To legislate, a house must have rules of procedure to govern debate. Additionally, modern legislatures have committee systems, staff, budgets, and other resources. Organizing a house is the process of putting all these details into place so that legislators can make laws. Organizing consists of tasks like setting rules, naming officers, creating committees, to name a just a few.
Each assembly has a different process or organizing and houses commonly decide such matters by adopting one or more simple resolutions, which are usually passed by majority vote unless a rule provides otherwise. Since organizing a legislative assembly requires the assent of at least a majority of its members, the political party that controls most of the seats can typically organize the house.
Today, both the U. House of Representatives and Senate follow this practice. Organizing the Chamber allows the majority political party to control the flow of legislation on the Floor, the committee system, budgets and other resources, and the like. Controlling these aspects of the legislative process allows a majority party to work its will and advance its agenda.
Since the legislative success depends so much on these resources, when questions involving organization come up for a vote, at least the majority party votes for it. Votes on controversial housekeeping or procedural resolutions will divide along party lines, whereas uncontroversial resolutions may be agreed to on a bipartisan basis. Organizing the House or the Senate this way ensures that the majority party that they can control the Chamber for the duration of the Congress. Although organizing the House and Senate benefits the majority party, the minority party still has some say and influence over the process.
In contemporary practice, both the House and Senate committee resources, like seats on the panel, staff, and budgets, are allocated roughly proportionally to the number of members each party has in the chamber as a whole though there are some exceptions. So, for example, if a party controls 55 percent of the seats in the chamber as a whole, it will control about 55 percent of the seats on a committee. Since organizing a Chamber is a partisan affair, with the majority party controlling the agenda, it might seem like a Senate with a split would have no majority.
According to the Constitution, the Vice President of the United States is the presiding officer of the Senate, so she governs debate. It also provides that she does not have a vote, except in the case of a tie.
First, the Senate is an ongoing body whose rules do not automatically expire at the end of each Congress. Unless a resolution specifically includes an expiration date, they remain in place until another resolution supersedes them. One important aspect of Senate business that is governed by resolution is committee chairmanships, which also continue until new resolutions are passed.
Thus, until the parties resolved the power sharing arrangements, Republicans technically served as the chairmen of the committees and did so until the Senate agreed to new resolutions nominating the Democrats to lead them.
So, was a Senatorial wonder world where Republicans were in the minority but were chairing committee meetings. Some Senators said Republicans were chairs, some said Democrats were, some were not sure. As a point of comparison, the topsy-turvy committee situation in the Senate would never be seen in the House of Representatives.
For example, Rep. John Yarmuth served as Chairman of the Budget Committee in the th Congress and continues to do so in the th Congress. Since the House rules expire each Congress, the House had to agree to a resolution naming him chairman this year , just as it did in Senators may filibuster simple resolutions, so the Republicans could have filibustered any resolutions needed to organize the chamber.
In fact, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell initially held out on finalizing an agreement…because of the filibuster very meta, as they say.
Since , both parties, while in the majority, weakened the filibuster, so now all that remains of it is the ability for Senators to slow down or completely block legislation, rather than both legislation and nominations. McConnell wanted assurances from Majority Leader Schumer that the power sharing arrangement would protect the filibuster.
Schumer flatly refused. McConnell, however, gave up his demands after two moderate Democrats, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have publicly pledged to refrain from voting to eliminate the legislative filibuster. Nor did their pledges change the text of the organizing resolution. Instead, McConnell is relying upon them to be true to their word. This resolution to the power sharing agreement impasse is very senatorial.
One distinctive characteristic of the Chamber is that agreements or assurances, of varying degrees of informality, resolves a deadlock, and moderate Senators, like Sinema and Manchin, are often responsible for the breakthrough.
The filibuster has been the subject of such agreements in the past too. So, the path forward on the power sharing agreement is much in keeping with the culture of the Senate. The power sharing agreement that is in place for this Congress was based on the agreement reached the last time the Senate had a split.
The general elections returned a Senate for the th Congress, with the White House flipping from the Democrats to the Republicans. In the th Congress, the Republicans held 54 seats, an outright majority. But they lost four seats in the election, so when January 3 came, the Democrats were the majority since the lame-duck Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, gave them the tie-breaking vote.
