Where is most of the work of Congress done?

Bills begin and end their lives in committees, whether they are passed into law or not. Hearings from interest groups and agency bureaucrats are held at the committee and subcommittee level, and committee members play key roles in floor debate about the bills that they foster.

Committees help to organize the most important work of Congress — considering, shaping, and passing laws to govern the nation. 8,000 or so bills go to committee annually. Fewer than 10% of those bills make it out for consideration on the floor.

Types of Committees

There are four types of congressional committees:

1. Standing committees, which continue from one Congress to the next, are probably the most important type because they consider and shape the vast majority of proposed laws. Standing committees can be combined or discontinued but most of them have been around for many years. Standing committees also conduct investigations, such as the Senate Banking Committee's investigation of President Bill Clinton's Whitewater investments.
2. Select committees are temporarily formed for specific purposes, often to study a particular issue. They usually do not draft legislation. Some, like the select committees to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, are obviously intended to have limited lives. Others, like the Select Committee on Aging and the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, have existed for a number of years actually produce legislation. Sometimes long-standing select committees eventually become standing committees.


Most standing committees, such as the House Committee on Small Business, have their own websites and monthly journals to disseminate information to the people.
3. Joint committees have similar purposes as select committees, but they are made up of members from both the House and the Senate. They are set up to conduct business between the houses and to help focus public attention on major issues. Some joint committees handle routine matters, such as supervising the Library of Congress.


A select committee of Congress was established to investigate the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. Conference committees are specially created when the House and the Senate need to reconcile different versions of the same bill. A conference committee is made up of members from the House and Senate committees that originally considered the bill. Once the committee agrees on a compromise, the revised bill is returned to both houses of Congress for their approval.

Committee Assignments

After each congressional election, political parties assign newly elected Representatives and Senators to standing committees. They consider a member's own wishes in making the assignments, but they also assess the needs of the committees, in terms of region of the country, personalities, and party connections.

Since the House has 435 members, most Representatives only serve on one or two committees. On the other hand, Senators often serve on several committees and subcommittees. Committee assignment is one of the most important decisions for a new member's future work in Congress. Usually, members seek appointment on committees that will allow them to serve their districts or state the most directly. However, a members from a "safe" district — where his or her reelection is not in jeopardy — and who wants to be a leader in Congress, may want to be named to a powerful committee, such as Foreign Relations, Judiciary, or the House Ways and Means. There they are more likely to come into contact with current leaders and perhaps even gain some media attention.

To the average person, the process of getting a bill through Congress may seem highly complex and technical. Actually, the process itself is fairly simple.  What can be confusing to the layperson is (1) the volume of legislation pending before Congress and (2) the system Congress has for distributing its work. It is true that Congress handles a great deal of legislation each year.  But only a handful of bills will be of particular interest to AACOM. 

As long as you keep your sights on the legislation that affects you and AACOM, you should have no trouble following the progress of those bills. And once you familiarize yourself with the key committees responsible for handling your issues, following the progress of legislation will become much easier.

The key to deciphering the legislative process is in understanding that legislation is grouped into three main categories:

• Authorizing legislation:  A bill that creates a new federal program, extends the life of an existing program, or repeals existing law. Authorizing bills usually set a limit on the amount of funds that can be spent annually by a program over a period of three to five years. But it’s important to remember that an authorizing bill only establishes the framework for a federal program - it does not provide funds to operate the program.  
• Appropriations bill:  A bill that allocates funding for specific federal programs.  Unlike authorizing legislation, which remains in effect for three or more years, an appropriations bill must be enacted into law every year. Each year, in fact, Congress must pass a series of 13 appropriations bills to keep federal departments and agencies operating. 
• Entitlement legislation:  A measure that guarantees a certain level of benefits to persons who meet eligibility requirements set by law, such as Medicare, Medicaid and college student loan programs. Entitlement programs typically do not need to be reauthorized, nor do they require annual appropriations.       

Generally speaking, the earlier you get involved, the better your chances of having an impact on decision making.  The further along a bill advances in the legislative process, the more difficult it becomes to change or modify.  This is especially true now that Congress often groups several issues into one bill.

