Party leaders and whips of the United States
House of Representatives are elected by their
respective parties in a closed-door caucus
by secret ballot and are also known as floor
leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives
does not officially use the term "Minority
Leader" although the media frequently does.
The House instead uses the terms "Republican
Leader" or "Democratic Leader" depending on
which party holds a minority of seats.
The current party leaders are: Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip Steve Scalise,
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Minority
Whip Steny Hoyer.
Job description
Unlike in Westminster style legislatures or
as with the Senate Majority Leader, the House
Majority Leader's duties and prominence varies
depending upon the style and power of the
Speaker of the House. Typically, the Speaker
does not participate in debate and rarely
votes on the floor. In some cases, Majority
Leaders have been more influential than the
Speaker; notably Tom DeLay who was more prominent
than Speaker Dennis Hastert. In addition,
Speaker Newt Gingrich delegated to Dick Armey
an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling
legislation on the House floor.
The current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
of the United States House of Representatives
serves as floor leader of the opposition party,
and is the counterpart to the Majority Leader.
Unlike the Majority Leader, the Minority Leader
is on the ballot for Speaker of the House
during the convening of the Congress. If the
Minority Leader's party takes control of the
House, and the party officers are all re-elected
to their seats, the Minority Leader is usually
the party's top choice for Speaker for the
next Congress, while the Minority Whip is
typically in line to become Majority Leader.
The Minority Leader usually meets with the
Majority Leader and the Speaker to discuss
agreements on controversial issues.
The Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader,
Majority Whip and Minority Whip all receive
special office suites in the United States
Capitol.
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-elect is also chosen in a closed-door
session although they are formally installed
in their position by a public vote 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,
Richard 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 F. Knowland, and Bill Frist. Former
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor also had
a comparatively quick rise to his current
post - he was the youngest House Majority
Leader in American history and was the first
Jewish party leader in either chamber.
Duties
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.
Per 19 U.S.C. § 2191(c)(1), an implementing
bill for a fast track negotiating authority
trade agreement submitted by the President
is introduced in the House by the Majority
Leader of the House and in the Senate by the
Majority Leader of the Senate.
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.
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 continued through the Democrats'
control of the House from 1931 to 1995, save
for Republican majorities in 1947–49 and
1953–55, all majority leaders have directly
ascended to the Speakership brought upon by
the retirement of the incumbent. The only
exceptions during this period were Charles
A. Halleck who became Republican House leader
and Minority Leader from 1959 to 1965, Hale
Boggs who died in a plane crash, and Dick
Gephardt who became the Democrats' House leader
but as Minority Leader since his party lost
control in the 1994 midterm elections. Since
1995, the only Majority Leader to become Speaker
is John Boehner, though indirectly as his
party lost control in the 2006 midterms elections.
He subsequently served as Republican House
leader and Minority Leader from 2007 to 2011
and then was elected Speaker when the House
reconvened in 2011. In 1998, with Speaker
Newt Gingrich announcing his resignation,
both Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority
Whip Tom DeLay did not contest the Speakership
which eventually went to Chief Deputy Whip
Dennis Hastert.
Traditionally, the Speaker is reckoned as
the leader of the majority party in the House,
with the Majority Leader as second-in-command.
For instance, when the Republicans gained
the majority in the House after the 2010 elections,
Eric Cantor succeeded Boehner as Majority
Leader. Despite this, Cantor and his successor,
Kevin McCarthy, have been reckoned as the
second-ranking Republicans in the House, since
Boehner is still reckoned as the leader of
the House Republicans. However, there have
been some exceptions. The most recent exception
to this rule came when Majority Leader Tom
DeLay generally overshadowed Speaker Dennis
Hastert from 2003 to 2006. In contrast, the
Minority Leader is the undisputed leader of
the minority party.
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, due 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. Previous
Speakers whose party has lost control of the
House have not returned to the party leadership.
However, outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi ran
successfully for Minority Leader in the 112th
Congress.
Eric Cantor became the first House Majority
Leader to lose a primary election in 2014.