Yet everyone knew that the Republicans would be the majority less than three weeks later, when Republican Vice President Dick Cheney was inaugurated on January Thus, on January 3, the Senate adopted a resolution simultaneously naming Democratic Senator Robert Byrd to be the President pro tempore until noon on January 20, and Republican Senator Strom Thurmond to that post beginning at noon on that date.
On the same day, it agreed to a similar resolution naming Democratic chairmen until the George W. Bush Administration came to power, at which point Republican Senators would automatically become chairmen. In addition to the resolutions naming the Presidents pro tempore and the chairmen, the Senate also agreed to a resolution divvying up committee seats and resources. On January 5, the Senate unanimously agreed to S.
Likewise, the budgets, staff allotments and meeting spaces were to be apportioned equally. Two different Senators were President pro tempore for nearly four years after Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency in March following William Henry Harrison's death one month after his inauguration as chief executive.
Samuel L. Southard of New Jersey occupied the chair for the remainder of and the first five months of , when Willie P. Mangum of North Carolina was chosen President pro tempore. Mangum served until the inauguration of the next Vice President, George M. Dallas, on March 3, Similarly, William R. King of Alabama served extensively in the chair during the late s and early s by virtue of his election as President pro tempore on nine consecutive occasions between July and March King also held the position continuously from mid through late after Vice President Millard Fillmore succeeded to the presidency upon President Zachary Taylor's death.
Senator Benjamin F. Hendricks's death in By the late 19 th century, the Senate's workload had grown dramatically, and the political parties had increasingly assumed responsibility for organizing the work of the chamber and controlling debate on the floor. Moreover, questions had arisen over the years about the election of the President pro tempore. For example, is the President pro tempore of the Senate an officer of the Senate, and, does the death of the Vice President after the election of a President pro tempore have the effect of vacating the office of the President pro tempore and requiring a new election?
These questions were raised in concrete form following the death in November of Vice President Henry Wilson, who was considered a "highly efficient and acceptable presiding officer.
After debate on the committee's report, the Senate adopted several clarifying resolutions. First, it determined that the tenure of a President pro tempore elected at one session would continue without interruption through a recess and into the next session until the Vice President appeared.
Second, it decided that the death of a Vice President did not automatically vacate the office of the President pro tempore if one had been properly chosen. Third, the Senate affirmed its authority to replace a President pro tempore whenever it pleased. These questions were of more than internal Senate interest throughout this period, since the President pro tempore followed the Vice President in the order of succession to the presidency.
The Succession Act of provided that if both the President and Vice President were to die or otherwise become unable to exercise the powers of the presidency at a time when the Senate was officially absent from the nation's capital, and if that body had not chosen a President pro tempore to hold the office during the recess, then the Speaker of the House, under the law, would "act as President of the United States.
Considering the transportation available in those days, it might take weeks before enough Senators could reassemble and choose a new President pro tempore. Prudence therefore required that the Senate should elect someone to hold that office during the recesses between sessions of a Congress. Because the Senate at the time acted upon the theory that it could not choose a President pro tempore while the Vice President was present, it quickly became the custom after for the latter to withdraw from the chamber shortly before the end of a session so that Senators might "legally" elect one of their own to the position.
Haynes notes:. In order that a Senator might be in a position to take upon himself the duties of President of the United States if the necessity should arise, a precedent, set by John Adams and scrupulously followed by Jefferson and Burr, was established whereby the Vice-President would absent himself—'out of courtesy, not necessity,' as Senator Evarts insisted—a day or so before the end of the session, to afford the Senate an opportunity to elect a President pro tempore who should hold office during the recess.
Such withdrawals, as noted, were matters of courtesy rather than law, and while most Vice Presidents adhered to the custom, a few, inevitably, did not, usually because of critical political circumstances. Four years later the Senate resolved the question of the President pro tempore's tenure when it adopted a resolution originally introduced by Senator William M.
Evarts of New York. As adopted by the Senate on March 12, , the resolution read:. Resolved, That it is competent for the Senate to elect a President pro tempore , who shall hold the office during the pleasure of the Senate and until another is elected, and shall execute the duties thereof during all future absences of the Vice-President until the Senate otherwise order.
That resolution is still in effect. Under its terms a President pro tempore, once elected, holds the post continuously whether or not the Vice President is absent although, of course, he may not preside over the Senate unless the Vice President steps down from the chair.
