Types of Committees in the US Congress

The legislative branch of the American national government is what is known as the congress, it encompasses the three main branches that dictate power separation system. There is a consecutive numbering for congress that is from the first session numbered (1789-1791) to the current (2013-2015) which is the current 113th session. A congressional session may continue for an entire year and the bills under consideration stay alive for the entire year but the ones not approved by the closure of congress die off.

Since congress is the federal government legislative branch it makes the laws necessary to determine and govern which governmental programs and agencies are approved or created and the governmental funds expenditure and oversight on how the executive branch administers the laws or programs it has passed. Congress constitutional laws are tasked with powers to declare war, coin money, pass bills, establish federal courts and determine their jurisdictions, raise an army and navy, regulate commerce, make rules that govern naturalization and immigration, whenever necessary they can approve appointments, impeach government officials and president. Some of their functions have recently changed example court jurisdiction changing is nowadays used as a means of sending a message, since approving demonstrates an assertion of their power over the other governmental branches. In addition, the fact that currently laws making sub-committees and committees that review the elaborate structures of bills have been formed (Galloway, 99).

There are specific committees formed by congress to oversee specific functions as a way of aiding the legislative branch with more time to accomplish their own complex and daunting tasks with ease. The legislative internal and oversight administrative tasks are divided evenly among the almost 200 sub-committee and committee members. Enclosed tasks within their assignment include the evaluation and gathering of legislative alternatives, gathering information, determining, selecting and reporting measures that would be considered fully by the chamber, propose while identifying problematic policy issues, overseeing the executive branch overall performance and reviewing any cases of its wrongdoing, they also help in some of the House petition discharges that are difficult to pass and this extends their jurisdiction over certain subject matters which result into a semi-autonomous power expansion.

The United States government has 3 main types of committees; these decisions are made by the committees for the government and affect all the U.S. citizens and by understanding the types of the available committees it is easier to understand the United States legislature and government. It is with this understanding of the congress roles that this article discusses the three main types of committees namely the joint, special or select and standing committees (Congressional Research Service, 12).

Special or select committees often established by a separate resolution of the chamber mainly to conduct studies, consider adequate measures and investigations. The select committees often review emerging issues that exceeds the existing standing committee jurisdictional boundaries or doesn’t fit well within their mandate. A select committee may be temporary or permanent but all the committees that are currently in the Senate or House are considered permanent. The Senate sometimes instead of the select committee can also be referred to as special committees an example is on the aging special committee.

The standing committees are permanent panels identified by the chamber rules they are called so due to extent of their jurisdiction in the legislative. Standing committees consider issues, recommend measures and review bills for consideration by the chamber respectively they are also tasked with monitoring activities, agencies and programs due to their given oversight responsibilities; this applies mostly to areas beyond and within the committee’s jurisdiction.

Most funding levels at the standing committees oversee the governmental authorization for existing and new programs. In addition, some of them have other distinct functions example the recommendations made to the legislation by the Appropriations Committees to provide the federal programs and agencies with budget authority. These budget committees help establish aggregate levels for the total revenue and spending that often act as appropriation and authorization guidelines for the relevant panels (Bruce,29).

Another type of committee is the joint committee which comprises of permanent panels mainly consisting of members from both the chambers. They often perform or carry out housekeeping tasks compared to considering measures, for example the printing joint committee oversees the federal government functions mainly on their printing procedures and printing office. The joint committee’s chairmanship often rotates between the senate and House. Temporary committee is an example of a joint committee that has been set up to review and resolve any differences that may occur between Senate and House measure versions. The joint committee’s conference draft has to find a compromise between the two chambers positions, which then get submitted to the senate and full House for approval.

Reference

George B. Galloway, History of the House of Representatives (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1961), pp. 99-100

Congressional Research Service, Senate Committees: Categories and Rules for Committee Assignments. 2006. pp.12.

Bruce, Desk Reference on American Government (2nd edition), Congressional Quarterly Press, 2000, pp. 23-29