Following his primary defeat, Cantor announced
his resignation as Majority Leader, effective
July 31, 2014, and he subsequently resigned
his seat in Congress.
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.
He or she provides campaign assistance to
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 his or her party controls
the White House, confers regularly with the
President and his or her 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.
The roles and responsibilities of the minority
leader are not well-defined. To a large extent,
the functions of the minority leader are defined
by tradition and custom. A minority leader
from 1931 to 1939, Representative Bertrand
Snell, R-N.Y., provided this "job description":
"He is spokesman for his party and enunciates
its policies. He is required to be alert and
vigilant in defense of the minority's rights.
It is his function and duty to criticize constructively
the policies and programs of the majority,
and to this end employ parliamentary tactics
and give close attention to all proposed legislation."
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.
Origin of the post
To a large extent, the minority leader's position
is a 20th-century innovation. Prior to this
time congressional parties were often relatively
disorganized, so it was not always evident
who functioned as the opposition floor leader.
Decades went by before anything like the modern
two-party congressional system emerged on
Capitol Hill with official titles for those
who were its official leaders. However, from
the beginning days of Congress, various House
members intermittently assumed the role of
"opposition leader." Some scholars suggest
that Representative James Madison of Virginia
informally functioned as the first "minority
leader" because in the First Congress he led
the opposition to Treasury Secretary Alexander
Hamilton's fiscal policies.
During this early period, it was more usual
that neither major party grouping had an official
leader. In 1813, for instance, a scholar recounts
that the Federalist minority of 36 Members
needed a committee of 13 "to represent a party
comprising a distinct minority" and "to coordinate
the actions of men who were already partisans
in the same cause." In 1828, a foreign observer
of the House offered this perspective on the
absence of formal party leadership on Capitol
Hill:
I found there were absolutely no persons holding
the stations of what are called, in England,
Leaders, on either side of the House.... It
is true, that certain members do take charge
of administration questions, and certain others
of opposition questions; but all this so obviously
without concert among themselves, actual or
tacit, that nothing can be conceived less
systematic or more completely desultory, disjointed.
Internal party disunity compounded the difficulty
of identifying lawmakers who might have informally
functioned as a minority leader. For instance,
"seven of the fourteen speakership elections
from 1834 through 1859 had at least twenty
different candidates in the field. Thirty-six
competed in 1839, ninety-seven in 1849, ninety-one
in 1859, and 138 in 1855." With so many candidates
competing for the speakership, it is not at
all clear that one of the defeated lawmakers
then assumed the mantle of "minority leader."
The Democratic minority from 1861 to 1875
was so completely disorganized that they did
not "nominate a candidate for Speaker in two
of these seven Congresses and nominated no
man more than once in the other five. The
defeated candidates were not automatically
looked to for leadership."
In the judgment of political scientist Randall
Ripley, since 1883 "the candidate for Speaker
nominated by the minority party has clearly
been the Minority Leader." However, this assertion
is subject to dispute. On December 3, 1883,
the House elected Democrat John G. Carlisle
of Kentucky as Speaker. Republicans placed
in nomination for the speakership J. Warren
Keifer of Ohio, who was Speaker the previous
Congress. Clearly, Keifer was not the Republicans'
minority leader. He was a discredited leader
in part because as Speaker he arbitrarily
handed out "choice jobs to close relatives
... all at handsome salaries." Keifer received
"the empty honor of the minority nomination.
But with it came a sting -- for while this
naturally involves the floor leadership, he
was deserted by his [partisan] associates
and his career as a national figure terminated
ingloriously." Representative Thomas Reed,
R-ME, who later became Speaker, assumed the
de facto role of minority floor leader in
Keifer's stead. "[A]lthough Keifer was the
minority's candidate for Speaker, Reed became
its acknowledged leader, and ever after, so
long as he served in the House, remained the
most conspicuous member of his party.
Another scholar contends that the minority
leader position emerged even before 1883.
