Select or special committee (United States Congress)
A select or special committee of the
A select committee generally expires on completion of its designated duties, though it can be renewed. Several select committees are treated as standing committees by House and Senate rules and are permanent fixtures in both bodies, continuing from one Congress to the next. Examples include the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is a select committee, though the word select is no longer a part of its name.[1]
Some select committees are called special committees, such as the Senate Special Committee on Aging. However, they do not differ in any substantive way from the others.[2]
Prior to the advent of permanent standing committees in the early 19th century, the House of Representatives relied almost exclusively on select committees to carry out much of its legislative work.[3] The committee system has grown and evolved over the years. During the earliest Congresses, select committees, created to perform a specific function and terminated when the task was completed, performed the overwhelming majority of the committee work. The first committee to be established by Congress was on April 2, 1789, during the First Congress. It was a select committee assigned to prepare and report standing rules and orders for House proceedings and it lasted just five days, dissolving after submitting its report to the full House. Since that time, Congress has always relied on committees as a means to accomplish its work.[2]
Early select committees
In the
The United States Senate did not establish its first standing committees until 1816, so select committees performed the overwhelming majority of the committee work for the Senate during the earliest Congresses. Like the House, standing committees have largely replaced select committees in the modern Senate, but select committees continue to be appointed from time to time.[5]
Early select committees were fluid, serving their established function and then going out of existence. This makes tracking committees difficult, since many committees were known by the date they were created or by a petition or other document that had been referred to them. In a number of instances, the official journal and other congressional publications did not consistently refer to an individual committee by the same title. Though such inconsistencies still appeared during the 20th century, they were less frequent.[2]
Notable select committees
Some select committees went on to become permanent standing committees. The most notable of these is the Ways and Means Committee. It was first established as a select committee July 24, 1789 during a debate on the creation of the Treasury Department. Representatives had concerns over giving the new department too much authority over revenue proposals, so the House felt it would be better equipped if it established a committee to handle the matter. This first Committee on Ways and Means had 11 members and existed for just two months. In 1801, it became a standing committee, and still operates as one today.[7]
In the 20th century
Notable select and special committees established in the 20th century include:
- House Special Committee on Un-American Activities Authorized to Investigate Nazi Propaganda and Certain Other Propaganda Activities (McCormack-Dickstein Committee): established in 1934 "in reaction to the overthrow of a number of established foreign Governments in favor of Samuel Dickstein of New York.[8] The committee is sometimes cited as a forerunner to the House Un-American Activities Committee.[9]
- Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.[11]
- Senate Temporary Select Committee to Study the Senate Committee System (Stevenson Committee): chaired by Senator Adlai E. Stevenson III of Illinois, the recommendations of this Committee led to the abolition of most of the Senate's select and joint committees, and the reshuffling to jurisdictional lines of Senate committees. The 1970s reorganization was the last major reorganization of the Senate committee system.[12]
- John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.from 1976 to 1978.
- Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (Watergate Committee): chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, this committee investigated misconduct during the 1972 presidential election, most famously the Watergate scandal. The committee disbanded after completing its investigation in June 1974.[9]
- Iran–Contra scandal.[9]
In the 21st century
House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
The
The committee held 80 hearings and briefings on issues such as climate change and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.[15] The committee played a role in the creation of the 2007 energy bill, the 2009 stimulus package (which contained funds for energy efficiency and other environmental provisions), and the 2009 Waxman-Markey bill (which was passed by the House, but never acted upon by the Senate).[15]
The committee was disbanded by the House in 2011, at the beginning of the 112th Congress, after Republicans took control of the chamber following the 2010 elections.[14][15]
House Select Committee on Benghazi
In May 2014, the House of Representatives voted to create the
Democrats and critics viewed the inquiry as intended to damage the
The committee's final report found no evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Clinton, but did criticize Defense Department, Central Intelligence Agency and State Department officials for security lapses.[17] In a dissenting report, Democrats accused the committee and its chairman, Trey Gowdy, "of flagrant political bias while arguing the investigation wasted taxpayer money to try to damage Clinton".[22]
House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
On July 1, 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi created
Proposed select committees
There have been a number of unsuccessful proposals to create select committees. For example, in 2017, Representative Mike Thompson and 162 other Democratic members of Congress unsuccessfully introduced a measure to create a House Select Committee on Gun Violence Prevention to address gun violence in the United States.[25][26] In the same year, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Senator Cory Gardner introduced bipartisan legislation to create a Select Committee on Cybersecurity.[27]
The United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government was established on January 10, 2023 to fulfill promises made during negotiations for election of the House Speaker by Kevin McCarthy to investigate the Biden Administration's alleged weaponization of the federal government.
