The 5th Army's Cosmic Senate

* Lower House
* Upper House

**The 5th Army's Cosmic Senate** is the legislative body of the 5th Army. The 5th Army, being a one party state, consists of senators of chosen governors and commissars to represent their sector as a delegation. They are chosen by the joint staff commission on a sectoral scale, and then place them in the lower and upper house of the senate chamber. Governors elected as senators are placed in the lower chamber, where representatives from the three sectors discuss and vote for motions to pass to the upper house. Every session is led and moderated by the speaker of the senate and recorded by the senate's various clerks. The speaker is the second position in line of succession, if all administrators fail to lead as grand administrator. The speaker's lieutenant is the rinji chief of the cosmic senate - who succeeds the leadership if the speaker fails to lead. Another function the lower house has is to act as the grounds for "State Address to the OverWatch Union", in which the head of state - the grand administrator - addresses a message to all sections of government and the citizens of the 5th Army.

The upper house consists of sector commissars elected as senators, where the primary role is to discuss motions sent from the lower house. The senators in this chamber has a chance to engage in direct conversation with the 5th Army's ruling council, as the chairman - the head of government - is by constitution considered as the upper house's president, giving them the responsibility to lead sessions. The speaker occassionally holds sessions if the chairman is unavailable. Most filibuster situations occurs here, and often times when ties occurs - the voting is resolved by the Universal High Court or the Ruling Council. If the motion is agreed upon in the upper house, it will thus be sent to the ruling council for processing and implementation. The upper chamber also has the role to put certain officials on trial through various committees, and to overall balance the power of the military and laws.

The senate is one of the many reasons the Resistance Initiative was formed, claiming that it is one of the most corrupt bodies of OverWatch. Bribery occurs frequently and it is suspected that many of the senators had bought their way to power. The executive council has time after time dismissed this claim.

## History

The senate was founded after the Era 2 reformations order, and was decided that the lower house were to have 140 seats and the upper house, 60. Every 4 years, the joint staff elects or re-elects governors and sector commissars. Once done, the governors/commissars from each sector all represent their delegation, which would be their native/presiding sector. Most often the majority delegation elects a speaker from their delegation, but in recent times it had been tradition to elect a member from the Sector B delegation as it's been historically in the minority and a perfect mediator between the two larger delegations. However, an exception was made for Speaker Mogen Takamura, a Senator from the Sector C delegation, was elected to serve as Speaker for the 52nd iteration due to the short lived Sector C civil war. Various officers and aides are also elected to reside the senate, both for the lower and upper house. Each delegation chooses one senator to lead their delegation in both chambers, granting the title of Majorit/Minority chief.

After OverWatch's victory in the Sector C civil war, the newly instated 52nd iteration of the Senate voted for a bill to increase the 5th Army's authoritarian policies in Sector C's various colonies and occupied planets. Security bill C-2006 was also passed which organized the special military units, S1, S2 and S3 Divisions. The bill that was signed gave more power to the colonial and occupationist's councils, it also decreased the universal income as taxes were being redirected to the military.

It was mentioned, during the investigation of the cyber attack against the OverWatch V.O.X., that a Senator - specifically the chairman of the Technological Safety committee - requested an immediate investigation of the attacks from the OWISCB. In actuality, the Senator was working with the perpetrator of the cyber attack, Second class agent Bo Mennrick, and requested the investigation in order to have Mennrick exploit the resources and tie loose-ends. After Mennrick's death and revelation, the Senator was apprehended and arrested by the IAB, and was most likely trialed and executed.

During the rising of the Resistance Initiative in Sector C, the 5th Army conducted its first raid on Resquis - which resulted in an OverWatch defeat. Once word reached the senate, there's been massive debates whether or not the 5th Army has a weakness. And if so, a weakness that cannot be allowed to exploit. New regulations were then motioned and only a few were signed in by Administrator Y.