On the Democratic side, "there were serious
caucus fights for the minority speakership
nomination in 1871 and 1873," indicating that
the "nomination carried with it some vestige
of leadership." Further, when Republicans
were in the minority, the party nominated
for Speaker a series of prominent lawmakers,
including ex-Speaker James Blaine of Maine
in 1875, former Appropriations Chairman James
A. Garfield of Ohio, in 1876, 1877, and 1879,
and ex-Speaker Keifer in 1883. "It is hard
to believe that House partisans would place
a man in the speakership when in the majority,
and nominate him for this office when in the
minority, and not look to him for legislative
guidance." This was not the case, according
to some observers, with respect to ex-Speaker
Keifer.
In brief, there is disagreement among historical
analysts as to the exact time period when
the minority leadership emerged officially
as a party position. Nonetheless, it seems
safe to conclude that the position emerged
during the latter part of the 19th century,
a period of strong party organization and
professional politicians. This era was "marked
by strong partisan attachments, resilient
patronage-based party organizations, and...high
levels of party voting in Congress." Plainly,
these were conditions conducive to the establishment
of a more highly differentiated House leadership
structure.
Minority Party Nominees for Speaker, 1865-1897
While the Office of the House Historian only
lists Minority Leaders starting in 1899, the
minority's nominees for Speaker may be considered
their party's leaders before that time.
1865: James Brooks
1867: Samuel S. Marshall
1869: Michael C. Kerr
1871: George W. Morgan
1873: Fernando Wood
1875: James Gillespie Blaine
1877, 1879: James Abram Garfield
1881: Samuel Jackson Randall
1883: Joseph Warren Keifer
1885, 1887: Thomas Brackett Reed
1889: John Griffin Carlisle
1891, 1893: Thomas Brackett Reed
1895: Charles F. Crisp
1897: Joseph W. Bailey
Sources: Fighting for the Speakership: The
House and the Rise of Party Government, by
Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Haines Stewart
and Archive of OurCampaigns.com
Trends
Two other points of historical interest merit
brief mention. First, until the 61st Congress,
"it was the custom to have the minority leader
also serve as the ranking minority member
on the two most powerful committees, Rules
and Ways and Means." Today, the minority leader
no longer serves on these committees; however,
he or she appoints the minority members of
the Rules Committee and influences the assignment
of partisan colleagues to the Ways and Means
Committee.
Second, Democrats have always elevated their
minority floor leader to the speakership upon
reclaiming majority status. Republicans have
not always followed this leadership succession
pattern. In 1919, for instance, Republicans
bypassed James R. Mann, R-IL, who had been
minority leader for eight years, and elected
Frederick Gillett, R-MA, to be Speaker. Mann
"had angered many Republicans by objecting
to their private bills on the floor;" also
he was a protégé of autocratic Speaker Joseph
Cannon, R-IL, and many Members "suspected
that he would try to re-centralize power in
his hands if elected Speaker." More recently,
although Robert H. Michel was the Minority
Leader in 1994 when the Republicans regained
control of the House in the 1994 midterm elections,
he had already announced his retirement and
had little or no involvement in the campaign,
including the Contract with America which
was unveiled six weeks before voting day.
In the instance when the Presidency and both
Houses of Congress are controlled by one party,
the Speaker normally assumes a lower 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,
due to the more partisan nature of the House
and the greater role of leadership. Minority
Leaders who have played prominent roles in
opposing the incumbent President have included
Gerald Ford, Richard Gephardt, Nancy Pelosi,
and John Boehner.
Institutional functions
The style and role of any minority leader
is influenced by a variety of elements, including
personality and contextual factors, such as
the size and cohesion of the minority party,
whether his or her party controls the White
House, the general political climate in the
House, and the controversy that is sometimes
associated with the legislative agenda. Despite
the variability of these factors, there are
a number of institutional obligations associated
with this position. Many of these assignments
or roles are spelled out in the House rule
book. Others have devolved upon the position
in other ways. To be sure, the minority leader
is provided with extra staff resources—beyond
those accorded him or her as a Representative—to
assist in carrying out diverse leadership
functions. Worth emphasis is that there are
limits on the institutional role of the minority
leader, because the majority party exercises
disproportionate influence over the agenda,
partisan ratios on committees, staff resources,
administrative operations, and the day-to-day
schedule and management of floor activities.
