Chapter 5 : Lesson 2 The House of Representatives

Essential Question: Who makes up the House Leadership?

Congressional leadership is organized strictly by political party.

So where do we start? Majority Party Minority Party Political party that holds the most seats in each house. As of 2018, this is the Republicans. Minority Party Political party that holds fewer seats in each house. As of 2018, this is the Democrats

Constituent: a person whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent

Caucus: a private meeting of a party leaders to choose candidates for office

Why is it important to be in the majority? Presiding officers and committee chairs always come from the majority party! It makes it easier to pass laws!

House of Representative Leadership The House operates under stronger leadership than the Senate Why? It has 4 times as many members! Must be strict to keep them in line! Who is the most powerful? Speaker of the House

Who and what is the Speaker of the House? Paul Ryan Republican Congressman from Wisconsin What does he do? Governs the debate in the House of Reps. Is the public face of the House of Reps. Is 3rd in line if POTUS dies!

Who is below the Speaker of the House? Each political party has their own floor leader Majority party floor leader aka “Majority Leader” Serves as an assistant to the Speaker of the House. Minority Party floor leader aka “Minority Leader” Serves as chief voice of minority party

Who is the Majority Leader today?

House Majority Leader Second in command to Speaker Responsible for day-to-day management Responsible for building majority party consensus elected by members of majority party Rep. Kevin McCarthy R, California

Who is the minority leader? Nancy Pelosi Democrat California’s 8th Congressional District Been in Congress since 1989

House Minority Leader Elected by members of the minority party to serve as their spokesperson Criticizes the program of the majority party Often tries block majority bills from passing Rep. Nancy Pelosi D, California

Who works for the majority and minority leaders? The Whips!! Work feverishly to keep their political parties in line! They demand their members to vote according to the political parties beliefs! Majority whip Works for the majority party Minority whip Works for the minority party

Who are the Whips? Majority Whip Minority Whip Steny Hoyer Steve Scalise (R)Republican Minority Whip Steny Hoyer Democrat from Maryland

Concurrent Jurisdiction: authority shared by two or more committees

Majority & Minority Whips Term “whip” comes from British hunting lore: the whip keeps the foxhounds in line Elected by party members Assist the floor leaders to keep track of party members and lobby (influence) them for votes Serve as leaders in their absence Rep. Steve Scalise R, Louisiana Rep. Steny Hoyer D, Maryland Sen. Richard Durbin D, Illinois Sen. Jon Cornyn R, Texas

Easy Way to Think of It House of Reps Speaker of the House Floor Leaders Majority Minority Whips

Review Question: Chapter 5 : Lesson 2 Read pages 132-140 and answer Review Questions on page 140. Hand in Google Class Room.