About

• The assistant majority leader of the United States Senate first became an office in 1913 after first becoming an office in the House of Representatives. The party with the most elected officials becomes the majority party of the Senate. This majority party then elects a Senate majority leader and an assistant majority leader, who are both responsible for passing legislation in the interest of their party. Majority whips, or assistant majority leaders, are elected by their parties at the party's caucus. These elected party officials serve two-year terms beginning with the first day of the newly-elected Congress.
  
  

Communicate Official Party Position

• The primary responsibility of the assistant majority leader of the Senate is to regulate the voting of her party on important political issues. To do this, she must be an advocate of the official party position on prospective legislative actions and manage to convince dissenting party members to vote in accordance with party position. The whip exercises considerable control over her party. Through the use of the structured committee system within the United States Senate, the majority whip can use promotions and demotions to garner the voting aligned with the official party position.
  
  

Act as Floor Leader

• The duties of the floor leader of the Senate include leading the floor during Senate debates, assisting the president and vice president in congressional policy procedure and issues, and developing a schedule for voting and debates. While it is unlikely that the majority leader of the Senate would be absent for voting and debating major party issues, the assistant majority leader fulfills his duties if he is absent during any time, generally for less important voting procedures. Additionally, while acting as floor leader, the assistant majority leader must be able to answer and advise on congressional procedure issues.
  
  

Other Duties

• Though the assistant majority leader of the Senate's primary duty is to encourage members of her party to vote in accordance with the party's official position on legislative issues, there are many ways that she can do this. For instance, assistant majority leaders are responsible for counting and analyzing prospective outcomes of votes before they happen. Once this is done, she can begin to persuade dissenting members of her party to vote in accordance with the party's stance. She is also responsible for guaranteeing that members of the party are present to vote on important political issues.