Under the rules of the House, the minority
leader has certain roles and responsibilities.
They include the following:
Drug Testing. Under Rule I, clause 9, the
"Speaker, in consultation with the Minority
Leader, shall develop through an appropriate
entity of the House a system for drug testing
in the House."
Inspector General. Rule II, clause 6, states
that the "Inspector General shall be appointed
for a Congress by the Speaker, the Majority
Leader, and the Minority Leader, acting jointly."
This rule further states that the minority
leader and other specified House leaders shall
be notified of any financial irregularity
involving the House and receive audit reports
of the inspector general.
Questions of Privilege. Under Rule IX, clause
2, a resolution "offered as a question of
privilege by the Majority Leader or the Minority
Leader ... shall have precedence of all other
questions except motions to adjourn." This
rule further references the minority leader
with respect to the division of time for debate
of these resolutions.
Oversight Plans. Under Rule X, clause 2, not
later "than March 31 in the first session
of a Congress, after consultation with the
Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority
Leader, the Committee on Government Reform
shall report to the House the oversight plans"
of the standing committees along with any
recommendations it or the House leaders have
proposed to ensure the effective coordination
of committees' oversight plans.
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct:
Investigative Subcommittees. Rule X, clause
5, stipulates: "At the beginning of a Congress,
the Speaker or his designee and the Minority
Leader or his designee each shall appoint
10 Members, Delegates, or Resident Commissioners
from his respective party who are not members
of the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct to be available to serve on investigative
subcommittees of that committee during that
Congress."
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
"The Speaker and Minority Leader shall be
ex officio members of the select committee
but shall have no vote in the select committee
and may not be counted for purposes of determining
a quorum." In addition, each leader may designate
a member of his leadership staff to assist
him with his ex officio duties..
Motion to Recommit with Instructions. Under
Rule XIII, clause 6, the Rules Committee may
not issue a "rule" that prevents the minority
leader or a designee from offering a motion
to recommit with instructions.
In addition, the minority leader has a number
of other institutional functions. For instance,
the minority leader is sometimes statutorily
authorized to appoint individuals to certain
federal entities; he or she and the majority
leader each name three Members to serve as
Private Calendar objectors; he or she is consulted
with respect to reconvening the House per
the usual formulation of conditional concurrent
adjournment resolutions; he or she is a traditional
member of the House Office Building Commission;
he or she is a member of the United States
Capitol Preservation Commission; and he or
she may, after consultation with the Speaker,
convene an early organizational party caucus
or conference. Informally, the minority leader
maintains ties with majority party leaders
to learn about the schedule and other House
matters and forges agreements or understandings
with them insofar as feasible.
Party functions
The minority leader has a number of formal
and informal party responsibilities. Formally,
the rules of each party specify certain roles
and responsibilities for their leader. For
example, under Democratic rules for the 106th
Congress, the minority leader may call meetings
of the Democratic Caucus. He or she is a member
of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee;
names the members of the Democratic Leadership
Council; chairs the Policy Committee; and
heads the Steering Committee. Examples of
other assignments are making "recommendations
to the Speaker on all Democratic Members who
shall serve as conferees" and nominating party
members to the Committees on Rules and House
Administration. Republican rules identify
generally comparable functions for their top
party leader.
Informally, the minority leader has a wide
range of party assignments. Lewis Deschler,
the late House Parliamentarian, summarized
the diverse duties of a party's floor leader:
A party's floor leader, in conjunction with
other party leaders, plays an influential
role in the formulation of party policy and
programs. He is instrumental in guiding legislation
favored by his party through the House, or
in resisting those programs of the other party
that are considered undesirable by his own
party. He is instrumental in devising and
implementing his party's strategy on the floor
with respect to promoting or opposing legislation.
