Why does congress utilize committees

Within their respective areas of responsibility, committees generally operate rather independently of each other and of their parent chambers. The difficult tasks of aggregating committees' activities, and of integrating policy in areas where jurisdiction is shared, fall largely to the chambers' party leaderships. Standing committees are permanent panels identified in chamber rules. The rules also list the jurisdiction of each committee.

Because they have legislative jurisdiction, standing committees consider bills and issues and recommend measures for consideration by the respective chambers. They also have oversight responsibility to monitor agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions, and in some cases in areas that cut across committee jurisdictions. Most standing committees recommend authorized levels of funds for government operations and for new and existing programs within their jurisdiction.

Standing committees also have jurisdiction over appropriations in the case of the Appropriations Committees , taxation in the case of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees , various other revenues, and direct spending such as Social Security, veterans' pensions, and some farm support programs. Select committees usually are established by a separate resolution of the parent chamber, sometimes to conduct investigations and studies, sometimes to consider measures.

A select committee is established because the existing standing committee system does not address an issue comprehensively, or because a particular event sparks interest in an investigation. A select committee may be permanent or temporary.

Special committees tend to be similar in constitution and function and that distinction from select committees is generally thought to be only semantic. Joint committees are made up of Members of both chambers.

Today, they usually are permanent panels that conduct studies or perform housekeeping tasks rather than consider measures. A conference committee is a temporary joint committee formed to resolve differences in Senate- and House-passed versions of a particular measure. Most committees form subcommittees with legislative jurisdiction to consider and report bills on particular issues within the purview of the full committee.

Committees may assign their subcommittees such specific tasks as the initial hearings held on measures and oversight of laws and programs in their areas. Subcommittees are responsible to and work within guidelines established by their parent committees. Consequently, subcommittees' number, independence, and autonomy vary among committees. Party leaders generally determine the size of committees and the ratio of majority to minority members on each of them.

Each party is primarily responsible for choosing its committee leaders and assigning its Members to committees, and, once assigned to a particular committee, a Member often makes a career there.

Each committee distributes its members among its subcommittees, on which only members of the committee may serve. There are limits on the number and type of committees and subcommittees on which each Member may serve. Members, especially in the House, tend to specialize in the issues of their assigned committees. A committee's authority is centered in its chair. In practice, a chair's prerogatives usually include determining the committee's agenda, deciding when to take or delay action, presiding during meetings, and controlling most funds allocated by the chamber to the committee.

Several rules allow others a share in controlling a committee's business, such as one allowing a majority of members of a committee to call a meeting. The ranking minority member, usually the minority party member of longest committee service, often participates in the chair's regulation of the committee, in addition to leading on matters affecting a committee's minority members. Also, each subcommittee has a chair and a ranking minority member who oversee the affairs of their panel.

To distribute committee power, chamber and party caucus rules limit the number of full and subcommittee chair or ranking minority positions a single Member may hold. Only the Republicans have committee leadership term limits. No House Republican may serve as chair or ranking minority member of a committee or subcommittee for more than three consecutive terms, effective with the th Congress, and no Senate Republican may serve more than six years as chair and six years as ranking member of any standing committee, effective with the th Congress.

Waivers can be granted. Approximately 2, aides provide professional, administrative, and clerical support to committees. Their main job is to assist with writing, analyzing, amending, and recommending measures to the full chamber, as well as overseeing the executive branch's implementation of laws and the operation of programs.

Pursuant to funding resolutions and other mechanisms, committees receive varying levels of operating funds for their expenses, including the hiring of staff.

From these funds, each hires its own staff, and committees employ varying numbers of aides ranging from a few to dozens. Committees may also fire staff. Most staff and resources are controlled by the chair of a committee, although in general a portion must be shared with minority-party members. Further, some committees assign staff directly to their subcommittees, and give subcommittee leaders considerable authority in hiring and supervising subcommittee staff.

Each committee sets staff pay levels within limits contained in chamber salary policies. Committees conduct oversight to assure that the policy intentions of legislators are carried out by those administering programs, and to assess the adequacy of programs for changing conditions. Some committees, especially in the House, establish separate oversight subcommittees to oversee the implementation of all programs within their jurisdiction.

Also, each chamber has assigned to specific committees oversight responsibility for certain issues and programs that cut across committee jurisdictions, and each has a committee responsible for overseeing comprehensively the efficiency and economy of government activities.

Each committee has nearly exclusive right to consider measures within its jurisdiction. In general, committees are not required to act on any measure, and a measure cannot come to the floor for consideration unless through the action or at least concurrence of a committee. A procedure to discharge a committee from consideration is rarely successful. Any introduced measure generally gets referred immediately to a committee. Especially in the House, some measures are referred to two or more panels, usually because policy subjects are split among committees.

