The Legislative Branch

Congressional Committees

Bills and the Committee System

• A bill is a proposed law. Both houses of Congress must consider thousands of different bills during a Congressional session.

Bills and the Committee System (Continued)

The House and Senate have developed a system of committees. Each bill is sent to a particular committee to determine if the bill should be voted on by the full House or Senate.

Types of Congressional Committees

• There are three types of Congressional Committees.

1. Standing Committee2. Select Committee3. Joint Committee

Standing Committee

• A standing committee is a permanent committee that specializes in a particular topic. When bills are introduced they are immediately sent to the appropriate standing committee.

Subcommittees

• Standing committees are divided into smaller groups called subcommittees. These smaller groups handle more specialized bills within the standing committee.

Example

• If a bill was introduced in the House that dealt with high school education it would be sent to the House Committee on Education and Labor (standing committee). This bill would then be sent to the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. This subcommittee specializes in bills that deal with high schools (secondary education).

Select Committees

• A select committee is a temporary committee of Congress that is formed to deal with a particular issue. Once the issue is resolved the committee is dissolved.

Example

• A current example of a select committee in the House is the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. A current example of a select committee in the Senate is the Select Committee on Aging.

Joint Committee

• A joint committee is one that includes members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Example

• An example of a joint Congressional committee is the Joint Economic Committee. This committees membership is made up of members from both houses of Congress.

Role of Party Leaders and Committee Membership

• The leaders of the political parties assign individuals in Congress to particular committees. The majority party is allowed to select more than half of the committee members. Currently the Democratic Party is the majority party in both

Continued

• houses of Congress. This means that Democrats would make-up more than half of the membership of each Congressional committee.

Seniority System

• Committee assignments are traditionally made based upon the seniority system. This means that the best committee assignments and the leadership positions are given to the individuals that have served the longest in Congress.