Committees in congress Flashcards
What are the functions of committees?
-Help congress with the advise and consent powers e.g. defence committee approve appointments
-First and most decisive stage in the legislative process
-Perform checks and balances
-Investigative functions
-Help reconcile differences between the HOR and the senate during the passige of bills
-Crucial to individual career aspirations and re election/ allow for effective scrutiny
Impact of committees- Bills?
-11,000 bills are introduced during a 2 year session of congress, only 2% passes
90% of these are killed by committees
Impacts of committees- how many committes in each house?
17 in senete, senetors serve on 2
19 in HOR and representatives serve on 1
Members serve for several years on same one
Impacts of committees- helps for committees?
Helped by sub committees
Impacts of committees- chairs of committees?
Isn’t decided by seniority rules but it still influences decisions
Impacts of committees- voting?
Parties nominate and committees vote
Chairs go for the majority
Impacts of committees- temporary select committees?
TSC can be established to investigate particular issues e.g. iran contra
Most important- what is standing committees?
Permanent, policy specialist committees that amend legislation
What do standing committees do?
-Handle the day to day running of congress
-Conduct investigations within their policy areas
-Have considerable power to help the parent chambers manage their huge workloads but there are limits (can’t legislate can’t force the executive, cannot implement policies)
Example of standing committees?
Senate intelligence committee and House intelligence committee are investigating ties between the trump campaign and russian meddling in 2016
Standing committees- what do congressmen do in these?
Seek assignments on committees closest to the interests if their district/state
2 functions of the standing committees in the hor?
1-Conduct committee stage of bills in the legislative process
2- Conduct investigations within the committee policy area
3 functions of the standing committees in senate?
1-Conduct committee stage of bills in the legislative process
2- Conduct investigations within the committee policy areas
3- Begin the confirmation process of numerous presidential appointments
What is the house rules committee?
-They timetable bills on house floor, attach rules to bill outlining the time given for a debate and extent to which the bill can be amended
-Prioritising bills on the floor of the house for the second reading
House ruling committee- membership?
-Smaller membership 13
-Chair considered one of the most influential post in the congress
House ruling committee examples?
Democrats prioritised Iraq spending bill when they won the house back in 2006
What is the conference committee?
Established to reconcile competing versions of bills passed in the house and the senate as they are likely to be difference
-They are ad-hoc
-Once they’ve agreed the bill goes back to floor of each house, if it’s not passed, it goes back and if this happens again it goes back to the standing committee who first considered it
-Important as they are likely to draw up the final version of the bill, however this power is checked because the senate and the house get to vote on the compromise version
What are select committees?
Special investigative committees established to probe a specification issue
Normally ad-hoc and only deal with issues beyond the jurisdiction of standing committees (9/11 committee)
Why can be committees be said to be powerful?
-Committe members more independent from their party
-Have prestige- seen as necessary to cope with 1000’s of laws passing through congress
-Mmebers of congress see it as an advantegous career move as it allows them staff, recourses and influene of legiislation (8 ps and vps have served on the ways and means comitte +25 speakers)
-Effective scruiny is accepted
-Scutinies legislation
-House rule committe decides when or if a bill was debated ant to the which it can be amendmed
Committee power- scrutinise legislation?
-Hillary appeared before the house select committee on Benghazi to answer questions on how she used her personal email when secretary of state
-Affordable care act was stripped down (Obamacare)
Reasons to say they are too powerful?
-Top house recopicants of money from military related industrys (Kay Granger, RTX) served on either the armed or service commite of a defence approprietations sub committe
-Commitees are unrepresentative of the chambers (agriculture committies staffed by flyover states)
-Chair men abusuing powers
-Some committees are more powerful than others
Reasons sc are more powerful case study- Chairmen abusing power?
House intellegance chairman Devin Nunes appeared to undermine impartiallity of russia trump ties when he went to the white house to discuss it
Possibly for partisan advantages
Reasons select committes are powerful- imbalence of powers between committes?
Most powerful- ways and means committee
Least- The presidential inauguration committee
Reasons to say they are not too powerful?
-Influence of parties
-The issue if the legislation is considered important by party leadership, committees are often bypassed
-Presidential influence
-Senators can kill bills individually by filibuster
