Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
John Thune (R-SD)
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The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as a chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding the majority and the minority in the United States Senate. They are each elected as majority leader and minority leader by the senators of their party caucuses: the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference.
By Senate precedent, the presiding officer gives the majority leader priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate. The majority leader serves as the chief representative of their party in the Senate, and is considered the most powerful member of the Senate. They also serve as the chief representative of their party in the entire Congress if the House of Representatives, and thus the office of the speaker of the House, is controlled by the opposition party. The Senate's executive and legislative business is also managed and scheduled by the majority leader.
The assistant majority leader and assistant minority leader of the United States Senate, 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. As the second-ranking members of Senate leadership, if there is no floor leader present, the whip may become acting floor leader.
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Congressional Leadership: Crash Course Government and Politics #8
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The United States Senate
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The House of Representatives in comparison to the Senate | US government and civics | Khan Academy
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Congressional Elections: Crash Course Government and Politics #6
Transcription
Hi, I'm Craig and this is Crash Course Government and Politics, and today we're going to examine the leadership structure of Congress! I know, pretty exciting stuff! Now calm down, let me explain. Are you ready to talk about Congressional leadership? You better be. So, the Congressional leadership are the Congresspersons with titles like Majority Leader and Minority Whip, and they have a lot to do with political parties, so we're going to talk about what the political parties do in Congress as well. Even if you don't follow politics, you probably have heard of the name and titles, if not the functions, of the various leaders. I'm going to need some help on this one, so... Let's go the Clone Zone! In the Clone Zone today I've got House Clone and Senate Clone to help me explain Congressional leadership. House Clone in the house! Take it away. The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House, and he or she is the third most powerful person in the country. The speaker is always elected by whichever party is in the majority. These elections take place every two years, because the whole House is elected every two years. That's a lot of elections! At the time of the shooting of the episode the Speaker of the House is John Boehner from Ohio, known for his tan, tears, and tacos. Yeaah, he's oddly really good at making tacos. I had the barbecue pork at his house one time.... Yeah, I had the beef taco! He called it la lengua. Interesting choice. Yeah. The speaker has two assistants to help run the house. The Majority Whip has the primary task of counting votes on important pieces of legislation, and making the party members vote along with their party. Whipping them into line, I suppose. (whipping noise) The third in line is the House Majority Leader, who helps the majority and probably does other stuff, but mainly he's chosen by the speaker because he's popular with particular factions within the party. The Minority Party, that's the one with fewer members elected in a term, duh (scoffs), also has a Minority Leader, and a Minority Whip, but no speaker. The Minority Leader is the de facto spokesperson for the minority party in the House, which is why you often see him or her on TV, or on your phone, or, your iPad, or your pager. I don't think you can see it on your pager. Hey, that was some pretty good stuff you said there House Clone. What's the deal with the Senate, Senate Clone? Things are simpler over in the Senate because we have only 100 august members and not the rabble of 435 to try to "manage." The leader of the Senate is the Majority Leader and he (so far it's always been a he) is elected by the members of his party, which by definition is the majority party, the one with 51 or more members. There's also a Minority Leader, which, like the Minority Leader in the House, is the party's spokesperson. The Vice President presides over the Senate sessions when he doesn't have anything better to do, even though it's one of his few official constitutional duties. When the veep is off at a funeral, or undermining the president with one of his gaffes, the President pro tempore presides. The President pro tem is a largely ceremonial role that is given to the most senior member of the majority party. Senior here means longest serving, not necessarily oldest, although it can be the same thing. No one would want to be a Congressional leader if there was no power involved, so it's important to know what powers these folks have, and how they exercise them. Also, I'm not supposed to do this, but let's go to the Thought Bubble. I love saying that! The primary way that leaders in both the House and Senate exercise power is through committee assignments. By assigning certain members to certain committees, the leadership can ensure that their views will be represented on those committees. Also, leaders can reward members with good committee assignments, usually ones that allow members to connect with their constituents, or stay in the public eye, or punish wayward members with bad committee assignments. Like the committee for cleaning the toilets or something. The Speaker of the House is especially powerful in his role assigning Congressmen to committees. Congressional leaders shape the agenda of Congress, having a huge say in which issues get discussed and how that discussion takes place. The Speaker is very influential here, although how debate happens in the House is actually decided by the House Rules Committee, which makes this a rather powerful committee to be on. The Senate doesn't have a rules committee, so there's no rules! Aw, yeah! There's rules. The body as a whole decides how long debate will go on, and whether amendments will be allowed, but the Majority Leader, if he can control his party, still has a lot of say in what issues will get discussed. Agenda setting is often a negative power, which means that it is exercised by