2. Purpose of Committees
House and Senate both
have committees
Work is divided among
smaller groups
Decide which bills
move on to the next
step-most don’t make it
past committees
4. Standing Committee
Permanent groups that
specialize in a certain
topic
House has 19 standing
committees
Senate has 16 standing
committees
Each committee has both
Democrats and
Republicans in it.
Some standing
committees are divided
further into
subcommittees
5. Select Committees
Temporary committees
Formed to study one
specific issue
Organized crime
Hunger
Complaintsof small
business owners
6. Joint Committee
Members from both the
House and Senate
Can be temporary or
permanent
Do not deal directly with
bills
Study groups
Examples:
Joint economic committee
Joint committee on printing
Joint committee on the
Library of Congress
7. Conference Committee
Temporary committee
Set up to resolve differences between two
versions of a bill
Members from both house and senate
8. Prestigious Committees
House
RulesCommittee
Ways and Means Committee
Appropriations Committee
Senate
ForeignRelations Committee
Finance Committee
Appropriations Committee
9. Committee Assignments and
Leadership
Each committee has a
chairperson
Makes key decisions
within their committee
Used to be decided by
seniority
Now committee
chairpersons cannot
serve more than 3 terms
Members of congress
may request to be
placed on certain
committees