Question as asked and answered: What is the difference between parliament, senate, and house of representatives?

Interesting question. The three terms are all somewhat interrelated, but they have different specific meanings. I’ll try to define each one.

A parliament is a type of legislature—the body in a nation/state that makes law. The term can be interpreted two ways—one is simply to have a legislature and name it “The Parliament.” The other is a specific type of legislature—a parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, the executive is not separate from, and is answerable to, the legislature. In most cases, the head of the executive is a member of the parliament. We see this in nations like the United Kingdom, where the Prime Minister, currently Boris Johnson, is an elected member of the majority party or majority coalition in the legislature. A parliament, be it a parliamentary system or simply a body named “Parliament” can be unicameral (having one house) or multi-cameral (having more than one house). Most parliaments are bicameral, having two houses.

Senate and House of Representatives are also names of legislative bodies. These names can mean different things—generally, they are the names of bodies in a bicameral or multi-cameral (or in some cases, unicameral) legislature. The bodies most people are familiar with are the house of the United States Congress. The United States Congress is not a parliament in either sense of the word—since it is named “Congress” it is clearly not named “Parliament.” Also, since the United States has a separately-elected executive, the President of the United States, the US does not have a parliamentary system of government. The two houses of Congress are named “House of Representatives” and “Senate.”

In some cases, a unicameral legislature will carry one of these names—the US state of Nebraska has a one-house (unicameral) legislature. Its name is the Nebraska Senate. To make it more confusing, parliaments can use these names, too. Canada has a parliamentary system of government, and its legislature is the Parliament of Canada. It is a bicameral body, with its constituent houses being called the Senate and the House of Commons. The Parliament of Australia, which is functionally almost identical to that of Canada, uses Senate and House of Representatives for its names.

I hope this helps! Feel free to post any follow-up questions in a comment and I’ll be happy to answer them!

Congress is made up of two entities. The House of Representatives and the Senate.

All bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. Representatives are elected by the Citizens because only people pay taxes, even those supposed corporate taxes. The representation is proportional according to the Census.

Senators were appointed by their respective State's legislatures. This is because treaties can bind the several States. Senators also have the responsibility to approve appointments to the Executive branch as well as the federal judiciary. The Senators were supposed to look after their State's interests so they are not a proportional representation of the people but equal representation of the several States.

The unconstitutional 17th Amendment removed one of the last checks on the runaway federal government. The government-controlled education system indoctrinated masses now vote for the Senator promising the most ice cream.

Both the House and the Senate are chambers of Congress, responsible for writing legislation for the President to sign and become law. Both can also start investigations into activities of the federal government, or into possible violations of federal law.

The House of Representatives represents voters based on the population of their district. There are currently 435 Representatives. Every 10 years, the US census counts the population of each state, and the number of House districts (and Representatives) within each state is determined by the population of the state, as a fraction of the total population of the US.

In the last census, my state (Oregon) grew enough in population that we received one more House district and representative; that meant that another state lost one House district and representative. The intent is that each Representative should represent about the same number of people, but even the smallest states (for example, Wyoming) get at least one.

States with the greatest number of Representatives have the most influence in the House; California, with a Democratic majority of voters, has 52. However, the states with the fewest representatives can be influential if their representatives all vote in the same way; for many years, that has been the case for the small states with a Republican majority of voters (the “Red” states).

In the Senate, each Senator represents voters from one state, and each state gets two Senators. This is non-proportional representation, since even the state with the smallest population gets two Senators. In voting, the smallest state (Wyoming) and the largest state (California) have equal influence in the Senate.

Either the House or the Senate can originate new legislation (a “bill”); however, if the legislation is “fiscal” (it has provisions affecting revenue and/or taxes), the House must introduce it. Either a Senator or a Representative arranges to have the proposal for the bill written (usually by Senate staffers), and they are known as the “sponsor” of the bill; the bill may also have co-sponsors which work to support it. Then the bill is “introduced” in that chamber. As an example, let’s follow a bill written in the House …

Many (many, many …) bills never move past introduction, but some eventually undergo a vote, and they are said to have “passed the House” or “passed the Senate”, and they are then sent to the other chamber of Congress (in our example, the Senate) for a vote. Members of the Senate may be unwilling to vote for the bill as it was written by the House, and they may make modifications to the bill, and then return it to the House. If the House votes to support the new Senate version of the bill, then it goes on to the President for signature. If not, the House makes further changes, votes, and (if the vote succeeds) sends it back to the Senate. The bill can bounce back and forth between the chambers many times.

