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If there is no vice president, the Speaker of the House automatically becomes acting president. Theodore M. Pomeroy served as Speaker of the House for one day after Speaker Schuyler Colfax resigned to become Vice President of the United States; Pomeroy's term as a Member of Congress ended the next day. Ballotpedia features 486,932 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. The Speaker recognizes Members to speak on the House Floor or make motions during Floor proceedings.
December 1839
The House of Representatives shares equal responsibility for lawmaking with the U.S. As conceived by the framers of the Constitution, the House was to represent the popular will, and its members were to be directly elected by the people. In contrast, members of the Senate were appointed by the states until the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment (1913), which mandated the direct election of senators. After winning their elections and weeks of preparation, Members-elect were sworn in as Members of the U.S. House of Representatives after the 117th Congress was gaveled into session at noon on Sunday, January 3, 2021.

December 1847
Under McCarthy, McHenry was also deployed as a top negotiator for House Republicans in securing an agreement with the White House to prevent the US from defaulting for the first time in history. The congressman temporarily leading the House of Representatives as interim speaker is a top ally of Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted Tuesday from the speaker’s chair. Gaetz also defended fundraising off of the vote today, saying he was the only Republican member of Congress who rejected money from PACs and lobbyists.
December 1931
The incumbent speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, was elected to a 4th (2nd consecutive) term, defeating Republican Kevin McCarthy 216–209, with two votes going to other individuals. As only 427 representatives in the 435-member House cast a vote (due to vacancies, absentees, or members voting present), 214 votes were necessary to win. The committees also play an important role in the control exercised by Congress over governmental agencies. Cabinet officers and other officials are frequently summoned before the committees to explain policy. The Constitution (Article I, section 6) prohibits members of Congress from holding offices in the executive branch of government—a chief distinction between parliamentary and congressional forms of government. By 1910, Speaker Joe Cannon had centralized power to such an extent that many of his own party members rebelled.
Rayburn's successor, Democrat John W. McCormack (served 1962–1971), was a somewhat less influential speaker, particularly because of dissent from younger members of the Democratic Party. During the mid-1970s, 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 1910. Moreover, in 1975, 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.
Texas Reps. Jodey Arrington, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams are making moves to become U.S. House speaker - The Texas Tribune
Texas Reps. Jodey Arrington, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams are making moves to become U.S. House speaker.
Posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
December 1823
The job of the Speaker is to keep the House in order and to assign committee memberships and chairmanships. Additionally, since many speakers held office for multiple terms, often with non-consecutive periods, the time listed for each speaker represents the total length of their time as speaker. It is important to note that the period between the adjournment of one Congress and the convening of the next Congress is not included in the calculations. For instance, Nathaniel Macon served as speaker during both the 8th and 9th Congresses, but the eight-month gap between the two Congresses is not included in his service duration. The exact dates of service for each individual speaker is shown in the Term of service column of the above table. Minutes before the vote on assistance for Kyiv, Democrats began to wave small Ukrainian flags on the House floor, as hard-right Republicans jeered.
James G. Blaine received a majority of the votes cast and was re-elected speaker. An election for speaker took place on March 4, 1871, at the start of the 42nd Congress, following the 1870–71 elections in which Republicans won a majority of the seats. An election for speaker took place on March 4, 1869, at the start of the 41st Congress, following the 1868–69 elections in which Republicans won a majority of the seats.
Gaetz also pushed back on McCarthy suggesting the eight who voted against him are not conservatives. The Library of Congress would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified on this website so that we may make the necessary corrections. In addition, if you are a copyright owner or otherwise have exclusive control over materials presently available through this collection and do not wish your materials to be available through this website, please let us know. Read more about what Republicans plan to do with their new House majority here.
The speaker may also designate, with approval of the House, a speaker pro tempore for special purposes, such as designating a representative whose district is near Washington, D.C. The roles of the parties reversed in 1994 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 1995 and 1996, 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 1997. After the Republicans lost House seats in 1998 (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.
There are also select and special committees, which are usually appointed for a specific project and for a limited period. John Boehner was elected speaker when the 112th Congress convened on January 5, 2011, and was subsequently re-elected twice, at the start of the 113th and 114th Congresses. The Republicans came out of the 2000 elections with a further reduced majority but made small gains in 2002 and 2004.
It gives vital support to America’s partners and they — so they can defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty and to the lives and freedom of their citizens. And it’s an investment in our own security, because when our allies are stronger — and I want to make this point again and again — when our allies are stronger, we are stronger. After months of delay at the hands of a bloc of ultraconservative Republicans, the package drew overwhelming bipartisan support, reflecting broad consensus. Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy said that Rep. Matt Gaetz leading the charge to remove him as House Speaker was personal.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats regained majority control of the House, and Pelosi was again elected Speaker, becoming the first former speaker to reclaim the gavel since Sam Rayburn in 1955. During her second speakership, the House twice impeached President Donald Trump, first in December 2019 and again in January 2021; the Senate acquitted Trump both times. She participated in the passage of the Biden administration's landmark bills, including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the Respect for Marriage Act. In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans narrowly regained control of the House for the new Congress, ending her tenure as speaker. On November 29, 2022, the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Democratic Caucus named Pelosi "Speaker Emerita". Expert assessments of Pelosi's two tenures as speaker have generally considered her to have had a very strong grasp on power in the Democratic majorities and to have been highly effective at the job.
Toward 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 1880, 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. Randall, John Griffin Carlisle, and Charles F. Crisp, and Republicans James G. Blaine, Thomas Brackett Reed, and Joseph Gurney Cannon.
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