With each new Congress, the Democratic and Republican Conferences elect one of their members to serve as party leader. Depending on which party is in power, one party leader serves as majority leader and the other as minority leader. Both party leaders, also called floor leaders, serve as the spokesperson for their party’s positions on the issues and coordinate their respective legislative strategies.
Working with the committee chairs and ranking members, the majority leader schedules business on the floor by calling bills from the calendar and keeps members of his or her caucus advised about the daily legislative program. In consultation with the minority leader, the majority leader fashions unanimous consent agreements by which the Senate may limit the amount of time for debate on a measure and divide that time between the parties.
Occupying the front-row desks on the center aisle in the Senate Chamber, the leaders pay close attention to floor action. They open and close the day's proceedings, keep legislation moving, and protect the rights and interests of party members. When several senators are seeking recognition at the same time, the presiding officer of the Senate will call on the majority leader first, then on the minority leader, and then on the managers of the bill being debated. This right of first recognition enables the majority leader to offer amendments, substitutes, and motions to reconsider before any other senator.
The position of party floor leader is not included in the Constitution. It evolved gradually in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The position developed separately within each of the major party conferences, with the conference chairs gradually assuming the functions associated with modern day floor leaders well before creation of the title itself. By the 1910s, both parties were electing conference chairs who acted as floor leaders, and by the 1920s, these leaders were exercising the full array of responsibilities associated with modern floor leadership.