To see what’s going on, you can use this link to see what they are working on, and what they have worked on (you can limit the search to the current Congress using the “Congress” filter on the left side; as I write this, the 118th Congress is in session) …

https://www.congress.gov/search

The Senate also has some unique powers: only Senators vote on the President’s nomination for a new Supreme Court justice; and only Senators vote to confirm treaties with other nations.

Beside the House’s sole power to original fiscal bills, it has the sole power to impeach US government officials; and, if there is a tie in the Electoral College after a Presidential election, the power to elect a new President.

Representatives face re-election every two years, so be design they go with the current temperature, ideas, and popular flows. Their unique powers extend to

1) guardians of finances and funds,

2) subpoena powers, and

3) committee based investigations that confirm government oversight (and sometimes involve bringing impeachment findings to give to the Senate).

Then there’s the fact that many more members in the House than Senators and this follows a mathematical distribution that allows more populous states to have more Reps to express the various diverse populations in a large geography. Essentially, the power is dispersed among more combative members within both one party or three.

The Senate on the other hand is a six year rotating body, where in each two year election, a third of the Senate is either newly confirmed or sustained. Two Senators represent their state in leadership of opinion and guidance of international affairs. Therefore, the Senate has three unique powers: 1) the power to make treaties, 2) to confirm or reject the president’s appointments, and 3) to sit as judge and jury during presidential impeachment trials.

Consequently, Senator’s contend with a longer view than House members tend to do. Their six year renewable terms make them often be able to shape national policy in ways presidents never can. A single center in the center or at the extremes can determine the fate of an approved legislation or what a president is allowed to do.

Democracies thrive when they use arguments and persuasion before proposals get tempered by fair compromise. This tension between the president, legislation, and courts is what’s known as Madisonian checks and balances. This balancing process usually slows passions and tempers rash judgments before we collectively make mistakes. There are two bodies of power to hold one person in the executive function from doing things that are supported by the country. That is determined by polls and eventually by votes.

This system works well so long as all parties remain applying tension while they find solutions to compromise. This builds public confidence and consensus and actually moves the country to improvements. Special attention is singled out for the press, which is supposed to be critical of all, and dig for truth. This is the American form of democracy.

Good luck, Mac

Thanks for the question, Goutham.

There are three branches of government in the US: the legislative, the executive and the judicial.

The executive branch means the president and his cabinet.

The legislative branch means Congress. There are two branches of Congress: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Each state has two Senators. Since there are fifty states, there are 100 Senators.

The House of Representatives is determined by population. A state with a large population (such as New York) has a lot of Representatives. A state with a small population (such as Wyoming) might have only one Representative.

So the Senate is one of the two branches of Congress.

• There are 435 House seats
• The seats are allocated to states by population, based on the census every 10 years; each state has at least one House member. House districts are supposed to have roughly equal populations.
• Each seat is up for election every two years. Thus House members are typically very responsive to current political trends.
• All spending bills must originate in the House
• The senate has 100 seats, two for each state, no matter what size
• Both senators of each state are elected statewide
• Each senate seat comes up for election every 6 years - 1/3 of the seats come up every 2 years
• The longer terms for senate seats are intended to allow senators to take a long term view and not over react to current events, like House members
• The Senate votes to confirm (or reject) presidential nominees, like cabinet members and judges.

American presidents are elected indirectly, by an Electoral College. Each state chooses a number of electors equal to the number of its senators (always 2) plus the number of its House representatives (minimum 1, total based on population).

In almost every state, the winner of the presidential election gets all the Electoral College votes of that state (a few states split their votes by the winner in each House district). So all the candidate has to do is win a state by one vote. A huge majority in one state can be overcome by narrow wins in multiple states - see W Bush and Trump; both lost the popular vote, but won in the Electoral College.

The difference between Parliament, Senate and House of Representatives is largely one of usage.

