Congressional Leadership & Committees – 03 Exam - #4
Body 1
Define element of the Congressional Committee system and explain how it
influences the legislative process
Specialization: Congressional Committees are organized along particular topics.
Ex. Armed Services Committee – handles all bills related to …
Agriculture Committee – handles all bills related to livestock, poultry, & tobacco
Specialization allows for particular industries and interest groups to concentrate their
influence on a very small number of Congressmen/women. These committee members
develop an expertise in these specific areas and create a collegial rapport with the
industries they regulate.
Body 2
Define element of the Congressional Committee system and explain how it
influences the legislative process
Party representation on committees: What ever political party has a majority in each
chamber of Congress, that particular party will have a majority of members in
each Congressional Committee. Ex. Both houses of the 110th Congress have a
Democrat majority; therefore, the Democrats have a majority in each committee.
Passage of legislation through a Congressional Committee is by a simple majority. Since
the majority party has at least a simple majority in every standing committee, as long as there is a
vote along party lines, the majority party can always pass the bills that it wants through the
House of Representatives.
Body 3
Two ways party leadership in Congress can influence the legislative process &
explain how each way influences the process
1) Set the agenda:
In the House of Representatives, the Speaker is the leader of the
chamber and he/she is chosen by the majority party. The Speaker is the person that receives all
submitted bills, approximately 11,000 per session, and decides which ones will be passed to
committees in which order. For example, during the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress,
Nancy Pelosi pushed the committees of the House of Representatives and then the entire
chamber to quickly pass bills dealing with: raising the minimum wage to $7.15/hour,
implementing recommendations by the 9/11 commission, promoting stem cell research, fixing
Medicare prescription drug care – negotiating lower prices, cutting student loan interest rates,
rolling back tax breaks for oil industry.
2) Speaker appoints Committee Chairs:
The Congressional Committees and subcommittees are where the vast majority of bills are re-written, marked up, and decided upon.
The most powerful Congressmen in each Committee, like the Armed Services Committee, is
chosen by the Speaker in the House of Representatives and the Majority Leader in the Senate,
currently Harry Reid. The Committee Chairs determine which bills will be shelved (killed) and
which will be passed to the sub-committees for further review. Chairs use their position of
power to set the agenda within their committees and to use the position as a pulpit to espouse
their ideas.