Senate

Each state has 2 senators so there are 100 members in the Senate.  The term for a senator is 6 years, but as laid out in the Constitution, only one-third of the senators are up for re-election every 2 years.  Three requirements to be in the Senate are: must be at least 30 years of age, be a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years and be a resident of the state you represent.  Senators from each state are elected by the voters.  This didn’t used to be the case – prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, it was up to the states to decide how they would choose their Senators. Some were directly elected but some were chosen by State Legislatures. 

Currently the two senators from my home state, California, are Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.  They are both members of the Democratic Party.  Barbara Boxer was in the House of Representatives for 10 years before becoming a senator in 1993.  Dianne Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992 so her term will be up in 2012.

The leader, or President, of the Senate is the Vice President, so currently the President of the Senate is Joseph R. Biden.  He can only vote in the Senate if the senators are equally divided.  If the Vice President is absent, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives takes over.  Currently our Speaker of the House is John Boeher.

  US Senate