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The power

committees.

105. The Sources of the Speaker's Power

The way in which the Speaker of the House, as the representative of the majority, controls the business of that body is thus excellently described by Mr. Ewing Cockrell in an article in the Arena:

The greatest political power of the Speaker comes from his conof appointing trol over the committees of the House. The power of the committees lies in the fact that substantially every bill or resolution of a legislative character introduced in the House must be referred to some committee, and before it can be passed it must be reported from such committee back to the House. If the committee chooses it may not report the bill, and in such a case the measure is practically dead. If it does report the bill, and reports it favorably, the bill is placed on the calendar, and has about one chance in three of being passed as the House can pass in a Congress only about one-third of the bills reported to it by its committees. The power of the Speaker through these agencies lies in the fact that in making up the committees he can appoint whom he chooses.1 He can appoint men whom he knows to have the same views on certain subjects that he has, or who he knows will follow his instructions. Thus at the very beginning of a Congress he may determine a large part of the legislation to be enacted.

The

right of recognition.

Of the bills reported favorably by the committees it is the Speaker who decides which shall pass. He does this by recognizing members to call up for consideration only such bills as he has approved; and the right of the Speaker to recognize whom he will is absolute. Not only is recognition the Speaker's most absolute power, but it is also the most continuous. It is exerted throughout the whole of the Congress, and determines nearly all the private and minor legislation. The use of the power of recognition, so far as it affects legislation, is modified by party stress and the personal wishes of the Speaker. In party fights the power of the Speaker through recognition rises immensely; for the minority is absolutely helpless even to avail itself of the rules, unless it can first get the recognition

1 Even in this he is largely controlled by the wishes of the leaders of his party.

of the Speaker. The use of the right of recognition varies chiefly with his personal will. As a rule, the Speaker follows the wishes of his party in the House; yet, at the same time, if he chose he might easily defeat the will of the majority through his control of recognition. And as a matter of fact this has often been done, especially by Mr. Reed in the last Congress.

Besides the control over the order of business, which the Speaker exerts through the committees and through recognition, he now, through the convenient and effective Committee on Rules, exercises a general control over all the important business of the whole Congress.

Control order of

over the

business.

Decisions
on questions
of parlia-

The Speaker decides all questions of parliamentary procedure. In general he exercises but little influence over legislation through this power, yet there are times when this same power affects legis- mentary lation in the highest degree. For instance, in the Fifty-first Con- procedure. gress, Mr. Reed by his parliamentary rulings determined a very large part of the legislation of that Congress. Mr. Blaine, while Speaker, by rulings directly opposite to the later ones of Mr. Reed, prevented his party from pushing the great "Force Bill" through the House.

The Speaker exercises a great deal of influence as a man. Of The Speaker's course, the amount of legislation thus determined depends entirely personal upon the Speaker's personal ability. This direct influence is influence. exerted chiefly in controlling the reports of committees, and in deciding with other leaders what measures shall be passed during the Congress.

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The Speaker is the slave of the majority and its absolute The Speaker master. This is not a paradox, but simply a statement of the in the extremes of the Speaker's relations with his party. There are times majority. when the Speaker completely thwarts the will of a majority of the House. He does this usually by having his committees never report bills favored by the House, or by refusing to recognize members to call up measures to which he is opposed. This was the case in the last Congress with the many resolutions for Cuban belligerency and independence, which Mr. Reed would not allow to be con

The intro-
duction and
reference
of bills.

sidered. However, while the Speaker can prevent the House from considering a bill, he can never force it to pass a bill against its wishes. On the other hand, all the Speaker's powers come from the majority, and are held only at its will. And whenever a majority of the House is sufficiently determined to pass a measure, it can always do so, sooner or later, notwithstanding all the Speaker can do. However the Speaker and his party almost always work together. When they disagree, nine times out of ten the Speaker has to yield.

106. How the House Disposes of Its Business

Mr. Dalzell has given in an article in the Independent the following brief account of the way in which the mass of business before the House is handled.

