Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are elected every two years in secret balloting of their party caucuses or conferences: the House Democratic Caucus and the House Republican Conference. Depending on which party is in power, one party leader serves as majority leader and the other as minority leader.
Unlike the Senate majority leader, the House majority leader is the second highest-ranking member of their party's House caucus, behind the speaker of the House. The majority leader is responsible for setting the annual legislative agenda, scheduling legislation for consideration, and coordinating committee activity. The minority leader serves as floor leader of the opposition party, and is the minority counterpart to the speaker. The minority leader also speaks for the minority party in the House and its policies, and works to protect the minority party's rights.
The assistant majority leader and assistant minority leader of the House, commonly called whips, are the second-ranking members of each party's leadership. The main function of the majority and minority whips is to gather votes of their respective parties on major issues.
Current floor leaders
With the Republicans holding a majority of seats and the Democrats holding a minority, the current leaders are Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts.Selection
The floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot. The speaker-presumptive is assumed to be the incoming speaker, although not formally selected to be nominated for Speaker by the majority party's caucus. After this period, the speaker-designate is also chosen in a closed-door session by the largest caucus although the speaker is formally elevated to the position by a public vote of the entire House when Congress reconvenes.Like the speaker of the House, the minority leaders are typically experienced lawmakers when they win election to this position. When Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, became minority leader in the 108th Congress, she had served in the House nearly 20 years and had served as minority whip in the 107th Congress. When her predecessor, Dick Gephardt, D-MO, became minority leader in the 104th House, he had been in the House for almost 20 years, had served as chairman of the Democratic Caucus for four years, had been a 1988 presidential candidate, and had been majority leader from June 1989 until Republicans captured control of the House in the November 1994 elections. Gephardt's predecessor in the minority leadership position was Robert Michel, R-IL, who became GOP Leader in 1981 after spending 24 years in the House. Michel's predecessor, Republican John Rhodes of Arizona, was elected minority leader in 1973 after 20 years of House service.
By contrast, party leaders of the United States Senate have often ascended to their position despite relatively few years of experience in that chamber, such as Lyndon B. Johnson, William Knowland, Tom Daschle, and Bill Frist.
History
Before 1899, the majority party floor leader had traditionally been the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, as it generates the bills of revenue specified in the Constitution as the House's unique power. However, this designation was informal, and after 1865, alternated between the Ways and Means Committee Chair and the House Appropriations Committee Chair after the latter committee was split from the former. By at least 1850, the Senate and House Republican Conferences and the Senate and House Democratic Caucuses began naming chairs.The office of majority leader was created in 1899 and first occupied by Sereno Payne. Speaker David B. Henderson created the position to establish a party leader on the House floor separate from the speaker, as the role of speaker had become more prominent and the size of the House had grown from 105 at the beginning of the century to 356.
Starting with Republican Nicholas Longworth in 1925 and continuing until 1995, all majority leaders have directly ascended to the speakership after the incumbent surrenders the position. The only exceptions during this period were Charles A. Halleck, who served as majority leader from 1947-1949 and again from 1953-1955 and did not become Speaker because his party lost the House in the 1948 and 1954 House elections, respectively, and would not regain the House until 1994 ; Hale Boggs, who served as majority leader from 1971-1973, died in a plane crash; and Dick Gephardt, who served as majority leader from 1989-1995, descended to minority leader since his party lost control in the 1994 midterm elections.
Since 1995, the only two majority leaders to become speaker are John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy, though indirectly as their party lost control in the 2006 and 2018 midterm elections. Boehner subsequently served as House minority leader from 2007 to 2011, and McCarthy served from 2019 to 2023. Both were elected Speaker when the House reconvened after gaining a majority in their respective midterm elections. In 1998, when Speaker Newt Gingrich announced his resignation, neither Majority Leader Dick Armey nor Majority Whip Tom DeLay contested the speakership, which eventually went to Chief Deputy Whip Dennis Hastert.
Traditionally, the Speaker is viewed as the leader of the majority party in the House, with the majority leader as second-in-command. For example, when the Republicans gained the majority in the House after the 2010 elections, Boehner ascended to the speakership while Eric Cantor succeeded Boehner as majority leader. Cantor was understood to be the second-ranking Republican in the House since Boehner was the indisputable leader of the House Republicans. However, there have been some exceptions. The most recent exception to this rule came when Majority Leader Tom DeLay was considered more prominent than Speaker Dennis Hastert from 2003 to 2006.
In contrast, the minority leader is the undisputed leader of the minority party. For example, when the Republicans lost their majority in the 2018 elections, McCarthy was elected as minority leader and hence replaced Ryan as the highest-ranking House Republican.
When the presidency and both houses of Congress are controlled by one party, the speaker normally takes a low profile and defers to the president. For that situation, the House minority leader can play the role of a de facto "leader of the opposition", often more so than the Senate minority leader, owing to the more partisan nature of the House and the greater role of leadership.
When the majority leader's party loses control of the House, and if the speaker and majority leader both remain in the leadership hierarchy, convention suggests that they would become the minority leader and minority whip, respectively. As the minority party has one less leadership position after losing the speaker's chair, there may be a contest for the remaining leadership positions. Nancy Pelosi is the most recent example of an outgoing speaker seeking the minority leader post to retain the House party leadership, as the Democrats lost control of the House in the 2010 elections. She ran successfully for minority leader in the 112th Congress.
In 2014, Eric Cantor became the first House majority leader to lose a primary election. Following his primary defeat, Cantor announced his resignation as majority leader, effective July 31, 2014, and he subsequently resigned his seat in Congress.
Majority leader
The House majority leader's duties vary, depending upon the political makeup of the majority caucus. In several recent sessions of Congress, with the notable exception of the Pelosi speakership, the majority leader has been primarily responsible for scheduling the House floor's legislative calendar and direct management for all House committees.One statutory duty, per, stipulates that an implementing bill submitted by the president of the United States for a fast-track negotiating authority trade agreement must be introduced in the House by the House majority leader or a designee.
Minority leader
Responsibilities
From an institutional perspective, the rules of the House assign a number of specific responsibilities to the minority leader. For example, Rule XII, clause 6, grant the minority leader the right to offer a motion to recommit with instructions; Rule II, clause 6, states the inspector general shall be appointed by joint recommendation of the speaker, majority leader, and minority leader; and Rule XV, clause 6, provides that the speaker, after consultation with the minority leader, may place legislation on the Corrections Calendar. The minority leader also has other institutional duties, such as appointing individuals to certain federal entities.From a party perspective, the minority leader has a wide range of partisan assignments, all geared toward retaking majority control of the House. Five principal party activities direct the work of the minority leader.
- The minority leader provides campaign assistance to political party incumbents and challengers.
- The minority leader devises strategies, in consultation with other partisan colleagues, that advance party objectives. For example, by stalling action on the majority party's agenda, the minority leader may be able to launch a campaign against a "do-nothing Congress".
- The minority leader works to promote and publicize the party's agenda.
- The minority leader, if their party controls the White House, confers regularly with the President and the President's aides about issues before Congress, the Administration's agenda, and political events generally.
- The minority leader strives to promote party harmony so as to maximize the chances for legislative and political success.
Since Snell's description, other responsibilities have been added to the job. These duties involve an array of institutional and party functions. Before examining the institutional and party assignments of the minority leader, it is worth highlighting the historical origin of this position.