United States Senate
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The United States Senate is part of the U.S. Congress, which is a group of chosen people who decide the laws of the country.
Every U.S. state chooses two people from the state to work on the Senate. These people are called senators. Senators are picked every two years, and they stay on the senate for six years at a time. Originally the legislature of each state decided who their senators would be. After 1913, all the people of the state chose their senators by vote. Since there are 50 U.S. states, there are 100 senators. The Vice President of the United States is in charge of the Senate, but he only does anything when there is a tie vote or a special event.
The Senate, along with the United States House of Representatives, votes on which laws the United States should have. In most cases, both of these groups have to agree on the suggested law before it becomes a law.
The Senate is the side of Congress where every state has the same number of votes (two). This is different from the House of Representatives, where states with more people have more votes than states with less people. This was decided during the time the United States Constitution was written, because small states like Rhode Island and Delaware did not want the larger states to be able to decide everything. Also, only part of the Senate runs for election during elections. Every two years, 33 or 34 senators are elected. For each state, this means that after two elections to the Senate, during one election no one will be elected to the Senate.
The Senate is also in charge of declaring war with other countries, and signing treaties. It also has to agree with the President about who he wants to have certain jobs in his office or in the government. If the Senate and President do not agree, the President has to pick someone else the Senate will agree to.
In order to be a senator, a person has to be 30 years old or older, and has to be a citizen of the United States for 9 years or more.
Right now, the Senate is mostly Republicans.
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