congressional committees

When a bill is introduced, the House or Senate parliamentarian determines its jurisdiction and refers it to the appropriate committee. Within the committee, the bill is usually considered by a subcommittee, which may hold hearings to collect testimony and other evidence. The subcommittee then reports the bill to the full committee for further debate and amendment. If the committee approves, it will report the bill to the House or Senate. The committee chairman or another designated floor manager from the committee will attempt to defend the bill against crippling amendments and win its passage. Once a bill becomes law, the same committee exercises oversight over the executive department agency that carries out the law.

Legislation is shaped more in committee than on the floor of the House and Senate. Bills tend to pass in a form so close to that in which they are reported (voted on and sent to the floor) by committees that the committees have been called “little legislatures.” Members therefore have the most influence over bills considered in their own committees.

Select committees

The first House and Senate were small bodies that often debated legislative proposals as a committee of the whole and then appointed a select (temporary) committee to perfect the bill's language. Select committees went out of existence as soon as they reported their specific legislation. The first standing (permanent) committees dealt with such house-keeping items as enrolled bills (enrolled bills are the final versions of enacted bills that have been checked for typographical errors and inconsistencies) and contested congressional elections. During the early Congresses, the House and Senate created hundreds of select committees. Committee members were elected by the entire chamber, and whoever received the most votes chaired the committee. Under this system, some members served on many committees, while others served on few or none.

Standing committees

In 1792, the House created the Ways and Means Committee to consider and enact Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's proposals for an ambitious national financial program. A Committee on Public Lands was established following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. After the disastrous War of 1812, for which both the executive and legislative branches seemed unprepared, both houses of Congress saw the need for more legislative expertise and for conducting their business more efficiently. In December 1816, the Senate created a dozen standing committees, including Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Finance, which continue to operate today. By 1816, the House had created 16 standing committees. Over time, the number of committees increased steadily, and then various legislative reorganizations reduced their number and settled their jurisdiction–which bills would be referred to them.

By the late 19th century, congressional committees had become powerful instruments of government. Committees conducted most of their work in secret, and committee rooms became the domain of chairmen so autocratic that they were sometimes described as barons. The most influential committees were the four “money” committees–Finance and Appropriations in the Senate–Ways and Means and Appropriations in the House–which determined how all federal money would be raised and spent. Other committees held authority over such areas as the military, foreign policy, the federal judiciary, commerce, and the interior. A few committees existed only to give their chairmen a room and a clerk and never received any legislation to consider. For example, the Senate established a Committee on Woman Suffrage decades before the allmale Senate took that issue seriously and maintained a Committee on Revolutionary Claims into the early 20th century, long after any revolutionary war veterans and widows were still living to file claims for pensions. Party caucuses selected committee members, who then advanced by seniority.

Committee reforms

Reforms in the 20th century reduced the power of committee chairmen, provided for discharge of bills from committees that failed to report them, assigned staff to all committee members, and threatened uncooperative chairmen with removal by a majority vote of the majority caucus. “Sunshine” rules required all committee hearings, including markup sessions, to be open to the public.

See also Chairs of committees; Committee assignments, congressional; Conference committees; Investigations, congressional; Joint committees; Oversight; Ranking members in Congress; Referrals to congressional committees; Seniority in Congress; Subcommittees, congressional

Sources

• Robert C. Byrd, “The Committee System”, in The Senate, 1789–1989: Addresses on the History of the United States Senate, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1991).
• Stephen S. Smith and Christopher J. Deering, Committees in Congress (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1984)