Second authority to the speaker of the house

The Texas Constitution divides state government into three separate but equal branches: the executive branch, headed by the governor; the judicial branch, which consists of the Texas Supreme Court and all state courts; and the legislative branch, headed by the Texas Legislature, which includes the members of the house of representatives and the 31 members of the state senate. Members of the house of representatives are elected to two-year terms and represent districts of about , people each. Senators serve four-year terms and serve about , people each. The legislature meets every odd-numbered year to write new laws and to find solutions to the problems facing the state. This meeting time, which begins on the second Tuesday in January and lasts days, is called the regular session. The governor can direct the legislature to meet at other times also.

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Content:

• Congress: The First Branch
• House of Representatives
• The Legislative Branch
• Roles and Responsibilities of Selected Leadership Positions
• Infosheet 3 - The Speaker
• Constitution of the United States
• Pelosi Reelected Speaker By House Democrats Despite Party's Losses
• The Speaker of the House: House Officer, Party Leader, and Representative
• Speakers of the House (1789 to present)
• 12th REPUBLICAN PARLIAMENT: 2nd SESSION

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: WATCH LIVE: As second shutdown looms, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds weekly news briefing

Congress: The First Branch

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives , commonly known as the speaker of the House , is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in by Article I, Section 2 of the U. The speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House of Representatives and is simultaneously the House's presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions.

Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates. That duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party.

Neither does the speaker regularly participate in floor debates. The Constitution does not require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, although every speaker thus far has been. She was elected to a fourth second consecutive term as speaker on January 3, , the first day of the th Congress. She has led the Democratic Party in the House since , and is the first woman to serve as speaker. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress i.

Since , the House has elected speakers by roll call vote. Representatives are not restricted to voting for the candidate nominated by their party, but generally do, as the outcome of the election effectively determines which party has the majority and consequently will organize the House. Representatives who choose to vote for someone other than their party's nominated candidate usually vote for someone else in their party or vote "present".

Anyone who votes for the other party's candidate would face serious consequences, as was the case when Democrat Jim Traficant voted for Republican Dennis Hastert in th Congress. In response, the Democrats stripped him of his seniority and he lost all of his committee posts. To be elected speaker, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast.

If no candidate wins a majority, the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected. Gillett speaker. The first speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania , was elected to office on April 1, , the day the House organized itself at the start of the 1st Congress.

He served two non-consecutive terms in the speaker's chair, — 1st Congress and — 3rd Congress. As the Constitution does not state the duties of the speaker, the speaker's role has largely been shaped by traditions and customs that evolved over time. Scholars are divided as to whether early speakers played largely ceremonial and impartial roles or whether they were more active partisan actors. From early in its existence, the speaker's primary function had been to keep order and enforce rules.

The speakership was transformed into a position with power over the legislative process under Henry Clay —, —, and — Furthermore, when no candidate received an Electoral College majority in the presidential election , causing the president to be elected by the House, Speaker Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams instead of Andrew Jackson , thereby ensuring Adams' victory. Following Clay's retirement in , the power of the speakership once again began to decline, despite speakership elections becoming increasingly bitter.

As the Civil War approached, several sectional factions nominated their own candidates, often making it difficult for any candidate to attain a majority. In and again in , for example, the contest for speaker lasted for two months before the House achieved a result.

Speakers tended to have very short tenures during this period. For example, from to there were eleven speakers, only one of whom served for more than one term. To date, James K. Polk is the only speaker of the House who was later elected president of the United States. Towards the end of the 19th century, the office of speaker began to develop into a very powerful one.

At the time, one of the most important sources of the speaker's power was his position as Chairman of the Committee on Rules , which, after the reorganization of the committee system in , became one of the most powerful standing committees of the House.

Furthermore, several speakers became leading figures in their political parties; examples include Democrats Samuel J. Crisp , and Republicans James G. The power of the speaker was greatly augmented during the tenure of the Republican Thomas Brackett Reed —, — Reed, however, declared that members who were in the chamber but refused to vote would still count for the purposes of determining a quorum. Through these and other rulings, Reed ensured that the Democrats could not block the Republican agenda.

The speakership reached its apogee during the term of Republican Joseph Gurney Cannon — Cannon exercised extraordinary control over the legislative process.

He determined the agenda of the House, appointed the members of all committees, chose committee chairmen, headed the Rules Committee, and determined which committee heard each bill. He vigorously used his powers to ensure that Republican proposals were passed by the House.

