committee systems

Question 1

describe the structure of standing committees:

Answer 1

-divided into sub-committees
-in the senate they usually have 18 members
-in the house of representatives they usually have 30-40 members
-the party balance in each committee reflects that of congress as a whole
-there are also permanent policy specialist committees

Question 2

describe the functions of standing committees:

Answer 2

-conducting the committee stage of bills
-they also confirm presidential appointments (only in the senate)
-e.g. in 2016 the republican controlled senate judiciary committee refused to hold hearings on Obama’s supreme court judge nominee merrick garland

Question 3

describe the structure of house rules committees:

Answer 3

-only in HoR
-responsible for the timetabling stage of the legislative process
-membership is much smaller and more skewed to the majority party
-chair of the house rules committee is considered one of the most influential posts in congress
-in 2017 it only had 13 members, 9 republicans and 4 democrats

Question 4

describe the functions of house rules committees:

Answer 4

-responsible for the timetabling stage of the legislative process
-sets out the rules of the debate - either open rules that permit unlimited amendments, modified rules that limit the total number of amendments or closed rules that forbid any amendments

Question 5

describe the structure of conference committees:

Answer 5

-they’re the optional committee
-set up to consider one particular bill
-members are conferees, drawn from both houses
ad hoc membership varies

Question 6

describe the functions of conference committees:

Answer 6

-mediate between both houses to find a solution when both houses don’t agree on whether a bill should be passed or not

Question 7

describe the structure of select committees:

Answer 7

-most are constituted within one chamber, but sometimes a joint one is set up with members from both houses
-made up of experts in the area being investigated
-can be temporary or permanent

Question 8

describe the function of select committees:

Answer 8

-set up to investigate a particular issue
-set up when the investigation doesn’t fall within the policy area of one standing committee or is likely to be so time consuming that a standing committee would become too tied up with it

Question 9

give an example of a select committee:

Answer 9

in 2014 a HoR select committee was set up surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack in the US embassy in Benghazi, with hilary clinton appearing in front of the committee for 11 hours of questioning