Congressional Leadership: Senate
1. "Vice-President"
2. "President Pro
Tempore"
3. "Majority (1) / Minority
Leader (2)"
4."Majority (1) / Minority
Whip (2)"
Congressional Leadership
The House of Representatives and the Senate
Name: ___________________________
Directions: Match the listed role or description with the Congressional leadership position in the chart above. When you are finished, we will go over it together
as a class.
The United States Senate
A. As the Senate’s presiding officer, this individual is authorized to perform certain
duties in the absence of the Vice-President, including ruling on points of order.
B. This individual holds a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. Throughout American
history, they have cast 242 tie-breaking votes on proposed legislation. The
individual with the most tie breaking votes is John Adams with 29.
C. The second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate.
D. These individuals in each party today are elected by a majority vote of all the
Senators of their respective party’s when assembled in a conference or, as it
sometimes is called, a caucus. The practice has been to choose these leaders for a
two-year term at the beginning of each Congress.
E. The Standing Rules of the Senate vests NO significant responsibilities to this
individual. In fact, Rule XIX, which governs debate in the Senate, does not even
allow this Senate leader to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the
Senate the privilege of even addressing the Senate!
F. Individual Senators often consult these individuals about the following matters:
when to participate in debate, committee assignments to be sought, particular
appointments desired, the passage of particular pieces of legislation, the
confirmation of particular nominations and desired administrative action by the
executive branch, particularly when the President and the majority in control of
Congress are of the same political party.
G. These individuals in the Senate typically remain on the floor continuously during
each day of the session of the Senate to see that their party’s program is carried out
to the party's satisfaction.
H. The President of the Senate.
I. These individuals are the second-ranking members of their party leadership in
the United States Senate.
J. This leader in the Senate is third in the line of presidential succession, following
the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House.
K. This individual’s main function is to gather votes on major legislation and issues.
Because he or she is the second ranking member of the Senate, if there is no floor
leader present, they may become the acting floor leader.
L. This Senate leader is the most senior Senator of the majority party and he or she
most likely also chairs a major Senate committee and has other significant demands
on his or her time. Therefore, the position has less time now than in the past to
preside daily over the Senate. Instead, junior Senators from the majority party are
designated to preside over the Senate regularly.
M. This Senate leader has two primary duties: to cast a vote in the event of a
Senate deadlock and to preside over and certify the official vote count of the U.S.
Electoral College.
N. Not actually a member of the Senate.
O. The elected spokesmen on the Senate floor for their respective political parties,
having been elected by their fellow Senators of the same party to whom they are
responsible to.
P. In modern Senate practice, this leader typically only presides over the Senate to
swear in newly elected Senators, during joint sessions of Congress and when it is
necessary to cast a tie-breaking vote.
Congressional Leadership: House of
Representatives
1. "Speaker of the
House"
2. "Majority (1) / Minority
Leader (2)"
3. "Majority (1) / Minority
Whip (2)"
Directions: Match the listed role or description with the Congressional leadership position in the chart above. When you are finished, we will go over it together
as a class.
The United States House of Representatives
A. The presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives.
H. Keeps track of all legislation and ensures that all party members are present
when important measures are to be voted upon.
B. This House officer is charged with scheduling legislation for floor consideration;
planning the daily, weekly, and annual legislative agendas; consulting with
Members to gauge party sentiment; and, in general, working to advance the goals
of their respective party.
I. When a bill is introduced, this individual determines which committee will
consider it.
C. Does not usually personally preside over debates and action on the floor, instead
delegating the duty to other members of Congress of the same political party.
J. Despite having the right to vote, this leadership position in the House usually
does not participate in debate and rarely votes on the floor.
D. Manages his or her party's legislative program on the House floor.
K. A leadership position in the majority party and actively works to set that party's
legislative agenda, therefore endowing the office with considerable power in the
House of Representatives.
E. To speak on the floor of the House, members must seek this individual’s
recognition. This leader in the House may call on members as they please, and may
therefore control the flow of debate on the House floor. .
L. This individual speaks for minority party and its policies and works to protect the
minority's rights in the House.
F. Elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by a secret ballot,
although they are formally installed in their position by a public vote when Congress
reconvenes for a new session.
G. Second in the United States Presidential line-of-succession, after the Vice
President and ahead of the President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate.
M. Assists the party leaders to coordinate ideas on, and garner support for,
proposed legislation. This position, unlike Speaker of the House, is not mandated by
the Constitution.