The difference between the House and the Senate re: filibuster

[kentuck]

The House can vote the voice of the people with a simple majority. The Senate was set up differently. It is a deliberative body. It was set up to debate and reason out issues, not in the heat of the moment like the House, but over time. It was not set up for the "simple" majority rule. That is why the rules over time have developed the filibuster and the "super" majority - to prevent the rash and perhaps harmful decisions from being made. Those are reserved for the House of Representatives.

[Dr Ron]

1. Majority rule

Also keep in mind that a majority of the Senate does not translate into an approximate majority of the population as in the House.

As there are two Senators from each state regardless of population, it is possible for a combination of 51 Senators to only represent 18% of the population if they come from smaller states.

[kentuck]

4. Excellent point, Dr. Ron...

Which lends even more credibility to the filibuster rule...

[Walt Starr]

5. In fact, 20 Senators represent more than 50% of the population

The following 20 senators combined represent more than 50% of the United States population:

Barbara Boxer
Dianne Feinstein
John Cornyn
Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Hillary Clinton
Charles Schumer
Mel Martinez
Bill Nelson
Dick Durbin
Barack Obama
Rick Santorum
Arlen Specter
Mike DeWine
George Voinovich
Carl Levin
Debbie Stabenow
Jon Corzine
Frank Lautenberg
Saxby Chambliss
Johnny Isakson

These people collectively represent more than 155,000,000 people in ten states.

[forgethell]

2. In the end, though,

the majority will rule. There is no actual super majoirty rule that can't be overturned except for treaties and impeachment.

[underpants]

3. Anyone can get almost anything through the House

The Senate is the filter established to get rid of wild ideas of an era like the Contract on America-almost none of that got through the Senate...a Republican majority senate.