In the last Congress (59th) there were 386 members (in this Congress there are 391), and there were introduced a total of bills and resolutions numbering 27,114. It goes without saying that not all of these bills could be considered nor could all of these members have a hearing. Theoretically every member of the House is the equal of every other member; every constituency is entitled to equal recognition with every other constituency, but practically there cannot be 391 Speakers; there cannot be 391 chairmen of committees, nor equal recognition for debate given to 391 members. The real purpose, then, to be accomplished by the rules is the selection from the mass of bills introduced those proper to be considered. There is no limitation on the right of a member to introduce bills; as many as he likes and of whatever character he pleases. Every bill introduced goes to an appropriate committee for consideration, and whether or not it gets upon a House calendar for action depends upon its being reported by the committee. It may never be reported, and, of course, if not reported can never be considered in the House. In the last Congress, of the 27,114 bills and resolutions introduced there were 7,839 reported; the others remained in the pigeon-holes of the various committees. Of the bills reported, 7,423 were considered and passed.

priation bills

Bills when reported go upon certain calendars of the House 1. Revenue according to their character. Revenue and appropriation bills: and approthese are few in number, not to exceed perhaps twenty. They come from the Committee on Ways and Means, whose office it is to provide revenue for the Government, and from the Committee on Appropriations, and from the several committees having to do with the maintenance of the Government in its various arms, such as the Naval Committee, the Military Committee and others. These bills when reported go to a calendar known as the Union Calendar, but they are highly privileged, as they ought to be, for without their passage the Government wheels would stop. They can be called for consideration at any time. They take precedence of all other bills, and the Speaker has no alternative but to recognize the member calling them up. These bills are considered, not in the House, but in Committee of the Whole; the Speaker leaves the chair and another member takes his place.

2. General bills carry

ing no appropriations.

Another class of bills are such as relate to some public purpose, but carry no appropriation, such, for instance, as bridge bills and the like. To a large extent bills from the important committees on the Judiciary and on Interstate and Foreign Commerce are of this class. These bills go on the House calendar and are entitled to consideration in the morning hour. There being no privileged bills for consideration, the morning hour is the regular order. The Speaker must call the committees in their alphabetical order, and then the chairman of the committee which has the call is entitled to recognition by the Speaker as of right. The House then proceeds to the consideration of such bill reported by the committee in question and then on the House calendar as the chairman calls up, and continues its consideration until a vote is had, subject only to a possible interruption at the end of sixty minutes, to which I will refer hereafter. But even if interrupted its consideration is continued thereafter, when business of that character 3: Private is in order, until it is finally disposed of.

bills and

measures for the

District of

In addition to public bills such as I have enumerated, some carrying an appropriation and others not, there is another class of Columbia.

4. General

bills involv

ing appropriations.

Unanimous consent.

bills, the most numerous of all-private bills providing for the relief of private individuals or corporations. These have a calendar of their own called the private calendar, and are in order on every Friday of each week. They are, generally speaking, bills from the Committee on Claims, from the Committee on War Claims and from the Committee on Pensions. As to these bills the Speaker has no independent right of recognition. When addressed by the chairman of the appropriate committee on a Friday he must recognize him, and unless the House declines to consider these bills the Speaker must leave the chair and nominate a member to preside in his place. In the last Congress there were reported 6,834 private bills; 6,624 were passed, leaving 210 undisposed of.

There is another class of bills that, like private bills, have a day of their own under the rules, viz., District of Columbia bills. As is well known, there is no right of suffrage in the District of Columbia, and the Senate and House act as its Select and Common Councils. District of Columbia bills are in order on two Mondays of every month. As to these bills, again the Speaker has no alternative but to recognize the Chairman of the District Committee when, on his allotted day, he calls up his business.

A fourth class of bills provide for various matters of public concern and are such as involve a charge upon the Treasury. These go to the Union Calendar, and when considered must be considered in Committee of the Whole. At the end of the morning hour (sixty minutes) a motion may be made to go into Committee of the Whole for the consideration of bills on the Union Calendar or for the consideration of some particular bill thereon. This motion the Speaker is bound to entertain.

Then a large part of the business of the House is done wholly outside of the rules, by unanimous consent. Some gentleman, for instance, arises in the House and, being recognized by the Speaker, asks "unanimous consent for the present consideration of the following bill." Unless objection is made the bill is considered and voted on. It is in connection with this practice and

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