Download United States Congress

United States 112th Congress
United States House of Representatives
Standing Committees
Committee on Agriculture
Committee on Appropriations - The constitutional basis for the Appropriations Committee comes from Article one, Section nine, Clause seven
of the U.S. Constitution, which states that: No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a
regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
This clearly delegated the power of appropriating money to Congress, but was vague beyond that. Originally, the power of appropriating was
taken by the Committee on Ways and Means, but the United States Civil War placed a large burden on the Congress, and at the end of that
conflict, a reorganization occurred. The Committee was created on December 11, 1865, when the House separated the tasks of the Committee
on Ways and Means into three parts. The passage of legislation affecting taxes remained with Ways and Means. The power to regulate banking
was transferred to the Committee on Banking and Commerce. The power to appropriate money--to control the federal pursestrings--was given to
the newly-created Appropriations Committee.
The root of the Committee's power is its ability to disburse funds, and thus as the federal budget has risen, so has the power of the
Appropriations Committee. In the early 1970s, the Appropriations committee faced a crisis. President Richard Nixon began "impounding" funds,
not allowing them to be spent, even when Congress had specifically appropriated money for a cause. This was essentially a line-item veto.
Numerous court cases were filed by outraged interest groups and members of Congress. Eventually, the sense that Congress needed to regain
control of the budget process led to the adoption of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which finalized the budget
process in its current form.
The Appropriations committee is widely recognized by political scientists as one of the "power committees," since it holds the power of the purse.
Openings on the Appropriations committee are often hotly demanded, and are doled out as rewards. Much of the power of the committee comes
from the inherent utility of controlling spending. Its subcommittee chairmen are often called "Cardinals" because of the power they wield over the
budget.
Since Congress is elected from single-member districts, the status of a member's district is the best indicator as to whether or not he or she will
be reelected. One way to achieve popularity in one's district is to it bring federal spending, thus creating jobs and raising economic performance.
This type of spending is often derided by critics as pork barrel spending, while those who engage in it generally defend it as necessary and
appropriate expenditure of government funds. The members of the Appropriations committee can do this better than most, and as such the
appointment is regarded as a plus. This help can also be directed towards other members, increasing the stature of committee members in the
House and helping them gain support for leadership positions or other honors.
The committee tends to be less partisan than other committees or the House overall. While the minority party will offer amendments during
committee consideration, appropriations bills often get significant bipartisan support, both in committee and on the House floor. This atmosphere
can be attributed to the fact that all committee members have a compelling interest in ensuring legislation will contain money for their own
districts. Conversely, because members of this committee can easily steer money to their home districts, it is considered very difficult to unseat a
member of this committee at an election--especially if he or she is a "Cardinal."
Committee on Armed Services
Committee on the Budget - Established during an era of unprecedented institutional reform in Congress, the Committee on the Budget’s
function derives from the constitutional mandate that fixes control of the nation’s purse in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although Congress
has always possessed the legal authority to exercise power over federal appropriations, a formal institutional mechanism to manage taxes and
spending did not exist until 1974. Three developments precipitated the need for a formal mechanism: increasing conflicts between Congress and
the President over the federal budget; the challenge of managing long-term programs such as Social Security and Medicare; and budget deficits
in the latter 20th century.
The committee originated with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (PL 93-344), which permitted Congress to
develop an independent means to analyze the Presidential budget, reconcile it with congressional plans, and develop a fiscal policy of its own.
The act established permanent standing budget committees in both houses of Congress, as well as a Congressional Budget Office to provide
Congress with independent, nonpartisan analyses.
The committee handles broad questions about federal spending and taxation and ensures that the House follows the 1974 law. This committee
also has a rotating membership. None of its members may serve more than six out of 10 years. And, in contrast to the Senate whose chair is
permanent, the House elects a new chair at the beginning of each Congress. The House also requires that the committee’s membership be
drawn from the Ways and Means Committee (5), the Appropriations Committee (5), one from each of the 11 authorizing committees, and one
member from the leadership of the Democratic and Republican caucuses.
As the first panel to examine the President’s annual budget message, the Budget Committee’s chief responsibility is to draft a concurrent
resolution that reconciles spending details with the overall comprehensive budget package. The committee is required to draft a budget
resolution, agreed to by April 15 of each year, which establishes total targets in five budget areas: authority; outlays; revenues; surplus or deficit;
and public debt. The resolution also sets budget authority and outlay targets for each of the 21 spending categories. Finally, the committee
prepares guidelines in the annual budget resolution for cutting programs to meet spending targets.
For much of its history, the Budget Committee’s agenda has been directed by centrist House Members who advocated fiscal responsibility while
crafting compromises between the President’s budget and Congress’s appropriations interests. Although much of the committee’s activity was
directed toward reconciling executive and congressional budget goals, the legislative interests of individual committee chairmen also has played
a role in steering the committee focus.
