The Committee System

1. The Committee System “Congress in Committee is Congress at work” - Woodrow Wilson (1888)

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.”

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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.”

14. 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

15. 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)

17. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. Are Committees “Representative?” • Should they be? • “High Demanders” • Expertise • Partisan effects, seniority, “issue ownership” • Bargaining with the other chamber/President

23. FIGURE 6.2. Median Conservative Score for Standing Committees, 2005-2006Source: Common space scores from http://www.voteview.com

24. 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

25. What happens in committees • 3 standard steps: public hearings, markups, reports • 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

26. 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