Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives

Party leaders and whips of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader" although the media frequently does. The House instead uses the terms "Republican Leader" or "Democratic Leader" depending on which party holds a minority of seats.

The current party leaders are: Majority (Republican) Leader Kevin McCarthy, Majority (Republican) Whip Steve Scalise, Minority (Democratic) Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Minority (Democratic) Whip Steny Hoyer.

Job description

Unlike in Westminster style legislatures or as with the Senate Majority Leader, the House Majority Leader's duties and prominence vary depending upon the style and power of the Speaker of the House. Typically, the Speaker does not participate in debate and rarely votes on the floor. In some cases, Majority Leaders have been more influential than the Speaker; notably Tom DeLay who was more prominent than Speaker Dennis Hastert. In addition, Speaker Newt Gingrich delegated to Dick Armey an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling legislation on the House floor.

Whip (politics)

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip's role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken. The usage comes from the hunting term "whipping in", i.e. preventing hounds from wandering away from the pack.

The term "whip" is also used to mean:

Majority

A majority is the greater part, or more than half, of the total. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements.

"Majority" can be used to specify the voting requirement, as in a "majority vote". A majority vote is more than half of the votes cast.

A majority can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset considered. A plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset considered may consist of less than half the set's elements. This can occur when there are three or more possible choices.

In British English the term majority is also alternatively used to refer to the winning margin, i.e. the number of votes separating the first-place finisher from the second-place finisher.

Other related terms containing the word "majority" have their own meanings, which may sometimes be inconsistent in usage.

Explanation

A majority is the greater part, or more than half, of the total. For example, say a group consists of 20 individuals. In this case, a majority would be 11 or more individuals. For this group, having 10 or fewer individuals would not constitute a majority.

Steve Scalise

Stephen Joseph "Steve" Scalise (born October 6, 1965) is the current United States House of Representatives Majority Whip and representative for Louisiana's 1st congressional district, serving since 2008. He is a member of the Republican Party and the chairman of the 170-member conservative House Republican Study Committee.

Prior to his congressional tenure, Scalise served for four months in the Louisiana State Senate and twelve years in the Louisiana House of Representatives. On June 19, 2014, Scalise was elected by his Republican colleagues to serve as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives. He assumed office on August 1. He is the first Louisianan in the Majority Whip's position since Democrat Hale Boggs of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971.

Early life

Scalise was born in New Orleans, one of three children of Alfred Joseph Scalise, a real estate broker who died on October 8, 2015 at the age of seventy-seven, and the former Carol Schilleci. His siblings are Glenn and Tara Scalise.

Kevin McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy may refer to:

Politicians

Others

See also