The Times from the United Kingdom has an article about the upcoming American election and labels our Senate as "more powerful" than our House.
The Democrats need 15 net gains to regain control of the 435-member House for the first time since 1994. They can count on perhaps a dozen, but others are too close to call and the residual power of incumbency may be critical. ...Regaining control of the more powerful Senate is an even harder task for the Democrats, who must make six net gains from 33 seats being contested. Of these, only 15 are held by the Republicans, while at least one seat that the Democrats are defending — New Jersey — could yet be lost.
I think it's a mistake to characterize the Senate as being "more powerful" than the House of Representatives, although each individual Senator has more power than each individual Representative due to the greater membership of the House, if nothing else.
The United States Constitution does give different powers to each house of Congress though, so let's review them. (Please let me know if I miss anything.)
The House:
- "sole Power of Impeachment"
- "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives"
The Senate:
- "sole Power to try all Impeachments"
- Advise and concede or object to treaties and Presidential nominees for federal offices
It's not clear to me that the Senate's portfolio is really more powerful than the House's, considering that they can't propose raising money to fund anything. However, I don't know the practical effect of the House's power to raise revenue.
Given the Senate's advise and consent powers over international treaty, it wouldn't be hard to argue that the Senate is more powerful in the eyes of an English foriegner.
The Speaker of the House is one rung closer to the Presidency in the line of succession than the Senate Pro-Tempore.