This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United States
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Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door (private) caucus.
The Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives acts as the leader of the party that has a majority of the seats in the house (currently at least 218 of the 435 seats). The Majority Leader works with the Speaker of the House and the Majority Whip to coordinate ideas and maintain support for legislation.
The role of the majority leader has been defined by history and tradition. This officer is charged with scheduling legislation for floor consideration; planning the daily, weekly, and annual legislative agendas; consulting with Members to gauge party sentiment; and, in general, working to advance the goals of the majority party.
The office of Majority Leader was created in 1899 by Speaker David B. Henderson for Sereno Payne. Henderson saw a need for a party leader on the House floor separate from the Speaker, as the role of Speaker had become more nationally prominent and the size of the House had grown from 105 at the beginning of the century to 356. In addition to distributing the responsibility of running the House, the existence of the Majority Leader allows the Speaker to criticize his or her own party when he considers it politically necessary.
Before 1899, the majority party floor leader had traditionally been the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, as it generates the Bills of Revenue specified in the Constitution as the House's unique power.
The Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives serves as floor leader of the opposition party, and is the minority counterpart to the Majority Leader. Generally, the minority leader is on the ballot for Speaker of the House during the convening of the Congress. He or she is usually the party's top choice for Speaker if party control flips after an election. The minority leader usually meets with the Majority Leader and the Speaker to discuss agreements on controversial issues.
The current (as of 2007) House majority leader is Steny Hoyer, while the current (as of 2007) House minority leader is John Boehner.

List of Party Leaders
(Names in Bold indicate Majority Leaders, names in Italics indicate Speakers of the House for context.)