When Do Senators Take Office?
Senators are elected to six-year terms and are responsible for drafting, debating and voting on legislation, confirming presidential nominees, conducting investigations and oversight of the executive branch. They also serve as jurors in impeachment trials.
While the Senate chamber is the center of their work, senators also meet with constituents in their home states to learn about the needs of communities and businesses, including small-business owners and local organizations.
Term of Office
The framers of the Constitution hammered out three qualifications for senators during the Constitutional Convention in 1787: age (at least 30 years); U.S. citizenship (at least nine years); and residency in the state they represent at time of election. Each senator is elected to a six-year term. The Senate is divided into two classes, and the seats of one class — roughly a third of the senators — expire every two years. At the beginning and close of each session, the Senate elects a member to serve as President pro tempore and perform the duties of the Lieutenant Governor in case of absence or temporary disability of that officer. The first thirty days of a session are devoted to introduction of bills and resolutions, acting upon emergency appropriations and other matters submitted by the Governor in special messages to the Legislature.
Swearing-In Ceremony
If you want to make your swearing-in ceremony special and memorable, plan ahead. Choose a date well in advance, especially if you have family or friends traveling from out of town to attend. Make sure the venue has enough seating to accommodate all of your guests. And don’t forget to select someone to serve as the Master of Ceremonies, as he or she is responsible for ensuring all goes smoothly.
The swearing-in ceremony is the official moment when you officially take your seat on the Court. While you may have already sworn in privately, the public swearing-in is your first formal moment as a judge of the International Criminal Court.
A private swearing-in is usually arranged with the help of someone who knows the judge, such as an attorney or other court staff. However, the judge will only be able to conduct the ceremony during times that fit with their caseload. This might mean that your private swearing-in will be in the middle of the day or before their court hours end, which can cause some inconvenience for you and your guests.
Committee Assignments
There are 21 committees in the Senate, each with specific jurisdiction. Many of these committees also form subcommittees to handle smaller, more specific tasks within the larger panel’s legislative jurisdiction.
At the beginning of each two-year Congress, the Senate assigns its members to committees through resolutions establishing the majority- and minority-party slates for each panel. These slates are based on the rules of the Senate, caucus/conference agreements, and past practice.
These committees are responsible for considering and reporting legislation and overseeing laws in their areas of expertise. The Senate also has four joint committees that operate with members from the House of Representatives to consider matters of mutual jurisdiction or oversight. Most of the committees have their own websites, where you can find links to information about the work of that particular panel and its members. This includes committee schedules, video and audio archives of previous public hearings, and more. Congressional staffers can help you navigate the committee structure and process.
Committee Meetings
Committee meetings are formal gatherings of a subgroup within an organization that come together to fulfil a predefined objective. They often work like project or team meetings, and they may require specific procedures for meeting frequency, advance notice, quorum, voting, and documenting meeting records.
In most committees, a member designated as the chairman is responsible for running the meetings. Their duties include keeping the discussion focused, recognizing members to speak, and confirming what the committee has decided (through votes or by unanimous consent). The chairman also sets the agenda and circulates it to attendees ahead of time.
The purpose of committee hearings is to give interested people the opportunity to speak on bills under consideration by the committee. Hearings usually last an hour and are open to the public. The committee will then consider the bill and vote on it. If the bill is successful, it will return to the parent body for final approval.