What’s a Whip?
by Kitty Felde
Lawmakers called “whips” ran around talking to people in their own party, making sure that they would vote the way their party leaders wanted them to vote. It was the whip’s job to keep track of who was voting which way and make sure there were enough votes to pass the bill. Papa said whips had to be very good at math. I told him I’d never be a whip. - Fina Mendoza
No, It's Not a Topping for Pie
Fina may not want to be a whip, but somebody's got to do it.
Whips may have the most difficult job in Congress: keeping track of lawmakers and their votes. Some call it "herding cats." Champ Clark, a House Speaker in the early 1900’s, called whips “the right hands of the two leaders.”
Job Description of a Whip
Each party has a whip in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Basically, they have four jobs:
Share information with lawmakers in their party from leadership about upcoming votes and when they are scheduled.
Find out how members of their own party plan to vote on a particular bill. The whip will also let leadership know any information gathered from lobbyists, the White House, or personal contacts about how members of the OTHER party might vote.
Make sure members of your own party show up to vote.
Exert pressure to - in the words of Randall B. Ripley of the Brookings Institute - “change the minds of the recalcitrant and stiffen the wills of the wavering.”
A Bit of History
There have been informal whips as long as there have been political parties. But the title was formally adopted by Congress at the end of 19th century. The name comes from the name of the person in charge of the dogs during a fox hunt, the “whipper-in."
In earlier times, whips would send telegrams to missing members to make sure there were enough votes. Now, those messages are usually sent by text.
Whips have gone to go to great measures to guarantee attendance on the House floor for votes. In 1963, 19 members of Congress were planning to attend an air show in Paris. Their transportation was to be provided by the U.S. Air Force. Those lawmakers found that their plane was delayed. A phone call from the whip’s office made sure the plane wouldn’t take off until an hour after the vote.
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