keeping items off the agenda rather than putting them on. It's much easier to keep something from being debated at all than to manage the debate once it's started, and it's also rather difficult for the media to discuss an issue that's never brought up, no matter how much the public might ask, "But why don't you talk about this thing that matters a lot to me?" Thanks, Thought Bubble. Speaking of the media, Congressional leaders can also wield power because they have greater access to the press and especially TV. That's the thing people used to watch. Instead of YouTube. This is largely a matter of efficiency. Media outlets have only so many reporters, and they aren't going to waste resources on the first-term Congressman from some district in upstate New York. No one even goes to upstate New York. Is there anyone in upstate New York? Has anyone ever gone to upstate New York? When the Speaker calls a press conference reporters show up, and the Majority Leader can usually get on the Sunday talk shows if he wants. Media access is a pretty handy way to set an agenda for the public. Finally, Congressional leaders exercise a lot of power through their ability to raise money and to funnel it into their colleague's campaign. I want colleagues like that. Each House of Congress has a special campaign committee and whoever chairs it has the ability to shift campaign funds to the race that needs it most, or to the Congressperson he or she most wants to influence. The official leadership has little trouble raising money since donors want to give to proven winners who have a lot of power, and get the most bang for their buck. Since the leaders usually win their races easily, this is more true in the House than the Senate. They frequently have extra campaign money to give. Often the donations are given to political action committees, or PACs, which we'll talk about in another episode. We're going to spend a lot of time talking about political parties, and probably having parties of our own in later episodes, especially their role in elections, but they are really important once Congress is in office too. One way that parties matter is incredibly obvious if you stop to think about it. It's contained in the phrase "majority rules." This is especially true in the House, where the majority party chooses the Speaker, but it's also the case in the Senate. This is why ultimately political parties organize and raise so much money to win elections: if one of the parties controls both houses and the presidency, as the Democrats did in 2008 through 2009, that party is much more likely to actually get things done. The party that's the majority in each house is also the majority on all of that house's committees, or at least the important ones, and, as we saw in the last episode, committees are where most of the legislative work in Congress gets done. Gets did. As you probably figured out, the majority party chooses the committee chairs, too, so it's really got a lock on that sweet legislative agenda. Parties also can make Congress more efficient by providing a framework for cooperation. The party provides a common set of values, so a Republican from Florida and one from Wyoming will have something in common, even if their constituents don't. These common values can be the basis of legislation sometimes. But sometimes that happens. Political parties also provide discipline in the process. When a party is more unified it's easier for the leader to set an agenda and get the membership to stick to it. Right? Unified. Lack of party unity can make it difficult for the leadership. In 2011 a large group of very conservative newbie Congressmen associated with the Tea Party Movement made it difficult for Speaker Boehner to put forward an agenda. The Tea Party caucus felt Boehner compromised too much with the Democrats, even though his agenda was, by some standards, pretty conservative. As a result, Congress wasn't able to get much done, except make itself unpopular. So, if you combine all this with the stuff we learned about Congressional committees, you should have a pretty good understanding of how Congress actually works. Yay! Understanding! As this course progresses and you fall in love with politics, and myself, be on the lookout for how the leadership sets the agenda and pay attention to what issues might be floating around that aren't getting discussed in Congress. Understanding who the Congressional leaders are, and knowing their motivations, can give you a sense of why things do and don't get done by the government. And, if you're lucky, you live in a district represented by a member of leadership. In that case, the person you vote for will be in the news all the time, which is kind of satisfying, I guess. Yeah, I voted for that guy! Yeah! And now he's on the TV! Yeah! Thanks for watching. We'll see you next week. What do you think, can we be unified? Can we get things done? We can't. Crash Course Government and Politics is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios. Support for Crash Course US Government comes from Voqal. Voqal supports non-profits that use technology and media to advance social equity. Learn more about their mission and initiatives at voqal.org. Crash Course was made by all of these nice people. Thanks for watching. Someday, maybe the eagle and I will get along. Not today. Not today.
Existing floor leaders
The Senate is composed of 49 Republicans, 47 Democrats, and 4 independents; all the independents caucus with the Democrats.
The leaders are Senators Chuck Schumer (D) of New York and Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky.[1] The assistant leaders, or whips, are Senators Dick Durbin (D) of Illinois and John Thune (R) of South Dakota.
History
By at least 1850, parties in each chamber of Congress began naming chairs, and while conference and caucus chairs carried very little authority, the Senate party floor leader positions arose from the position of conference chair.[2] Senate Democrats began the practice of electing their floor leaders in 1920 while they were in the minority. John W. Kern was a Democratic senator from Indiana. While the title was not official, the Senate website identifies Kern as the first Senate party leader, serving in that capacity from 1913 through 1917 (and in turn, the first Senate Democratic leader), while serving concurrently as chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.[3] In 1925, the Republicans (who were in the majority at the time) also adopted this language when Charles Curtis became the first (official) majority leader,[4] although his immediate predecessor Henry Cabot Lodge is considered the first (unofficial) Senate majority leader.
