Purpose of Committees They allow members of Congress to divide their work among many smaller groups Lawmakers can become specialists on the issues their committees consider From the huge number of bills introduced in each branch committees select those few that are to receive further conside ID: 591600
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Committees in Congress" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Committees in CongressSlide2
Purpose of Committees:
They allow members of Congress to divide their work among many smaller groups.
Lawmakers can become specialists on the issues their committees consider.
From the huge number of bills introduced in each branch, committees select those few that are to receive further consideration
Committees are the places in which lawmakers listen to supporters and opponents of a bill. They work out compromises and decide which bills will or will not have a chance to become law.
By holding public hearings and investigations, committees help the public learn about key problems and issues facing the nation.
Examples are crime, safety of prescription drugs, hunger in America, airline safety and many other issues and concerns that have confronted the nationSlide3
Standing Committees
Permanent groups that oversee bills that deal with certain kinds of issues
The House and Senate each create their own standing
committees, occasionally
adding or eliminating a standing committee when necessarySlide4
Select Committees
Temporary committees that study a specific issue and report their findings to the Senate or the House. These issues include:
Matters of great public concern such as organized crime
Overlooked problems, such as hunger
Problems of interest groups, such as owners of small business, who claim that Congress has not met their needs
Select
committees – usually set up to last for no more than one term of Congress. They may be renewed for several terms of Congress.Slide5
Joint Committees
Committees that are made up of members from the House and the Senate
May be either temporary or permanent
Usually act as study groups with responsibility for reporting their findings back to the House and Senate
J
oint committees coordinate the work of the two houses of CongressSlide6
Conference Committees
No bill can be sent from Congress to the president until both houses have passed it in identical form
A Conference Committee is a temporary committee set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of the same bill.
Members of the conference committee, called conferees, usually come from the house and Senate standing committees that handled the bill in questions.
Both parties are represented in the same way here as on other committees.