This year, voters will have to choose a name to represent their state in the Senate. Unlike what happens in the Chamber of Deputies, where the number of representatives of the states is proportional to the size of their population, in the Senate, each federative unit has three representatives. This is because, under the Constitution, the House represents the people, while the Senate represents the states.
Another difference between deputies and senators is the term of office: four years for federal deputies and eight years for senators. This year, the term of office of a senator from each state ends, that is, only one of the three seats is up for grabs. In the 2026 general election, two will be elected per state.
Together with the Chamber, the Senate forms the Legislative Branch, responsible for legislation and for overseeing the acts of the Executive Branch. Bills approved in the National Congress – composed of the Chamber and the Senate – are sent for sanction by the President of the Republic, who can fully sanction them, transforming them into law, or veto them. The veto can be total or partial, removing only parts of the sanctioned bill.
When vetoes occur, it is up to Congress to re-analyze. In joint sessions, deputies and senators decide whether to maintain the presidential veto or overturn it, turning the vetoed provisions into law.
Project approval
Like the deputies, the senators discuss and vote, in the plenary and in thematic committees, proposals referring to the economic and social areas, such as education, health, transport and housing, among others, and they also supervise the employment, by the Powers of the Union, of the funds raised through the payment of taxes.
The Senate also discusses and votes the Union budget and analyzes, approving or rejecting, the provisional measures edited by the federal government.
To be approved, the projects must have approval in the House and Senate. Projects originating in the Senate, that is, proposed by senators, begin to be processed there. When a deputy proposes a bill, the process begins in the Chamber.
However, a Legislative House always works as a “reviewer” of the projects created and approved in the other.
private attributions
There are also private attributions of the Senate, which is also known as the Upper House. One of the prerogatives of the Senate is the judgment of cases against Presidents of the Republic or Ministers of State. In such cases, the Chamber of Deputies, the so-called Lower Chamber, only authorizes the opening of proceedings if it gathers two-thirds of its members.
The Senate is also exclusively responsible for approving the nominees appointed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), appointing the Attorney General of the Republic and the presidents and directors of the Central Bank (BC). In these cases, the senators meet in the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), and the nominee undergoes a hearing, answering several questions. Only then is the name of the person submitted to the plenary for approval or rejection.
In the economic area, the Senate is responsible for authorizing external financial operations by the Union, states and municipalities; set global limits on the amount of consolidated debt of entities; dealing with limits on the granting of Union guarantees in external and internal credit operations; and to determine the global limits on the amount of securities debt of states and municipalities.
*With information from the Senate Agency