The United States Constitution designates the vice president of the United States as president of the Senate. The Constitution also calls for a president pro tempore, to serve as the presiding officer when the president of the Senate (the vice president) is absent. In practice, neither the vice president nor the president pro tempore—customarily the most senior (longest-serving) senator in the majority party—actually presides over the Senate on a daily basis; that task is given to junior senators of the majority party. Since the vice president may be of a different party from the majority and is not a Senate member subject to discipline, the rules of procedure of the Senate give the vice president no power beyond the presiding role. For these reasons, it is the majority leader who, in practice, manages the Senate. This is in contrast to the House of Representatives, where the elected speaker of the House has a great deal of discretionary power and generally presides over votes on legislative bills.[citation needed]
Powers of the majority leader
Under a long-standing Senate precedent, motions or amendments by the majority leader is granted precedence over motions by any other senator: the majority leader can therefore make at any time a motion to proceed to the consideration of a bill on the Senate Calendar (which contains almost exclusively bills which have been reported by the committee they were assigned to); a motion to proceed may be agreed to either by unanimous consent or through the invocation of cloture. Conventionally, no senator other than the majority leader introduces motions to proceed, although every senator is theoretically allowed to. In addition, the majority leader can block consideration of amendments through a practice known as "filling the tree", and decides which members will fill each of the committee seats reserved to the majority party; members of committees are therefore often prone to following the instructions of the majority leader, and rarely place bills on the Senate Calendar without the latter's consent.[5]
List of party leaders
The Democratic Party first selected a leader in 1920. The Republican Party first formally designated a leader in 1925.[6]
Congress | Dates | Democratic whip | Democratic leader | Majority | Republican leader | Republican whip |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
63rd | May 28, 1913 – March 4, 1915 |
J. Hamilton Lewis | None | Democratic ← majority |
None | None |
64th | March 4, 1915 – December 6, 1915 | |||||
December 6, 1915 – December 13, 1915 |
James Wadsworth | |||||
December 13, 1915 – March 4, 1917 |
Charles Curtis | |||||
65th | March 4, 1917 – March 4, 1919 | |||||
66th | March 4, 1919 – April 27, 1920 |
Peter Gerry | Republican majority → |
Henry Cabot Lodge Unofficial | ||
April 27, 1920 – March 4, 1921 |
Oscar Underwood | |||||
67th | March 4, 1921 – March 4, 1923 | |||||
68th | March 4, 1923 – December 3, 1923 | |||||
December 3, 1923 – November 9, 1924 |
Joseph T. Robinson | |||||
November 9, 1924 – March 4, 1925 |
Charles Curtis Acting |
Wesley Jones Acting | ||||
69th | March 4, 1925 – March 4, 1927 |
Charles Curtis | Wesley Jones | |||
70th | March 4, 1927 – March 4, 1929 | |||||
71st | March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1931 |
Morris Sheppard | James E. Watson | Simeon Fess | ||
72nd | March 4, 1931 – March 4, 1933 | |||||
73rd | March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935 |
J. Hamilton Lewis | Democratic ← majority |
Charles L. McNary | Felix Hebert | |
74th | January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1937 |
None[a] | ||||
75th | January 3, 1937 – July 14, 1937 | |||||
July 14, 1937 – January 3, 1939 |
Alben W. Barkley | |||||
76th | January 3, 1939 – April 9, 1939 | |||||
April 9, 1939 – January 3, 1940 |
Sherman Minton | |||||
January 3, 1940 – January 3, 1941 |
Warren Austin Acting | |||||
77th | January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943 |
J. Lister Hill | Charles L. McNary | |||
78th | January 3, 1943 – February 25, 1944 |
Kenneth Wherry | ||||
February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945 |
Wallace H. White Acting | |||||
79th | January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1947 |
Wallace H. White | ||||
80th | January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949 |
Scott W. Lucas | Republican majority → | |||
81st | January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1951 |
Francis Myers | Scott W. Lucas | Democratic ← majority |
Kenneth S. Wherry | Leverett Saltonstall |
82nd | January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1952 |
Lyndon B. Johnson | Ernest McFarland | |||
January 3, 1952 – January 3, 1953 |
Styles Bridges | |||||
83rd | January 3, 1953 – July 31, 1953 |
Earle Clements | Lyndon B. Johnson | Republican majority → |
Robert A. Taft | |
August 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 |
William Knowland | |||||
84th | January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1957 |
Democratic ← majority | ||||
85th | January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1959 |
Mike Mansfield | Everett Dirksen | |||
86th | January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1961 |
Everett Dirksen | Thomas Kuchel | |||
87th | January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963 |
Hubert Humphrey | Mike Mansfield | |||
88th | January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965 | |||||
89th | January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1967 |
Russell B. Long | ||||