Parliament is the name given to the legislative assemblies of several countries, and can be used as a generic term in English for such bodies even if the countries concerned don’t use that word in their own language. British news media often refer to the Knesset as the Israeli Parliament, or Dail Eirann as the Irish Parliament, to give two examples. The word parliament is derived from the French verb parler, meaning to talk, this is because the heart of any parliament is the debating chamber where potential legislation is discussed and voted on. Some parliaments have one chamber (a unicameral parliament), while others have two (bicameral parliament).

Senate is another term for a legislative assembly. The name originates withe the Senate in Ancient Rome and is nowadays used as the name of the upper house in a number of modern bicameral parliaments the best known example of which is probably the upper house of the USA Congress.

The Welsh devolved Parliament is the Senedd, which is a Welsh transliteration of the word Senate.

The House of Representatives is the name given to an elected body in parliaments representing the people. In some, such as Ireland, the USA or the Netherlands, it is the name of the lower house, while in others, such as Cyprus and Tunisia, it is the only chamber.

Each chamber of Congress represents two different interest groups. The House of Representatives, as the name implies represents the people of each State based on the total population of that State. This representation is adjusted every ten years to account for shifts in population. The Senate represents the interests of each State with two Senators for each State. This equal representation is mandated in the Constitution and is the only mandate in the Constitution not subject to amendment.

Each chamber has specific functions based on who they are responsible to. Appropriations must be initiated by the House due to its population base. Impeachments are the responsibility of the House to investigate and issue formal charges.

The Senate, as representatives of the States have the primary responsibility of approving Presidential appointments for the Cabinet, Ambassadors, Federal Judges, and field grade military officers. The Senate is responsible for trying all impeachment charges and upon sustaining a conviction, the offender is immediately removed from office. No appeal or pardon is possible. These are all areas where each State has an equal interest.

Did you know that, until the 17th Amendment was passed in 1913, US Senators were not chosen by general election? Senators originally were elected by state legislatures. Anyway, here are differences:

Senate:

1. Sole power to conduct impeachment trials
2. The power to review or reject Presidential appointees to executive and judicial branch posts
3. The power to approve, by a two-thirds vote, treaties made by the executive branch
4. The Senate may also amend a treaty or adopt changes to a treaty
5. Filibuster. 60 of 100 Senators can vote for “cloture” to end a filibuster (it was banned for judicial confirmations)

House:

1. Sole power to introduce impeachment proceedings
2. Selects the President if the Electoral College is tied
3. Sole power to introduce spending bills, including raising taxes

The Senate and the House of Representatives have different roles in the US government.

The House is designed to represent the people of the various states and therefore are allocated to the states based on population. The Senate represents the states and each state has the same number of senators (2).

Each part of Congress also has different powers. For example, the House has the power to impeach, but the trial is held by the Senate.

The House also initiates revenue bills and elects the President in the case of a tie in the Electoral Collage.

The Senate confirms federal appointments and treaties (except for the Vice President and treaties involving foreign trade which is done by the House). The overlapping election of Senators also provides continuity with only 1/3 of the Senators being elected every 2 years.

Both parts of Congress must vote to pass bills and to override a Presidential veto.

Having only a single body in Congress would be more open to abuse and not “more efficient” as each of the two parts of the US Congress often serve to counter excesses in the other part.

The U.S. Government is divided into three branches:

1. The Executive branch - that's the President.
2. The Judicial branch - that's the Supreme Court and the lower Federal courts
3. The Legislative branch - that's Congress. Congress has two parts, the Senate and the House of representatives.
1. There are two members of the Senate from every state. They are elected by the voters of their state and serve for a term of six years. Among other things, the Senate ratifies or rejects legislation enacted by the House of Representatives and approves or disapproves of judicial and some other federal appointees.
2. Members of the House of Representatives are also elected by the voters of their state, but the number of members is determined by the population of their state - the more people who live in a state, the more members of the House of Representatives that state has. They serve for a term of two years. The primary function of the House is to create new or modify old legislation to present to the Senate. The Speaker of the House is second in line of succession to the presidency should the President become unable to fulfill his/her duties.
3. Congress is the only branch of the government that can make new laws or amend old ones.,

As I recall from my school years, the founding fathers chose two houses of congress as part of their elaborate system of checks and balances. The House of Representatives assigns seats to all the states in proportion to the number of resident in each state. That’s one reason the 10 year census exists. Since the US has a few very high population states (and that was true 200 years ago as well), there was a chance the big states would vote all the federal money and power to themselves and small states would get nothing. So, a second house, the Senate, was created where every state had the same number of senators - two. On most things, both houses have to agree before a law, budget etc. is approved.