The tenure of the President pro tempore ends upon the expiration of the term for which he was elected Senator, a precedent dating back to at least He may, of course, resign, or the Senate may elect another in his stead at its pleasure. The Presidential Succession Act of restored the President pro tempore to the line of succession, placing him after the Vice President and Speaker of the House and ahead of the Cabinet.
The usual practice of the Senate has been to elect as its President pro tempore a candidate of the majority party—almost invariably by a party-line vote or, in recent years, without a record vote. Most often, that person has continued to serve in the post so long as his party remains in the majority.
On a few occasions, the majority party has experienced difficulty in electing its candidate. Late in , for example, Democrats in the Senate refused to permit administration of the oath of office to several Republicans waiting to be sworn in as Senators. As a result of this, the Democrats maintained a narrow majority of the votes in the chamber and proceeded to elect one of their own, Delaware's Thomas F. Bayard, as President pro tempore.
Even after the missing Republicans had been installed, the Senate remained equally divided between the two major parties. An arrangement was eventually agreed upon and an independent Senator, David Davis of Illinois, was elected to replace Bayard as President pro tempore. When the 62 nd Congress convened in , Republicans held a nominal majority of seats in the Senate.
A faction of seven progressive Republicans, however, refused to vote for the regular Republican candidate for President pro tempore, and their defection prevented election of a presiding officer. While neither the Constitution nor the rules of the Senate explicitly exclude election of a President pro tempore by a plurality, the practice of the Senate has been to assume that a majority vote is required.
One observer noted:. After fifteen ballots, distributed through five days, compromise became necessary to enable business to go forward. Upon motion of a Republican leader, a Democrat was unanimously elected President pro tempore for a single day, and thereafter for the rest of the session, ending August 26, , Presidents pro tempore were elected for brief, designated periods, Senator [Augustus] Bacon, Democrat, alternating with four Republicans, some of whom served for but a single day.
In the short session which ended that sixty-second Congress, this alternating arrangement was continued, [Augustus] Bacon, Democrat, and [Jacob] Gallinger, Republican, each serving a fortnight at a time. Of the Presidents pro tempore who have served since , only one has not been the most senior Senator in his party—Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, who was the second-ranking Republican in the Senate at the time of his election in Prior to , while the parties had for the most part tended to put forward men with long senatorial service as candidates for President pro tempore, there were some notable exceptions.
Senator George H. Cummins of Iowa ranked 12 th when he was first chosen in In , Senator David R. Atchison of Missouri was elected President pro tempore before he had completed half his first term as a Senator, and Senator Willard Saulsbury of Delaware was also still in his first term when the Senate elevated him to the post on December 14, Even during the 19 th century, the Senate sometimes elected Presidents pro tempore from among the longest-serving Members of the Senate.
Men like Senators William P. Frye of Maine, John J. Ingalls of Kansas, Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, and Henry B. Anthony of Rhode Island held significant seniority when elected President pro tempore. That tradition continued and evolved in the 20 th century, with the exceptions noted above. By the middle of the 20 th century, the Senate routinely elected as its President pro tempore the most senior Senator of the majority party.
Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina is one of two Senators in the post-war era to serve at least three non-consecutive terms as President pro tem. He first served from to and was then elected again at the beginning of the th Congress in Following the interim election of Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia the most senior Democrat to serve at the start of the th Congress from January 3, , to January 20, , Senator Thurmond was again elected as President pro tempore to serve beginning at noon on January 20, He succeeded Senator Thurmond, who retired from the Senate at the end of the th Congress.
Senator Stevens served as President pro tem Emeritus in the th Congress. Senator Robert C. Byrd, the only Senator in the modern era to serve four non-consecutive terms, was first elected President pro tempore in , and served until He again served from January 3, , to January 20, Senator Byrd was again elected President pro tempore in the th Congress on June 6, , after Senator James Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican party and became an Independent and control of the Senate switched to the Democrats.
Senator Byrd began his fourth non-consecutive term when he was elected President pro tem by his colleagues on January 4, , at the beginning of the th Congress.
Leahy assumed the office. Hatch was elected President pro tempore. In , Congress for the first time accorded the President pro tempore a larger salary than that allotted to other Senators—but only when the office of Vice President was vacant.
