United States congressional committee

A Congress Committee ( Congressional Committee ) is within the political system of the United States, a subunit of the Congress, which deals with a particular subject area.

In the House, the committees play due to the size of the chamber a stronger role ( the House of Representatives has 435 deputies, while the Senate only consists of 100 senators ).

Committees played in the parliamentary system of the United States from the beginning an important role, which is still grown with time. The first committee of the Repräsententantenhauses was appointed on 2 April 1798 to prepare procedures for the work of the House and to the duties of the Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives, a kind of parliamentary security officials to set. The first Senate committee was established on 7 April 1789 to design procedural rules for the Senate.

Current committees

There are three main types of committees: Standing Committees ( Standing Committees ), Select or Special Committee (Investigation or Special Committees ) and Joint Committee ( Joint Committee ). The current structure and organization of congressional committees was established in 1946 by the Legislative Reorganization Act (Act on the reorganization of the legislature). Under this law, the number of standing committees of the House of Representatives was reduced from 48 to 19, the number of permanent Senate committees from 33 to 15 The jurisdiction of each committee was then established by law, whereby numerous committees could be merged or abolished. In the House, there are 21 permanent committees today. They are as constantly called because they are made for the whole legislature and to concern yourself with more general issues. In the smaller Senate has 20 standing committees.

In addition to the standing committees, there are examination or special committees. These are caused by its own decision of either House of Congress in life to carry out a special investigation or to discuss specific measures. Committees often deal with newly arisen issues that do not match the specified areas of the standing committees or exceed the jurisdiction of several standing committees. A committee of inquiry may be temporary or permanent. All currently existing committees of both chambers meet permanently. In the Senate committees are sometimes referred to as the Special Committee, such as to the Special Committee of the Senate on Ageing ( United States Senate Special Committee on Aging ).

In addition, there are five joint committees. It also consists of permanent meets on committees, consisting of members of both chambers. Among these, the Conference Committee, which is comparable to the German Conference Committee, and is used during the legislative process belongs. If the designs are different for a law between the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Conference Committee is called to mediate between the chambers and reach an agreement.

Most committees also have one or more sub-committees.