The House of Representatives

Rules & Procedures

Rules & Committee Work

• House organized into small groups known as committees – Committees do most of the work

• Reps. Specialize in a few issues important to their constituents (people in the districts they represent)

• Party affiliation is important – Procedures organized by affiliation – Republicans on the right, Democrats on the left

House Leadership

1. Organize and unify party members2. Schedule work of the House3. Ensure that lawmakers are present for key

votes4. Distribute and collect information5. Keep House in touch with the President6. Influence lawmakers to support the

policies of their political parties

Speaker of the House

• Speaker of the House: presiding officer and most powerful leader – Caucus: closed meeting of the majority

party chooses the speaker

• Appoints members of committees• Schedules bills • Refers bills• Follows the VP in line for the

presidency

Floor Leaders

• Majority Leader: speaker’s top assistant – Elected by the majority party

• Whips: assistant floor leaders – Majority Whip: watch how

majority party members intend to vote

• Minority Leader and minority whips– No power over scheduling

work in the house

Eric Cantor Kevin McCarthy

Lawmaking in the House

• All laws start as Bills• Once the bill is introduced, Speaker sends it to a

committee for review/debate• If it survives the committee process, it is placed on

one of the 5 House calendars **Both houses must sign the Bill and the President

must sign it in order for it to become law

House Rules Committee

• Serve as the “traffic officer” in the House, helping to direct the flow of majority legislation

• Most powerful committee: Move bills ahead, hold them back or stop them– Bills that reach the floor for debate are done so

by “rule” or special order

Quorum

• Minimum number of members who must be present to permit a legislative body to take office action

• Regular session: 218 members

• Committee as a Whole : 100 members– Debate/amend legislation– Cannot pass the bill