. His term is 6 years.
This time elections will be held for 34 Senate seats. The reason behind this is the amendment made in the US Constitution by which approximately one-third retire after two years. New senators take charge of these retirees.
Therefore, in each general election these vacant positions are voted on. The tenure of both senators from a particular state is decided in such a way that they do not retire at the same time. And so the Senate is never dissolved.
Who has the most influence in Parliament?
Currently the Republican Party has a majority in the House of Representatives. But with the lowest margin ever seen in the history of the House. The Republicans have 220 and the Democrats 212. While three seats are vacant. You have to suffer the consequences of such a small difference. If even five Republicans defect in a vote, they lose their majority.
Speaking of the Senate, the situation here is more or less the same but in favor of the Democratic Party. It has 47 seats and also has the support of four independents. Thus, in this situation, the Democrats control a total of 51 seats, although they are weak.
Republicans have 49 seats in the Senate. To strengthen their advantage over Congress, Democrats and Republicans also want to take control of the Senate so that, if elected, there will be no more obstacles for the president.
What are the powers of the Senate?
The Senate has a lot of power to make decisions. The vice president of the country is the president of the Senate. This position is currently held by current Vice President Kamala Harris.
One more thing, the vice president presides over the House but is not part of any debate. The Vice President can only vote when there is a tie in the Senate on an issue. In such a situation, it acts as a tie-breaking vote, meaning which side it will support is considered the final decision.
How powerful this part of the House is can be estimated by the fact that the President’s decisions have to go through it. If the President makes a decision that is not acceptable to the Senate, the decision is suspended. To agree on any treaty, the approval of two-thirds of the members of the Senate is required.
The vice president’s vote is important in the Senate
Of the 34 seats in the Senate, Republicans are competing for 11 seats, Democrats for 19 seats, and independents who support Democrats for four seats.
Republicans don’t need to do much to take over the Senate. Even if they don’t win the White House, they only need 2 more seats and even if they win, they only need a 1 seat increase.
This is because the vice president plays the role of tie-breaking vote in the Senate. This means that if the votes in the Senate are equal on any issue, the decision made by the Vice President is considered final.
So obviously, if the Republican Party wins the presidential election, Trump associate JD Vance will take over as president of the Senate. And if such a complicated situation arises, he will still be in favor of the Republican Party.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is called the lower house of the United States Congress. It is made up of 435 members plus 3 members from Washington DC (District of Columbia). The term of office of the members of this house is 2 years. After this, new members of the House are immediately elected.
First any decision is made in this house. It then goes to the Senate and after obtaining consent from there, it reaches the President. Apart from this, the House of Representatives has many special powers. For example, if members here wish, they can make decisions on all revenue-related bills on their own.
Apart from this, there is also a very important power to directly elect the President. For example, if no one wins a majority in the Electoral College, then this House can elect the President. In American history, this happened in the presidential election of 1824, when the House had to intervene and thus John Quincy Adams became the sixth president of the United States.
Members of the House of Representatives have so much freedom that they can monitor the work of the government. These people can also file an impeachment case against the President, when he is accused of treason, serious corruption or misdeeds.
