I believe leadership is bottom up, not top down. I think you have to build policy and strategy and vision from the bottom up, and involve people in figuring out what that is. Gephardt added that "inclusion and empowerment of the people on the line have to be done to get the best performance" from the minority party.
Beyond the party responsibilities of the minority leader are a number of institutional obligations associated with their position as a top House official. Many of these assignments or roles are spelled out in the standing rules of the House, while others have devolved upon the position in other ways.
To be sure, the minority leader is provided with extra staff resources—beyond those accorded him or her as a Representative—to assist in carrying out diverse leadership functions.
There are limits on the institutional role of the minority leader, because the majority party exercises disproportionate influence over the legislative agenda, partisan ratios on committees, staff resources, administrative operations, and the day-to-day schedule and management of floor activities. Under the rules of the House, the minority leader has certain roles and responsibilities. They include, among others, the following:. Under Rule XIII, clause 6 c , the Rules Committee may not issue a "rule" that prevents the minority leader or a designee from offering a motion to recommit with instructions during initial House consideration of a bill or joint resolution.
This motion allows the minority leader or a designee to offer a policy alternative to what the majority is proposing and obtain a floor vote on the minority's preferred solution.
If offered by the majority or minority leader, a valid question of privilege—one that involves "the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity and the integrity of its proceedings"—receives immediate consideration by the House. Under Rule X, clause 2, not later "than March 31 in the first session of a Congress, after consultation with the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform shall report to the House the authorization and oversight plans" of the standing committees along with any recommendations it or the House leaders have proposed to ensure the effective coordination of committees' oversight plans.
Rule X, clause 5, stipulates, "At the beginning of a Congress, the Speaker or a designee and the Minority Leader or a designee each shall name 10 Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner from the respective party of such individual who are not members of the Committee on Ethics to be available to serve on investigative subcommittees of that committee during that Congress.
Another institutional prerogative of the minority leader is attendance at meetings of the Intelligence Committee. Rule X, clause 11, provides, "The Speaker and the Minority Leader shall be ex officio members of the select committee but shall have no vote in the select committee and may not be counted for purposes of determining a quorum thereof.
In addition, the minority leader has a number of other institutional functions. For instance, the minority leader is sometimes statutorily authorized to appoint individuals to certain federal entities. Informally, the minority leader maintains ties with majority party leaders to learn about the schedule and other House matters, consults with the majority with respect to reconvening the House per the usual formulation of conditional concurrent adjournment resolutions, and forges agreements or understandings with them insofar as feasible.
By House tradition, time is not charged to their side when party leaders, including the minority leader, make extended remarks on the floor. Given the concentration of agenda control and other institutional resources in the majority leadership, the minority leader faces real challenges in promoting and publicizing the party's priorities, serving the interests of his rank-and-file Members, managing intraparty conflict, and forging party unity.
The ultimate goal of the minority leader is to lead the party into majority status. Yet there is no set formula on how this is to be done. Most of the other factors cannot be controlled by the minority party and its leaders. There is one central dilemma that confronts the minority leader: inferior numbers. This limitation can be overcome on occasion with the right strategic approach, but on many issues this might not be possible.
One study of the House minority party summarizes the strategic challenge succinctly:. The minority party in the House faces a strategic problem: how do you respond when given only a small slice of the legislative pie? Do you accept the slice you've been given, bargain for more, or use every means at your disposal to win the right to cut the pie yourself?
It is this problem, and how the minority party chooses to solve it, that underlies the logic of minority party politics in the House of Representatives.
John S. Williams a. Gerald R. Ford b. Williams resigned as minority leader on June 13, Clark was elected on December 5, , to fill the vacancy caused by Williams' resignation. Rhodes was elected on December 7, , to fill the vacancy caused by Ford's resignation. Quoted in Floyd M. Randall B. See Nelson W. Polsby, "The Institutionalization of the U. Charles O. For additional detail on these and other campaign-related activities undertaken by leaders of the House minority, see Matthew N.
One manifestation of this strategy is to vote "present" on pending legislation. These strategic options have been modified to a degree and come from Jones, The Minority Party in Congress , p.
See also Matthew N. Green presents a fourfold typology of minority party strategies: to negotiate with the majority; to distinguish the minority from the majority; to outcompete the majority for political resources; and to pressure the majority party for instance, by forcing them into tough votes. A vote in relation to the House Journal rarely involves a question as to the accuracy of its contents.
President Harry S. Truman, in a speech delivered in Elizabeth, NJ, on October 7, , characterized the 80 th Congress as the "do-nothing" Congress, a charge that has been leveled against a number of congresses since.
William T. William F. Connelly, Jr. Pitney, Jr. Republicans in the U. James M. Dirksen," in Richard Baker and Roger Davidson, eds.
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