The Committee System
“Congress in Committee is Congress at work”
- Woodrow Wilson (1888)
The emergence of the committee system
• Congressional committees aren’t mentioned in the
constitution … or any early Federal laws
• By 1820’s, federal government was beginning to look
the way it looks today
– Mass parties were coalescing, presidential elections
became national, vote extended to all white males (and
some free blacks)
– In both houses a system of standing committees was
established
• This system has dominated the business of both
chambers ever since
History of Standing Committees
• 1571, House of Commons establishes a single
committee, “charged not with a single bill, … but
with a general subject.”
• By 1600’s, 5 standing committees in House of
Commons: privileges and elections, religion,
grievances, courts of justice, trade
• American standing committees developed in colonial
assemblies
• By 1700’s, colonial committees appointed for whole
sessions, had fixed memberships and well-defined
jurisdictions
Committee history in Congress
• Originally, neither chamber had any standing
committees
• Only after deliberation by whole was a committee
established to work on the bill
– Committee had no veto power, modest proposal
power, was dismissed after work on bill completed
• Why no standing committees?
– Not a radical concept (were used in many colonies)
– Early forms didn’t entail tremendous amounts of
agenda or decision-making power
Why no standing committees?
• A deliberate choice
– Jeffersonian Republicans disliked idea of a small group
being disproportionately influential at prelegislative stage
– Felt principles of bill should emerge from deliberation
– Federalists had no problem with standing committees, but
felt they were redundant
• Agenda-setting power of executive branch good enough
• In reality, bills started being referred to legislators that
had established expertise on the matter
Change in Congressional organization
In the first 9 Congresses (18 years), the House had 8 standing
committees. The Senate had 1.
The House created 2 in the 10th Congress (1807-09)
The Senate created 1.
The House created 10 standing committees between 1812 and
1817. The Senate created 12.
The creation of standing committees in
the House: 1811-1825
• In elections of 1810, new legislators from South and
West came to Congress in pursuit of a declaration of
war
– Had suffered at hands of British
– Brits had cut off European markets for agricultural
crops that were mainstay of frontier economy
– Believed that Brits had provided arms to Native
Americans for purpose of attacking settlers
– One of these new legislators was Henry Clay
The War of 1812
• Clay was elected Speaker in 1811, and began pushing
President Madison for a war declaration
• Stood as head of homogenous group of Southern and
Western Republicans, and passed war declaration in
1812 against British
• During war, 3 new standing committees established:
Judiciary, Revolutionary War Claims, Public
Expenditures
Post-war Congress
• After treaty of Ghent signed, signs of Republican
coalition split
– Disagreements over taxes, Western v Northern
• Clay forced to search for new methods to gain control
of House, since war no longer an issue
• Expanded standing committee system solidified
Clay’s support
– “Bolstered flagging troops by giving them a permanent
stake in the business of the House.”
Development of standing committees in
the Senate: 1811-1825
• In 1816, Virginia Senator submitted a resolution to
amend Senate rules by creating 11 standing
committees
• It passed and two weeks later a new Committee on
the District of Columbia also added
• Thus in 2 weeks, a standing committee system was
born
Why so quickly?
• In first 30 years, Senate a reactive chamber
– Responded to House and Executive initiatives
– Surrendered much of its control over its agenda to
external agents
• By 1816, Congress had become estranged from
Madison, and turned to standing committees to fill
vacuum
– Senate borrowed from House notion of standing
committees, then extended this system to totally
exclude earlier forms of organization
External Events and Internal Structure
• Timing suggests War of 1812 a catalyst; creation of committees
usually linked to an important historical occurance
– Louisiana Purchase (1803), Committee on Public Lands
(1805)
– Civil War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam
• Reconstruction-era reorganization of committees
• Budget Act of 1921,
• Legislative Reorganization Acts of 1946 and 1970
• Pressures simultaneously disorganize and create a need for
more coherent organization of congressional decision making
Committees as workshops
• When a bill is introduced in the House or Senate, it is
usually referred to the committee with jurisdiction
over its particular policy area
• Committees allow for a division of legislative labor,
enabling the 100 Senators and 435 House members to
consider approximately 5,000 bills and 50,000
nominations a year
• Means by which Congress “sifts through an
otherwise impossible jumble of bills, proposals and
issues.”
2 Theories of committee purpose
• Distributional: Committees give lawmakers influence
over policies critical to their reelection
– Those attracted to a particular committee are those
whose constituents benefit from such policies
– Filled with preference outliers, legislators whose
preferences at odds w. membership of the whole
Informational: Committees provide lawmakers with
specialized expertise
– Formulate policies that resolve national problems
Types of Committees
(Standing, select, joint, conference)
• Standing: Permanent committees (last from year to year);
agriculture, appropriations, armed services, budget
– Process bulk of legislation
• Select (or Special):
– Temporary, usually lasting only 2 years
– Usually don’t have legislative authority, but study bills and
make recommendations
– Coordinate legislation that overlaps jurisdiction of several
standing committees (Select committee on homeland
security)
Table 6.1. Types of Committees
May Report Legislation to the Floor?
