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The United States House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Its responsibilities include legislative oversight of the federal budget process, reviewing all bills and resolutions on the budget, and monitoring agencies and programs funded outside of the budgetary process. The committee briefly operated as a select committee in 1919 and 1921, during the 66th and 67th United States Congresses, before being made a standing committee in 1974.[1]
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Congressional Committees: Crash Course Government and Politics #7
Transcription
Hi, I'm Craig and this is Crash Course Government
and Politics and today we're going to get
down and dirty wallowing in the mud that is
Congress. Okay, maybe that's a little unfair,
but the workings of Congress are kind of arcane
or byzantine or maybe let's just say extremely
complex and confusing, like me, or Game of
Thrones without the nudity. Some of the nudity, maybe.
However, Congress is the most important branch,
so it would probably behoove most Americans
to know how it works. I'm going to try to
explain. Be prepared to be behooved.
Both the House of Representatives and the
Senate are divided up into committees in order
to make them more efficient. The committees
you hear about most are the standing committees,
which are relatively permanent and handle the
day-to-day business of Congress. The House has 19
standing committees and the Senate 16. Congressmen
and Senators serve on multiple committees.
Each committee has a chairperson, or chair,
who is the one who usually gets mentioned
in the press, which is why you would know
the name of the chair of the House Ways and
Means Committee. Tell us in the comments if
you do know, or tell us if you are on the
committee, or just say hi.
Congress creates special or select committees
to deal with particular issues that are beyond
the jurisdiction of standing committees. Some
of them are temporary and some, like the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence, are permanent.
Some of them have only an advisory function
which means they can't write laws. The Select
Committee on Energy Independence and Global
Warming has only advisory authority which
tells you pretty much all you need to know
about Congress and climate change.
There are joint committees made up of members
of both houses. Most of them are standing
committees and they don't do a lot although
the joint Committee on the Library oversees
the Library of Congress, without which we
would not be able to use a lot of these pictures.
Like that one, and that one, and ooh that
one's my favorite.
Other committees are conference committees,
which are created to reconcile a bill when
the House and Senate write different versions
of it, but I'll talk about those later when
we try to figure out how a bill becomes a
law.
So why does Congress have so many committees?
The main reason is that it's more efficient
to write legislation in a smaller group rather
than a larger one. Congressional committees
also allow Congressmen to develop expertise
on certain topics. So a Congressperson from
Iowa can get on an agriculture committee because
that is an issue he presumably knows something
about if he pays attention to his constituents.
Or a Congressperson from Oklahoma could be
on the Regulation of Wind Rolling Down the
Plain Committee.
Committees allow members of Congress to follows
their own interests, so someone passionate
about national defense can try to get on the
armed services committee. Probably more important,
serving on a committee is something that a
Congressperson can claim credit for and use
to build up his or her brand when it comes
time for reelection.
Congress also has committees for historical
reasons. Congress is pretty tradish, which
is what you say when you don't have time to
say traditional. Anyway, it doesn't see much
need to change a system that has worked, for
the most part, since 1825.
That doesn't mean that Congress hasn't tried
to tweak the system. Let's talk about how
committees actually work in the Thought Bubble.
Any member of Congress can propose a bill,
this is called proposal power, but it has
to go to a committee first. Then to get to
the rest of the House or Senate it has to
be reported out of committee.
The chair determines the agenda by choosing
which issues get considered. In the House
the Speaker refers bills to particular committees,
but the committee chair has some discretion
over whether or not to act on the bills. This
power to control what ideas do or do not become
bills is what political scientists call "Gatekeeping
Authority", and it's a remarkably important
power that we rarely ever think about, largely
because when a bill doesn't make it on to
the agenda, there's not much to write or talk
about.
The committee chairs also manage the actual
process of writing a bill, which is called
mark-up, and the vote on the bill in the committee
itself. If a bill doesn't receive a majority
of votes in the committee, it won't be reported
out to the full House or Senate. In this case
we say the bill "died in committee" and we
have a small funeral on the National Mall.
Nah we just put it in the shredder.
