A committee (some of which are titled instead as a "Commission", or other terms discussed below in Official and unofficial types) is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly-which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole". Committees often serve several different functions:
The Committee of Ways and Means is one of the most important committees in the US Congress. It is the chief tax-writing committee of the US House of Representatives. Major issues that it has dealt with include welfare reform, a Meidcare prescription drug benefit, Social Security reform, Former President George W. Bush's tax cuts, and all trade agreements.
The Committee on Appropriations is another one of the most powerful committees in Congress. It is in charge of setting the specific expenditures of money by the government.
Some feel that the most important committee in Congress is the Committee of Ways and Means. However, all of the committees in Congress are very important.
Rules, followed by Appropriations and Ways & Means.
The US Senate has 16 standing committees
The US House currently has 23 active committees of which three are special committees and 20 are standing committees, which are divided into 104 sub-committees. The US Senate currently has 17 standing committees, which are divided into 70 sub-committees.
Currently there are 16 standing committees in the Senate and 20 in the House
A "Senate staffer" is anyone who serves on the staff of a Member of the Senate or one of the committees. I know this to be correct as I was a Senate staffer for 22 years.
The legislative branch forms committees to oversee the activities of the Executive Branch. These committees are typically found in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and play an important role in conducting hearings, performing investigations, and providing oversight over the executive agencies and departments.
He is a voting member of the US Senate with great seniority which puts him in a position of leadership on important committees in the Senate. He also has the ceremonial position as vice-chair of the Senate and is third in line in the presidential succession.
*Standing Committees: these are the most important because all bills are referred to a standing committee in Congress. Each committee is an area of specialization that is further divided into subcommittees. These are permanent. *Joint Committees: These are also permanent. The tasks assigned to them are very diverse. *House Rules Committee: these are very powerful standing committees in the House. Once a bill has been approved by the appropriate standing committee, it is then sent to this one, which will govern rules on what will happen tot he bill once it is on the floor. Mainly Standing Committees.
In the US congress, the party that holds the majority gets to select the chairmen & women, and decide who will run important committees. In the 2014 mid-term elections, the Republicans won the most seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate; so, as the majority party, they became able to name members of their own party to all of the major committees. When the Democrats controlled the Senate or the House (or both), it was their party that named these committee leaders.
Their are 100 memebrs of the US senate, 2 from every state. The politcal party breakdown is 57 democrats, 41 republicans, and 2 independents (although they act and vote similar to the democrats). The constitution does say that the VP is the presiding officer of the senate..... but only to break ties..... when the VP is not present, the president pro-tempore takes his place. The president pro tempore, although without voting privledges, presides over the overall function of the senate. The parties (democrat and republican) are also headed by their party leaders. To futher break things down the senate has committees (which is were most bills start). Their are 16 standing (or permanent) committees in the senate.
Rules Committee, Appropriations Committee, Ways and Means Committee, and the Budget Committee are probably the most powerful. The Energy and Commerce Committee and the Education and Labor Committee are powerful because of the broad reach of their jurisdictional control.
The president pro tempore of the Senate is a US Senator and so has all the powers of a US senator. The pro tem is elected by the Senate and not surprisinglu a member of the majority party always wins. By tradition they choose the party member with the longest seniority. Such a person has a lot of infuence in the senate and serves on and chairs most of the committees he is interested in.
small group to help larger committees complete tasks (A+)