Polite Paradise

I get the Electoral College thing, sort of.  But now with the mid-term elections, I don't really get the difference with the House and the Senate and how it works to pass bills into law.

Here, federally, the House has all the power; the Senate does have the power to veto bills but they generally don't and pretty much rubber stamp whatever the House has passed.  Senators are appointed, not elected.

The tension between the House and the Senate was intended to balance power in several ways:

1) Many House seats over smaller geographic areas means that each constituent has a closer tie and more influence over their representative, and potential for a wider variety of views from each state. Representatives also must be re-elected more frequently, so they must keep in close touch with their voters. Representatives are allocated according to population, so the more populous states get a bigger voice.

2) The Senate has only two members from each state, which gives less-populated states a stronger voice. This is important, since less-populated states are where our natural resources and agriculture come from! It would not be a healthy or sustainable situation if the many were able to completely negate the views and needs of the few, and could lead to exploitation. The Senate also has longer terms, which encourages a longer-term view of policy, with some insulation from the volatility of popular opinion.

A proposed bill is reviewed in a House committee based on its subject matter (such as Agriculture, Energy, Budget, Education, etc), and if the committee approves it will be put to debate and then a vote in the House.

If the House passes it, it's sent to the Senate for committee review in the same way. The Senate committee may or may not make changes, and when the committee approves it, it's debated and voted in the Senate.

If the Senate passes a different version, then the leaders of each chamber appoint a Conference Committee to work out a compromise version. The compromise bill is then put a vote in each chamber (skipping the topic committees).

If the compromise bill is passed in both chambers, it goes to the White House for signing or veto.

Here's a good summary from a Congressman's website: https://carter.house.gov/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law/

And here's the overview my generation learned as kids from "Schoolhouse Rock" on TV (which doesn't address compromise versions):

Having the chambers split on party lines can lead to gridlock. But there's a significant portion of the electorate who believe that gridlock is good, because at least it keeps the government from messing anything else up. And since the whole separation-of-powers concept is supposed to create checks and balances, it's healthy to not have one party in charge of everything.

Sometimes a pushback in the midterm elections can also encourage the stronger party in Congress to look for constructive, bipartisan things to do. Which would be quite a relief!

Thanks, everyone!

Canada.  Our government is more like the UK government.

The Prime Minister or the Premier of each Province can call an election anytime, if they think it is to their advantage.  But there is a maximum 4 years between elections.  So our election days are all over the place.  The only one that is consistent is municipal government elections - they're every 4 years, in October.

Whichever party gets the most seats controls the government.  But if the opposition parties, combined, have more seats than the party in power, they can oppose anything that party proposes.  Known as a minority government.  If the controlling party has more seats than all the other parties combined, it's known as a majority government and they can push through anything they like, including things the previous government pushed through.

Can I make a minor correction STiG? Most of the "fixed election date" laws passed federally and provincially have a 4 year term, but without those "laws" on the books, a government can go 5 years without calling an election.  And, some governments are going over 4, even if they passed a fixed election date law (*cough, cough Saskatchewan).