Anyway, committee voting is kind of an efficient
practice. If a bill can't command a majority
in a small committee it doesn't have much
chance in the floor of either house. Committees
can kill bills by just not voting on them,
but it is possible in the House to force them
to vote by filing a discharge petition - this
almost never happens.
Gatekeeping Authority is Congress's most important
power, but it also has oversight power, which
is an after-the-fact authority to check up
on how law is being implemented.
Committees exercise oversight by assigning
staff to scrutinize a particular law or policy
and by holding hearings. Holding hearings
is an excellent way to take a position on
a particular issue.
Thanks Thought Bubble. So those are the basics
of how committees work, but I promised you
we'd go beyond the basics, so here we go into
the Realm of Congressional History.
Since Congress started using committees they
have made a number of changes, but the ones
that have bent the Congress into its current
shape occurred under the speakership of Newt
Gingrich in 1994.
Overall Gingrich increased the power of the
Speaker, who was already pretty powerful.
The number of subcommittees was reduced, and
seniority rules in appointing chairs were changed.
Before Gingrich or "BG" the chair of a committee
was usually the longest serving member of
the majority party, which for most of the
20th century was the Democrats. AG Congress,
or Anno Gingrichy Congress, holds votes to
choose the chairs. The Speaker has a lot of
influence over who gets chosen on these votes,
which happen more regularly because the Republicans
also impose term limits on the committee chairs.
Being able to offer chairmanships to loyal
party members gives the Speaker a lot more
influence over the committees themselves.
The Speaker also increased his, or her - this
is the first time we can say that, thanks
Nancy Pelosi - power to refer bills to committee
and act as gatekeeper.
Gingrich also made changes to congressional
staffing. But before we discuss the changes,
let's spend a minute or two looking at Congressional
staff in general.
There are two types of congressional staff,
the Staff Assistants that each Congressperson
or Senator has to help her or him with the
actual job of being a legislator, and the
Staff Agencies that work for Congress as a
whole.
The staff of a Congressperson is incredibly
important. Some staffers' job is to research
and write legislation while others do case
work, like responding to constituents' requests.
Some staffers perform personal functions,
like keeping track of a Congressperson's calendar,
or most importantly making coffee - can we
get a staffer in here?
As Congresspeople spend more and more time
raising money, more and more of the actual
legislative work is done by staff. In addition
to the individual staffers, Congress as a
whole has specialized staff agencies that
are supposed to be more independent. You may
have heard of these agencies, or at least
some of them.
The Congressional Research Service is supposed to
perform unbiased factual research for Congresspeople
and their staff to help them in the process
of writing the actual bills. The Government
Accountability Office is a branch of Congress
that can investigate the finances and administration
of any government administrative office. The
Congressional Budget Office assesses the likely
costs and impact of legislation. When the CBO looks at
the cost of a particular bill it's called "scoring the bill."
The Congressional reforms after 1994 generally
increased the number of individual staff and
reduced the staff of the staff agencies. This
means that more legislation comes out of the
offices of individual Congresspeople.
The last feature of Congress that I'm going
to mention, briefly because their actual function
and importance is nebulous, is the caucus system.
These are caucuses in Congress, so don't confuse
them with the caucuses that some states use to
choose candidates for office, like the ones in Iowa.
Caucuses are semi-formal groups of Congresspeople
organized around particular identities or
interests. Semi-formal in this case doesn't
mean that they wear suits and ties, it means
that they don't have official function in
the legislative process.
But you know what? Class it up a little - just
try to look nice.
The Congressional Black Caucus is made up
of the African American members of the legislature.
The Republican Study Group is the conservative
caucus that meets to discuss conservative
issues and develop legislative strategies.
Since 2010 there is also a Tea Party caucus
in Congress. There are also caucuses for very
specific interests like the Bike Caucus that
focuses on cycling.
There should also be a Beard Caucus, shouldn't
there? Is there a Beard Caucus Stan? No? What
about an eagle punching caucus?
The purpose of these caucuses is for like
minded people to gather and discuss ideas.