Although the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 outlined the purpose and jurisdiction of the committee, two
subsequent acts further shaped the committee’s work. In 1985, Senators Phil Gramm of Texas, Warren Rudman of New Hampshire, and Ernest
Hollings of South Carolina sponsored the Gramm– Rudman–Hollings Acts of 1985 and 1987, which required a gradual reduction of the federal
deficit by setting target deficit rates within six years. If the projected deficit exceeded the deficit target, the act provided for automatic cuts (or
“sequestration”) in other areas of the federal budget to meet the target. The second piece of legislation was the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.
A compromise measure between congressional leaders and President George H. W. Bush, this act contained significant revisions from Gramm–
Rudman–Hollings. The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 “placed yearly caps on all discretionary spending, required that any reduction in
revenues must be accompanied by an equal reduction in entitlement spending, nullified the Gramm– Rudman–Hollings legislation, and provided
pay-as-you-go provisions for any new spending.”
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Committee on Energy and Commerce – The Committee was born on December 14, 1795 as the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures
when the growing demands of the young nation required that Congress establish a permanent panel to exercise its constitutional authority to
"regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States." The Committee on Energy and Commerce, the oldest standing
legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, remains today as the body's principal guide in the promotion of commerce, public
health, energy and technology.
The Committee is vested with the broadest jurisdiction of any congressional authorizing committee. Today it has responsibility for the nation's
telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health research, environmental quality, the availability of affordable
energy, and the continuance of interstate and foreign commerce. It oversees multiple cabinet-level departments and independent agencies,
including the departments of Energy, Health and Human Services, and Transportation, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and
Drug Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission. The Committee assumed its present name in 1981 to emphasize its leading
role in the nation's energy policy.
Today, the wide-ranging work accomplished by the Committee on Energy and Commerce builds on a breathtaking record of achievement that
began with building lighthouses and supervising the federal government's health service for sick and disabled seaman, a function that developed
into the Public Health Service and National Institutes of Health. The Committee's overarching role in health, safety, and commerce can be traced
to passage of the milestone legislation like the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act.
Committee on Ethics
Committee on Financial Services - The House Financial Services Committee has jurisdiction over all issues pertaining to the economy, the
banking system, housing, insurance, and securities and exchanges. Additionally, the Committee also has jurisdiction over monetary policy,
international finance, international monetary organizations, and efforts to combat terrorist financing.
The Committee oversees the Nation’s economy through its oversight of the Federal Reserve Board and individual reserve banks, the Treasury,
the production and distribution of currency, and the Nation’s capital markets.
Agencies under oversight by the Committee include: the Federal Reserve, Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities
and Exchange Commission, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Export-Import Bank.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Homeland Security
Committee on House Administration
Committee on the Judiciary
Committee on Natural Resources
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform - This committee is the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of
Representatives. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has legislative jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, the government
procurement process, federal personnel systems, the Postal Service and other matters. Its primary responsibility, however, is oversight of
virtually everything government does – from national security to homeland security grants, from federal workforce policies to regulatory reform
and reorganization authority, from information technology procurements at individual agencies to government-wide data security standards. The
chairman of the committee is the only committee chairman in the House with the authority to issue subpoenas without a committee vote.
Committee on Rules - The Committee on Rules is among the oldest standing committees in the House, having been first formally constituted on
April 2, 1789. The Committee is commonly known as “The Speaker’s Committee” because it is the mechanism that the Speaker uses to maintain
control of the House Floor, and was chaired by the Speaker until 1910. Because of the vast power wielded by the Rules Committee, its ratio has
traditionally been weighted in favor of the majority party, and has been in its “2 to 1 1” (9 majority and 4 minority members) configuration since
the late 1970s.
The Rules Committee has two broad categories of jurisdiction: special orders for the consideration of legislation (known as “special rules” or
“rules”) and original jurisdiction matters. A special rule provides the terms and conditions of debate on a measure or matter, consideration of
which constitutes the bulk of the work of the Rules Committee. The Committee also considers original jurisdiction measures, which commonly
represent changes to the standing rules of the House, or measures that contain special rules, such as the expedited procedures in trade
legislation.
The Committee has the authority to do virtually anything during the course of consideration of a measure, including deeming it passed. The
Committee can also include a self-executed amendment which could rewrite just parts of a bill, or the entire measure. In essence, so long as a
majority of the House is willing to vote for a special rule, there is little that the Rules Committee cannot do.
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Committee on Small Business
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Committee on Ways and Means - The Committee on Ways and Means is the oldest committee of the United States Congress, and is the chief
tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives. The Committee derives a large share of its jurisdiction from Article I, Section VII of the
U.S. Constitution which declares, "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives."
First established as a select committee on July 24, 1789, it was discharged less than two months later. The committee was reappointed from the
first session of the Fourth Congress in 1795, and was formally listed as a standing committee in the House Rules on January 7, 1802.
Until 1865, the jurisdiction of the committee (referred to as the Committee of Ways and Means before 1880) included the critically important
areas of revenue, appropriations, and banking. Since 1865, the committee has continued to exercise jurisdiction over revenue and related issues
such as tariffs, reciprocal trade agreements, and the bonded debt of the United States. Revenue-related aspects of the Social Security system,
Medicare, and social services programs have come within Ways and Means’ purview in the 20 th century.
