1. Organization of Congress
Senate
Presided over by “president pro tempore” (seniority)
Led by majority and minority leaders (elected by their parties)
Party whips (keeps leaders informed, round up senators to vote)
Policy committee (schedules Senate business, prioritizes bills)
Committee assignments are handled by a group of senators,
each for their own party
* Democratic Steering Committee
* Republican Committee on Committees
* assignments are especially important for freshmen
senators and emphasize regional and ideological
balance
House
- Speaker of the House presides (leader of the majority party)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is the current “president pro tempore”
Paul Ryan (R-WI) is the current Speaker of the House

2. * decides who to recognize to speak on the floor
- the Speaker of the House
* decides who to recognize to speak on the floor
* assigns bills to committees, influences which bills are brought to vote
* appoints members of special/select committees
* has some informal powers
- majority and minority leaders
- party whips
- committee assignments and legislative schedule are set by each party
* Democratic Steering and Policy Committee
* Republican Committee on Committees (assignments)
* Republican Policy Committee (legislation)
* each party’s campaign committee
The most important part of a congressional leadership role is how well you
can get members of your party to vote together on issues.

3. House Leadership Speaker of the House (Paul Ryan, R-WI)
Minority Leader (Nancy Pelosi, D-CA)
Majority Leader (Kevin McCarthy,
R-CA)
Minority Whip
(Steny Hoyer D- MD)
Majority Whip
(Steve Scalise R-LA)

4. Senate Leadership President Pro Tempore (Orrin Hatch R-UT)
Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Majority Leader (Mitch McConnell R-KY)
Minority Whip
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Majority Whip
John Cornyn (R-TX)

5. Committees
- Legislative (most important organizational feature of Congress)
* consider bills or legislative proposals
* maintain oversight of executive agencies
* conduct investigations
- Standing (permanent committees with specified legislative duties)
- Select (groups appointed for a limited time for a specific purpose)
- Joint (those that include members of the House and Senate)
Majority party has majority of seats on the committees and names the chair
Usually the most senior member of the committee is selected as chair, but this is starting to change
Certain committees attract certain types of legislators
- Finance or foreign-policy (policy-oriented members)
- Small business or veteran’s affairs (constituency-oriented members)