In , however, Democrats and several dissatisfied Republicans joined together to strip Cannon of many of his powers, including the ability to name committee members and his chairmanship of the Rules Committee. 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. Albert's successor, Democrat Tip O'Neill , was a prominent speaker because of his public opposition to the policies of President Ronald Reagan. O'Neill is the longest continually serving speaker, from through He challenged Reagan on domestic programs and on defense expenditures.

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 to as Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become independent and caucused with Senate Democrats to give them a 51—49 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 woman 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.

John Boehner was elected speaker when the th Congress convened on January 5, , and was subsequently re-elected twice, at the start of the th and th Congresses. On both of those occasions his remaining in office was threatened by the defection of several members from his own party who chose not to vote for him. Following the midterm elections which saw the election of a Democratic Party majority in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker when the th Congress convened on January 3, When Republican leader John Boehner succeeded her as speaker in , Pelosi remained the leader of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives and served as House minority leader for eight years before she led her party to victory in the elections.

In addition to being the first woman to hold the office, Pelosi became the first speaker to return to power since Sam Rayburn in the s. 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 Prentice Banks of Massachusetts, who had been elected as a Know Nothing but was now largely identified with the Republicans.

Fuller of Pennsylvania. 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.

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 on February 1, The last time that an election for speaker went beyond one ballot was in December at the start of the 68th Congress , when Republican Frederick H.

Gillett needed nine ballots to win reelection. Progressive Republicans had refused to support Gillett in the first eight ballots. Only after winning concessions from Republican conference leaders a seat on the House Rules Committee and a pledge that requested House rules changes would be considered did they agree to support him.

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.

House of Representatives

Senate Tracker: Sign Up Login. Javascript must be enabled for site search. Act A bill that has passed both houses of the legislature. See Law. Adjournment The recess of a legislative house until a later stated time or until the time fixed by its rules for reconvening. Sine die adjournment is the final adjournment of a legislative session. Each house adjourns after its daily session and adjourns sine die at the end of each session.

The Legislative Branch

Important ideas include the separation of powers between branches of government checks and balances , the election of Senators and Representatives, the process by which laws are made, and the powers that Congress has. Learn more All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Roles and Responsibilities of Selected Leadership Positions

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives , commonly known as the speaker of the House , is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in by Article I, Section 2 of the U. The speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House of Representatives and is simultaneously the House's presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions.

Infosheet 3 - The Speaker

No other office or position is more closely linked to the history of the House of Commons than that of the Speaker. The office dates back at least years, almost to the very beginnings of Parliament itself. The first Speaker to be recorded on the Parliament Rolls was Sir Thomas Hungerford in , 1 although the first Speaker is commonly considered to have been his predecessor, Sir Peter de la Mare, in The Speakership became an appointment much coveted by members of the party in power and used to advance its policies. The House allowed Speakers, who often held government posts, to participate routinely in debate and to set the agenda of the sitting by determining when and which bills should be considered.

Constitution of the United States

Deirdre Walsh. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Democrats lost the majority in , but she regained the gavel in when Democrats ousted the GOP in the midterms. Nancy Pelosi has been reelected speaker of the House by her caucus for the next session of Congress, marking what will be her fourth term with the gavel. The caucus vote was conducted virtually, but Pelosi was approved by a voice vote.

Pelosi Reelected Speaker By House Democrats Despite Party's Losses

The Speakership is the most important office in the House of Representatives. The House cannot operate without a Speaker. Section 35 of the Constitution states that:.

The Speaker of the House: House Officer, Party Leader, and Representative

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The U. House of Representatives is the lower house of Congress and plays a vital role, along with the Senate, in the process of moving proposed legislation to law. The bicameral relationship between the two bodies is vital to the American system of checks and balances that the Founding Fathers of the United States envisioned when writing the U. The House of Representatives is part of the Legislative branch of government. On March 4, , the U. Constitution , which was finalized two years earlier in

Speakers of the House (1789 to present)

The Office of the Speaker occupies a pivotal position in our parliamentary democracy. It has been said of the Office of the Speaker that while the members of Parliament represent the individual constituencies, the Speaker represents the full authority of the House itself. Therefore, it is expected that the holder of this Office of high dignity has to be one who can represent the House in all its manifestations. With the televising of proceedings of Parliament, the small screen brings to millions of households in the country the day-to-day developments in the House, making the Speaker's task all the more important. The Speaker is looked upon as the true guardian of the traditions of parliamentary democracy.

12th REPUBLICAN PARLIAMENT: 2nd SESSION

Rachel Caufield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, was elected Thursday to serve as speaker of the House. Second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president, the speaker occupies a central role in our national government. Most people think the speakership is a party office.