3.Leadership and Committees in Congress

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the only presiding officer and traditionally has been the leader of the majority party in the House.The position is a very powerful one；the Speaker is second in line in presidential succession（after Vice President）.The Speaker’s real power comes from controlling the selection of committee chairs and committee members and the authority to set the order of business of the House.The majority leader is second only to the Speaker.He or she presents the official position of the party on issues and tries to keep party members loyal to that position，which is not always an easy task.The Senate has a somewhat different leadership structure.The Vice President is officially the presiding officer and is called the president of the Senate.In fact the Vice President seldom appears in the Senate chamber in this role unless it appears that there might be tie vote¹ in the Senate.In such instances，the Vice President casts the tiebreaking vote.To deal with day-to-day business，the Senate chooses the president pro tempore².This position is an honorary one and is traditionally given to the senator in the majority party who has the longest continuous service.As in the House，the Senate has majority and minority leaders，who can exercise certain political influence on their party members.In both the Senate and the House，the whips of the majority and minority parties play an important role.They see to it that party memhers are present for important votes，and they provide their colleagues with information needed to ensure party loyalty.Much of the work of congress is actually done in committees，where bills are introduced，hearings are held，and the first votes on proposed bills are taken.Both houses have four types of committees：standing，select，conference，and joint.Standing committees are permanent ones to determine whether proposed legislation should be presented to the entire House or Senate for consideration.Select committees are also known as special committees.Unlike standing committees，these are temporary and are established to examine specific issues.They must be reestablished with each new Congress.Conference committees deal with the differences in legislation that has been passed by each of both houses of Congress.Like the conference committees，joint committees have members from both houses，with the leadership rotating between Senate and House members.They focus on issues of general concern to Congress and investigate problems but do not propose legislation.There are also many subcommittees in different committees.They focus more closely on the issues and draft the bills.When a House subcommittee is formed，a chair is selected，whose assignment is，like the chair in a committee，based on seniority（years of consecutive service on the committee）.