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Congressional Committees

Kinds of Committees / Purposes

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Types of Committees

See page 143 of text for a list - here are a few

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House - Appropriations; Energy and commerce; Rules; Ways and Means

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Senate - Banking, Housing, Urban affairs; Finance; Foreign relations, Judiciary

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Purposes of Committees

1) Too many are proposed for each member of congress to go through - committees divide the work

2) A place for interest groups to have a say and for the public to get informed of issues

3) Committees decide which bills should get considered - most bills die in committee

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Standing committees

Permanent groups that create new legislation and oversee existing programs.

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Subcommittee - members of a standing committee who specialize in one area.

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Joint Committees

No power to report on bills - act as study groups and report findings to the House and Senate

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Membership

Seniority system - the member of the majority party with the longest service on the committee gets to be Chairperson (decides when and how long bills are discussed)

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Usually awarded to members based on which state they are from and personal expertise

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House Rules, Ways and Means, Appropriation; Senate Foreign relation, most powerful

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Legislative Oversight

The power to review how well the executive is implementing Congress' laws (programs)

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Investigations - The power to look into concerns of national interest, scandal, corruption.