Presidential Appointments

• The Senate is the sole body in charge of confirming presidential appointments, and it confirms them with a simple majority vote. The House of Representatives does not have the power to confirm appointments -- with the rare exception of appointing a new vice president. The Senate confirms all other federal appointments, such as Cabinet positions, departments heads, ambassadors and federal judges.
  
  

Government Oversight

• Part of the Congress' role in the balance of government powers is oversight of the executive branch of government. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs conducts oversight and has the power to reform the operations of the executive branch. The House of Representatives has similar oversight powers with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Both of these committees conduct investigations and enact reforms through a series of hearings.
  
  The Senate also has the constitutional authority to try cases resulting from the impeachment of federal officials.
  
  

New Legislation

• The legislative branch has the exclusive power to create new laws, with the Senate having the most privileges in this role. Senators have much stronger powers than representatives to shape the debate surrounding a bill. Members of the House get only a few minutes to make their points about the new legislation, whereas senators can talk for a long time and discuss anything on their minds, even if it is unrelated to the bill at hand. In fact, senators can effectively filibuster new bills by ignoring the important points of new legislation and delaying the vote on the bill. A supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate can invoke cloture to force a vote on the bill despite efforts to filibuster.
  
  Senators also have the power to introduce any amendments, while members of the House are very limited in the kinds of amendments they can introduce. In the case of a presidential veto, the new law is sent back to Congress, and both the House and Senate must vote overwhelmingly in favor of the bill to override the veto and sign it into law without the president's consent.
  
  

Treaty Ratification

• Treaties are the agreements made by the president with foreign governments and international organizations. The Senate alone can ratify treaties with a supermajority of two-thirds; the House is consulted only in the case of trade agreements.