United States Senate Majority Leader

The Senate Majority Leader is a member of the United States Senate who is elected by his party conference to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for his party and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. By custom, the Presiding Officer gives the Majority Leader priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate.

The term Floor Leaders refers to both the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader.

The current Majority Leader is Bill Frist. Majority leaders since 1980:

Howard Baker[?] (R-TN)	1981-1985
Bob Dole (R-KS)	1985-1987
Robert Byrd  (D-WV)	1987-1989
George Mitchell[?] (D-ME)	1989-1995
Bob Dole (R-KS)	1995-1996
Trent Lott (R-MS)	1996-January 3, 2001
Tom Daschle (D-SD)	January 3-January 20, 20011
Trent Lott (R-MS)	January 20-June 6, 20012
Tom Daschle (D-SD)	June 6, 2001-20033
Bill Frist (R-TN)	2003-present

This information is from Senate.gov (http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Majority_Minority_Leaders.htm#4).

Footnotes

¹ Before the swearing in of George W. Bush, The Democrats held the Majority in a split Senate, thanks to Al Gore's deciding vote.

² After the swearing in of George W. Bush, The Republicans held the Majority in a split Senate, thanks to Dick Cheney's deciding vote.

³ Jim Jeffords[?] became an Independent who caucuses with Democrats on May 24, 2001. The change took effect on June 6, 2001. This gave the Democrats a working majority of 51 seats.