Like the rules of the two bodies, the House of Representatives and Senate rules committees operate very differently. The House Rules Committee plays a powerful role in all House proceedings. When bills are reported out of committee, but before they are debated by the full House, the House Rules Committee determines the rules under which the bill will be debated, setting time limits and other conditions for the debate.
The House Rules Committee can adopt an open rule, a closed rule, or a modified rule. If it adopts no rule at all, the bill will not get to the House floor. Under an open rule, members can debate and amend a bill as much as they want. Under a closed rule, members may not introduce amendments from the floor, and they can debate the bill only for a limited time, with the time divided equally between the opposing sides. A modified rule is not as restrictive as a closed rule but spells out how many and what types of amendments may be introduced from the floor.
By the type of rule it adopts, the Rules Committee can therefore make it much easier for the House majority to get its way, or it can block the passage of a bill or at least make it more difficult. Before 1910, when progressives led a revolt against the conservative Speaker Joseph G. Cannon for blocking their reform legislation, Speakers of the House appointed the chairman of the Rules Committee and served on the committee themselves, which increased the Speaker's control over legislation. After 1910 the chairmanship went to the committee member from the majority party who had the most seniority. In the 1950s a conservative coalition of Republicans and Democrats controlled the Rules Committee under chairman Howard Smith (Democrat-Virginia). Because this conservative coalition frustrated many liberal initiatives, Speaker Sam Rayburn led the movement to enlarge the Rules Committee and make it more representative of the majority party as a whole rather than just its conservative wing. Legislative reforms in the 1970s also increased the influence of the Speaker and the majority party leadership over the Rules Committee.
Although the House has separate committees for rules and administration, the Senate has combined these functions into a single Rules and Administration Committee. Time limits and other stipulations on debate and amendment of Senate bills are arranged by unanimous consent agreements worked out by the leadership and the bill's sponsors. Because bills do not go to the Senate Rules Committee for specific rules, and because the Senate revises its general rules very infrequently, the Rules and Administration Committee devotes more of its attention to such administrative duties as assigning office and parking space and overseeing the Senate's general operations.
See also Cannon, Joseph G.; Committees, congressional; Rayburn, Sam; Rules of the House and Senate; Smith, Howard W.; Unanimous consent agreements
Sources
- Walter J. Oleszek, Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1989)