90th | January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1969 | |||||
91st | January 3, 1969 – September 7, 1969 |
Ted Kennedy | Hugh Scott | |||
September 24, 1969 – January 3, 1971 |
Hugh Scott | Robert Griffin | ||||
92nd | January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973 |
Robert Byrd | ||||
93rd | January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1975 | |||||
94th | January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1977 | |||||
95th | January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979 |
Alan Cranston | Robert Byrd | Howard Baker | Ted Stevens | |
96th | January 3, 1979 – November 1, 1979 | |||||
November 1, 1979 – March 5, 1980 |
Ted Stevens Acting | |||||
March 5, 1980 – January 3, 1981 |
Howard Baker | |||||
97th | January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1983 |
Republican majority → | ||||
98th | January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1985 | |||||
99th | January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1987 |
Bob Dole | Alan Simpson | |||
100th | January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989 |
Democratic ← majority | ||||
101st | January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1991 |
George Mitchell | ||||
102nd | January 3, 1991 – January 3, 1993 |
Wendell Ford | ||||
103rd | January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995 | |||||
104th | January 3, 1995 – June 12, 1996 |
Tom Daschle | Republican majority → |
Trent Lott | ||
June 12, 1996 – January 3, 1997 |
Trent Lott | Don Nickles | ||||
105th | January 3, 1997 – January 3, 1999 | |||||
106th | January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2001 |
Harry Reid | ||||
107th | January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001 |
Democratic ← majority | ||||
January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001 |
Republican majority → | |||||
June 6, 2001 – November 23, 2002 |
Democratic ← majority | |||||
November 23, 2002 – January 3, 2003 |
[b] Republican majority → | |||||
108th | January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005 |
Bill Frist | Mitch McConnell | |||
109th | January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007 |
Dick Durbin | Harry Reid | |||
110th | January 3, 2007 – December 18, 2007 |
Democratic ← majority |
Mitch McConnell | Trent Lott | ||
December 19, 2007 – January 3, 2009 |
Jon Kyl | |||||
111th | January 3, 2009 – January 3, 2011 | |||||
112th | January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013 | |||||
113th | January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015 |
John Cornyn | ||||
114th | January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2017 |
Republican majority → | ||||
115th | January 3, 2017 – January 3, 2019 |
Chuck Schumer | ||||
116th | January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2021 |
John Thune | ||||
117th | January 3, 2021 – January 20, 2021 | |||||
January 20, 2021 – January 3, 2023 |
Democratic ← majority | |||||
118th | January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2025 | |||||
Congress | Dates | Democratic whip | Democratic leader | Majority | Republican leader | Republican whip |
See also
This article is part of a series on the |
Politics of the United States |
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- Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives
- President pro tempore of the United States Senate
- Vice President of the United States (President of the United States Senate)
- Party divisions of United States Congresses
- List of political parties in the United States
Notes
- ^ No Republican whips were appointed from 1935 to 1944 since the Senate had only 17 Republicans following the landslide reelection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. Accordingly, the minutes of the Republican Conference for the period state: "On motion of Senator Hastings, duly seconded and carried, it was agreed that no Assistant Leader or Whip be elected but that the chairman be authorized to appoint Senators from time to time to assist him in taking charge of the interests of the minority." A note attached to the conference minutes added: "The chairman of the conference, Senator McNary, apparently appointed Senator Austin of Vermont as assistant leader in 1943 and 1944, until the conference adopted Rules of Organization."[7]
- ^ Between November 23, 2002, and January 3, 2003, during the 107th Congress, Democrats remained in control, despite a Republican majority resulting from Jim Talent's special election victory in Missouri. There was no reorganization as the Senate was not in session.[8]
References
- ^ "Democrats Take Narrow Control of US Senate as Three New Members Sworn In". VOA. Reuters. January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
- ^ Heitshusen, Valerie (September 4, 2019). Party Leaders in the United States Congress, 1789-2019 (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. i. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ "Majority and Minority Leaders". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
- ^ "Senate Leader". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
- ^ "What makes Senate leaders so powerful?".
- ^ "Majority and Minority Leaders". United States Senate. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^ Party Whips Archived March 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, via Senate.gov
- ^ Party Division in the Senate, 1789–present, via Senate.gov
External links
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