Congress: Committees Lecture Review

Introduction to Congressional Committees

• Committees serve as a primary organizing principle in Congress, functioning as collections of individuals tasked with conducting business on specific policy issues.

• Current Statistics: There are currently $20$ standing committees in the House and $16$ in the Senate.

• Historical Evolution:
    - Initially, most committees were "select" (temporary). The floor would debate an issue, charge a committee to formulate a specific bill, and the committee would disband after reporting back to the floor.
    - The standing committee system formed rapidly between $1815$ and $1825$, particularly within the Senate.
    - Drivers of Growth: The shift toward standing committees was motivated by a need for oversight of the executive branch and control of expenditures. Early committee jurisdictions often mirrored executive departments to monitor departmental spending.
    - Consolidation: Significant decreases in the number of committees over time resulted from "housekeeping legislation."

Structure and Leadership in the 119th Congress

• General Composition:
    - Jurisdictions between House and Senate committees are similar but not identical.
    - Every committee (except the Ethics Committee) maintains a majority of members from the majority party.
    - Committees are chaired by a member of the majority party.

• The House Rules Committee: This body has no Senate equivalent. Its primary responsibility is issuing "special rules" that dictate how bills are debated on the floor.

• House Standing Committees (119th Congress) and Chairs:
    - Agriculture: Thompson (PA)
    - Appropriations: Cole (OK)
    - Armed Services: Rogers (AL)
    - Budget: Arrington (TX)
    - Education and the Workforce: Walberg (MI)
    - Energy & Commerce: Guthrie (KY)
    - Ethics: Guest (MS)
    - Financial Services: Hill (AR)
    - Foreign Affairs: Mast (FL)
    - Homeland Security: Garbarino (NY)
    - House Administration: Steil (WI)
    - Intelligence (Permanent Select): Crawford (AR)
    - Judiciary: Jordan (OH)
    - Natural Resources: Westerman (AR)
    - Oversight and Government Reform: Comer (KY)
    - Rules: Foxx (NC)
    - Science, Space, and Technology: Babin (TX)
    - Small Business: Williams (TX)
    - Transportation and Infrastructure: Graves (MO)
    - Veterans’ Affairs: Bost (IL)
    - Ways and Means: Smith (MO)

• Senate Standing Committees (119th Congress) and Chairs:
    - Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry: Boozman (AR)
    - Appropriations: Collins (ME)
    - Armed Services: Wicker (MS)
    - Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Scott (SC)
    - Budget: Graham (SC)
    - Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Cruz (TX)
    - Energy and Natural Resources: Lee (UT)
    - Environment and Public Works: Capito (WV)
    - Finance: Crapo (ID)
    - Foreign Relations: Risch (ID)
    - Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: Cassidy (LA)
    - Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Paul (KY)
    - Judiciary: Grassley (IA)
    - Rules and Administration: McConnell (KY)
    - Select Intelligence: Cotton (AR)
    - Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Ernst (IA)
    - Veterans’ Affairs: Moran (KS)

The Dual Roles of Committees

• Role 1: Oversight: This was a major reason for their initial establishment, focusing on monitoring the executive branch.

• Role 2: Lawmaking Power:
    - Negative Power: The ability to stop bills from becoming law. This power is very strong in the House but less absolute in the Senate, where procedures exist to sidestep committees.
    - Positive Power: The ability to shape the content of laws. This power is generally weaker than negative power because committees act early in the legislative process, and bills must still pass the floor, the other chamber, and the President.

Theoretical Models of Committee Roles

• Distributive / Committee-Autonomy Model:
    - Members self-select onto committees that benefit their constituents or interest groups to aid reelection. These committees have specific "clients."
    - Committee members are often atypical of the chamber as a whole.
    - The floor supports these bills via a "logroll" (members vote for others' bills so their own will pass).
    - Evidence: The floor nearly always passes committee bills; membership is protected by "property rights" (cannot be removed involuntarily) and seniority.

• Informational / Chamber-Dominated Model:
    - Committees are labor-saving devices where members develop expertise through long service to process legislation quickly for the full body.
    - Committees are microcosms of the chamber.
    - Evidence: The full body controls jurisdictions and committee existence through standing rules.

• Partisan / Party-Dominated Model:
    - Committees are artifacts that exist to "rubber-stamp" the majority party agenda for the floor.
    - Evidence: Powerful chairs and majorities belong to the chamber majority; assignments are ratified by the party caucus/conference.