Note the confusing use of names for these bodies. “Congress” refers to the House and the Senate combined. It’s common to use use “Congress” to refer only to the House.

There has also been a tradition, sometimes true, sometimes not, that the Senate is the "senior" house whose members are guided more by reason, tradition, fairness and other lofty goals while the representatives are driven by fads from the rabble. That was sort of true up to the Civil War, but, in my opinion, rarely since.

Note that this same system of two legislative bodies (bicameral) is used in all states except Nebraska which dissolved its Senate and has only one body (unicameral), an Assembly (House). This single legislature model is very common for American cities.

Finally, remember our heritage. Two legislative branches is the system Great Britain uses. The Senate corresponds to the House of Lords who are the wealthy gentry and nobility. The House corresponds to the House of Commons who represent the masses.

If you really want to dig into this, start with the US Constitutional Convention of 1787: Connecticut Compromise

The House has 435 members and representation is based on the state population. The Senate has 100 members (exactly two for every state, regardless of population) and they serve the state as a whole.

You are elected for two years in the House, but six years in the Senate. Plus, the Senate gets to approve or reject all the President’s appointments (federal judges, Cabinet members, and ambassadors). It is embarrassing to be nominated by the President and then be rejected by the Senate, but it happens more often than you think.

It is good to be a Senator, maybe better than being the President of the United States, and you can run for re-election forever.

I’ve answered something like this before, but I’m going to give a succinct answer this time…

The Senate is part of Congress (it’s the “upper” of the two houses, roughly equal in power) and Senators are one of two kinds of Congresspeople.

However, being a member of the Senate is more prestigious — basically because there are fewer of them, 100 Senators v. 435 members of the House of Representatives — so Senators will identify themselves as “Senator” while members of the House of Reps will identify themselves as “Congressperson.”

But technically, a Senator is in fact a “Congressperson” as much as the members of the other chamber are… and when there is a Join Session of Congress, all 100 Senators are supposed to be present.

The United States Constitution established as the legislative branch the U.S. Congress which is a bicameral (two part) body that consists of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. These bodies are based on the British system which as of 1788 consisted of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Certain responsibilities are vested solely in each body. Congressional representatives are elected every two years. The House has the sole power to create new taxes. The Senate was originally selected by members of each states Legislature. There are two Senators per state. While the House is composed of representatives from the states who represent districts of at least 435,000 people (give or take). At a minimum every state has at least one Congressional Representative.

In the Senate, members serve for six year terms which are selected about one-third at a time every two years. The Senate has advise and consent authority with respect to certain appointments recommended by the President.

There are the respective duties of each house in regards to impeachment. The House debates and votes for/against impeachment (essentially the indictment) and the Senate then conducts a trial that reviews the evidence/testimony and votes for a verdict (where a 2/3 majority is required for a conviction).

Any bills regarding the imposition of taxes (aka “raising revenue”) should be initiated by the House (should be, we’ve had some recent ones that didn’t, and I will just leave it at that).

Senators also ratify treaties and provide the “advice and consent” for appointees to federal positions such as the cabinet, judges, ambassadors, etc..

A long time ago (just over 100 years ago) the Senate also had one very major and significant difference. They weren’t elected. The 17th Amendment to the US Constitution changed them to offices that were elected by the popular vote of their home state. Prior to that, they were nominated, selected and seated by the legislatures of their home states. The intent and idea being that the Senate was a more “sober and solemn” house of the Congress and by having state-appointed Senators, they would be focused on the interests of their home state and of the nation instead of national/local politics, reelection, or other distractions. In the century after the 17th, Senators have evolved into a “Heavyweight Representative”, career politicians, who have their focus/attention split between their reelection campaign, their party, and lobbyists.