In , and again in , when the office of the Vice President was vacant, the Senate in each case adopted a resolution authorizing compensation for the President pro tempore that was equal to that established by law for the Vice President. The President pro tempore lacks the formal institutional and political powers of the Speaker of the House—the congressional officer to whom he is often compared. Nor does he have the authority of the major party leaders in the Senate, especially the majority and minority leaders.
Nevertheless, the Constitution, public law, the chamber's rules and precedents, and Senate customs provide the President pro tempore a significant role to play in the life of the Senate. For about 10 years, from late to late , Presidents pro tempore enjoyed the privilege of appointing the membership of the Senate's standing committees at the beginning of a session.
Historically, the powers and prerogatives of the President pro tempore as a presiding officer have differed little from those of the Vice President. One notable exception involves the privilege of appointing a substitute to perform the duties of the chair. From until , the Senate operated under a rule stating, in part, that "the Presiding Officer shall have the right to name a Senator to perform the duties of the Chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond an adjournment.
That rule was subsequently amended to restrict the privilege solely to the President pro tempore. In , the rules were further amended to empower the President pro tempore to designate a Senator to perform the duties of the chair for an unspecified time during a vacancy in the office of Vice President. Aiken of Vermont to preside for a day. Under the Constitution, the Vice President may cast a vote in the Senate only when the body is equally divided. In the modern Senate, with the exception of his authority to appoint other Senators to preside, the President pro tempore's powers as presiding officer differ little from those of the Vice President or any other Senator who presides over the Senate.
These powers include the authority to:. In the earliest years of the nation, the President pro tempore was not included in the order of succession, which at first extended only as far as the Vice President.
The Succession Act of designated, after the Vice President, the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House, in that order. Although ratification of the 25 th Amendment in did not supplant the order of succession established by the Presidential Succession Act of , it empowered the President to nominate a Vice President whenever that office is vacant and rendered it unlikely that the President pro tempore would become President except in the event of an unprecedented national catastrophe.
Over the years, other powers have also accrued to the President pro tempore. Many of these are ministerial. Decisions are first made by each party's principal political leaders—in the Senate, the majority and minority floor leaders—and the President pro tempore's charge is to implement their decisions. These include appointments to the following positions:. The President pro tempore is responsible for recommending candidates for U. Comptroller General, the head of the Government Accountability Office.
Following the recommendation of the Senate majority and minority leaders, he appoints Members of the Senate to the U. Under statute, the President pro tempore also makes recommendations for membership to the Morris K. The President pro tempore is authorized to receive certain reports from government offices.
Examples of these include:. After the President has submitted a report pursuant to the War Powers Act, the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House have the authority to request jointly that the President convene Congress in order to consider the content of the report and to take appropriate action.
Also, the President pro tempore works with the Secretary of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate to ensure the enforcement of the rules governing the use of the Capitol and the Senate office buildings. For many years the President pro tempore held the "patronage book," as it was called, and had considerable influence in the distribution of patronage for positions that today are filled by professional staff.
Carl Hayden of Arizona, who served as President pro tempore from to , was the last President pro tempore to exercise this authority. Finally, in his history of the Senate, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who served as President pro tempore four times, noted that "Because the president pro tempore stands in the line of presidential succession, he is given a direct-access telephone to the White House and would receive special evacuation assistance from Washington in the case of national emergency.
Capitol Police. Senator Arthur Vandenberg, who held the position from to , was seen as one of the few Presidents pro tempore up to that time who exerted significant political influence. Floyd M. Riddick, a scholar of congressional procedure who later became Senate Parliamentarian, wrote in that Vandenberg, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while serving as President pro tempore, "took quite an important part in the legislative program and no doubt exerted as much influence in what was done and not done as the Speaker of the House.
More recently, Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, despite being hospitalized for much of his term as President pro tempore , was seen as wielding power "potentially equal" to that of Vandenberg through his chairmanships of the Appropriations Committee and its Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Today, the degree of political influence exerted by the President pro tempore depends more on other factors in conjunction with a Senator's position as President pro tempore than solely on election to that office. The most important of these are a Senator's position as a senior Member of his party and as a committee chairman.
