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One of the most influential Speakers in history was Democrat Sam Rayburn. He helped shape many bills, working quietly in the background with House committees. He also helped ensure the passage of several domestic measures and foreign assistance programs advocated by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Rayburn's successor, Democrat John W. McCormack served — , was a somewhat less influential speaker, particularly because of dissent from younger members of the Democratic Party. During the mids, the power of the speakership once again grew under Democrat Carl Albert. The Committee on Rules ceased to be a semi-independent panel, as it had been since Instead, it once again became an arm of the party leadership.
Moreover, in , the Speaker was granted the authority to appoint a majority of the members of the Rules Committee. Meanwhile, the power of committee chairmen was curtailed, further increasing the relative influence of the Speaker. O'Neill is the longest continually serving Speaker, from through He challenged Reagan on domestic programs and on defense expenditures.
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Republicans made O'Neill the target of their election campaigns in and but Democrats managed to retain their majorities in both years. The roles of the parties reversed in when, after spending forty years in the minority, the Republicans regained control of the House with the " Contract with America ", an idea spearheaded by Minority Whip Newt Gingrich. Speaker Gingrich would regularly clash with Democratic President Bill Clinton , leading to the United States federal government shutdown of and , in which Clinton was largely seen to have prevailed.
Gingrich's hold on the leadership was weakened significantly by that and several other controversies, and he faced a caucus revolt in After the Republicans lost House seats in although retaining a majority he did not stand for a third term as Speaker. His successor, Dennis Hastert , had been chosen as a compromise candidate, since the other Republicans in the leadership were more controversial. The Republicans came out of the elections with a further reduced majority but made small gains in and The periods of — and — were the first times since — that there was single-party Republican leadership in Washington, interrupted from — as Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become independent and caucused with Senate Democrats to give them a majority.
In the midterm elections , the Democrats won a majority in the House. Nancy Pelosi became Speaker when the th Congress convened on January 4, , making her the first female to hold the office. With the election of Barack Obama as President and Democratic gains in both houses of Congress, Pelosi became the first Speaker since Tom Foley to hold the office during single-party Democratic leadership in Washington. Historically, there have been several controversial elections to the speakership, such as the contest of In that case, even though the 26th United States Congress convened on December 2, the House could not begin the speakership election until December 14 because of an election dispute in New Jersey known as the " Broad Seal War ".
Two rival delegations, one Whig and the other Democrat, had been certified as elected by different branches of the New Jersey government. The problem was compounded by the fact that the result of the dispute would determine whether the Whigs or the Democrats held the majority. Neither party agreed to permit a speakership election with the opposite party's delegation participating. Finally, it was agreed to exclude both delegations from the election and a Speaker was finally chosen on December Another, more prolonged fight occurred in in the 34th United States Congress.
The old Whig Party had collapsed but no single party had emerged to replace it. Candidates opposing the Democrats had run under a bewildering variety of labels, including Whig, Republican , American Know Nothing , and simply " Opposition ". By the time Congress actually met in December , most of the northerners were concentrated together as Republicans, while most of the southerners and a few northerners used the American or Know Nothing label.
Opponents of the Democrats held a majority in House, with the party makeup of the Representatives being 83 Democrats, Republicans, and 43 Know Nothings primarily southern oppositionists. The Democratic minority nominated William Alexander Richardson of Illinois as Speaker, but because of sectional distrust, the various oppositionists were unable to agree on a single candidate for Speaker. The Republicans supported Nathaniel Prentiss Banks of Massachusetts, who had been elected as a Know Nothing but was now largely identified with the Republicans.
The voting went on for almost two months with no candidate able to secure a majority, until it was finally agreed to elect the Speaker by plurality vote, and Banks was elected. Although the Republicans held a plurality, the Republican candidate, John Sherman , was unacceptable to southern oppositionists due to his anti-slavery views, and once again the House was unable to elect a Speaker for several months. After Democrats allied with southern oppositionists to nearly elect the North Carolina oppositionist William N. Smith , Sherman finally withdrew in favor of compromise candidate William Pennington of New Jersey, a former Whig of unclear partisan loyalties, who was finally elected Speaker at the end of January The last speakership elections in which the House had to vote more than once occurred in the 65th and 72nd United States Congress.