Congress is the entire legislative branch of the Federal Government. It is a bicameral body consisting of the House of Representatives, the chamber containing representatives of the people, and the Senate which is the senior chamber representing the States themselves. The lower chamber has a total of 535 directly elected representatives chosen proportional to the population size of each state. Each upper chamber has two senators representing each state for a total of 100 senators. Senators were originally chosen by the State Legislatures, but the Constitution was amended to allow direct popular election of senators within each state. New laws must be passed by both chambers and must agree as to content, prior to being sent to the President for signature, which is when the law becomes effective.

The Constitution specifies in Article I that seats in the House of Representatives will be apportioned among the states according to population, as established by a census to be conducted every ten years. Each state will have at least one representative, but additional ones will be proportionate to the state’s population—i.e., the state’s share of the national population. By law, the size of the House is fixed at 435 seats, so the number of seats that a particular state has could vary after every census. For example, California had 30 seats after the 1950 census, and has 53 after the 2010 census. New York had 43 seats after the 1950 census, and has 27 after 2010. Every state that has more than one House seat has decided, by state law, to divide the state into congressional districts, which the Supreme Court has ruled must have as close as possible the same populations.

The Constitution specifies that each state will have two senators. So, senators in effect represent the states (and the whole population within the states) rather than a proportionate amount of people. Both Wyoming, with about 600,000 people in 2010, and California, with 37 million people, have two senators. The size of the Senate is therefore contingent on the number of states. Since 1959, the US has had 50 states, so there are 100 senators.

House members must be at least 25 years old and senators must be 30. House members are elected for two year terms by their respective district constituencies. Senators have six year terms. Originally senators were elected by state legislatures, but since the passage of the 17th amendment early in the 20th century, they are now elected by the state’s voting population.

This is an excellent question.

The US Senate has 100 members, two from each state. That means Wyoming has two and California has two. Each Senator serves a six-year term.

The Senate was designed to be the “deliberating” body, less impacted by day-to-day politics and able to look at long-term issues affecting the nation.

The House of Representatives has 435 members, proportionally representing the population of the 50 states. That means Wyoming has one and California has 52. Each Member of the House serves a two-year term.

The House was designed to be a more “activist” body, more in tune with the day-to-day needs of the constituencies.

So the House and the Senate were designed to have different perspectives. This explains why there is often so much discussion and disagreement.

The origins of the two houses of Congress served a few distinct purposes. Initially, Senators were elected by their respective states, who in turn were elected by the people of each state. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, was intended to directly represent the people. Additionally, to better represent larger states, the House of Representatives has more members, to better represent the size of each state.

So, the Senate was designed to represent the states, and initially elected as such. So, when you take an issue that is considered important with regards to interactions with the States, it made sense to give the power to check that to the States. So, the president wants to appoint the people to manage the bureaucracy, he needs to get a rough consensus by the States for who he wants. That’s why the Senate has the power to confirm appointments. It’s similar with regards to things like Foreign policy and the like. The Senate was also given longer terms, to allow them less responsive the immediate winds of politics, and let them do what they think is best for the long term.

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, was designed to represent the people directly. So, the House of Representatives was theoretically given primacy with regards to issues of taxation, which are levied against the people. (I’m saying this is theoretical, because it seems that for practical purposes that this is of little concern to how the House and the Senate interact with each other.) To better make the House representative of the voters, everyone is up for reelection every two years. As such, there is a greater emphasis on getting things done sooner rather than later.

Of course, there’s another reason for the differences. That’s that the founding fathers wanted each house of Congress to be different from each other, to promote gridlock. This is intended to prevent things from getting done on a whim, and rather to be actually good for the country.

I will assume that you are asking about the Senate and House of Representatives at the federal level. Their differences entail both constituency and functionality.

A senator represents an entire state, is elected to a 6-year term, and obviously has a co-equal power in crafting legislation at the federal level. Senators also have the power to use a filibuster - which entails speaking for an unlimited period of time - in order to slow down the passage of a bill on the floor of the Senate.

