Explainer: What does speaker of the House actually do?

The House is without a speaker after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy
The chamber can't conduct business until a new one is elected
The speaker is a political leader, presiding officer and administrative head

Updated: Oct 6, 2023 / 11:41 PM CDT

FILE – The Capitol in Washington, is seen at sunrise, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. On one side of the U.S. Capitol, two senators have steered the debate over government funding mostly clear of partisan fights, clearing a path for bills to pass with bipartisan momentum. Steps away, on the House side of the building, things couldn’t be more different. House Republicans, trying to win support from the far-right wing of the party, have loaded up their government funding packages with funding cuts and conservative policy priorities. Democrats have responded with ire, branding their GOP counterparts as extreme and bigoted and withdrawing support for the legislation.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

(NewsNation) — The House of Representatives remains at a standstill while it is without a speaker, a vacancy that has highlighted the position as one of the most important in Washington.

Elected by a simple majority of House members, speakers are the chamber’s leader, presiding officer and administrative head. They appoint members to committees, recognize people to speak during debates and decide which bills get brought to the floor.

That last duty is why, until a new speaker is elected, Congress will be unable to take action on important end-of-year items, including passing a federal budget. While legislators were able to reach a deal on a temporary funding measure — the reason behind former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster — they must pass another before Nov. 17.

The Constitution is vague about the speaker, dictating only that members “shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers.” One need not be an elected member of the House to serve as speaker, which is why the last speaker’s election in January saw former President Donald Trump being nominated for the position.

In shaping the role of the speaker, the House Office of the Historian notes the country’s founding fathers had in mind what it should look like based on their experience in the British House of Commons.

“The Speakership they envisioned resembled a parliamentary referee who would rule on floor debate but do little else,” according to the historian’s office.

As time went on, the office evolved. It gained national prominence in the early 1800s when Henry Clay of Kentucky sat in the chair.

“Clay championed national policies over regional ones, and he effectively coupled the institutional tools of the speakership with his personal charisma, raising the stature of the House,” the House historian’s office notes.

Now, the speaker is the leader of the majority political party, controls the order of business on the floor and also votes, just like other members.

The speaker is also third in line to the presidency (after the vice president) and plays a role in the 25th Amendment process of dealing with a presidential incapacitation.

The National Constitution Center summarized the significance of the role: “In these positions, the Speaker plays a key role as negotiator between the House and president and with the Senate, and as the point person for the House’s fundamental role in originating and passing legislation and controlling “the power of the purse to tax and spend taxpayer money.”

The House is set to reconvene Tuesday, when lawmakers will try to elect a new speaker. The last time, it took 15 rounds of voting for McCarthy to win the position.