2. Purpose of Committees
House and Senate both
have committees
Work is divided among
smaller groups
Decide which bills move on
to the next step-most don’t
make it past committees
4. Standing Committee
Permanent groups that
specialize in a certain topic
House has 19 standing
committees
Senate has 16 standing
committees
Each committee has both
Democrats and Republicans in
it.
Some standing committees are
divided further into
subcommittees
5. Select Committees
Temporary committees
Formed to study one
specific issue
Organized crime
Hunger
Complaints of small business
owners
6. Joint Committee
Members from both the House
and Senate
Can be temporary or
permanent
Do not deal directly with bills
Study groups
Examples:
Joint economic committee
Joint committee on printing
Joint committee on the Library
of Congress
7. Conference Committee
Temporary committee
Set up to resolve differences between two versions
of a bill
Members from both house and senate
8. Prestigious Committees
House
Rules
Committee
Ways and Means Committee
Appropriations Committee
Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
Finance Committee
Appropriations Committee
9. Committee Assignments and Leadership
Each committee has a
chairperson
Makes key decisions within
their committee
Used to be decided by
seniority
Now committee
chairpersons cannot serve
more than 3 terms
Members of congress may
request to be placed on
certain committees