On the other hand, members of the House of Reps are elected to 2-year terms, represent only a specific district (or constituency) within a state, and have co-equal legislative powers. But there is one important exception to the power of the HOR: all bills seeking to raise revenue (a.k.a. taxes), and fund the federal government must originate from the House of Representatives.

The United States of America has a bicameral federal legislature. That legislature is called the United States Congress.

The Senate is the first chamber of Congress. The Senate is the chamber that represents the interests of the several state governments. Each of the 50 states is apportioned 2 Senators. There are 100 total Senators.

The House of Representative or “the People’s House” is the second chamber of the Congress. The House exists to directly represent the interests of the people to the federal government. Each state has house districts which are reapportioned every 10 years to account for changes in population. Each state has a different number of Representatives. That number is dependent on their population. States that are more populous get more representation. There are 435 total House seats.

There are two answers to this questions: The first is the ORIGINAL difference; the second is the answer as it is now…

ORIGINALLY. the House was intended to represent the People (the number of Representatives per state was set by the population of that state). The Senate was intended to represent the State as a unit (each State was represented by two Senators each, thus making each state equal in the Senate).

After the 17th Amendment, which changed the method of election of Senators from each State’s own legislatures to direct election by the people, States effectively lost representation in the federal government. When this amendment was proposed, it was pitched as a better representation of the people - and seemed to be couched as a good idea at the time.

But its ratification had two side effects: the first, as I mentioned earlier, was a loss of representation of the States as entities; the second was that it opened up the door to corruption in the form of “lobbying”. No longer beholden to the legislatures of the state they represented (they could no longer be impeached for disobeying the wishes of that state), it became quite easy to bribe Senators in order to influence votes…

At this point in time, the main difference is that Senators get richer, faster from bribes… Just look at Harry Reid, who was worth about $650,000 when he entered Congress, but retired worth nearly $30,000,000 after “working” only 22 years at a salary no greater than $192,000 per year. Do the math and you’ll find that is just a mite suspicious…22 x $192K (and that is being very generous) does NOT equal $30M - not even close. And NO ONE is that good with stocks… Something is ROTTEN in Nevada…

The founding fathers original intent was that the House would represent the people, and the Senate would be more of a body made up of the social elite, or the wealthy land owners. Thus they didn’t even have the Senators elected by the people, that only happened by the 17th amendment, in 1913. The House is based on the population of the state, so the more people of the state has, the larger their voice in that body. The Senate, however, has 2 representatives from each state, regardless of it’s size, so Delaware has the same number of Senators as California. This is to ensure fairness in that body, on matters which fall strictly upon it, such as trials for impeachment, voting on treaties, etc. The House, however, makes sure that the larger states have a greater say on matters which come before it. It at times has been called The People’s House.

What is the difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives in Australia?

In essence: the House proposals laws and the Senate reviews them.

Basically the House is the peoples representative, whilst the Senate is the States collective voice.

It is the same for nearly all governments that have bicameral government (Charles Newman suggests the USA is an exception).

In Australia’s system, legislation proposed by the House and passed by the Senate, goes to the Governor General to have it signed into law. The GG either signs it or refers it to the High Court for judgement as to its Constitutionality. If the HC rejects the legislation, then the proposed goes back to the House, which either withdraws the proposal or redrafts it and the process begins again. Even if legislation is signed into law, any Australian can petition the High Court for leave to have its legality tested by a full bench of the HC.

This is how a nation heading towards full democracy works.

NB: No nation on earth can claim to be a democracy, as a full democracy requires the abolition of a central government, replaced by the people ruling for the benefit of the people. Something regularly absent from representational government in all countries that have RG.

Well, that’s a good question.

ORIGINALLY, the House of Representatives was the body that represented the population of the USA directly at the Federal level while the Senate was the body that represented the STATE GOVERNMENTS at the Federal level.

This original intent was lost with the passage of the 17th Amendment in one of the first Progressive ‘crisis’ campaigns under Wilson. A minor ruffle about how a State Senator was appointed was turned into an Amendment to directly elect ALL Senators by popular vote.

Since then, the Senate has just been the other body of representation of the people. The original purpose - to give the State governments a voice in Federal government - was utterly lost.

That’s why we have so many unfunded mandates and federal laws that tell States what to do now-a-days…