Elected by the whole of the House of Representatives, the Speaker acts as leader of the House and combines several roles: the institutional role of presiding officer and administrative head of the House, the role of leader of the majority party in the House, and the representative role of an elected member of the House …

The Constitution requires the Senate to elect a president pro tempore to serve as presiding officer in the absence of the vice president. The president pro tempore is authorized to preside over the Senate, sign legislation, and issue the oath of office to new senators.

The floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by a majority vote of all the senators of their party assembled in a conference or, as it sometimes is called, a caucus. The practice has been to choose the leader for a two-year term at the beginning of each Congress.

In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative body. Given the two-party nature of the U.S. system, the minority leader is almost inevitably either a Republican or a Democrat.

Current floor leaders The Senate is currently composed of 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 2 independents, both of whom caucus with the Democrats. The current leaders are senators Chuck Schumer (D) from New York and Mitch McConnell (R) from Kentucky.

Majority and Minority Leaders

“The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided” (U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 3). Since 1789, 272 tie-breaking votes have been cast.

1880 and 1881 United States Senate elections

1920 United States Senate elections

Congress Overview Democrats retained control of the House, captured the Senate, and ramped up their efforts to undercut Reconstruction legislation protecting African-American voting rights in the 46th Congress (1879–1881).

To date, 58 women have served in the United States Senate, with 24 serving at this time (indicated in bold print below).

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women’s rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940.

There are currently 24 women in the Senate.

The Constitution prescribes that the Senate be composed of two senators from each State (therefore, the Senate currently has 100 Members) and that a senator must be at least thirty years of age, have been a citizen of the United States for nine years, and, when elected, be a resident of the State from which he or she …

Since the U.S. Congress convened on March 4, 1789, 12,415 individuals have served as Representatives, Senators, or in both capacities. There have been 10,421 Members who served only as Representatives, 1,314 Members who served only in the Senate, and 680 Members with service in both chambers.

List of senators