majority leader

n.
The leader of the majority party in a legislature, as in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives.

In the US Congress the majority leader is the Representative or Senator selected by the majority party to organize the passage of legislation. The Senate majority leader controls the legislative schedule, sets party strategy, and is the party's chief spokesman. The House majority leader, although subordinate in rank to the Speaker, has an important role in organizing the passage of legislation. Minority leaders organize the minority party's strategy, and are the party's main spokesmen in Congress.

Members of the majority party in both the House of Representatives and the Senate elect a leader to represent them in floor proceedings and to serve as a spokesperson for their party's position on the issues. The majority leader schedules business on the floor, plans party strategy, and attempts to keep the majority party as united as possible when casting roll call votes. Majority leaders receive a higher salary than other members, a car and driver, and a separate leadership office and staff within the Capitol.

The Constitution provides for presiding officers for the House and Senate but says nothing about party floor leadership. This was because the framers of the Constitution hoped that the United States might avoid parties—or factions, as they called them. But within a few years after the federal government had started, such controversial issues as the Jay Treaty! divided Americans, and their congressional representatives, into opposing political parties. Early Presidents turned to certain members of the House and Senate to act as their spokesmen, to promote their programs, and to make sure other members of their party voted with them. Formal party leadership positions, such as majority and minority leaders and whips, evolved over time.

House majority leaders

Because of the House's larger size, its parties were first to require active floor leadership to keep their members informed and in line. The Speaker would designate one member to act as his spokesman on the floor, often choosing the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee or the Appropriations Committee. By the Civil War the press was using the terms majority and minority leader to describe the top party officials in the House.

After progressive House members revolted against the dictatorial leadership of Speaker Joseph G. Cannon in 1910, Speakers lost the power to name the floor leader. Instead, the party conferences elected the leader. These leaders devoted their attention to floor business and no longer chaired committees. Majority leaders also became the prime candidates to move up to the Speakership.

Senate majority leaders

During the 19th century, leadership in the Senate was divided among the majority party caucus (or conference) leader and the most powerful committee chairmen. “No one is the Senator, no one may speak for his party as well as himself,” Woodrow Wilson wrote in his study of Congress in 1885. By the time Wilson became President in 1913, Senate party leaders began to emerge. Democratic conference chairman John Worth Kern and later Republican conference chairman Henry Cabot Lodge performed all the functions of modern majority leaders, although neither formally held the title. The Democrats first designated a floor leader in 1921. They elected Oscar W. Underwood (Democrat-Alabama), who had previously served as House majority leader from 1911 to 1915. In 1925 the Republicans designated Charles Curtis (Republican—Kansas) as their first official majority leader.

Majority Leaders of the House
Serano E. Payne (Republican–New York), 1899–1911
Oscar W. Underwood (Democrat–Alabama), 1911–15
Claude Kitchin (Democrat–North Carolina), 1915–19
Franklin W. Mondell (Republican–Wyoming), 1919–23
Nicholas Longworth (Republican–Ohio), 1923–25
John Q. Tilson (Republican–Connecticut), 1925–31
Henry T. Rainey (Democrat–Illinois), 1931–33
Joseph W. Byrns (Democrat–Tennessee), 1933–35
William Bankhead (Deomcrat–Alabama), 1935–36
Sam Rayburn (Democrat–Texas), 1937–40
John W. McCormack (Democrat–Massachusetts), 1940–47, 1949–53, 1955–61
Charles A. Halleck (Republican–Indiana), 1947–49, 1953–55
Carl Albert (Democrat–Oklahoma), 1961–69
Hale Boggs (Democrat–Louisiana), 1969–72
Thomas P. “Tip” O'Neill, Jr. (Democrat–Massachusetts), 1973–77
Jim Wright (Democrat–Texas), 1977–87
Thomas S. Foley (Democrat–Washington), 1987–89
Richard A. Gephardt (Democrat–Missouri), 1989–95
Richard Armey (Republican–Texas), 1995
Identification of majority leaders in the 19th century was unofficial, and a comprehensive list is unavailable

Majority Leaders of the Senate
John Worth Kern (Democrat–Indiana), 1913–17*
Thomas S. Martin (Democrat–Virginia), 1917–19*
Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. (Republican–Massachusetts), 1919–24*
Charles Curtis (Republican–Kansas), 1925–29
James S. Watson (Republican–Indiana), 1929–33
Joseph T. Robinson (Democrat–Arkansas), 1933–37
Alben W. Barkley (Democrat–Kentucky), 1937–47
Wallace H. White, Jr. (Republican–Maine), 1947–49
Scott Lucas (Democrat–Illinois), 1949–51
Ernest McFarland (Democrat–Arizona), 1951–53
Robert A. Taft, Sr. (Republican–Ohio), 1953
Willam F. Knowland (Republican–California), 1953–55
Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat–Texas), 1955–61
Mike Mansfield (Democrat–Montana), 1961–77
Robert C. Byrd (Democrat–West Virginia), 1977–81, 1987–89
Howard Baker (Republican–Tennessee), 1981–85
Robert Dole (Republican–Kansas), 1985–87, 1995–96
George S. Mitchell (Democrat–Maine), 1989–95
Trent Lott (Republican–Mississippi), 1996–
*conference chairman; not officially designated majority leader

House rules favor the majority party and limit the role of the minority—as long as the majority stays united. Senate rules give more authority to individual members of both the majority and minority parties and provide few specific powers for the leaders. Senate rules require that the presiding officer must recognize the majority and minority leaders before other senators seeking recognition to speak. This procedure gives the leadership increased control over the proceedings. The floor leaders also chair their party steering committees, which determine committee assignments. But otherwise the job carries few specific powers. The power of the majority leader depends instead on the skill, intelligence, and personality of the person who holds the post.

See also Leadership in Congress; Minority leader

The leader of the party that holds a majority of seats in either house of Congress or of a state legislature. Selected by their own party caucuses, majority leaders act as chief spokespersons and strategists for their parties. In the House of Representatives, the majority leader is second in command of his party, after the Speaker of the House. (See also minority leader.)

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