He is kept constantly informed as to the status
of legislative business and as to the sentiment
of his party respecting particular legislation
under consideration. Such information is derived
in part from the floor leader's contacts with
his party's members serving on House committees,
and with the members of the party's whip organization.
These and several other party roles merit
further mention because they influence significantly
the leader's overarching objective: retake
majority control of the House. "I want to
get [my] members elected and win more seats,"
said Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-MO.
"That's what [my partisan colleagues] want
to do, and that's what they want me to do."
Five activities illustrate how minority leaders
seek to accomplish this primary goal.
Provide Campaign Assistance. Minority leaders
are typically energetic and aggressive campaigners
for partisan incumbents and challengers. There
is hardly any major aspect of campaigning
that does not engage their attention. For
example, they assist in recruiting qualified
candidates; they establish "leadership PACs"
to raise and distribute funds to House candidates
of their party; they try to persuade partisan
colleagues not to retire or run for other
offices so as to hold down the number of open
seats the party would need to defend; they
coordinate their campaign activities with
congressional and national party campaign
committees; they encourage outside groups
to back their candidates; they travel around
the country to speak on behalf of party candidates;
and they encourage incumbent colleagues to
make significant financial contributions to
the party's campaign committee. "The amount
of time that [Minority Leader] Gephardt is
putting in to help the DCCC [Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee] is unheard of," noted
a Democratic lobbyist."No DCCC chairman has
ever had that kind of support."
Devise Minority Party Strategies. The minority
leader, in consultation with other party colleagues,
has a range of strategic options that he or
she can employ to advance minority party objectives.
The options selected depend on a wide range
of circumstances, such as the visibility or
significance of the issue and the degree of
cohesion within the majority party. For instance,
a majority party riven by internal dissension,
as occurred during the early 1900s when Progressive
and "regular" Republicans were at loggerheads,
may provide the minority leader with greater
opportunities to achieve his or her priorities
than if the majority party exhibited high
degrees of party cohesion. Among the variable
strategies available to the minority party,
which can vary from bill to bill and be used
in combination or at different stages of the
lawmaking process, are the following:
Cooperation. The minority party supports and
cooperates with the majority party in building
winning coalitions on the floor.
Inconsequential Opposition. The minority party
offers opposition, but it is of marginal significance,
typically because the minority is so small.
Withdrawal. The minority party chooses not
to take a position on an issue, perhaps because
of intraparty divisions.
Innovation. The minority party develops alternatives
and agendas of its own and attempts to construct
winning coalitions on their behalf.
Partisan Opposition. The minority party offers
strong opposition to majority party initiatives,
but does not counter with policy alternatives
of their own.
Constructive Opposition. The minority party
opposes initiatives of the majority party,
and offers its own proposals as substitutes.
Participation. The minority party is in the
position of having to consider the views and
proposals of their president and to assess
their majority-building role with respect
to his priorities.
A look at one minority leadership strategy—partisan
opposition—may suggest why it might be employed
in specific circumstances. The purposes of
obstruction are several, such as frustrating
the majority party's ability to govern or
attracting press and media attention to the
alleged ineffectiveness of the majority party.
"We know how to delay," remarked Minority
Leader Gephardt Dilatory motions to adjourn,
appeals of the presiding officer's ruling,
or numerous requests for roll call votes are
standard time-consuming parliamentary tactics.
By stalling action on the majority party's
agenda, the minority leader may be able to
launch a campaign against a "do-nothing Congress"
and convince enough voters to put his party
back in charge of the House. To be sure, the
minority leader recognizes that "going negative"
carries risks and may not be a winning strategy
if his party fails to offer policy alternatives
that appeal to broad segments of the general
public.
Promote and Publicize the Party's Agenda.
An important aim of the minority leader is
to develop an electorally attractive agenda
of ideas and proposals that unites his or
her own House members and that energizes and
appeals to core electoral supporters as well
as independents and swing voters. Despite
the minority leader's restricted ability to
set the House's agenda, there are still opportunities
for him to raise minority priorities. For
example, the minority leader may employ, or
threaten to use, discharge petitions to try
and bring minority priorities to the floor.
