“The House has affairs; the Senate has relations”
The House of Representatives is sometimes called the people’s house (because of direct elections), but the Senate (the subject of direct elections only since a 20th century amendment) has long had a gentleman’s club atmosphere. There is a United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. One way to remember this is:
“The House has affairs, the Senate has relations.”
The memory aid has been cited in print since at least the 1990s.
Wikipedia: United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, which has jurisdiction over bills and investigations related to the foreign affairs of the United States.
U.S. Representative Ed Royce of California is the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and has been so since January 2013.
From 1975 to 1978 and from 1995 to 2007, it was renamed the Committee on International Relations. In January 2007 (and January 1979), it changed back to its original name. Its jurisdiction is and was the same under both names.
Wikipedia: United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing (but not administering) and funding foreign aid programs as well as funding arms sales and training for national allies. The committee is also responsible for holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State. The committee has considered, debated, and reported important treaties and legislation, ranging from the Alaska purchase in 1867 to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. It also holds jurisdiction over all diplomatic nominations.[1] Along with the Finance and Judiciary Committees, the Foreign Relations Committee is one of the oldest in the Senate, going back to the initial creation of committees in 1816. Its sister committee in the House of Representatives is the Committee on Foreign Affairs (renamed from International Relations by the 110th Congress in January 2007).
The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
Foreign Affairs Oral History Project
AMBASSADOR THOMAS P. MELADY
Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy
Initial interview date: January 13, 1995
Copyright 1998 ADST
(...)
MELADY: I was told by Senator Jesse Helms, then a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee…
Q: The House has affairs, the Senate has relations.
Twitter
Roshan Paul
@roshpaul
Al Franken: I didn’t get the Foreign Relations Committee. Yeah…the House has affairs, the Senate has relations #psfgc
8:30 PM - 14 Oct 2009
Twitter
Neil
@NPSusa
@NPSusa @evanchill Correction: Foreign Relations. House has affairs, Senate Relations.
1:10 PM - 17 Mar 2011
Twitter
Neil
@NPSusa
I forgot the memory aid to distinguis btwn the Senate &House Foreign Committees:
The Senate has Relations, the House has Affairs.
8:58 AM - 31 Aug 2015
BearingDrift
The Death of Collegiality
BRIAN SCHOENEMAN / April 4, 2017
@BrianSchoeneman
(...)
The Senate was one of the last bastions of civility left in modern politics. The collegial, club-like atmosphere that the Senate has cultivated for the last two centuries always made it a place where the hardcore partisan politics found in the House of Representatives was looked down upon. The Senate had higher standards. Senators were expected to be more bi-partisan, to look less at parochial concerns, and more at the good of the country. House members were just politicians. Senators were statesmen. As the old joke went, the House has “affairs” and the Senate has “relations.” At least, that’s how they viewed themselves. Not everybody agreed with that image, not the least of whom were members of “the other body.” That image though, is gone.