Question

The U.S. Senate is composed of 2 senators from each of the 50 states. For a treaty to be ratified, at least two-thirds of the senators present must approve the treaty. Suppose all senators are present and 48 of them have voted in favor of a treaty. What are the possible numbers of additional senators who must vote in favor of the treaty to ratify it?

Answer 1

To ratify a treaty, at least two-thirds of the senators must approve it. Since there are 100 senators in total (2 from each of the 50 states), a minimum of (2/3) * 100 = 66.67 senators must vote in favor of the treaty.

If 48 senators have already voted in favor, there are still 66.67 - 48 = 18.67 senators who need to vote in favor of the treaty to meet the two-thirds requirement.

However, since the number of senators must be a whole number, we need to round up the decimal value of 18.67 to determine the minimum number of additional senators needed to vote in favor.

Therefore, a minimum of 19 additional senators must vote in favor of the treaty to ratify it.