November 9, 2022

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Within weeks after the mid-term elections, the 118th Congress-elect will start the process for selecting members to serve in House and Senate leadership and in the top positions on congressional committees—the powerful committee chairs and ranking members.

Congressional leadership sets the agendas in the House and Senate, including determining which bills come to the floor. How the leadership shakes out may also illustrate the power dynamics inside the political parties, including the extent to which the moderate or progressive/conservative wings of the parties will influence the legislative agendas, which could have a profound impact for the next two years on companies and industries.

Just like congressional leadership, committee chairs also enjoy agenda-setting power at the committee level. Members of Congress chairing the committee have their own priorities and projects of interest within the committee’s jurisdiction, which play out in what bills receive committee votes and what hearings a committee holds. Therefore, the assignment of committee chairs often indicates the legislative priorities of key committees in both the House and Senate. The ranking members are important because they speak for their party on the committee and often can influence the legislative agenda as well.

Below we set out how congressional and committee leadership in the Senate and the House are determined. That discussion is followed by our best take on what party and committee leadership will look like in the 118th Congress.

Procedures: Congressional Leadership

Procedurally, here is how the party leaders in Congress are selected:

Senate

• The party leaders, whips, and other positions (e.g., policy committee and campaign committee chairs) of each party are elected by a majority vote of all the senators of their party assembled in a conference or a caucus via secret ballot. The practice has been to choose the leader for a two-year term at the beginning of each Congress.[1]

House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House is elected by the full House on the first day of a new Congress in a roll call vote. Customarily, the caucus or conference of each major party first elects a candidate at early organizational meetings via secret ballot. When the new Congress convenes, each party places the name of its candidate in nomination, and the majority party’s candidate is typically elected on a party line vote.[2]Depending on the margin that the majority party holds in the House, the member running for Speaker may need to come to a compromise with certain members of her own party, especially when the margin is small. Such compromise often manifests as part of the House rule-setting at the beginning of each Congress.

• Majority Leader/Minority Leader is elected by secret ballot of the majority/minority party’s caucus or conference in organizational meetings prior to the start of a new Congress.[3]

• Party Whips are elected by each party caucus at early organizational meetings in a secret ballot.[4]

Procedures: Committee Leadership Assignment

Senate[5]

• Seniority generally dictates the selection of committee leadership.

• Once committee ratios have been determined (based on the ratio of each party in the full Senate), Senators provide committee preferences to their leadership. Leadership then makes committee assignments and generally attempts to accommodate preferences to the extent possible.

• Generally, with exceptions, a Senator may serve as chair or ranking member for no more than one committee at a time. Therefore, when a Senator has seniority in two committees, she may choose one committee to lead.

• The Republican Conference limits service as the chair or ranking member of a committee to three terms, or six years in each position. The Democratic Caucus does not impose term limits on committee leadership.

House of Representatives[6]

• House rules provide that each party caucus or conference determines its members’ committee assignments.[7]

• For House Republicans, a steering committee composed of allies of Republican leadership determines the assignment of committee chairs and ranking members.

• Committee leadership for Democrats is generally secured by active campaigns amongst colleagues.

• The congressional Democratic Caucus allows elections when two or more members compete for the chair or ranking member position, the outcome of which is determined by the entire House Democratic Caucus via secret ballot.

• The congressional Republican Caucus does not allow elections. When two or more Members compete for the top Republican spot on a committee, a steering committee under the tight control of party leaders decides who takes the position.

• The Republican Conference limits service as the chair or ranking minority member of a committee to three terms, or six years (the same limitation adopted by Senate Republicans). Also, like the Senate, the Democratic Conference does not impose leadership term limits.

• Both House Democrats and Republicans have steering committees that help guide the legislative process and assign caucus members to committees.

• For House Democrats, membership on the steering committee is governed by the Rules of the Democratic Caucus. Such Rules for the 117th Congress provides that the committee shall include high-ranking members of the Democratic Caucus (i.e. the Speaker and the party leaders), certain powerful committee chairs (e.g. Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means), and regional and other representatives of the Democratic Caucus.[8]

• For House Republicans, membership on the steering committee is smaller in size but constituted by similar ranks, including high-ranking members of the Republican Caucus (i.e. the Speaker and the party leaders), the chair of a standing committee when the steering committee is considering members for election to or removal from such standing committee, and regional or other representatives of the Republican Caucus.[9]

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[1] See The First Day of a New Congress: A Guide to Proceedings on the Senate Floor, Congressional Research Service (December 22, 2020), at 3 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/RS20722.

[2] See Electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frequently Asked Questions, Congressional Research Service (September 22, 2022), at 1-3 https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44243.pdf.

[3] See Party Leaders in the House: Election, Duties, and Responsibilities, Congressional Research Service (November 5, 2018), at 2 https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RS20881.pdf.

[4] See Id. at 3.

[5] See Rules Governing Senate Committee and Subcommittee Assignment Procedures, Congressional Research Service (June 3, 2021), at 1-2 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46806/3.

[6] Unless otherwise noted, for the source of the content under this title, see Party Leaders in the House: Election, Duties, and Responsibilities (November 5, 2018) at 1-3 https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RS20881.pdf.

[7] Rules of the House of Representatives, 117^th Congress, R. 10, cl. 5.

[8] See Rules of the Democratic Caucus House Democrats, House Democrats, https://www.dems.gov/rules-of-the-democratic-caucus.

[9] See Conference Rules of the 117th Congress, House GOP, https://www.gop.gov/conference-rules-of-the-117th-congress/.

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CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRS AND RANKING MEMBERS

*Certain congressional races are still too close to call and this Client Alert reflects our best judgment at the time of posting.

The following Gibson Dunn attorneys assisted in preparing this client update: Michael D. Bopp, Roscoe Jones, Jr., Daniel P. Smith, and Alex Xiao.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s lawyers are available to assist in addressing any questions you may have regarding these issues. Please contact the Gibson Dunn lawyer with whom you usually work or the following lawyers in the firm’s Congressional Investigations or Public Policy practice groups:

Michael D. Bopp – Chair, Congressional Investigations Group, Washington, D.C. (+1 202-955-8256, mbopp@gibsondunn.com)

Roscoe Jones, Jr. – Co-Chair, Public Policy Group, Washington, D.C. (+1 202-887-3530, rjones@gibsondunn.com)

Daniel P. Smith* – Washington, D.C. (+1 202-777-9549, dpsmith@gibsondunn.com)

Alex Xiao – New York (+1 212-351-5339, axiao@gibsondunn.com)

*Admitted only in Illinois; practicing under the supervision of members of the District of Columbia Bar under D.C. App. R. 49.

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