Steering the Senate

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The first-ever study to examine the development of the Senate's main governing institutions, Steering the Senate is the extraordinary account of the invention and growth of Senate floor leadership-a story that, until now, has been entirely unknown.

Résumé
The Senate majority and minority leaders stand at the pinnacle of American national government as important to Congress as the speaker of the House. However, the invention of Senate floor leadership has, until now, been entirely unknown. Providing a sweeping account of the emergence of party organization and leadership in the US Senate, Steering the Senate is the first-ever study to examine the development of the Senate's main governing institutions. It argues that three forces party competition, intraparty factionalism, and entrepreneurship have driven innovation in the Senate. The book details how the position of floor leader was invented in 1890 and then strengthened through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Drawing on the full history of the Senate, this book immediately becomes the authoritative source for understanding the institutional development of the Senate uncovering the origins of the Senate party caucuses, steering committees, and floor leadership.