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Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section II, of the U.S. Constitution.[a] By custom and House rules, the speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House and is simultaneously its presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates—that duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party—nor regularly participate in floor debates.[7]

For a list of speakers of the House, see List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives.

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

  • Mr. Speaker (informal – male)
  • Madam Speaker (informal – female)
  • The Honorable (formal)

At the House's pleasure; elected at the beginning of the new Congress by a majority of the representatives-elect, and upon a vacancy during a Congress.[1]

Constitution of the United States, article I, § 2, cl. 5[2]

March 4, 1789 (1789-03-04)

$223,500 annually[4]

The Constitution does not explicitly require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, although every speaker thus far has been, and as a member the speaker also represents their district and retains the right to vote.[8][9] The speaker is second in the United States presidential line of succession, after the vice president and ahead of the president pro tempore of the Senate.[3]


The 56th and current Speaker of the House is Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana.[10]

Oversees the officers of the House: the , the sergeant-at-arms, the chief administrative officer, and the chaplain;

clerk

Serves as the chairperson of the ;[89]

House Office Building Commission

Appoints the House's ,[90] historian, general counsel, and inspector general;[91]

parliamentarian

Administers the House audio and video broadcasting system;

In consultation with the minority leader, can devise a system of drug testing in the House. This option has never been exercised;[92]

[89]

Receives reports or other communications from the president, government agencies, boards, and commissions; and

[89]

Receives, along with the , written declarations that a U.S. president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, or is able to resume them, under Sections 3 and 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment.[93]

president pro tempore of the Senate

In addition to being the political and parliamentary leader of the House of Representatives and representing their congressional district, the speaker also performs various other administrative and procedural functions, such as:


Additionally, the speaker is second in the presidential line of succession under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, immediately after the vice president and before the president pro tempore of the Senate (who is followed by members of the president's Cabinet). Thus, if both the presidency and vice-presidency were vacant simultaneously, then the speaker would become acting president, after resigning from the House and as speaker.[94]


Ratification of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967, with its mechanism for filling an intra-term vice-presidential vacancy, has made calling on the speaker, president pro tempore, or a cabinet member to serve as acting president unlikely to happen, except in the aftermath of a catastrophic event.[94] However, only a few years after it went into effect, in 1973, at the height of Watergate, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned. With Agnew's unexpected departure and the state of Richard Nixon's presidency, Speaker Carl Albert was suddenly first in line to become acting president. The vacancy continued until Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president.[95] Albert was also next in line from the time Ford assumed the presidency following Nixon's resignation from office in 1974, until Ford's choice to succeed him as vice president, Nelson Rockefeller, was confirmed by Congress.[94]

Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives

Party leaders of the United States Senate

Garraty, John, ed. American National Biography (1999) 20 volumes; contains scholarly biographies of all speakers no longer alive.

Green, Matthew N. The Speaker of the House: A Study of Leadership (Yale University Press; 2010) 292 pages; Examines partisan pressures and other factors that shaped the leadership of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; focuses on the period since 1940.

Grossman, Mark. Speakers of the House of Representatives (Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing, 2009). The comprehensive work on the subject, covering, in depth, the lives of the speakers from Frederick Muhlenberg to Nancy Pelosi.

Heitshusen, Valerie (November 26, 2018). (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved December 18, 2018.

"Speakers of the House: Elections, 1913–2017"

Remini, Robert V. The House: the History of the House of Representatives (Smithsonian Books, 2006). The standard scholarly history.

Rohde, David W. Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House (1991).

, ed. (2003). The Federalist Papers. Signet Classics. ISBN 9780451528810.

Rossiter, Clinton

Smock, Raymond W., and Susan W. Hammond, eds. Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership Over Two Centuries (1998). Short biographies of key leaders.

Zelizer. Julian E. ed. The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (2004). A comprehensive history by 40 scholars.

C-SPAN (2003). Notable elections and role.

"Capitol Questions."

The Cannon Centenary Conference: The Changing Nature of the Speakership. (2003). House Document 108–204. History, nature and role of the speakership.

Congressional Quarterly's Guide to Congress, 5th ed. (2000). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.

. (1885). Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Wilson, Woodrow