In , neither the Republican nor the Democratic candidate could attain a majority because three members of the Progressive Party and other individual members of other parties voted for their own party. In , both the Republicans and the Democrats had members with the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party having one member who served as the deciding vote. In , several Republican congressional leaders tried to force Speaker Newt Gingrich to resign.
However, Gingrich refused since that would have required a new election for Speaker, which could have led to Democrats along with dissenting Republicans voting for Democrat Dick Gephardt then Minority Leader as Speaker. After the midterm elections where the Republicans lost seats, Gingrich did not stand for re-election. The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee , Bob Livingston , declared his bid for the speakership, which was unopposed, making him Speaker-designate. It was then revealed, by Livingston himself, who had been publicly critical of President Bill Clinton 's perjury during his sexual harassment trial, that he had engaged in an extramarital affair.
He opted to resign from the House, despite being urged to stay on by House Democratic leader Gephardt. Subsequently, chief deputy whip Dennis Hastert was selected as Speaker. The Republicans retained their majorities in the , , and elections.
The Democrats won a majority of seats in the midterm elections. As a show of dissent, nineteen Democratic representatives voted for Democrats other than Pelosi, who had been chosen as House Minority Leader and the Democrats' candidate for Speaker. The Constitution does not spell out the political role of the Speaker.
As the office has developed historically, however, it has taken on a clearly partisan cast, very different from the speakership of most Westminster-style legislatures, such as the Speaker of the British House of Commons , which is meant to be scrupulously non-partisan. The Speaker in the United States, by tradition, is the head of the majority party in the House of Representatives, outranking the Majority Leader. However, despite having the right to vote, the Speaker usually does not participate in debate and rarely votes. The Speaker is responsible for ensuring that the House passes legislation supported by the majority party.
In pursuing this goal, the Speaker may use their power to determine when each bill reaches the floor. They also chair the majority party's steering committee in the House. While the Speaker is the functioning head of the House majority party, the same is not true of the President pro tempore of the Senate, whose office is primarily ceremonial and honorary.
When the Speaker and the President belong to the same party, the Speaker tends to play the role in a more ceremonial light, as seen when Dennis Hastert played a very low-key role during the presidency of fellow Republican George W. Nevertheless, when the Speaker and the President belong to the same party, there are also times that the Speaker plays a much larger role, and the Speaker is tasked, e.
This can be seen, most of all, in the speakership of Democratic-Republican Henry Clay , who personally ensured the presidential victory of fellow Democratic-Republican John Quincy Adams. Republican Joseph Gurney Cannon under Theodore Roosevelt was particularly infamous for his marginalization of the minority Democrats and centralizing of authority to the speakership. In more recent times, Speaker Nancy Pelosi played a role in continuing the push for health care reform during the presidency of fellow Democrat Barack Obama.
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On the other hand, when the Speaker and the President belong to opposite parties, the public role and influence of the Speaker tend to increase. As the highest-ranking member of the opposition party and de facto Leader of the Opposition , the Speaker is normally the chief public opponent of the President's agenda. In this scenario, the Speaker is known for undercutting the President's agenda by blocking measures by the minority party or rejecting bills by the Senate.
One famous instance came in the form of Thomas Brackett Reed under Grover Cleveland , a Speaker notorious for his successful attempt to force the Democrats to vote on measures where the Republicans had clear majorities, which ensured that Cleveland's Democrats were in no position to challenge the Republicans in the House. Joseph Cannon was particularly unique in that he led the conservative "Old Guard" wing of the Republican Party, while his President — Theodore Roosevelt — was of the more progressive clique, and more than just marginalizing the Democrats, Cannon used his power to punish the dissidents in his party and obstruct the progressive wing of the Republican Party.
As presiding officer of the House of Representatives, the Speaker holds a variety of powers over the House and is ceremonially the highest-ranking legislative official in the US government. At other times, more junior members may be assigned to preside to give them experience with the rules and procedures of the House. The Speaker may also designate, with approval of the House, a Speaker pro tempore for special purposes, such as designating a Representative whose district is near Washington, D. Under the Rules of the House , the Speaker, "as soon as practicable after the election of the Speaker and whenever appropriate thereafter," must deliver to the Clerk of the House a confidential list of Members who are designated to act as Speaker in the case of a vacancy or physical inability of the Speaker to perform their duties.