As the most senior Senator of the majority party, his chairmanship is likely to be significant. For example, during the years he was President pro tempore for the first time , Senator Byrd was also chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
When the Senate switched from Republican to Democratic control on June 6, , Senator Byrd was elected President pro tempore and returned to chair the Appropriations Committee. Senator Daniel K. As Senator Byrd remarked, "Because of his position as a senior Member of the party, and often the chairman of a key committee, the leadership regularly consults the president pro tempore as to his views on policies and actions of the party.
Republicans as well as Democrats consider the President pro tempore an ex-officio member of the party leadership, including the respective caucus and conference, policy committees, and steering committees.
In these capacities, the President pro tempore may work closely with the party floor leader. On January 10, , the Senate adopted S. Humphrey, a Democratic Party stalwart, who had served as both Vice President and was a presidential candidate in Humphrey served in the Senate from to and from until his death in January Senator Humphrey served as Deputy President pro tempore from January 5, , until his death on January 13, Stennis of Mississippi, the most senior Democratic Senator.
Senate leaders were concerned that Senator Stennis's poor health might prevent him from fulfilling some of the responsibilities of the office, particularly the President pro tempore's principal responsibility for presiding over the Senate.
Senator Mitchell was appointed to assure that a presiding officer would be available all times. In early , the Senate began debate on what became the landmark Civil Rights Act of The President pro tempore at the time was Carl T. Hayden of Arizona, then 86 years old. Early in the debate, Majority Leader Michael J. Mansfield of Montana reportedly expressed concern about Hayden's age and physical stamina during what was likely to be a long and difficult debate. In February , Mansfield told a group of visitors that if an around-the-clock filibuster developed, as it eventually did, he did not want to be responsible for the elderly Hayden's demise.
Metcalf of Montana was named acting President pro tempore. Mansfield chose Metcalf for several reasons. Metcalf was relatively young and vigorous; he lived in an apartment across the street from the Senate and could be called quickly to preside over late night sessions.
As Mansfield's junior colleague from Montana, he was also considered trustworthy and unlikely to rule against the majority floor leader. On February 7, , the Senate approved a resolution, S. The role of the Presiding Officer of the U. Senate has had its ups and downs in the history of this legislative body. In recent years, and more particularly in recent weeks, the Presiding Officer has assumed a position of renewed importance. The man most responsible for this new role is my distinguished colleague from Montana, Senator Metcalf.
Senator Metcalf, in his role as Acting President pro tempore, brings vigor, [and] knowledge of the legislative process to a position which all too often is looked upon as a chore. Senator Metcalf served as Permanent Acting President pro tempore and presided frequently over the Senate in that capacity until his death in January In May , Senator James Jeffords of Vermont changed his party affiliation from Republican to Independent, and the Senate—until then evenly divided and operating under a series of formal and informal power-sharing agreements —switched to Democratic control.
On June 6, the Senate elected Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, to be the President pro tempore. The practice of electing a Senator as President pro tempore Emeritus continued in the th Congress. Senator Byrd was elected to the office on January 15, Leahy was named President pro tempore Emeritus. Table 1. Presidents Pro Tempore of the Senate, Party a.
November 25, b. December 27, c. April 3, d. December 4, e. Source: The principal source for this table is Robert C. Notes: Until , the Senate elected a President pro tempore whenever the Vice President was not in attendance, whether for a day or permanently, as in the case of the Vice President's death or resignation.
When the Vice President returned, the President pro tempore lost his place. Then, when the Vice President was again absent, the Senate again elected a President pro tempore, in many cases the same Senator who had been chosen before. By the standing order agreed to on March 12, , the Senate declared that the President pro tempore shall hold the office during "the pleasure of the Senate and until another is elected, and shall execute the duties thereof during all future absences of the Vice President until the Senate does otherwise order.
A key to party abbreviations can be found in the Appendix. Senator John Gaillard was elected after the death of Vice President Elbridge Gerry and continued to serve throughout the 14 th Congress, as there was no Vice President. There was no actual election. Senator Ambrose H. Sevier was "permitted to occupy the chair for the day. As noted above, in March , the Senate adopted a resolution stating that Presidents pro tempore would hold office continuously until the election of another President pro tempore rather than being elected only for the period in which the Vice President was absent.
That system has continued to the present. Senator Milton R. Young was elected to serve the single day of December 4, Table 2. Deputy Presidents Pro Tempore of the Senate, Hubert H. Humphrey a.
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