398 Chapter 11 | Congressmajority party determining committee leadership, the division of seats on committees,
and the allocation of committee resources. Parties in Congress also become more
important when opposing parties control the two chambers. This was the case from 1981
to 1986 and in 2018, when Republicans controlled the Senate and Democrats controlled
the House, and in part of 2001 and 2002 and 2011–2014 when the opposite was true.
A leading theory of congressional organization points to the importance of parties in
solving collective action problems in Congress. Without parties, the legislative process
would be much more fractured and decentralized because members would be autonomous
agents in battle with one another. Parties provide a team framework that allows members
to work together for broadly beneficial goals. Just think how difficult it would be for a
member of Congress to get a bill passed if he or she had to build a coalition from scratch
every time. Instead, parties provide a solid base from which coalition building may begin.
As discussed in Chapter 8, political parties provide brand name recognition for members.
The top party leader in the House—and the only House leader mentioned in the
Constitution—is the Speaker of the House, who is the head of the majority party
and influences the legislative agenda, committee assignments, scheduling, and
overall party strategy. The Democratic Party made history in January 2007 when
its representatives elected Nancy Pelosi as the first woman to serve as Speaker. John
Boehner was elected Speaker in 2011 after Republicans regained control of the House
in the 2010 midterm elections and was replaced by Paul Ryan in 2015. Ryan, who was
only 48 years old and at the peak of his career, shocked the Washington establishment
when he announced his retirement early in 2018.
The Speaker is aided by the Majority Leader, the Majority Whip, and the conference
or caucus chair (in addition to many others in lower-level party positions). The Majority
Leader is one of the national spokespersons for the party and also helps with the day-to-
day operation of the legislative process. The Majority Whip oversees the extensive whip
system, which has three functions: information gathering, information dissemination,
and coalition building. The whips meet regularly to discuss legislative strategy and
scheduling. The whips then pass along this information to colleagues in their respective
parties and indicate the party’s position on a given bill. Whips also take a head count of
party members in the House on specific votes and communicate this information to the
party leaders. If a vote looks close, whips try to persuade members to support the party’s
position (“whip” comes from the fox-hunting term “whipper-in,” meaning the person
who keeps the hounds from wandering too far from the pack; similarly, party whips
try to ensure that members do not stray too far from party positions). The conference
chair for the Republicans, or caucus chair for the Democrats, runs the party meetings to
elect floor leaders, to make committee assignments, and to set legislative agendas. The
minority party in the House has a parallel structure: its leader is the Minority Leader,
and the second in command is the Minority Whip.
The Senate leadership does not have as much power as the leadership of the House,
mostly because individual senators have more power than individual House members
due to the Senate’s rule of unlimited debate, as we will discuss later. The Majority
Leader and Minority Leader are the leaders of their respective parties, and second in
command to them are the Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders. The Senate also
has a whip system, but it is not as developed as the House system. Republicans have
a separate position for the conference chair, while the Democratic leader also serves
as the caucus chair. Officially, the country’s vice president is also the president of the
Senate, but he or she appears in the chamber only when needed to cast a tie-breaking
vote. The Constitution also mentions the president pro tempore of the Senate, whose
formal duties involve presiding over the Senate when the vice president is not there.
This is typically the most senior member of the majority party, and the position does
not have any real power. In fact, the actual president pro tempore rarely presides over
the Senate and the task is typically given to a more junior senator.Speaker of the House
The elected leader of the House of
Representatives.Majority Leader
The elected head of the party holding
the majority of seats in the House or
Senate.whip system
An organization of House leaders
who work to disseminate information
and promote party unity in voting on
legislation.Minority Leader
The elected head of the party holding
the minority of seats in the House or
Senate.president pro tempore
A largely symbolic position usually
held by the most senior member of the
majority party in the Senate.Full_12_APT_64431_ch11_374-417.indd 398 16/11/18 10:30 AM