• Condition Testing:
    - House vs. Senate: House is more partisan due to formal rules privileging committees.
    - Issues: Distributive theory is most persuasive on issues with concentrated benefits and dispersed costs (e.g., subsidies) or low-profile issues.
    - Time: Both chambers are trending toward higher levels of partisanship.

The Committee Assignment Process

• Mechanics: Members submit requests, which are then accepted or denied by "steering committees" (or "committees on committees"). These selections must be ratified by the party conference/caucus.

• Richard Fenno’s Motivations for Assignments (1970s):
    - Reelection: Seeking committees relevant to the district (e.g., Agriculture for rural members, Financial Services for banking-heavy cities). In the 119th House, Appropriations ($63$ members) and Transportation ($68$ members) are the largest for this reason. Ways & Means is sought for fundraising leverage.
    - Good Public Policy: Seeking committees with national scope, such as Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, or Education and the Workforce.
    - Influence in Congress: Seeking "power committees" like Rules, Appropriations, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce to leverage personal importance.

Membership Norms and Constraints

• House Assignment Rules:
    - Members receive one "exclusive" assignment (Rules, Appropriations, Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce) OR two "non-exclusive" assignments.
    - "Exempt" committees include Ethics and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (which has limited authority to report bills).
    - Members typically have $1$, $2$, or $3$ assignments.

• Senate Assignment Rules:
    - The "Johnson Rule" (named after Lyndon Johnson) ensures every Senator gets at least one "A" committee (e.g., Finance, Appropriations, Armed Services).
    - Senators typically have $4$, $5$, or $6$ assignments.

• Property Rights and Discipline:
    - Members generally stay on committees as long as they wish if they remain in Congress.
    - Exceptions/Punishments: Leaders are increasingly punishing dissenters. Speaker Boehner removed Tea Party dissidents at the start of the 113th. In 2021, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was stripped of assignments by a House vote ($11$ Republicans joined Democrats). In 2023, Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was removed from Foreign Affairs.

• Party Ratios and Geography:
    - Committees are split proportionately to the chamber membership plus a majority "bonus."
    - The Rules Committee ratio is always $9-4$ (established early 1960s).
    - In the 119th House ($50.6\%$ Republican), Ways & Means is $26-18$ ($59.1\%$) and Judiciary is $25-20$ ($55.6\%\text{ Republican}$).
    - Steering committees value geographical diversity, though self-selection leads to regional clusters (e.g., New York members on Financial Services).

Evolution and Power of Committee Chairs

• Historical context: John McCormack once advised freshmen to "bow from the waist" to chairs. In the 1950s/60s, chairs like Wilbur Mills (Ways & Means) and Carl Vinson (Armed Services) controlled everything—staff, subcommittees, and budgets—due to inviolable seniority.

• Reform Eras (1970s and 1990s):
    - Decline of Seniority: The "Watergate Babies" (1974) and other liberal members revolted against conservative "Old Southern Bulls." In 1975, Democrats dismissed three chairs regardless of seniority: Poage (TX), Hebert (LA), and Patman (TX).
    - Subcommittee Bill of Rights (Mid-1970s): Subcommittees gained independence from full committee chairs, receiving fixed jurisdictions, their own staff, and immediate bill referrals.
    - Term Limits (1995/2007): Republicans established a limit of $3$ terms or $6$ years as chair in 1995; Democrats adopted this in 2007. In 2018, these limits contributed to $9$ GOP chair retirements.

• Current Chair Powers: Chairs still control the majority budget, recruit witnesses, and hold the gavel. They exercise the power of recognition during hearings and mark-ups, governed by the "10-minute" rule (Senate) or "5-minute" rule (House).

Classifications of Committees

• Standing Committees: Permanent bodies with the authority to report (legislate) bills.

• Select Committees: Temporary panels (usually for the life of one Congress) that are advisory or information-gathering. Examples: Climate Crisis (117th), January 6th Committee (118th), and Strategic Competition Between U.S. and CCP (119th).

• Joint Committees: Permanent bodies with members from both House and Senate. They lack legislative authority but provide research and data. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) provides mandatory revenue estimates for tax legislation.

• Conference Committees: Temporary bodies with legislative authority, created solely to reconcile House and Senate versions of a specific bill before it returns to the floors for a final vote.

Professional Staffing

• Committee Staff: Approximately $2,500$ people. They are hired by the chair and the Ranking Member of the Minority (RMM). They are generally more senior, better qualified, and higher paid than personal staff.

• Personal Staff: Approximately $11,000$ people.