If he or she is able to attract the required
218 signatures on a discharge petition by
attracting majority party supporters, he or
she can force minority initiatives to the
floor over the opposition of the majority
leadership. As a GOP minority leader once
said, the challenges he confronted are to
"keep our people together, and to look for
votes on the other side."
Minority leaders may engage in numerous activities
to publicize their party's priorities and
to criticize the opposition's. For instance,
to keep their party colleagues "on message,"
they insure that partisan colleagues are sent
packets of suggested press releases or "talking
points" for constituent meetings in their
districts; they help to organize "town meetings"
in Members' districts around the country to
publicize the party's agenda or a specific
priority, such as health care or education;
they sponsor party "retreats" to discuss issues
and assess the party's public image; they
create "theme teams" to craft party messages
that might be raised during the one-minute,
morning hour, or special order period in the
House; they conduct surveys of party colleagues
to discern their policy preferences; they
establish websites that highlight and distribute
party images and issues to users; and they
organize task forces or issue teams to formulate
party programs and to develop strategies for
communicating these programs to the public.
House minority leaders also hold joint news
conferences and consult with their counterparts
in the Senate—and with the president if
their party controls the White House. The
overall objectives are to develop a coordinated
communications strategy, to share ideas and
information, and to present a united front
on issues. Minority leaders also make floor
speeches and close debate on major issues
before the House; they deliver addresses in
diverse forums across the country; and they
write books or articles that highlight minority
party goals and achievements. They must also
be prepared "to debate on the floor, ad lib,
no notes, on a moment's notice," remarked
Minority Leader Michel. In brief, minority
leaders are key strategists in developing
and promoting the party's agenda and in outlining
ways to neutralize the opposition's arguments
and proposals.
Confer With the White House. If his or her
party controls the White House, the minority
leader confers regularly with the President
and his aides about issues before Congress,
the Administration's agenda, and political
events generally. Strategically, the role
of the minority leader will vary depending
on whether the President is of the same party
or the other party. In general, minority leaders
will often work to advance the goals and aspirations
of their party's President in Congress. When
Robert Michel, R-IL, was minority leader,
he typically functioned as the "point man"
for Republican presidents. President Ronald
Reagan's 1981 policy successes in the Democratic
controlled House was due in no small measure
to Minority Leader Michel's effectiveness
in wooing so-called "Reagan Democrats" to
support, for instance, the Administration's
landmark budget reconciliation bill. There
are occasions, of course, when minority leaders
will fault the legislative initiatives of
their President. On an administration proposal
that could adversely affect his district,
Michel stated that he might "abdicate my leadership
role [on this issue] since I can't harmonize
my own views with the administration's." Minority
Leader Gephardt, as another example, has publicly
opposed a number of President Clinton's legislative
initiatives from "fast track" trade authority
to various budget issues.
When the White House is controlled by the
House majority party, then the House minority
leader assumes a larger role in formulating
alternatives to executive branch initiatives
and in acting as a national spokesperson for
his or her party. "As Minority Leader during
[President Lyndon Johnson's] Democratic administration,
my responsibility has been to propose Republican
alternatives," said Minority Leader Gerald
Ford, R-MI. Greatly outnumbered in the House,
Minority Leader Ford devised a political strategy
that allowed Republicans to offer their alternatives
in a manner that provided them political protection.
As Ford explained:
"We used a technique of laying our program
out in general debate," he said. When we got
to the amendment phase, we would offer our
program as a substitute for the Johnson proposal.
If we lost in the Committee of the Whole,
then we would usually offer it as a motion
to recommit and get a vote on that. And if
we lost on the motion to recommit, our Republican
members had a choice: They could vote against
the Johnson program and say we did our best
to come up with a better alternative. Or they
could vote for it and make the same argument.
Usually we lost; but when you're only 140
out of 435, you don't expect to win many.
