Committee Structure

Congessional Staff

American Politics:
©Marc A. Triebwasser

From our discussions of the lawmaking process and of the congressional committee structure, we see that much of the power in Congress is widely dispersed--with a number of major committees and subcommittees possessing a great deal of authority. As with any organization, Congress does possess a number of centralized leadership positions. Some of these are specified in the Constitution. Others have evolved during the over 200-year history of our national government.

However, the fact remains that unlike many organizations and many other legislatures, the centralized leadership in Congress plays far less of a role than one might expect. In fact, the fundamental dynamic in Congress is the tension which has existed over its history between its more centralized leadership and the pockets of dispersed authority represented by the more important committee and subcommittee structures. As we will see later, this tension has often rendered Congress unable to deal in a coordinated way with pressures which have been brought to bear on it from the outside, especially those pressures emanating from the Executive Branch and from a number of well organized special interest groups.

House Leadership

The House of Representatives, being made up of a large number of members, has required a rather strong and formalized central leadership structure. As with the Senate, this structure is divided very much along party lines, with the majority party choosing its leadership structure and the minority party choosing its own particular leaders.

Speaker of the House. The only leadership position in the House of Representatives which is specifically specified by the Constitution is the Speaker. The Speaker enjoys a number of extremely important powers. The Speaker presides over the House, and therefore may recognize or ignore members who wish to speak. He or she assigns bills to committees. And, as we have seen in our discussion of the lawmaking process, this is a significant power indeed. Speakers are often able to choose between assigning a bill to a committee which will favor it or to one that is likely to kill it. The Speaker also has the power to appoint members to special or select committees. Moreover, according to the Constitution, the Speaker is second in line in succession to the Presidency should both the President and Vice President not be able to serve, and a new Vice President not be appointed in time. In addition to these powers which the Speaker enjoys today, some speakers in the past have had even more substantial powers.

Aside from these formal powers exercised in the House as a whole, the Speaker also enjoys a number of specific powers as a party leader. Speakers are usually selected strictly on party lines by the majority party. Up until recently, this position was held by the Democrats for many decades. Most Speakers have enjoyed substantial leadership authority not only within the House as a whole, but also within the Republican Conference which is made up of all the Republican members of the House or Democratic Caucus which is made up of all the Democratic members.

As leader of the House and leader of the majority party in that chamber, the Speaker plays an important role in relation to the President. When a President is of a different party than the majority in the House, the Speaker leads the loyal opposition. When the President is of the same party, the Speaker is expected to support presidential legislative proposals.

House Majority Leader. In addition to the Speaker, the majority party also chooses a Majority Leader who serves as party strategist. The Majority Leader works together with the Speaker and with members of the Rules Committee in scheduling the flow of legislation on the floor of the House. The Majority Leader is elected by the caucus of the majority party (the Republican Conference or the Democratic Caucus). In recent decades, it has been traditional that the Majority Leader assumes the Speakership upon the retirement of the Speaker.

House Majority Whips. To assist the Speaker and the Majority Leader in organizing the majority party membership for voting and other purposes, the position of Majority Whip has been created. The term "whip" comes from British fox-hunting tradition in which the person who attempts to keep the chasing hounds in line is called the "whipper-in". The whip conducts "straw ballots" to determine how members of the majority party are likely to vote. The results of these ballots are then used in bargaining efforts by the majority party leadership in order to get legislation which it favors enacted, and legislation which it opposes killed. When it comes time for a vote, it is the responsibility of the Majority Whip to round up members of the majority party. The Majority Whip along with a Chief Deputy Whip and three other deputy whips are nominated by the Speaker together with the Majority Leader. These positions are then approved by the party's caucus as a whole. Since the House is so large, and there are usually over 200 party members to be supervised, these overall whips are aided in their work by regional whips.