Yes No
some select committees
Yes standing committees
joint committees
Permanent Status?
conference committees
No most select committees
ad hoc committees
Source: House rules, www.house.gov
• Joint: Include members of both chambers (House and
Senate)
– Economic, Library, Printing, Taxation
• Conference: Reconcile differences between similar
measures passed by both chambers (legislation must
be identical before signed by president)
– Composed of members of both houses
4 types of conference bargaining:
• Traditional: participants meet, haggle
• Offer-counteroffer: sides suggest compromises, recess
to discuss
• Subconference: groups address special topics
• Pro forma: informal preconference negotiations
Standing Committees of the House, 111th Congress
House of Representatives
Name (Number of Subcommittees) Demsc Repsc
Agriculture (6) 28 18
Appropriations (12) 37 23
Armed Services (7) 37 25
Budget (0) 24 15
Education and Labor (5) 30 19
Energy and Commerce (6) 36 23
Financial Services (5) 42 29
Foreign Relations (7) 28 19
Homeland Security (6) 21 13
House Administration (2) 6 3
Judiciary (5) 24 16
Natural Resources (4) 29 20
Oversight and Government Reform (5) 25 16
Rules (2) 9 4
Science and Technology (5) 27 17
Select Committee on Intelligencea (4) 13 9
Small Business (5) 17 12
Standards of Official Conduct b (0) 5 5
Transportation and Infrastructure (6) 45 30
Veterans’ Affairs (4) 18 11
Ways and Means (6) 26 15
How and Why Do Members Value
Committee Assignments
• District Interests
– Agriculture, Transportation, Armed Services
• Advancement in Party /Chamber
– Rules, Appropriations
• Personal Interest
• Visibility
– Homeland Security, Judiciary
How assignments are made
Formal Criteria
• In Senate, “Johnson rule” is followed:
– All party members assigned to one major committee
before someone gets a second major assignment
– These are: Appropriations, Armed Services,
Commerce, Finance, Foreign Relations
• In House, committees are ranked exclusive,
nonexclusive, exempt
– Exclusive can’t serve on any other standing committee
– Can serve on two nonexclusive
Informal assignment criteria
• Seniority: Only Senate Republicans apply seniority
rigidly when two members compete for a vacancy or
chairmanship (most senior longest continuing
committee service)
• Fundraising ability
• Demographics
• Issue Advocates
Are Committees “Representative?”
• Should they be?
• “High Demanders”
• Expertise
• Partisan effects, seniority, “issue ownership”
• Bargaining with the other chamber/President
FIGURE 6.2. Median Conservative Score for Standing Committees, 2005-2006
Source: Common space scores from http://www.voteview.com
HOUSE COMMITTEES
House Administration
Agriculture
Appropriations
Armed Services
Budget
Education and the Workplace
Energy and Commerce
Financial Services
Government Reform and Oversight
Homeland Security
Intelligence
International Relations
Judiciary
Resources
Rules
Science
Small Business
Standards of Official Conduct
Transportation and Infrastructure
Veterans' Affairs
Ways and Means
SENATE COMMITTEES
Aging
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Appropriations
Armed Services
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Budget
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Energy and Natural Resources
Environment and Public Works
Ethics
Finance
Foreign Relations
Health, Education, Labor, and Pension
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Indian Affairs
Intelligence
Judiciary
Rules and Administration
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Veterans' Affairs
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
Committee Leadership
• Leaders are chairmen and ranking minority party
members
– Chairmen have similar role over committee as Speaker
has over House (a mini-legislature)
– Can set agendas, allocate funds, arrange hearings
– Can kill a bill by refusing to schedule it for a hearing or
convening meetings when opponents are absent
– 1970s era: Subcommittee Bill of Rights
– 1990s: GOP centralization of committees
• Role of Appropriations Committee
What happens in committees
• 3 standard steps: public hearings, markups, reports
1. Hearings: committee listens to a wide variety of
witnesses
• Explore need for legislation
• Provide a forum for citizen grievances
• Raise visibility of issue
• Educate lawmakers and public
2. Markups: members decide on bill’s actual language,
conceptualize the bill
– Outside pressures often intense during markup
– Government in the Sunshine Act (1977) rules all markup
sessions conducted in public (except Nat’l Security,
some commerce, a few others)
– After markup, if in a subcommittee, recommendations
sent to full committee, which votes to ratify, conduct
its own markup, return to subcommittee, or do
nothing
3. Reports: If committee votes to send bill to floor, the
staff prepares a full report summarizing results of
committee research