Speaker of the House
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
In the government of the United States, the Speaker of the House is the leader of the House of Representatives. He or she is elected by the current members of the House and the person with the most votes becomes Speaker. The Speaker is always a member of the majority party (the party with the most members). The job of the Speaker is to keep the House in order and to assign committee memberships and chairmanships. It is a powerful position in government.
The Speaker of the House is third in line for the Presidency of the United States. If the President of the United States dies or cannot carry out his office, the Vice President of the United States becomes President. If the Vice President also dies or cannot carry out his office, the Speaker of the House automatically becomes the next President.
The current Speaker of the House is Dennis Hastert of Illinois, a Republican. The expected Speaker of the House for the next Congress will be Nancy Pelosi of California, a Democrat.