Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power. The lower house typically is the larger of the two chambers, i.e. its members are more numerous. A legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.
In the modern era, has much more power, usually based on restrictions against the upper house.
Able to override the upper house in some ways.
Can vote a motion of no confidence against the government, as well as vote for or against any proposed candidate for head of government at the beginning of the parliamentary term.
Exceptions are Australia, where the Senate has considerable power approximate to that of the House of Representatives, and Italy, where the Senate has exactly the same powers as the Chamber of Deputies.
The government of the day is usually required to present its budget to the lower house, which must approve the budget. It is a widespread practice for revenue (ie., appropriation) bills to originate in the lower house.
