What kind of levers does the Speaker have? | US Government and Civics | Khan Academy

What kind of levers does the Speaker have in relation to the other House representatives?

The Speaker has all kinds of levers, both formal and informal. In fact, a lot of them are informal. The Speaker can name a lot of people to the committees, particularly to the, quote, "rules committee" in the House.

And what does the rules committee do? The rules committee sets the rules for what's debated and what comes onto the floor. Through controlling the rules committee, you can control what kinds of amendments come up, how much debate there is for unpopular ideas, and you can help get legislation through by managing the rules under which it's debated.

There's a famous instance in which Dennis Hastert, who was Speaker of the House under George W. Bush, held open a vote on Medicare Part D. This was adding prescription drugs to the Medicare plan. Holding open a vote means you set a certain time for the number of votes that come in and, at the end of that time, you count the votes. Are they in? Does it pass?

Well, it wasn't passing. Hastert let the vote stay open while he went around and strong-armed individual members of the Republican side. He was a Republican Speaker. He strong-armed them, said, "You really got to vote for this," and finally got enough votes. Just when it went over the threshold, boom! He closed the window and said, "The vote's over," and it passed.

What did he do to get those extra votes? Well, you can give people plum committee assignments. You can help their legislation get to the floor that maybe wasn't getting there fast enough. Another power you have is you can go raise money for them or get the people you know on the political side to make their run for re-election easier.

So, there are lots of gifts you can give to your members or things you can withhold from them to make them do what you want.