Ford also teamed with Senate Minority Leader
Everett Dirksen, R-IL, to act as national
spokesmen for their party. They met with the
press every Thursday following the weekly
joint leadership meeting. Ford's predecessor
as minority leader, Charles Halleck, R-IN,
probably received more visibility in this
role, because the press and media dubbed it
the "Ev and Charlie Show." In fact, the "Republican
National Committee budgeted $30,000 annually
to produce the weekly news conference."
Foster Party Harmony. Minority status, by
itself, is often an important inducement for
minority party members to stay together, to
accommodate different interests, and to submerge
intraparty factional disagreements. To hold
a diverse membership together often requires
extensive consultations and discussions with
rank-and-file Members and with different factional
groupings. As Minority Leader Gephardt said:
We have weekly caucus meetings. We have daily
leadership meetings. We have weekly ranking
Member meetings. We have party effectiveness
meetings. There's a lot more communication.
I believe leadership is bottom up, not top
down. I think you have to build policy and
strategy and vision from the bottom up, and
involve people in figuring out what that is.
Gephardt added that "inclusion and empowerment
of the people on the line have to be done
to get the best performance" from the minority
party. Other techniques for fostering party
harmony include the appointment of task forces
composed of partisan colleagues with conflicting
views to reach consensus on issues; the creation
of new leadership positions as a way to reach
out and involve a greater diversity of partisans
in the leadership structure; and daily meetings
in the Leader's office to lay out floor strategy
or political objectives for the minority party.
Party whips and assistant party leaders
Whips
A whip manages his or her party's legislative
program on the House floor. The whip keeps
track of all legislation and ensures that
all party members are present when important
measures are to be voted upon.
The Majority Whip is an elected member of
the majority party who assists the Speaker
of the House and the majority leader to coordinate
ideas on, and garner support for, proposed
legislation.
The Minority Whip is a member of the minority
party who assists the minority leader in coordinating
the party caucus in its responses to legislation
and other matters. However, the U.S. House
of Representatives does not use the term "minority
whip," instead calling the position "Republican
Whip" or "Democratic Whip" depending on the
minority party.
The Chief Deputy Whip is the primary assistant
to the whip, who is the chief vote counter
for his or her party. The current chief deputy
majority whip is Republican Patrick McHenry.
Within the House Republican Conference, the
chief deputy whip is the highest appointed
position and often a launching pad for future
positions in the House Leadership. The House
Democratic Conference has multiple chief deputy
whips, led by a Senior Chief Deputy Whip,
which is the highest appointed position within
the House Democratic Caucus. The current senior
chief deputy minority whip, John Lewis, has
held his post since 1991.
List of Republican chief deputy whips:
David F. Emery, 1981-1983
Tom Loeffler, 1983-1987
Edward Rell Madigan, 1987-1989
Robert Smith Walker, 1989-1995
Dennis Hastert, 1995–1999
Roy Blunt, 1999–2003
Eric Cantor, 2003–2009
Kevin McCarthy, 2009–2011
Peter Roskam, 2011–2014(Majority)
Patrick McHenry, 2014–present
The current Democratic chief deputy whips
are: John Lewis, Senior Chief Deputy Whip,
Maxine Waters, Ed Pastor, Jan Schakowsky,
Joseph Crowley, Diana DeGette, G. K. Butterfield,
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jim Matheson, and
Peter Welch.
Assistant party leaders
The position of Assistant Democratic Leader
was established on January 3, 2011 and filled
by Jim Clyburn. It is said to replace the
Assistant to the Leader post previously held
by Chris Van Hollen, who had attended all
leadership meetings but was not in the leadership
hierarchy.
List of party leaders and whips
(Names in Bold indicate Majority Leaders and
whips)
See also
Party leaders of the United States Senate
United States Presidents and control of Congress
References
 This article incorporates public domain
material from the Congressional Research Service
document "The Role of the House Minority Leader:
An Overview" by Walter J. Oleszek.
External links
Office of the Majority Leader
Office of the House Democratic Leader