See also
- Select committee (parliamentary system)
- Select Committee (United Kingdom)
- Special prosecutor
References
- ^ Vincent, Carol Hardy; Elizabeth Rybicki (February 1, 1996). "Committee Numbers, Sizes, Assignments, and Staff: Selected Historical Data" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 25, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
- ^ a b c d Schamel, Charles E.; Mary Rephlo; Rodney Ross; David Kepley; Robert W. Coren; James Gregory Bradsher (1989). "Guide to the Records of the United States House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition". National Archives and Records Administration. pp. Chapter 22. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
- ^ ISBN 1-56802-175-5.
- ^ Galloway, George B. (1946). Congress at the Crossroads. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. p. 88.
- ^ Coren, Robert W.; Mary Rephlo; David Kepley; Charles South (1989). "Guide to the Records of the United States Senate at the National Archives, 1789-1989: Bicentennial Edition". National Archives and Records Administration. pp. Chapter 18. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ISBN 978-0-313-24539-8.
- ^ H. Doc. 100-244, The Committee on Ways and Means a Bicentennial History 1789-1989, page 3
- ^ Guide to House Records: Chapter 22: 1910-1946 Nazi and Other Propaganda: Special Committee on Un-American Activities Authorized to Investigate Nazi Propaganda and Certain Other Propaganda Activities (1934-35), National Archives and Records Administration.
- ^ a b c John David Rausch, Jr., "Committees: select or special" in Encyclopedia of the United States Congress (Infobase, 2007), pp. 118-19.
- ^ The Truman Committee: March 1, 1941, Senate Historical Office.
- ^ Fiftieth Anniversary of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investoigations, Congressional Record—Senate, January 28, 1998, p. 319.
- ^ Committee Reorganization, Senate Historical Office.
- ^ Pelosi, Dingell Compromise in House Over Climate Issue, Associated Press (February 7, 2007).
- ^ a b c Jackie Kucinich, Republicans Kill Global Warming Committee, Roll Call (December 1, 2010).
- ^ a b c Kate Sheppard, Republicans kill global warming committee, Mother Jones (republished by The Guardian) (January 6, 2011).
- ^ Mary Troyan, House Benghazi committee files final report and shuts down, USA Today (December 12, 2016).
- ^ a b c d David M. Herszenhorn, House Benghazi Report Finds No New Evidence of Wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton, New York Times (June 28, 2016).
- ^ Zach Toombs, Congress spent more time investigating Benghazi than it did 9/11, Atlanta-Journal Constitution (June 28, 2016).
- ^ Manu Raju, Deirdre Walsh & Tal Kopan, House Republicans repudiate McCarthy comments on Benghazi probe, CNN (October 1, 2015).
- ^ E.J. Dionne Jr., Kevin McCarthy’s truthful gaffe on Benghazi, Washington Post (September 30, 2016).
- ^ James Fallows, How the Press Can Deal With the Benghazi Committee, The Atlantic (October 12, 2015).
- ^ Stephen Collinson, Benghazi panel caps 2-year probe: No bombshell, faults administration, CNN (June 28, 2016).
- ^ "Pelosi Names Members to Select Committee to Investigate January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol". speaker.gov. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ Orr, Gabby (February 4, 2022). "RNC approves censure of Cheney, Kinzinger for involvement in January 6 committee". CNN. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
- ^ H.Res.367 – Establishing the Select Committee on Gun Violence Prevention, 115th Congress (2017-2018).
- ^ Ed O'Keefe, Democrats fail to force vote on bill establishing select panel on gun violence, Washington Post (November 7, 2017).
- ^ Chris Bing, Superstar cybersecurity committee proposed by senators, Cyberscoop (January 25, 2017).