Order Code RS20794
Updated May 2, 2003
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
The Committee System in the U.S. Congress
Judy Schneider
Specialist on the Congress
Government and Finance Division
Summary
Due to the high volume and complexity of its work, Congress divides its tasks
among committees and subcommittees. Both the House and Senate have their own
committee systems, which are similar but not identical. Within chamber guidelines,
however, each committee adopts its own rules; thus, there is considerable variation
among panels. This report provides a brief overview of the organization and operations
of House and Senate committees.
Introduction
Decentralization is the most distinctive characteristic of the congressional committee
system. Due to the high volume and complexity of its work, Congress divides its
legislative, oversight, and internal administrative tasks among committees and
subcommittees. Within assigned subject areas, committees and subcommittees gather
information; compare and evaluate legislative alternatives; identify policy problems and
propose solutions to them; select, determine the text of, and report out measures for the
full chambers to consider; monitor executive branch performance of duties (oversight);
and look into allegations of wrongdoing (investigation).
Although Congress has used committees since its first meetings in 1789, the 1946
Legislative Reorganization Act (60 Stat. 812) set the foundation of today's committee
system. The House and Senate each have their own committees and related rules of
procedure, which are similar but not identical. Within the guidelines of chamber rules,
each committee adopts its own rules addressing organizational, structural, and procedural
issues; thus, even within a chamber, there is considerable variation among panels.
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.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Structure and Organization
Types of Committees. There are three types of committees—standing; select; and
joint.
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 such as user fees, 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.
Subcommittees. 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
between committees.
Composition. 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.
Leadership. 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

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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 104th 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 105th Congress. Waivers can be granted.

Staff. Approximately 2,000 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.
Oversight. 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.
Operations and Procedures
Referral. 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 can not 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. When more than one House
committee receives a referral, a primary committee is designated. Other panels receive
a sequential referral. In the Senate, referral is determined by the predominant subject

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matter in the legislation. Singly referred measures have been more likely than multiply
referred ones to pass their chamber and to be enacted into law, in part because of the
difficulty in coordinating the work of multiple panels.
Committees receive varying numbers of measures. Committees dispose of these
measures as they please, selecting only a small percentage for action, for a number of
reasons. For instance, a committee usually receives many proposals in each major policy
area within its jurisdiction, but ultimately chooses one measure as its vehicle in each such
area. While those measures not chosen usually receive no further congressional action,
the idea, specific provisions, or entire text of some of these measures may be incorporated
through the amendment process into others that the committees and chambers consider
and that become law. Determining the fate of measures and, in effect, helping to set a
chamber's agenda make committees very powerful.
Committees often send their measures to subcommittees for initial consideration, but
only a full committee can report a measure to the floor for consideration. When a
committee or a subcommittee considers a measure, it usually takes the four actions
described below. This sequence assumes the committee favors a measure; but, at any
time, action on a measure may be discontinued.
Executive Agency Comment. As a matter of practice and cooperation between
the legislative and executive branches, a committee asks relevant executive agencies for
written comments on measures it is studying.
Hearings. Committees frequently hold hearings to receive testimony from
individuals not on the committee. Hearings may be for legislative, oversight, or
investigative purposes. Legislative hearings are those addressing measures or policy
issues before the committee, and they may address many measures on a given subject.
Oversight hearings focus on the implementation and administration of programs created
by law. Many committees perform oversight when preparing to reauthorize funds for a
program, which may occur annually. Investigative hearings often address allegations of
wrongdoing by public officials or private citizens, or seek the facts behind a major
disaster or crisis. Oversight and investigative hearings may lead to the introduction of
legislative proposals.
At hearings, committees gather information and views, identify problems, gauge
support for and opposition to measures and proposals, and build a record of action on
committee proposals. Some common elements of hearings include:
! Most, but not all, hearings are held in Washington, D.C.
! Committees invite experts (witnesses), including Members not on the
committee, federal officials, representatives of interest groups, and
private citizens to testify at hearings.
! Most witnesses testify willingly upon invitation by the chair or ranking
minority member, and some request to testify. However, committees
may summon individuals, as well as written materials, under a legal
process (subpoena).
! Before testifying, witnesses generally are required to submit written
statements, which they then summarize orally. Subsequently, committee
members question witnesses.

