United States Senate

The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, and the U.S. House of Representatives is the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the Constitution to make and pass or defeat federal legislation. The Senate has exclusive power to confirm U.S. presidential appointments, to approve or reject treaties, and to convict or exonerate impeachment cases brought by the House. The Senate and the House provide a check and balance on the powers of the executive and judicial branches of government. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the U.S. Constitution, which has been in effect since March 4, 1789. Each of the 50 states is represented by two senators who serve staggered six-year terms, for a total of 100 members. From the Senate's inception in 1789 until 1913, senators were appointed by the state legislatures of their respective states. Since 1913, however… Read by Omaryak. Recorded September 2007; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=157590702 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Senate.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. Chapter images come from the recorded article via Wikimedia Commons; each chapter links its file page for credits. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.