Committees are an essential part of the legislative process. Senate committees monitor on-going governmental operations, identify issues suitable for legislative review, gather and evaluate information, and recommend courses of action to the Senate. During each two-year Congress thousands of bills and resolutions are referred to Senate committees. To manage the volume and complexity, the Senate divides its work between standing committees , special or select committees , and joint committees.

These committees are further divided into subcommittees. The Senate currently operates 24 of these fact-finding, consensus-building, policy-recommending panels. Although many are almost as old as the Senate itself, senators periodically update their jurisdictions and resources to meet the evolving demands of modern American life. The Senate maintains three types of committees. These include standing, select or special, and joint committees. Standing committees are permanent bodies with specific responsibilities spelled out in the Senate's official rules.

Select and special committees are created for clearly specified purposes and, although those that currently exist are now considered permanent, they did not necessarily enjoy that status at their inception.

Special investigating committees, such as the Select Committee to Investigate Presidential Campaign Activities the Watergate Committee , expire after they submit their final report to the Senate.

There is no substantive difference between a select and a special committee. In earlier times, select and special committees lacked authority to report legislation to the full Senate, but some now have this power. While members of standing committees are formally designated by Senate resolution, members of select and special committees are officially appointed by the Senate's president or president pro tempore. See the "Appointment" section below. In earlier years, both houses of Congress used joint committees more extensively than they do today for purposes of legislative and administrative coordination.

For their first century, the Senate and House of Representatives supplemented their individual rules with a system of joint rules, but these proved cumbersome and were abandoned in As their names indicate, they either perform housekeeping functions or conduct studies. The committee assignment process in the Senate is guided by Senate rules along with party rules and practices. Most new members arrive at the Senate with a "wish list" of committee assignments. They recognize that appointment to committees with a special impact on the interests of their states and regions can promote their own legislative effectiveness.

For Senate party leaders, the committee appointment process offers a means of promoting party discipline through the granting or withholding of desired assignments. Until the midth century, the Senate made committee appointments either by vote of the full body or decision of its presiding officer. The first method proved inordinately time consuming; the second provoked controversy and dissatisfaction.

Finally, in , members agreed to a procedure under which both political parties within the Senate would submit for the full body's approval a slate of members to fill the various committee seats.

This new plan fostered development of Senate party conferences Democrats informally use the designation "caucus". Independents and members of third parties have received committee assignments through one or the other of the major party conferences.

In the practice of recent years, party conferences convene before the start of each new Congress to elect leaders and determine committee assignments. Each party conference appoints a "committee on committees" to prepare a roster of members it wishes named to the party's specifically allotted committee seats. The percentage of a party's representation within the Senate determines the percentage of seats it will gain on each committee, although exact numbers are subject to negotiation between party floor leaders.

Party conference rules provide that each newly elected senator may choose a committee assignment before any other newly elected member is allowed to make a second committee choice. New senators make their selections according to a priority system that gives first choice to those who have previously served in the Senate, then to those with prior House service, and finally to those who served as their state's governor.

All other new members have their order of choice determined by random drawing. Traditionally, the majority party member with the greatest seniority on a particular committee serves as its chairman. When the Republican Party gained the majority in , it altered its conference rules to allow Republicans on individual committees to vote by secret ballot for their committee's chairman, irrespective of that member's seniority.

This adjustment was a logical consequence of the party's larger decision to place a six-year term limit on the service of its chairmen or, when in the minority, its ranking members. Senate committees are divided, according to relative importance, into three categories : Class A, Class B, and Class C. Senate Rule XXIV specifies that committee chairmen and members be appointed on the authority of a Senate Resolution, unless otherwise ordered. The rules also provide the following assignment limitations:.

A, B, C's. Each senator may serve on no more than two Class A committees and one Class B panel. There are no limits to service on Class C panels. Class A subcommittees.

Within each of their assigned Class A committees, members who are not full committee chairmen may serve on three subcommittees, but they are eligible to chair—or serve as ranking minority member of—only one of those subcommittees. Appropriations subcommittee assignments are exempt from this limitation.

Chairmen of full committees may chair only one Class A subcommittee among all their committee assignments. Class B subcommittees. Senators may also serve on two subcommittees within their Class B committees. There is no limit to service on Class C committees. The chairman of a Class B full committee may not chair any Class B subcommittee, but may serve as a nonvoting member of any of that panel's subcommittees.

Republican Conference rules limit party members to service on only one of the so-called "Super A" committees—Appropriations, Armed Services, Finance, and Foreign Relations. Democrats observe the same practice for three committees—Appropriations, Armed Services, and Finance. Same-state rule. Both party conferences provide that when a state happens to be represented by two senators of the same party, the two may not serve together on the same committee.

It is possible for a standing committee to temporarily increase its membership if an agreement is entered by the majority and minority leaders.