On the floor of the House, the presiding officer is always addressed as "Mister Speaker" or "Madam Speaker," even if it is a Speaker pro tempore , and not the Speaker themselves. When the House resolves itself into a Committee of the Whole , the Speaker designates a member to preside over the Committee as the Chairman, who is addressed as "Mister Chairman" or "Madam Chairwoman. The presiding officer also rules on all points of order but such rulings may be appealed to the whole House.
The Speaker is responsible for maintaining decorum in the House and may order the Sergeant-at-Arms to enforce House rules.
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The Speaker's powers and duties extend beyond presiding in the chamber. In particular, the Speaker has great influence over the committee process. The Speaker selects nine of the thirteen members of the powerful Committee on Rules , subject to the approval of the entire majority party. The leadership of the minority party chooses the remaining four members. Furthermore, the Speaker appoints all members of select committees and conference committees.
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Moreover, when a bill is introduced, the Speaker determines which committee will consider it. As a member of the House, the Speaker is entitled to participate in debate and to vote but, by custom, only does so in exceptional circumstances.
Ordinarily, the Speaker votes only when the Speaker's vote would be decisive or on matters of great importance, such as constitutional amendments or major legislation. Because joint sessions and joint meetings of Congress are held in the House chamber, the Speaker presides over joint sessions to hear addresses by the President, and joint meetings to hear addresses from foreign leaders or other invited guests.
However, the Twelfth Amendment and 3 U. The Speaker is also responsible for overseeing the officers of the House: The Speaker can dismiss any of these officers. The Speaker is second in the presidential line of succession , immediately after the Vice President, under the Presidential Succession Act of The Speaker is followed in the line of succession by the President pro tempore of the Senate and by the heads of federal executive departments.
To date, the implementation of the Presidential Succession Act has never been necessary and no Speaker has ever acted as President. Implementation of the law almost became necessary in after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. At the time, many believed that President Richard Nixon would resign because of the Watergate scandal , allowing Speaker Carl Albert to succeed to the Presidency. Nevertheless, the United States government takes the Speaker's place in the line of succession seriously enough that, for example, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, , Speakers used military jets to fly back and forth to their districts and for other travel until Speaker Boehner discontinued the practice in The Speaker of the House is one of the officers to whom declarations of presidential inability or ability to resume the Presidency must be addressed under the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
To be elected as Speaker, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of all votes cast for individuals, excluding those who abstain. The incumbent speaker, Paul Ryan, was re-elected. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
March Learn how and when to remove this template message. Current members by seniority by age non-voting. Closed session list Saxbe fix. Origination Clause Quorum call. Self-executing rule Rules suspension.
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The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership
This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Apr 22, Alex Nelson rated it really liked it Shelves: The book's main hypothesis is "when the Speakers' party is more unified or when highly salient legislative issues are under consideration in the House, the Speaker is more likely to exercise legislative leadership.
The case studies in chapters 3 and 4 suggested that the latter factor does matter and that the former may be important if 1 a critical majority of the majority party desires a legislative outcome, or 2 the Speaker seeks to secure an important electoral objective of his or her divi The book's main hypothesis is "when the Speakers' party is more unified or when highly salient legislative issues are under consideration in the House, the Speaker is more likely to exercise legislative leadership.
The case studies in chapters 3 and 4 suggested that the latter factor does matter and that the former may be important if 1 a critical majority of the majority party desires a legislative outcome, or 2 the Speaker seeks to secure an important electoral objective of his or her divided party" pg Michael Barker rated it liked it Dec 03, Andreea Mosila rated it it was amazing Mar 12, Robert Christian added it May 12, Josh Teitelbaum marked it as to-read Aug 22, Chris added it Aug 08, Luke marked it as to-read Apr 26, Michael marked it as to-read Nov 15, Magne Martin Haug marked it as to-read Feb 02, Eric Lyman marked it as to-read Mar 29, David Kalish marked it as to-read Apr 13,