Compare House & Senate?

Question

What do the House & Senate do specifically? Is Congress a third entity or is that the combination of these two or what? Does the House do anything specifically that the Senate does not do? Thanks for the enlightenment ahead of time!

Answer 1

Many of the Founding Fathers intended the Senate (whose members were originally chosen by the state legislatures) to be a check on the popularly elected House, just as the House was to be a check on the Senate. The "advice and consent" powers (such as the power to approve treaties) were therefore granted to the Senate alone. The House, however, can initiate spending bills and has exclusive authority to impeach officials and choose the President in an electoral college deadlock. The Senate and its members generally have greater prestige than the House because Senators serve longer terms (six years) in a smaller body and (in all but seven states) represent larger constituencies than Representatives.