The first formal step in the legislative process occurs when one or more members of Congress introduce a bill.  But from an advocate's perspective, the work begins much earlier than that.

For example, once AACOM has identified an issue or problem that merits special attention, one or two members of Congress should be identified whose philosophy and voting record indicate that they would be willing to play a leadership role in supporting the issue.  After extensive discussions with the senator or representative and their staff, formal legislation is prepared for introduction.  Bills introduced in the House are assigned an "H.R." number (e.g. H.R. 2037) and bills introduced in the Senate are given an "S." number.

Of course, having legislation introduced and getting it enacted into law are two different things. 

Preventing a bill from languishing in someone's files requires broad support for the issue.  Constituents must contact their own senators and representatives and convince them to co-sponsor the bill. The way that is done is by having the lawmaker's staff contact the original sponsor and ask to have his or her name listed as supporting the bill.

Congressional committees are the "workhorses" of Congress.  As the number of issues brought before Congress grows, lawmakers increasingly rely on the committee system to sift through the facts and determine how issues should be resolved. 

Congress is made up of both standing committees and select committees. Generally, standing committees have the power to generate legislation in their particular areas of jurisdiction, such as tax writing or appropriations. Select committees, such as the Senate Special Committee on Aging, are primarily advisory in nature.

Most committees have delegated specific issues under their jurisdiction to subcommittees, whose job is to analyze each issue and eventually make a recommendation to their parent committee (or full committee, as it is sometimes called). Here again, it is vitally important that constituent contacts be made with the subcommittees as early in the process as possible. 

In their earliest stages of review, subcommittees welcome input from interested organizations and individuals. At this point, letters and personal visits with members of the subcommittee and their staff can have a tremendous effect on the panel’s recommendations.   In many instances, a subcommittee will hold public hearings, either in Washington, DC or elsewhere, where constituents may ask to present their positions.

If your senator or representative is not on the relevant subcommittee, does that mean you have no influence over the outcome?  It is true that members of a subcommittee are regarded as "specialists" by their colleagues and, therefore, can wield considerable power in deciding whether or not an issue will be advanced through the legislative process.  However, your own senators or representatives, whether or not they are on the subcommittee, often can be effective intermediaries, depending on their personal or political relationships with the subcommittee members.

Once a committee has approved legislation, it becomes eligible for debate on the House and Senate floors, where it may be passed, defeated or amended.  Because floor debates often are scheduled on short notice, you should prepare your messages (e.g. e-mails, letters etc.) well in advance. However, keep in mind that timing is extremely critical. Any communications about legislation that is coming up for floor debate should arrive as close to the time of voting as possible.

It is usually the case that the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill.  When that occurs, a handful of members from each chamber are appointed to serve on a conference committee that attempts to work out a compromise. 

A conference committee usually consists of selected members of the House and Senate subcommittees that originally developed the legislation. In some instances, conference committees may need to resolve only a few issues; in the case of appropriations bills, there may be several hundred to be reconciled. Constituents whose senators or representatives happen to be on a conference committee can play a crucial role in the deliberations.  

The end product of the meetings is a conference report containing a compromise bill and a section-by-section explanation of the agreed-upon compromise.  Once both the House and Senate agree to the conference report, the measure is sent to the President for approval (or veto).  

While senators and representatives are the ultimate decision makers, it is important to recognize that their staff members can have significant influence over the course and content of legislation. 

Constituents are urged to maintain ongoing contacts with these individuals, especially subcommittee staff and the lawmakers' own legislative aides. When the time comes to contact a lawmaker about specific legislation, his or her staff aide also should be alerted. This is one way of ensuring that your issues are not lost or overlooked among the stack of legislation that is discussed every day.

Also, keep in mind that every senator and representative maintains an office(s) in his or her home state. These district offices offer an excellent opportunity to build relationships with key staff, channel the latest information back to senators and representatives and generally get your message across to the legislator.     

Where does most Congress work take place?

Where does most of the work in Congress take place quizlet?

Where is the most power in Congress found?

Which of the following is the most important job done by members of Congress?