Evaluate The View That The Senate Is More Powerful And Prestigious Than The House Of Representatives.

Introduction

Paragraph Focus

• Para 1 = Legislation

• Para 2 = Oversight Powers

• Para 3 = Prestige

Para 1 = Weaker Argument - Less Powerful

• for example, the Big Beautiful Bill 2025 required approval from both the House and Senate, and the Republican majority in both chambers ensured this

• this shows that both chambers of Congress have equal legislative powers, as without support of both chambers, legislation cannot be passed

• this ensures that neither chamber can dominate the legislative process and that there is sufficient democratic input

Para 1 = Stronger Argument - More Powerful

• eg. in 2023 the Senate voted to ratify the US-Chile Double Taxation Treaty, aimed at avoiding double taxation and fiscal erosion

• this shows that the Senate is more powerful than the House due to their sol power to ratify treaties with a 2/3 majority

• this design ensures that treaties are well thought out with sufficient democratic input and protects the nation against impulsive executive actions

Para 2 = Weaker Argument - Less Powerful

• eg. Jan 2021, the House voted 232-197 to impeach President Trump over incitement to insurrection, drawing 10 republican representatives across the aisle, the largest bipartisan support of any presidential impeachment

• this shows that the House is more powerful as they alone can initiate impeachment proceeding

• this means it has the power to ensure whether a present gets checked on their behaviour and is accountable to the people, preventing tyranny

Para 2 = Stronger Argument - More Powerful

• never been a successful impeachment conviction eg. feb 2021, the Senate fell short of 67 votes needed to convict Trump for impeachments

• this shows that the senate is more powerful than the house as they have the final say on impeachments

• without conviction, an impeachment from the house does not truly hold the president to account

Para 3 = Weaker Argument - Less Powerful

Para 3 = Stronger Argument - More Powerful

• Senators serve 6 yr terms with elections staggered so that only 1/3 of the chamber faces voter in any given cycle which relieves them from short term pressures of the house

• senators such as Lisa Murkowski and Mitte Romney demonstrated this by voting agianst their own party of major constitutional matters

• this structural independence allows senators to exercise greater personal judgement and vote with their conscience