Committees

The workhorses of Congress, where much of the detailed legislative work occurs. Committees and their subcommittees examine measures during hearings and modify, accept, or reject them during markup. A member serves on more than one committee and on several subcommittees within each of those committees. Committee jurisdictions are established by the rules of the Chamber. For example, the rules of the House require tax bills be referred to the Ways & Means committee and bills on farm crops to the Agriculture Committee. The rules of the Senate require tax bills be sent to the Finance Committee and farm bills to the Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee. On occasion, special and select committees are established to investigate specific questions.

Check the rules of the House and the Senate in ProQuest Congressional for listings of the committees' jurisdictions. A list of all committees can also be found in the Committee segment of ProQuest Congressional.