The Speaker of the House. A Crucial Role or a Stepping Stone?

In a tradition that goes back to the time of King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell, a newly appointed Speaker to the British House of Commons is dragged theatrically from his seat to the Speaker’s Chair. 400 years ago, the Speaker was a marked man. I doubt that Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin will be yanked from his seat in DC’s House of Representatives to take up his role as Speaker of the House. After all, he campaigned hard to be elected by his Republican colleagues.

Why does Ryan want the job? In a word, power. No one, except a right wing Republican would have blamed the outgoing Speaker, John Boehner, from yelling and screaming as he was deposed. After a few years in the job, his power evaporated, almost in days as the right wing of his Party wanted a harder stance. Boehner should be congratulated for standing down with dignity. I for one would have been fascinated by what went on behind closed doors as the Speakership passed. Boehner had upset too many House Republicans by seeking an accommodation with Congressional colleagues in order to stop or slow down Washington gridlock. In other words, he had tried to legislate for American voters, not just follow the agenda of the right-wing, bible-thumping, gun-toting, Tea-Partying House Republican members.

Boehner has relinquished a powerful and important role. The Speaker of the House in America has several roles. He represents his constituents as a member of Congress. He acts as administrative head of the House. He serves as leader of the majority political party in the House. And, importantly, he is second in the U.S. presidential line of succession after the vice president. It is worth mentioning that, save for two episodes of The West Wing, no Speaker has ever acted as president, though it could happen.

Oddly, the US Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a member of Congress, although all Speakers have been members. The Constitution authorizes the House to choose its Speaker, selected by roll call vote on the first day of every new Congress. Therefore, Mr. Ryan will retain the Speakership until the end of the lame duck Congress session in January, 2017. He will stand again, I am sure, and if his Party retains a majority in the House, he is likely to be re-elected.

Administratively, the Speaker’s duties as presiding officer of the House include swearing in Members, calling the House to order and preserving order and decorum within the House chamber and galleries.

The real power of the Speaker comes through recognizing members to speak on the House floor, making rulings about House procedures, and appointing members and chairpersons on the committee spectrum: special, select committees, standing or conference. He designates the majority of members on the House Rules Committee. Taken altogether, the Speaker secures an important power base because House members become obligated to him for their House jobs.

Speaker power also manifests itself through the right of the Speaker to determine which legislation is assigned to each House committee and which legislation reaches the House floor for a vote. The Speaker determines the House legislative agenda, although in consultation with party leaders and others.

When the House is in session, the Speaker presides over the floor debate. Here, the Speaker can flex his muscles: he gets to decide who speaks, in what order, and which motions from the floor are relevant. He also gets to set the rule for debate, through the Rules Committee. This means the Speaker can decide how long a given bill will be discussed, and under what restrictions. An open rule, for example, means members can argue about a bill all day and night, if they feel like it, and can amend the bill from the floor. A closed rule, on the other hand, has set time limits and forbids amendments from the floor. With the Speaker’s decision, a bill can be argued to death or moved to a swift vote.

Every bill that is introduced in the House must first go to a committee for debate, hearings, discussion, and 'marking up' (the process of changing or editing the legislation). The Speaker controls which bills go to which committees. Since the committees are all chaired by members of the Speaker's party, he not only controls who gets the bill, but also that bill's fate (because if the Speaker doesn't want a bill to come to a vote, he can send it to a committee where it's certain to die). And, even more importantly, the Speaker gets to pick who chairs the committees, as well as nine of the thirteen members of - that's right - the Rules Committee.

It is a sign of influence that the House of Representatives’ office buildings in Washington D.C. are named for three Speakers: Cannon, Longworth, and Rayburn. Of all recent Speakers, Newt Gingrich showed how powerful the Speaker can be. Upon his election in 1995, he published the “Contract with America,” a statement of policies America should adopt. He guided both the document - a comprehensive plan of action needed for 21^st century America - and several bills through the House’s legislative process. His work was facilitated because for the first time in 40 years the voters had elected a Republican House and Senate. Interestingly, the House passed the Contract intact while a far more moderate Senate rewrote, rejected or delayed action on most of the bills. Gingrich himself became a busted flush when he positioned himself in the media as more important than the President. Bill Clinton must have enjoyed seeing the Speaker quickly fall from grace.

It is doubtful that Ryan will seek to imitate Newt Gingrich but Ryan’s current political support is from the right wing of his Party. He is influenced by Rand Paul. Ryan will have a tightrope to walk with the more centrist House members almost as soon as he takes office. Will Congress agree a new US debt limit, if so on what terms, and will Ryan preside over another American government shut-down? The Senate wants to get the deal done. Will Congress follow? We will know more in a few days.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is one of the more important figures in the U.S. political system. His influence over the legislative process through his ability to move bills to specific committees, to control the manner and method of floor debate, and to steer the legislative agenda of the Congress is greater than almost every other legislator. If Ryan succeeds in his role, it would be a useful stepping stone for a run for the presidency in 2020 or 2024.