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! Committees generally must give at least one week public notice of the
date, place, and subject of a hearing. The public usually may attend
hearings and other committee meetings, and open hearings and meetings
might be broadcast.
Markup. Following legislative hearings, a committee decides whether to attempt
to report a measure, in which case it chooses a specific measure to mark up and then
modifies it through amendment to clean up problems, and sometimes, to attract broader
committee support. A business meeting for this purpose is called a markup. Both
chambers require a minimum quorum of one-third of a committee's members to hold a
markup session, and some committees establish a higher quorum.
! The procedures of each chamber for amending measures on the floor
apply generally to its committees. In practice, the amending process may
be formal for controversial measures and informal for ones less
contentious.
! In leading a markup, a chair in practice generally chooses the legislative
vehicle, and presents it for consideration and amendment. This vehicle
may be an introduced bill, or another version prepared by committee staff
at the direction of the chair.
! Senate committees may permit absent members to vote by proxy, by
submitting their vote in writing in advance of the actual vote; proxy
voting is banned in the House.
Report. A majority of committee members voting, with a majority quorum present,
is needed to approve a measure and report it to the parent chamber. A committee rarely
reports a measure without changes. Committees sometimes report measures with a series
of changes in various sections, or with one large amendment as an entirely new text
(called an amendment in the nature of a substitute). A committee may also set aside its
amended measure and report a new one reflecting the amended text. In the House the new
bill is called a clean bill; in the Senate, an original bill. Any committee amendments, and
the entire measure, require a chamber's approval to be passed.
A reported measure usually is accompanied by a written document, called a report,
describing the measure's purposes and provisions and telling Members of a chamber why
this version has been reported and why it should be passed. The report reflects the views
of a majority of the committee, but also may contain minority, supplemental, or additional
views of committee members. It usually includes estimates of the legislation's cost should
it become law, various statements of its impact and application, a section-by-section
analysis, and a comparison with existing law. Officials of the executive and judicial
branches of government use these reports as an aid to understanding the legislative history
of a law and Congress's intent in enacting it.
Measures may reach the floor for consideration in ways other than by being formally
reported. A measure may be called up and simultaneously extracted from a committee
by unanimous consent, or, in the House, by suspension of the rules. These procedures,
however, are seldom used without the consent of the committee of jurisdiction. By
contrast, a measure may be extracted from a committee without its approval. For
example, the House may agree to a motion to discharge a committee of consideration of

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a measure, and in general a Senator may offer the text of a measure before a committee
as an amendment to a bill under consideration on the floor.
Committees and Chamber Action
The measure and its report are placed on a calendar of chamber business and
scheduled for floor action by the majority-party leadership. In the House, the Committee
on Rules works with the leadership to establish the terms and conditions for debating the
more controversial or complex measures. These terms may include restrictions on
offering and debating amendments. Other measures are considered under a few different
procedures, where little or no debate and amendment is the norm.
In the Senate, noncontroversial measures ordinarily are called up by unanimous
consent, and disposed of with little or no debate and no amendment. More controversial
or complex measures may be considered under the provisions of a time agreement (or
other unanimous consent agreement), which may restrict Senators' freedom of debate and
amendment in part by establishing time limits on actions related to the measure.
Alternatively, such a measure may require a motion to proceed to its consideration, which
generally is debatable and must be agreed to by majority vote.
The influence of committees over measures extends to their consideration on the
floor. The chair and ranking member of the committee or subcommittee that considered
the measure (or their designees) normally manage floor debate for their respective parties.
Managers guide measures through final disposition by the chamber, which includes
planning parliamentary strategy, controlling time for debate, responding to questions from
colleagues, warding off unwanted amendments, and building coalitions in favor of their
positions. Especially in the House, committee members also have priority in recognition
to offer floor amendments.
Committees' responsibilities extend beyond a measure's initial passage by the
chambers to its enactment into law. If the chambers agree to different versions of a
measure, the leaders of the reporting committees may facilitate its transmittal between the
chambers to obtain agreement on one version. If, however, the chambers decide to
reconcile their differences at a conference committee, members of the reporting
committees will comprise most of the negotiators. In practice, the chambers rely on the
chair and ranking member of the reporting committee to choose which of their party
colleagues on a committees will serve as conferees. Finally, the chair and ranking
member often head their chamber's delegations in conference.
Related CRS Reports
Brief fact sheets and long reports on aspects of the House and Senate committee
system are included in the “CRS Guide to the Legislative and Budget Process,” which is
available online at [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml]. Printed
versions of the fact sheets and reports are also available from CRS.