members, each of whom is up for re election every two years and who represent local interests in their districts. Many nineteenth and early twentieth century Speakers such as Henry Clay, Thomas A. Reid and Joseph G. Cannon exercised near dictatorial powers which were gradually eroded by successive reform movements. Democratic Speakers in the post war era included strong figures like Sam Rayburn and Tip O'Neil, but the last Democratic Speaker, Thomas G. Foley, was mostly known for his "legislative knowledge and consensus building skills" (Cohen 92).
Reforms Under Recent Democratic Leadership
During the post Watergate era, some progress had been made in reducing the power of the chairmen of the standing committees, who were generally appointed on the basis of seniority and were often conservative Southerners. This was accomplished primarily by granting staffs and budgets to subcommittees and otherwise increasing their autonomy. The once feared Chairman of the House Rules Committee, which sets the terms of debate and controls the amendment process, could no longer block the introduction of bills sponsored by other committee chairmen or desired by the party leadership.
For a variety of reasons, many of these reforms, which were designed to make the House more responsive to the will of the majority and to make its procedures more open and democratic, backfired on the leadership and made the House less controllable. Party discipline, always tenuous in the House, was weakened by a gradual decline in the power of the two political parties. This created "a power vacuum in the decision making process" and led to the rise of "interest group politics" (Cigler 5). Traditional building blocks of the Democratic coalition such as organized labor and farm groups lacked the clout they once had in national politics. The power of the Congress increased as that of the presidency weakened. The ascendancy of Congress led to a fractious a...