How Do the House of Representatives and the Senate Check

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The Answer is Lawmaking requires the joint approval of the House and Senate, so each chamber has the power to block or amend the proposals of the other. When they bargain in conference committees or send bills back and forth, each chamber has the option of simply saying no.
The requirement of joint approval gains real weight because the two chambers were designed to be different. Originally they represented different constituencies (House: voters, Senate: state legislatures), but even after the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment, senators tend to have larger and more diverse constituencies. Second, the difference in term length (House = 2 years, Senate =
6 years) generates different political calculations by members of each chamber, with senators (supposedly) more interested in achieving sound, moderate policies. Third, the House has always been much larger than the Senate, leading to a more centralized and partisan organization of the House chamber, while the Senate is generally more free-wheeling and, in particular, still allows a minority to filibuster.
Students might mention that each chamber has special prerogatives: The Senate is exclusively responsible for nominations and treaties, while the House must originate all financial measures.
Advanced students may draw outside the text to discuss the use of appropriations riders (policy provisions on funding bills) or bargaining ultimatums in bicameral bargaining.

How Do the House of Representatives and the Senate Check

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