#26: CIVICS 101: The Legislative Branch

Q&A #26: Who are the officers of the House and how are they chosen?

Our American Government

Our American Government is a small book published by the House of Representatives for citizens and those who seek a greater understanding of the American interpretation of democracy. It follows a question-and-answer format and covers a broad range of topics dealing with the three branches of our Government, the electoral process, and the role of political parties.

The Savvy Citizen is reproducing the 169 questions-and-answers through a series of posts called Civics 101. Each post will contain the Q&A as well as some additional commentary to add historical context, fun facts, or anything we believe will add to our collective understanding of these topics.

Think of it as your adult Civics class, but without the test!

Let’s keep at it.

SECTION: The Legislative Branch: The Congress

Members, Offices, and Staff

Q&A #26: Who are the officers of the House and how are they chosen?

Elected officers include the Speaker, Clerk, Sergeant at Arms, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), and Chaplain. Another officer, the Inspector General, is appointed jointly by the Speaker, Majority Leader, and Minority Leader. Each of these officers appoints the employees provided by law for his or her department. (For an overview of the House’s leadership and administrative structure, see the accompanying graphic, House of Representatives.) The graphic isn’t available in my copy of Our American Government, but you can find the same information on the House’s website here.

The Constitution (Article I, Section 2) says that the House “shall chuse [sic] their Speaker and other officers”; i.e., the Members vote as they do on any other question, except that in most cases it is strictly a party vote. Republicans and Democrats both meet before the House organizes for a new Congress, and choose a slate of officers. These two slates are presented at the first session of the House, and the majority-party slate can be expected to be selected. Traditionally, the majority party’s nominee for Chaplain is not contested. The nominees for Clerk, Sergeant at Arms, CAO, and Chaplain are elected by a tally recorded by the House’s electronic voting machine. For election of the speaker, Members’ names are called alphabetically, and they respond by orally stating the name of the candidate they prefer.

My Thoughts

Our next post will outline the duties of the elected leaders, so I’ll hold of comment on that today. Meanwhile, the leadership positions come with significant power and authority so the process for nominating and electing Members to those positions is often fraught with much politicking.

In the 2023, Matt Gaetz of Florida (Trump’s initial nominee for Attorney General for his next administration) led a movement to oust the Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy of California from his position in October of that year. There was a longstanding feud between Gaetz and McCarthy that culminated in McCarthy losing the Speaker role in favor of Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

When Gaetz was nominated for attorney general, McCarthy led the chorus of Republicans who would block his confirmation, resulting in Gaetz’ decision to remove his name from consideration. The numbers just weren’t there to get him across the threshold.

I am intimately familiar with the investigations into Matt Gaetz and strongly recommend that you review ALL of the facts before drawing any conclusions. There’s a complicated back story seeking to implicate Gaetz in criminal activity for which, after a three year investigation by Biden’s Department of Justice, resulted in no charges. There’s always more to the story, so be sure to get ALL the facts, not just those the media selectively publishes. Then you are in a position to draw informed conclusions!

—

Back next time with Q&A #27: What are the duties of the officers and senior officials of the House?

Meanwhile, don’t forget that we’re organizing the post links on a single page available here.

xo,

Kelley for the Savvy Citizen Team

November 27, 2024