Quote:
Originally Posted by RobinMask
Sorry if it seems like a rather stupid question, but what is the difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate, and what is it that both do?
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Not a stupid question at all. For one thing, you come from a rather different political system.
The job of both bodies is to draft laws, and each body also acts as a check on the other body's power. The key feature of the House of Representatives is that its representation is proportional to population. The entire country is divided into districts (Congressional Districts) based on equal populations, and each district elects a Representative. (Each state always gets at least one Representative, no matter how small its population.) Representatives come up for re-election every two years.
The Senate, on the other hand, is evenly distributed by state. Each state gets exactly two Senators. Senators come up for re-election every six years, but the elections are staggered so that only one third of Senators are up for re-election every two years.
Because the Senate is evenly distributed by state, it can prevent bills from the House from trampling the interests of the low-population states who have low representation in the Senate. Likewise, the House can keep the Senate from enacting legislation that goes too far against the interests of the majority population.
Both House and Senate must act together for bills to become law. Either the House or the Senate can draft a bill, which may be approved, rejected, or amended by the other body, but the final bill must be agreed to by both bodies before it can pass to the President for his approval. If the President vetoes the bill, it can still become law if both House and Senate override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote in each.
The Senate has some special privileges reserved for itself, as does the House. The Senate's agreement is required for treaties being signed with other nations, and it must confirm candidates for the President's Cabinet, other important officials of the Executive branch, important military officers, and Federal judges. Revenue bills (those responsible for imposing taxes) must be initiated in the House, and in practice the House also initiates appropriations bills (those which determine how the Federal budget will be spent).
If a Federal official (including the President) is to be tried for crimes while in office, that official must first be "impeached" (charged with a crime) by the House, and then the official must be tried by the Senate, which determines whether or not the official is found guilty.
I hope that makes things a bit clearer. The English Wikipedia articles go into great detail on both bodies.