Joint Committees
Joint Economic Committee
Joint Committee on Taxation
Select Committee
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
United States 112th Congress
United States Senate
Standing Committees
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Appropriations - The Senate Appropriations Committee is the largest committee in the U.S. Senate, consisting of 30 members in the 111th
Congress. Its role is defined by the U.S. Constitution, which requires "appropriations made by law" prior to the expenditure of any money from
the Federal treasury. The Committee writes the legislation that allocates federal funds to the numerous government agencies, departments, and
organizations on an annual basis. Appropriations are limited to the levels set by a Budget Resolution, drafted by the Senate Budget Committee.
12 subcommittees are tasked with drafting legislation to allocate funds to government agencies within their jurisdictions. These subcommittees
are responsible for reviewing the President's budget request, hearing testimony from government officials, and drafting the spending plans for
the coming fiscal year. Their work is passed on to the full Senate Appropriations Committee, which may review and modify the bills and forward
them to the full Senate for consideration. Each appropriations bill must be passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president prior
to the start of the federal fiscal year, October 1. If that target is not met, has been common in recent years, the committee drafts a continuing
resolution, which is then approved by Congress and signed by the President to keep the federal government operating until the individual bills
are approved.
Armed Services - Aeronautical and space activities peculiar to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military
operations; the common defense; the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of
the Air Force, generally; maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal, including administration, sanitation, and government of the Canal
Zone; military research and development; national security aspects of nuclear energy; naval petroleum reserves, except those in Alaska; pay,
promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military
dependents; selective service system; and strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense. The committee conducts
comprehensive study and review of matters relating to the common defense policy of the United States.
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Budget - The Senate Committee on the Budget was established in 1974 by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act. Along with
the House Budget Committee, it is responsible for drafting Congress' annual budget plan and monitoring action on the budget for the Federal
Government. In addition, the Budget Committee has jurisdiction over the operation of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The Budget
Committee is often confused with the Finance Committee and the Appropriations Committee, both of which have different jurisdictions. The
Finance Committee (like the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives) has legislative jurisdiction in the areas of taxes,
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and some other entitlements. The Appropriations Committee has legislative jurisdiction over appropriations
bills, which provide funding for government programs. While the budget resolution prepared by the Budget Committee sets out a broad blueprint
for the Congress with respect to the total levels of revenues and spending for the government as a whole, these other Committees prepare the
legislation that actually enacts specific tax and spending policies.
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Energy and Natural Resources
Environment and Public Works
Finance - The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to: taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the
insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery; reciprocal trade agreements;
tariff and import quotas, and related matters thereto; the transportation of dutiable goods; deposit of public moneys; general revenue sharing;
health programs under the Social Security Act, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and other health and human services programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund; and national social
security.
The role of the Committee on Finance is very similar to that of the House Committee on Ways and Means. The one exception in area of
jurisdiction is that the Committee on Finance has jurisdiction over both Medicare and Medicaid, while the House Ways and Means Committee
only has jurisdiction over Medicare. (The House Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid.) The other difference in terms
of power is that all revenue raising measures must originate in the House giving the Ways and Means committee a slight edge in setting tax
policy. In addition to having jurisdiction over legislation the Committee has extensive oversight powers. It has authority to investigate, review and
evaluate existing laws, and the agencies that implement them. Due to the Committee's wide jurisdiction, it is often considered an influential
committee. A wide array of Senators with differing policy concerns seeks membership on the Committee because of its role in setting tax, trade,
and health policy.
Foreign Relations - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was established in 1816 as one of the original ten standing committees of the
Senate. Throughout its history, the committee has been instrumental in developing and influencing United States foreign policy, at different times
supporting and opposing the policies of presidents and secretaries of state. The committee has considered, debated, and reported important
treaties and legislation, ranging from the purchase of Alaska in 1867 to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. It also holds jurisdiction
over all diplomatic nominations. Through these powers, the committee has helped shape foreign policy of broad significance, in matters of war
and peace and international relations. Members of the committee have assisted in the negotiation of treaties, and at times have helped to defeat
treaties they felt were not in the national interest.
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Judiciary - In addition to its critical role in providing oversight of the Department of Justice and the agencies under the Department's
jurisdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Homeland Security, the Judiciary Committee plays an
important role in the consideration of nominations and pending legislation.
Executive nominations for positions in the Department of Justice, Office of National Drug Control Policy, the United States Parole
Commission, the United States Sentencing Commission, and the State Justice Institute, as well as select nominations for the Department
of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce are referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Judiciary Committee is also charged with the consideration of all Article III judicial nominations. These include Supreme Court
nominations, appellate court nominations, and district court nominations. The Committee also considers nominations to the Court of
International Trade.
In addition to its role in conducting oversight and consideration of nominations, the Senate Judiciary Committee also considers legislation,
resolutions, messages, petitions, memorials and other matters, as provided for in the Standing Rules of the Senate.
Rules and Administration
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Veterans' Affairs
Special, Select, and Other Committees
Indian Affairs
Select Committee on Ethics
Select Committee on Intelligence
Special Committee on Aging
Joint Committees
Joint Committee on Printing
Joint Committee on Taxation
Joint Committee on the Library
Joint Economic Committee