Around the time before Operation: DAY-BREAK, the Joint Staff had elected and re-elected senators into the senate for the 53rd Iteration. Sector B's former minority chief for the lower house, Woodrow Terren, was a candidate for Speaker position, who was lobbied by Marshal Crest. However, Sector B delegates decided to pick a more respected and seasoned Senator in the Upper House - Ika Moma. The vote was split, but a compromise was made for Crest and Terren, where Woodrow Terren would be selected as Rinji Chief for the 53rd Iteration if Ika Moma would be elected as Speaker. Sector C had gotten a majority this time around after the increasing tension of civil war and the effort for suppressing all rebellious threats.

The death of Administrator X was one of the many defeats which OverWatch suffered during Operation: DAY-BREAK. The Grand Administrator addressed the senate of the changes he had initiated, which was re-organizing the military and declaring war on the Resistance.

During the civil war time period, Sector B's minority chief in the lower house - Gloria Marsh, who is a distant member of the Niro Household - had been giving updates of closed senate meetings and discussions to assistant special class agent Naofa Niro. Naofa used every bit of this information to confirm her suspicions over Crest's influence in the legislative government. This came with great repercussions in the end after Naofa chose to defect from the 5th Army - Gloria continued to act as a spy for her family. It had been mentioned by Sera Jelastock that Gloria had been killed a few days prior to the 54th senate iteration election.

The 54th Iteration of the senate had come, this became the first iteration where Crest presided over the election. Sector A had gotten a majority in both chambers due to being 4 years into the civil war and the efforts not developing towards the 5th Army's favor. In spite of that, Speaker Moma was reportedly going to run for re-election, but was secretly pressured and even threatened by Overseer Crest to step down in favor of Woodrow Terren, as such he was elected as Speaker of the Senate. Sector A's delegation elected former district 3 administrator, Luci Lien, as majority chief for the upper house.

## Structure

### Upper House

The Upper House, or Upper Chamber, is where discussions between system Commissars takes place. Members of the Upper House are given the oppertunity to have an open and direct discussion with the 5th Army's Ruling Council.

### Lower House

The Lower Chamber of the Senate comprises of Senators that were elected as Governors. Discussions about motions of new laws takes place here, and the idea of the Lower House is that Governors represent individual planets, whether it'd be an occupied or colonised planet.

### Committees

The work of the senate is divided into committees, which have the responsibilities of considering bills, issues, and oversees various agencies, as well as evaluating and monitoring the actions of the Ruling Council in order to consider any necessary changes to propose a new law.

Known committees in the senate:

* Agriculture
* Defense
* Banking and Urban Affairs
* Budget
* Finance
* Commerce and Transportation
* Energy
* Welfare
* Sanction Relations
* Interior
* Judiciary
* Intelligence
* Ethics
* Senate Rules
* Taxation
* Technological Safety
* Printing

## Delegations

### Sector A

 53rd Iteration (2010 - 2014)
 54th Iteration (2014 - present)

### Sector B

 53rd Iteration (2010 - 2014)
 54th Iteration (2014 - present)

### Sector C

 53rd Iteration (2010 - 2014)
 54th Iteration (2014 - present)

## Members

### Current members

* Woodrow Terren (B) - Speaker of the Seante
* Pal Dott (A) - Rinji chief of the Senate
* Lucie Lien (A) - Majority chief in the Upper Chamber
* Fenec Cliffhound (B) - Minority chief in the Upper Chamber
* Wilfred Tarken (C) - Minority chief in the Upper Chamber
* Sakura Hoshio (A) - Senator in the Upper Chamber
* Ika Moma (B) - Senator in the Upper Chamber *(Formerly Speaker)*
* Deckhand (C) - Senator in the Upper Chamber
* Geralt Tombi (A) - Majority chief in the Lower Chamber
* Shizuka Koizumi (C) - Senator in the Lower Chamber

### Former members

* Mogen Takamura (C) - Former senator in the Upper Chamber *(Formerly Speaker; retired)*
* Karl Fergus (A) - Former senator in the Lower Chamber *(Formerly majority/minority chief; retired)* †
* Gloria Marsh (B) - Former senator in the Lower chamber *(Formerly minority chief)* †
* Sanpei (C) - Former senator in the Lower Chamber *(Formerly minority chief)* †