United States Senate

The United States Senate, officially the Senate of the United States, is the upper house of the Congress of the United States, the federal legislature of the general Government of the United States. Members of the Senate are styled, "Senator", and each member State of the Union has three Senators, regardless of population. Senators are not elected –popularly or otherwise– but are in each State appointed to a Term of six Years by the Executive thereof (In every State except Hawaii this is the Governor; in the Case of Hawaii this is the King), by and with the Advice and Consent of the State Legislature. The Senate represents the eighteen States at the Federal level; however, the Senate does not represent the interest of the People. Rather, this body was specifically and intentionally crafted to represent only the interests of the several State Governments: The interests of the People of each State are represented in the U.S. House of Representatives, the lower house of the Congress.

The political makeup of the Senate is affected by changes in power in the States, and thus by elections in each State. Each state delegation in the Senate is essentially a representation of the State government and reflects the political makeup of the ruling majority or plurality of each State Legislature (including coalitions).

History
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Voting
In contrast to many other legislative bodies, the Delegates to the Senate from any one State are required to cast the Votes of the State as a single bloc (since the Votes are not those of the respective delegates, but those of the respective States). If the members of a delegation cast different Votes then the entire Vote of that State is invalid.

Senators
The Senate is composed of three Senators from each State, chosen by the Executive thereof, by and with the Advice and Consent of the least-numerous branch of the State Legislature : Like most other upper-houses worldwide, the formula of the United States Senate does not use representation by population as a criterion for member selection, since this is already done for the lower house &mdash;Regardless of size of population or territory, each State is represented by exactly three Senators. Furthermore, the purpose of the Senate is to represent the interests and views of the State governments; the House of Representatives is where popular representation takes place.

The delegations are supported by their State's representative office, which function basically as embassies of the respective States in the federal capital.

Qualifications
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Current composition
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Officers
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Procedure
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Committees
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Chamber and symbols
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Senate office buildings
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Relationship with the executive
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Criticism
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