Committees and How to Make a Law American Government

Standing Committees in the House Standing committees are committees that exist from one Congress to the next Standing committees are permanent subject matter committees where similar bills are sent for analysis and debate Currently there are 19 standing committees in the House House committees have between 10 and 75 members Bills get their most consideration in these bodies The leading committees in the House are the Rules Committee Ways and Means Committee (all revenue bills originate here, the means that tax bills are created in this committee)

Standing Committees in the Senate Currently there are 17 standing committees in the Senate Senate committees have between 14 to 28 members In the Senate the leading committees are the: Judiciary Committee (they approve Presidential judicial appointments)

Policy Political issues are the types of things that Congressmen are supposed to fix through the passage of legislation When politicians prioritize and decided on the types of legislation that they are going to pass, this is known as a policy agenda A policy agenda can be impacted by a variety of things, including: Public Demand Presidential Priorities Party Priorities Environmental/Contextual Impacts

Bills Public policies are addressed through the passage of bills. There are a variety of types of bills in the U.S. They include: Bill- A bill is a proposed law Public bill: A public bill applies to the entire nation Private bill: A private bill applies only to certain people or places In order for any official business to take place in Congress, there must be a quorum of Congressmen present A quorum represents a majority of either Senators or Representatives in their respective houses

Bills in the House Introduction Committee action: Floor Action The bill is first introduced in the House. Committee action: The bill is then referred to its respective standing committee It then goes to a subcommittee for study, hearings, revisions, and approval It then goes back to full committee for more hearings and revisions The bill then goes to the rules committee where conditions for debate and the process for amendments is set The rules committee can speed up, delay, or kill the legislation Floor Action Its then debated on the floor then passed or defeated. If its passed it then goes to the Senate

Bills in the Senate Senate Committee action The bill is first introduced in the Senate. Committee action The bill is then referred its respective standing committee It then goes to a subcommittee for study, hearings, revision, and approval It then goes back to full committee for more hearings and revisions In order to receive debate and a floor vote the bill must be placed on the calendar by the Majority Floor Leader The bill is then debated then passed or defeated If passed it then goes to the House

Getting to the Floor The House Rules Committee is known as the traffic cop This committee screens bills before they reach the floor This committee has the power to speed up, delay, or kill a measure In the Senate the Floor Leader controls the appearance of bills on the floor in the Senate The appearance of bills are scheduled on the calendar and can not reach the calendar without the approval of the Senate Floor Leader

Joint Committees A joint committee is composed of members of both houses Some joint committees are investigative in nature and issue reports to the House and Senate, some are routine groups Before a bill can be sent to the President it must be identical in both houses A conference committee, is a temporary committee, that gets together to compromise on the bill

Road to the White House Conference Committee Congressional Approval The Conference Committee reconciles differences between House and Senate versions of a bill Congressional Approval The House and Senate vote on the final passage of the bill The approved bill is then sent to the president President The President then signs the bill into law or the bill is vetoed A Presidential veto can be overturned by two-thirds vote in each house in Congress This is referred to as a legislative veto When the bill is printed in its final form, it is referred to as being engrossed

Procedure Filibuster Cloture The filibuster is a tactic used in the Senate whereby a vote on legislation can be delayed through debate The longest filibuster was conducted by Strom Thurmond and lasted 24 hours This tactic is rarely used in the traditional sense in today’s Senate Generally if a filibuster is threatened (and the required number of Senators can’t be reached for cloture) the bill is returned to committee Cloture This is the voting process that can be initiated to end a filibuster. It requires 60 Senators to cut off a filibuster

Legislative Power Pork Barrel Spending This is the concept of passing legislation that will only benefit your constituency Pork barrel spending is also referred to as earmarking or riders Pork barrel spending is often referred to as wasteful spending by those who appose the process of earmarks and riders Many times pork/earmarks/riders are added to bills because of political logrolling Logrolling is similar to the concept of you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours

Difficulties Pass Laws The vast majority of bills are pigeonholed in the law making process This means that most bills are never introduced in a session of Congress and are buried away and never acted upon There is a way in which pigeonholed bills can be pushed through the legislative process and that is through the use of the discharge petition A discharge petition allows for the Representatives to force a bill onto the floor for a vote This requires an absolute majority of Representatives to agree on the petition

Select Committees Select committees are special committees They are setup for a specific purpose and most often for a limited time The Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate appoints the members of these special committees They are normally setup to perform investigations into what type of legislation should be passed in order to take care of the countries’ needs