What are some of the powers of the Senate?

Question

What are some of the problems of the Senate?
Please can comeone give an answer and a resource.
Thank you for your attention.
And Thanxs to those whoh respond.

Answer 1

the Senate being part of the Legislative bracn has the power in conjunction with the House of Representative to to pass laws and regulation . There are some differences in the powers of the House and senate however. All spending bills while requiring passage by the senate must be initiated in the House of representatives the senate can amend an existing spending bill but can not initiate spending legislation. Removal of federal officials is vested in the congress but must be originated in the House of Representatives by articles of Impeachment. once impeached The senate holds the sole power to hold a trial and remove said official these are the powers vested in congress as a whole and how they are divided.

then there are the powers that are exclusive to the senate and are not shared by the house. The senate holds the sole power of advice and consent in regards to cabinet, Ambasador and judicial appointees. The senate also has the sole power to approve or ratify a treaty with a foreign entity or government. The last power granted by the 16th amendment is the power to elect the vice president if the electoral college is deadlocked.

As for problems many would argue the pratice of filibuster which is practiced only in the senate is is counter to the democratic principle one person or in this case senator one vote. for for the Filibuster allows a minority to block the majority voteby not releasing the floor so a vote can be taken.
Some also Might contend the original intention of the senate has been corrupted. The The house of representative was ment to be the body representing the populous The senate was put in place to safeguard the rights and sovereignty of state governments as a whole. the modern senate can be argued is much more a populous body than the founders intended.

I think this covers all the bases I hope this helps

Answer 2

Powers :

Impeachment
Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives has the power to impeach a government official, in effect serving as prosecutor. The Senate has the sole power to conduct impeachment trials, essentially serving as jury and judge. Since 1789 the Senate has tried seventeen federal officials, including two presidents.

Nominations
The Constitution provides that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States... (Article 2, Section 2)" The Senate has always jealously guarded its power to review and approve or reject presidential appointees to executive and judicial branch posts.

Treaties
The Constitution gives the Senate the power to approve, by a two-thirds vote, treaties made by the executive branch. The Senate has rejected relatively few of the hundreds of treaties it has considered, although many have died in committee or been withdrawn by the president. The Senate may also amend a treaty or adopt changes to a treaty. The president may also enter into executive agreements with foreign nations that are not subject to Senate approval.

Expulsion and Censure
Article I, Section 5, of the United States Constitution provides that each house of Congress may "...punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member." Since 1789, the Senate has expelled only fifteen of its entire membership and has censured nine. A censure is a formal statement of disapproval, but does not remove a senator from office.

Filibuster and Cloture
The Senate has a long history of using the filibuster -- a term dating back to the 1850s in the United States -- to delay debate or block legislation. Unlimited debate remained in place in the Senate until 1917, when the Senate adopted Rule 22 that allowed the Senate to end a debate with a two-thirds majority vote -– a tactic known as "cloture." In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds (67) to three-fifths (60) of the 100-member Senate.

Senate Investigations
Congress has conducted investigations of malfeasance in the executive branch–and elsewhere in American society–since 1792. The need for congressional investigation remains a critical ingredient for restraining government and educating the public.
This is from http://www.senate.gov/index.htm

Answer 3

the senate is quite powerful, but the house has more clout since they hold the power of the purse.
the senate can accept or reject federal judgeship appointees of the president. since they are lifetime appointments, they can shape the judiciary to lean towrd liberal, moiderate or conservative. they can advise and consent to treaties entered into by the president and if they don't like the treaty, they will deny it. denial is telling the president that the senate will not allow the government to abide by the terms of the treaty and the president can't do so as a matter of law, but may as a matter of policy folow such a treaty. it is rarely used against a president unless for good cause. the senate, can amend, and bargain with, the house on spending bills, but cannot start one. a single senator, if he seeks to, can prevent the senate from acting on anything with which he disagrees through the filibuster, but rarely stopos all business since he normally is only filibustering a single bill or person. the heads of all federal departments must be approved by the senate, as do all ambassodorships, though ambassodorsahips are rarely disputed. the preident pro-tem of the senate is fourth in the line osuccession after the vice-president and speaker of the house who is third in line. the preident of the senate is the vice-president and presides over it when in session, and any ties are broken by the vice -president casting the deciding vote to break the tie. otherwise he has no vote. he cannot vote to create a tie, oinly to break one. lastly, the senate must approve the promotion of all general-grade officers which are comprised of five grades in the army, air force and marine corps, and five admiral level grades in 5the navy and coast guard. the fifth grade that of five star s, is only bestowed as a result of special recognition and is called general of the armies, and admiral of the fkeets. five stars were given to few officers, eisenhower, nimittz, bradley, macarthur, and marshall, all after the second world war. the highest peace-time rank is four stars.

Answer 4

They have the power to piss me off, and they exercise that power all the time.