While the Congressional Leaders
are Leading Everyone Else is in
Committees
A) Purposes of Congressional
Committees
1) Divide the thousands of bills ( potential laws) proposed each year into specific
categories
2) lets representatives become knowledgeable in certain areas where laws could be
passed
3) lets lawmakers separate the good bills from the garbage (most bills never get passed
the committee stage)
4) lets the
public have
more of an
impact
a) by sitting
in on
meetings on
bills
b) by testifying
at meetings
on bills
Kinds of Committees
1) standing
a) What are they?
– committees that are present every year (to help you
remember: they’re “standing” all of the time)
b) How many are there?
–19 in the House, 17 in the Senate
House Armed Services Committee
Chairman Ike Skelton (MO) meets with
the leader of the Afghan National Army
while on a Congressional delegation visit
to Afghanistan.
Who leads them?
1) heads or chairpersons
are picked by the head of the
majority party
2) chairpersons are
usually the senior (meaning
longest serving) member of
the majority party already
serving on the committee
The House of Representatives is
expected to vote on the College
Opportunity and Affordability Act, the
comprehensive reauthorization of the
Higher Education Act, on Thursday,
February 7th
George Miller
Committee
Chairman of
Education and
Labor
Each committee can have from 9 to 75 House members while
each Senate committee has 12 to 28 members
F) The most popular committees are:
In the House:
1) Rules committee – they set
the rules of Congress and
how and when a bill will be
considered by Congress (they
can speed up, delay, or stop a
bill)
2)
Ways and
Means
committee –
they set the
budget and how
much we pay in
taxes
3) The Appropriations committee – they determine how much money government
programs should get
4)
The Armed
Services
committee – they
are in charge of
supervising all
military forces
5)
Judiciary committee – they are in charge of supervising law enforcement
personnel and courts
6)
Internation
al Relations
committee –
in charge of
US
relations
with other
countries
7)
Agriculture committee – in charge of supervising farming and fisheries as well as
government aid to farmers
b) in the Senate the most popular committees are:
1) Foreign relations committee (same as the International Relations committee in the
House)
2) Appropriations committee (same as in the House)
3) Finance committee (same as the Ways and Means committee in the House)
4) Judiciary committee (same as in the House)
5) Armed Services (same as in the House)
6)
Banking
committee – they
supervise all
banks, savings and
loans, and currency
issues
7) Housing committee – supervises all building and
maintaining of housing
8) Urban Affairs committee – supervises all city-planning
Think that there are a lot of committees? – there are 34 times (70 in the Senate, 80 in the House) as many
subcommittees (committees within a committee)
who:
1) pick on a specific and ongoing topic of a committee
2)
help young members of Congress get acquainted with
the lawmaking procedure
2) Some Senate and House committees are only
temporary - they are known as select (“special”)
committees
a) What are they? – temporary committees deal with one specific topic
b) Members for these committees are chosen by the Speaker of the
House or the President of the Senate (after of course they consult the
top members of their parties)
c) Why are they developed?
1) to deal with matters that the
people recognize as
important right now (for
example: terrorism)
2) to deal with overlooked
problems
3) to deal with specific interest
groups and their problems
c) once again they are designed
to be temporary - meaning
they only are to last 1 term (2
years) but their contract can
be renewed
3) Sometimes the House and Senate meet together and
form joint committees
a) What are they? –
committees made
up of both Senate
and House
members
b) They can be
temporary or
permanent
c) Deal with large
and small issues
d) They cannot
propose any laws
4) Conference
a) What are they? –
committees which
meet to try to make
sure both sides of the
legislative branch
pass laws
b) Since they only meet
when the House and
Senate are passing
laws about the same
topic at the same time
they are only
temporary
Duties of the members:
1) make sure both houses agree on the law at hand
2) make sure both parties get along
3) try to make sure new laws will be approved by the president
How do you determine who goes where?
1) Depends on your party
a) While the majority
leaders gets to pick the
leaders, how many of
each party is determined
by percentages
b) Ex: about 60% of the
House is Republican, so
on a ten member
committee 6 members
would be Republican
Depends on the “assignment”
committee
a) Who are they? – a special committee who approves committee
membership and all transfers
b) Who chooses the members of the assignment committee? – all of
the members of each party
3) Which committee you are on also
depends on the committee chairperson
Robert C. Byrd
D-WV
Chairman
Appropriations Committee
a) they can assign or take you off of
the committees
b) their other duties include
1) deciding which bills will be
discussed
2) breaking ties on votes
3) deciding how long a bill
should be considered
4) deciding when a bill will be
discussed
5) deciding who can or can’t
testify in front of the committee
6) deciding if committee
meetings will be open to the
public
C) Again, How are chairperson’s chosen? – it comes mostly down
to seniority – the older and more times you’ve been elected can also
play a factor, the more choice spots you can get
D) once the committees are chosen by the parties and chairpeople
they are approved formally by all of Congress