Majority party leadership in the US House of Representatives, 1977-96: Speakers, committee assignments, and institutional context

Objective. This paper describes and explains the presence of various strate gies used by party leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives to increase cohesion among members of the majority party Methods. Logistic regression analysis is performed on assignments to the most prestigious committees fro m the 95th through the 104th Congresses. Results. Leaders are likely to rew ard loyal members, to favor no ideological wing of the majority party, and to protect-on occasion-the vulnerable members of the caucus. Conclusions. T he implementation of these strategies varies according to short-term change s in the institutional context of the majority party.