Government in the United States, National, State and Local

by James Wilford Garner

Method of Choosing Committees.—In the senate committee assignments are nominally made by the senate itself, but in reality they are made by two committees on committees selected by a caucus of the members of each party, the recommendations of the two committees usually being accepted by the senate without debate. Both parties are represented on each committee, the dominant party, of course, being given a majority of the places. Thus on a committee of thirteen members, the majority party is usually represented by eight members and the minority by five; on a committee of seventeen, the numbers are eleven and six respectively, and so on.

In the house of representatives, from the beginning until very recently, all the committees were appointed by the speaker, a power which gave him great influence in shaping and determining the course of legislation, since he might constitute the committees with reference to their friendliness or unfriendliness toward legislative measures that were referred to them for investigation and report. In making committee assignments, however, the speaker was not entirely free to follow his own individual preferences. Thus the tradition of the house required that he must take into consideration the claims of members whose service had been long and distinguished, while political gratitude led him to reward with desirable committee assignments those to whom he was especially indebted for his election as speaker. Seniority of committee service was also taken into account when the chairmanship of an important committee became vacant, the next ranking member of the committee having a strong claim to be promoted to the vacancy. In 1911, however, the house, then controlled by the Democrats, adopted a rule providing for the election of all standing committees by the house; thus making the method of choosing committees the same as in the senate.

In the house, the chairmanship of every committee, whether important or unimportant, is given to a member of the dominant party, and of course also a majority of the other places on the committee, the proportion between the representation of the two parties being about the same as on the senate committees.

Introduction and Reference of Bills.—After the appointment of the committees the house is ready for the transaction of legislative business. Bills are introduced by sending them, indorsed with the name of the introducer, to the presiding officer's desk, where the fact of presentation is entered on the journal and the bill is given a number.[34] Thus the first bill introduced at the beginning of a new Congress is designated as "S. 1," if presented in the senate, and "H. R. 1," if presented in the house of representatives.

Reference to Committees.—The next step is to refer the bill to a committee for consideration, and in the meantime it is printed and placed on the desks of members. Reference to the appropriate committee is usually made by the presiding officer, though the house may direct that it shall be referred to a particular committee.

Some idea of the mass of legislative projects referred to the committees may be gained from the fact that in the sixtieth Congress 27,114 bills and resolutions were introduced into the two houses, and that of these, 7,839 were reported by the committees to which they were referred. We have here a good illustration of the necessity of the committee system, since it would have been a physical impossibility for either house as a whole to have considered even slightly so many bills. The committees sift out of the mass of proposed legislation such measures as they think worthy of enacting into law, and report their recommendations to the house as a whole.

Committee Hearings.—Committees charged with the consideration of important bills frequently hold public hearings at which interested parties may appear and present arguments for and against the measures under consideration. Thus the ways and means committee of the house in 1909 held public hearings at Washington for many weeks on the tariff bill, and scores of persons appeared to advocate lower or higher rates on various articles on which duties were to be imposed. Frequently members who introduce bills appear before committees and urge favorable action. The more important committees in each house have a regular day in each week for meeting, and a few of those in the house of representatives meet twice a week. Most of the committees, however, have no regular meeting day, being called together by their chairmen as occasion requires.

Forms of Committee Action.—The committee to which a bill is referred may pursue any one of the following courses: (1) It may report the bill back to the house with a recommendation that it be passed; (2) it may amend the bill and recommend that it be passed as amended; (3) it may throw the bill aside and report an entirely new one in its place; (4) it may report the bill unfavorably with a recommendation that it do not pass; (5) it may "pigeonhole" the bill, that is, take no action on it at all, or report it so late in the session that no opportunity is allowed for its consideration. The latter method of disposal, sometimes called "smothering," is the fate that awaits the great majority of bills introduced into Congress. The "smothering" of bills became the subject of so much complaint among members recently that the rules were amended so as to allow members to demand that their bills be reported to the house for consideration. The house, of course, may at any time instruct a committee to report a bill for its action, but this is rarely done.

The report to the house is usually made by the chairman of the committee, or some one designated by him. Not infrequently the minority members of the committee also make a report opposing the recommendation of the majority. The committee system of legislation is so thoroughly established in Congress that a bill favorably reported stands an excellent chance of being passed, while one adversely reported hardly ever passes.

Rules of Procedure.—The Constitution provides that each house may frame its own rules of procedure, though it requires certain things to be done in the interest of publicity and to insure a reasonable degree of careful deliberation. Thus each house is required to keep and publish a journal which must show how motions are disposed of and the vote for and against measures voted on. It also requires that on demand of one fifth of the members present the yeas and nays upon a measure shall be entered upon the journal. The purpose of this provision is to enable a small number of members to put the house on record so that the people may know how their representatives have voted on important measures.