United States Senate:

The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and serves as its presiding officer, but is not a Senator and does not vote except to break ties. The Vice President rarely acts as President of the Senate unless casting a tie-breaking vote or during ceremonial occacions, so the duty of presiding usually falls to the President Pro Tempore, customarily the most senior senator of the majority party. Most often, the President Pro Tempore will designate a member from his party to serve as presiding officer for the day.

The Senate is regarded as a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives; the Senate is smaller and its members serve longer terms, allowing for a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere that is somewhat more insulated from public opinion than the House. The Senate has several exclusive powers enumerated in Article One of the Constitution not granted to the House; most significantly, the President cannot ratify treaties or make important appointments without the advice and consent of the Senate.

The Framers of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress out of a desire to have two houses to check each other. One house was intended to be a "people's house" that would be very sensitive to public opinion. The other house was intended to be a more reserved, more deliberate forum of elite wisdom that represented the state legislatures. The Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. The exclusive powers enumerated to the Senate in the Constitution are regarded as more important than those exclusively enumerated to the House. As a result, the responsibilities of the Senate (the "upper house") are more extensive than those of the House of Representatives (the "lower house").

The Senate of the United States was named after the ancient Roman Senate. The chamber of the United States Senate is located in the north wing of the Capitol building, in Washington, D.C., the national capital. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.

The Constitution prescribes that the Senate be composed of two Senators from each State (therefore, the Senate currently has 100 Members) and that a Senator must be at least thirty years of age, have been a citizen of the United States for nine years, and, when elected, be a resident of the State from which he or she is chosen. A Senator's term of office is six years and approximately one-third of the total membership of the Senate is elected every two years.