What are Congressional Committees?
*A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress).
What is the purpose of committees?
*Committees do most of the work of Congress, as they are in charge of considering, shaping, and passing laws for the country.
*Committees allow members of Congress to specialize in a certain area and have more knowledge of their area. They are responsible for determining what issues they will discuss, gathering information about that issue, and then communicating with their entire house what they recommend be done.
*The first work of any law starts in committees or subcommittees, as they conduct debates about what should be included, and then draft and revise the legislation.
*Committees allow members of Congress to specialize in a certain area and have more knowledge of their area. They are responsible for determining what issues they will discuss, gathering information about that issue, and then communicating with their entire house what they recommend be done.
*The first work of any law starts in committees or subcommittees, as they conduct debates about what should be included, and then draft and revise the legislation.
What are the types of committees?
*There are four types of congressional committees:
- Standing committees: They are called standing committees because they are constant and continue from one Congress to the next. They are the most important type of committees because they make most of the laws. It is possible for them to be combined or discontinued, but most of the current committees have existed for many years.
- Select committees: They are formed for a specific purpose and are only temporary. They study a particular issue, and typically do not draft any legislation. If a select committee is in existence for a long time, it can become a standing committee.
- Joint committees: They are similar in purpose to select committees, but they are composed of members from both the Senate and the House. They are designed to help in the conduction of business between the two houses. They also can help get the public's attention focused on major issues.
- Conference committees: They are created when the House and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill. There are members from both the House and the Senate that were involved in the original drafting of their respective bills on the conference committee. When a compromise on the bill is reached, the new bill is sent back to each house to be voted on.
This information was obtained from http://www.ushistory.org/gov/6c.asp, http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Committees.htm, and http://system.uslegal.com/congress/committees/