House Minority Leader. The minority party in Congress has a leadership structure quite similar to that of the majority party, although of course the majority party is the only one which chooses a Speaker for the entire House. The Minority Leader is elected by the minority party's caucus. In the event that the minority party attains a majority in the House, the Minority Leader would usually assume the position of Speakership. As leader of the minority party in the House, it is the responsibility of the Minority Leader to gather support for the President if he is of the same party as the Minority Leader, or to lead the loyal opposition if the President is of the opposite party.

During his term of office as Minority Leader of the House, Gerald Ford was extremely loyal to the Republican party organization and to then President Nixon. As such, has was a very popular choice to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice President after Agnew resigned from office. When Gerald Ford ascended to the Vice Presidency in 1973, under provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, he became our first Vice President appointed to that position.

House Minority Whips. The Minority Whips in the House perform the same functions as their majority counterparts. Basically, they are responsible for supplying information to the Minority Leader as to how minority party members are likely to vote, as well as to align support for the minority position. The Minority Whip is assisted by a series of regional and assistant whips who maintain contact between the minority party leadership and the rank and file.

Senate Leadership

The leadership structure of the Senate generally parallels that of the House. There are, however, several important differences. First of all, the smaller size of the Senate has usually called for a less formalized leadership structure, and the substantial power enjoyed by each individual Senator necessitates leadership being exercised in the Senate in a far more judicious manner than in the House. Secondly, although several leadership positions in the Senate are specifically specified by the Constitution, none of these formal positions command the type of real power which the constitutionally specified position of Speaker of the House bestows in that chamber.

President of the Senate. According to the Constitution, the Vice President of the United States is supposed to serve as President of the Senate. In practice, this position has become largely ceremonial. As President of the Senate, the Vice President has the authority to preside over the proceedings of that body. This might seem to give him powers similar to that of the Speaker of the House. But in practice, this turns out not to be the case. Procedures in the Senate have evolved in such a way that those who preside over that body have no real power. In fact, the job of presiding officer in the Senate is most often assigned to freshmen (that is, newly elected) senators as part of their apprenticeship in that body.

As President of the Senate, the Vice President also has the power to vote in case of a tie. However, this happens quite rarely. When such a situation does seem likely, the Vice President--who because of his lack of real power is not usually present at Senate proceedings--is quickly alerted by the Senate leadership and rushed to the Senate to perform this constitutionally specified task.

President Pro Tempore. The President pro tempore of the Senate is another position specified by the Constitution which possesses little real power. The President pro tempore is elected by the majority party in the Senate and is traditionally the member of that party who has the greatest seniority. Despite the lack of real power of the President pro tempore and the largely ceremonial nature of that position, the President pro tempore does remain constitutionally third in line to replace the President should he die in office or be impeached.

Senate Majority Leader. In practice, the real power of Senate leadership rests with the Senate Majority Leader. The person filling this position plays a role somewhat similar to that of the Speaker of the House. However, because of the less formal structure of the Senate, the amount of power controlled by the Senate Majority Leader is as much a function of the particular Majority Leader's personality as anything else. The Majority Leader working along with the Minority Leader assigns bills to committees. The Majority Leader, as a party leader, also has a great deal of influence over committee assignments and legislative agendas within the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader. The Minority Leader in the Senate plays a role very similar to the parallel position in the House. When the President is of the same party as the minority Leader, he or she tries to gather support for presidential legislative policies. When the President is of the opposite party, he or she leads the role of the loyal opposition. Because of its procedures and composition, the Senate is usually a far more bipartisan body than the House. For this reason, the Senate Minority Leader enjoys more power than the minority Leader in the House. The Senate Minority Leader works closely with the Senate Majority Leader.

Senate Majority and Minority Whips. The whip structure of both the majority and minority parties in the Senate is similar to that in the House. Obviously, with far fewer Senators to keep track of , these positions in the Senate are far more easily handled than those in the House. These positions of Senate Majority and Minority Whips also often lead to higher positions of Senate leadership.
 
 

Committee  Structure

Centralized Congressional Leadership

Congressional Staff