more important measures, including taxation and appropriation bills, receive genuine discussion by the house at large, through special orders submitted by the committee on rules. Of the enormous number of bills brought in very few pass.
The unifying force of this complicated system of committee legislation is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Speaker. Like the Speaker of the British House of Commons, he is primarily the presiding official, but the character of his office has become different from that of the impartial moderator of the British house. The American Speaker, who of course has a vote like other members, always belongs to the party which commands a majority, and is, indeed, virtually the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives. He resembles in some respects a European prime minister, and is second only to the president in political importance. His power is derived from three main sources. He appoints the members of nearly all committees, he chooses the chairman of each, and he directs the reference of bills to the various committees. Of the committee on rules, which practically determines the order in which important measures come before the house, he was formerly chairman, and he had the power of appointing the committee; but on the 19th of March 1910, the house passed a resolution which increased the membership of this committee from 5 to 10, excluded the Speaker, and transferred the appointments to the house. As presiding officer the Speaker exercises a right of discrimination between members rising to speak in debate, and can thus advance or retard the progress of a measure. He is elected by the House of Representatives at its first session for the whole Congress, and his election is regularly carried by a strict party vote.
§ 21. The Senate in 1910 consisted of 92 members, two persons deputed from each state, be it great or small (New York The Senate. with 9,100,000 population and Nevada with 81,875 having the same representation), who must be inhabitants of that state, and at least thirty years of age. They are elected by the legislature of their state for six years, and are re-eligible. It used to be supposed by many Europeans, following Tocqueville, that this method of election was the cause of the (former) superiority of the senators to members of the House. This was an error, the true reason being that able men preferred a seat in the Senate owing to its larger powers and longer term. One-third retire every two years, so that the old members are always twice as numerous as the new members, and the body has been continuous ever since its first creation. Senators are re-elected more frequently than members of the House, so there is always a considerable proportion of men of long service and mature experience.
There has long been a demand for an amendment to the Constitution which should vest the election of senators in the peoples of the several states, and more than one-half of the state legislatures have at one time or another passed resolutions in favour of the change. Within the last few years the object desired has been practically attained in a few states by provisions they have introduced for taking a popular vote as to the person whom the legislature ought to elect, the latter being expected to defer to the popular will.
The vice-president of the United States is ex officio presiding officer of the Senate, and this is his only active function in the government. He has, however, no vote in the Senate, except a casting vote when the numbers are equally divided, and his authority on questions of order is very limited.
The methods of procedure in the Senate are somewhat different from those in the House of Representatives. There is a similar committee system, but the Senate committees and their chairmen are chosen, not by the presiding officer, but by the Senate itself voting by ballot. Practically they are selected by caucuses of the majority and minority parties. The Senate rules have no provision for the closure of debate, nor any limitation on the length either of a debate or of a speech. For the consideration of some classes of business the Senate goes into executive or secret session, although what is done at this session usually leaks out, and finds its way to the public through the press.
The functions of the Senate fall into three classes—legislative, executive and judicial. In legislative matters its powers are identical with those of the House of Representatives, with the single restriction that bills for raising revenue must originate in the popular assembly. In practice, too, the Senate is at least as influential in legislation as the House. Disagreements, which are frequent, are usually settled in conference, and in these the Senate is apt to get the better of its antagonist. Serious deadlocks are of comparatively rare occurrence.
The executive functions of the Senate are: (1) To approve or disapprove the president's nominations of Federal officers, including judges, ministers of state and ambassadors; (2) to approve, by a majority of two-thirds of those present, of treaties submitted by the president. Through the latter power the Senate secures a general control over foreign policy. Its approval is necessary to any important action, and in general the president finds it advisable to keep the leaders of the senatorial majority, and in particular the Senate committee on foreign relations, informed of pending negotiations. Foreign governments often complain of this power of the Senate, because it prevents them from being able to rely upon the carrying out of arrangements they have made with the executive; but as the president is not responsible to Congress and is irremovable (except by impeachment) during his term of office, there would be objections to giving him an unqualified treaty-making authority. Through the power of confirming or rejecting the president's nominations to office, the senators of the president's party are able to influence a large amount of patronage. This sort of “dual control” works with less friction and delay than might have been expected, but better appointments would probably be secured if responsibility were more fully and more clearly fixed on the president alone, though there would no doubt be a risk that the president might make a serious error.
The judicial function of the Senate is to sit as a high court for the trial of persons impeached by the House of Representatives, a vote of two-thirds of those present being needed for conviction. There have been eight cases of impeachment. The most important was that of President Johnson, whose conviction failed by one vote—35 to 19. Five of the other seven cases also ended in acquittal, one for want of jurisdiction,[1] and one by the resignation of the official before the impeachment was preferred in the Senate. Two Federal judges were many years ago thus deprived of office, impeachment being the only process by which a Federal judge can be removed.
§ 22. The procedure of each house in framing and passing bills has already been noted. When a bill has passed one Congressional Legislation and Finance. chamber it is sent to the other, and there referred to the appropriate committee. In course of time this committee may report the bill as received from the other house, but frequently an amended or an entirely new measure is presented, which is discussed and enacted on by the second house. When bills passed by the two chambers are not identical, and each persists in its own view, the regular procedure is to appoint a committee of conference, consisting of an equal number of members from the Senate and from the House. These meet in secret, and generally agree upon a compromise measure, which is forthwith adopted by both chambers. If no compromise can be arranged, the conflict continues until one side yields, or until it ends by the adjournment of Congress. After passing both houses, the bill goes to the president, and if approved by him, or not returned by him within ten days, becomes law: if vetoed, it returns to the house in which it originated; and if re-passed by a two thirds vote, is sent to the other house; and if again passed there by a two-thirds vote, it becomes law without the president's consent.
The scope of Congressional legislation has been indicated in the list given of the powers of the national government
- ↑ This case was that of the impeachment of a senator, and the failure to convict arose from the fact that some of the senators at the time held the now generally accepted opinion that a member of Congress is not subject to impeachment.
