Article 1 of the United States Constitution created a bicameral legislative branch known as the Congress. In this passage of the Constitution, two houses were created with seventeen enumerated rights including taxing, coining money, etc. The Constitution says the Congress is supposed to be set up in the following manner. The House of Representatives is to be made up of members selected every two years. There shall be at least one representative for each state. If there is ever a vacancy the executive authority of the state (i.e. state governor) will selected a person to fill said vacancy. The members of the House elect the Speaker and other officers.
             The Senate will be composed of two Senators per state for six years and each senator will have one vote each. One third of the Senate will be up for election every two years. The Vice President will be the head of this branch of Congress but doesn't have a vote unless there is a tie. When the Vice President is absent, the President pro tempore will run the Senate.
             So why then are there committees and whips and majority leaders when they aren't mentioned in the Constitution? Because the Congressman couldn't perform the job to the standards prescribed by the Constitution without them. So here's the "informal" structure of the Congress. The House of Representatives has a maximum of 435 members. The Speaker of the House, which is selected by the majority leader for a two year term, presides over the House and acts as the official liaison to the Senate and the President. The Majority leader, which is the leader of the party that holds a majority of the seats in the House, helps the speaker with the legislation (a.k.a. bills, etc) on the floor. The minority leader represents the minority party in the House. Whips are elected by party members in their specific parties and keep close contact with its members. Their job is to keep members focused o...