Congressional Committees

W. Wilson, -“Congress in Committees is Congress at work”

What do Committees doHold hearingsWrite legislationExercise oversight

Features of Committees

19 committees, 84 subcommitteesDivision of laborFixed membershipFixed jurisdiction, like a monopolyLegislative SpecializationManage flow of legislative businessImportance of seniorityhttp://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/index.html

Committee Membership

Determined by Political Parties Guided by members’ seniority and preference Preferences based on constituency needs to

better chances of reelection

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

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.

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)

• 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 Conductb (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, 2005-2006Source: Common space scores from http://www.voteview.com

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

HOUSE COMMITTEES

House AdministrationAgriculture

AppropriationsArmed Services

BudgetEducation and the Workplace

Energy and CommerceFinancial Services

Government Reform and OversightHomeland Security

IntelligenceInternational Relations

J udiciaryResources

RulesScience

Small BusinessStandards of Official Conduct

Transportation and InfrastructureVeterans' Affairs

Ways and Means

SENATE COMMITTEES

AgingAgriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

AppropriationsArmed Services

Banking, Housing, and Urban AffairsBudget

Commerce, Science, and TransportationEnergy and Natural ResourcesEnvironment and Public Works

EthicsFinance

Foreign RelationsHealth, Education, Labor, and Pension

Homeland Security and Governmental AffairsIndian Affairs

IntelligenceJ udiciary

Rules and AdministrationSmall Business and Entrepreneurship

Veterans' Affairs

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

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

Policy Consequences of Committees

PROsmore opportunities for credit claiming Facilitate specialization serve institutional policy

needs

Consreinforces fragmentation Encourages log-rolling

Leadership and Parties

Party caucusesElect leaders and committee chairsstructure the workings of CongressDevelop common policy positionsWeaker in senate than House

Leadership powers

Control committee appointmentsRefer bills to committeesControl Rules Committee

Party Discipline and Voting

US Congress rose to near 70% in 1996

UK Parliament --90% German Bundestag -- 98%

Why do we hate congress, but love our senator/representative

Evaluate Congress by collective standardsEvaluate Senator/Representative in

representative termStandards are mutually exclusive

Representation vs. Lawmaking

Congress plays two important rolesLawmaking or getting things doneRepresentation or Legitimacy- airing points of

view

Impact on Institutions

Congress is a reelection machine. Mayhew-- "If a group of planner sat down and

tried to design a pair of American national assemblies with the goal of serving members' electoral needs year in and year out, they would be hard pressed to improve on what exists."