The caucuses can help members of Congress
coordinate their efforts and also provide
leadership opportunities for individual Congresspeople
outside of the more formal structures of committees.
There are a lot of terms and details to remember,
but here's the big thing to take away: caucuses,
congressional staff, and especially committees, all
exist to make the process of lawmaking more efficient.
In particular, committees and staff allow
individual legislators to develop expertise;
this is the theory anyway.
Yes it's a theory.
Committees also serve a political function
of helping Congresspeople build an identity
for voters that should help them get elected.
In some ways this is just as important in
the role in the process of making actual legislation.
When Congress doesn't pass many laws, committee
membership, or better yet, being a committee
chair is one of the only ways that a Congressperson
can distinguish him or herself. At least it
gives you something more to learn about incumbents
when you're making your voting choices.
Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week.
Crash Course is produced in association with
PBS Digital Studios. Support for Crash Course
US Government comes from Voqal. Voqal supports
nonprofits that use technology and media to
advance social equity. Learn more about their
mission and initiatives at voqal.org
Crash Course is made with all of these lovely
people. Thanks for watching.
Staffer! Coffee! Please. Thank you.
The primary responsibility of the Budget Committee is the drafting and preparation of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, commonly referred to as the "budget resolution." This resolution sets the aggregate levels of revenue and spending that is expected to occur in a given fiscal year. A budget resolution by law must be enacted by Congress by April 15. This target date is rarely met, and in at least four years (FY1999, FY2003, FY2005, and FY2007) no budget resolution was ultimately adopted. This resolution also gives to each committee of the House an "allocation" of "new budget authority." This allocation is important in the consideration of legislation on the floor of the House. If a bill comes to the floor to be considered and it causes an increase in spending above this allocation, it is subject to a point of order (under 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act). This is true for discretionary spending (spending that is provided to the Federal Government each year) and mandatory spending (spending such as entitlements where a beneficiary class is defined and a benefit is provided). If an entitlement is expanded and it has not been budgeted for in the budget resolution, it is subject to a point of order on the floor and, if not waived, will prevent it from being called up for consideration (if a Member of Congress stands before the body and makes the point of order).
In general, legislation is cleared of such problems prior to consideration through discussions between the House Parliamentarian, the House Leadership, and the House Budget Committee.
The committee holds hearings on federal budget legislation and congressional resolutions related to the federal budget process. The committee holds hearings on the President'sannual budget request to Congress and drafts the annual Congressional Budget Resolution, which sets overall spending guidelines for Congress as it develops the annual federal appropriations bills. The committee also reviews supplemental budget requests submitted by the President, which cover items which for one reason or another were not included in the original budget request, usually for emergency spending. Recently, emergency budget supplementals have been used to request funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for disaster recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The committee may amend, approve, or table budget-related bills. It also has the power to enforce established federal budget rules, hold budget-related investigations, and subpoena witnesses. Additionally, the committee has oversight of the Congressional Budget Office.
Rules of the Committee
Paul Ryan (R) chairing a meeting of the Committee on the Budget
The committee meets on the second Wednesday of each month while the House is in session. Though this is required, it is almost always waived and the committee only meets when a subject of sufficient importance arises. This usually occurs during the early part of the calendar year when the President's budget is issued and important budgetary decisions must be made.
It is not permitted to conduct business unless a quorum is present. For hearings, two Members must be present for a hearing to begin. For a business meeting, such as a "mark-up" of a legislative document, a majority of its members must be present. If a bill is passed out of committee without the requisite quorum, it may be subject to a point of order on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The committee may only consider measures placed before it either by the Chairman or by a majority vote of its members.
Each member of the Committee may question witnesses during hearings, in order of seniority when the hearing is called to order. Otherwise, Members are recognized in order of their arrival after the gavel has brought the Committee to order.
Also under House rules, unlike other committees of the House of Representatives, membership on the Budget Committee is term limited. Rank-and-file members must rotate off the committee after serving for three terms. Chairmen and Ranking members may serve no more than four terms. (See Clause 5 of Rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives).[2] These limits are often waived, as they have been for Chairman John Kasich (R-OH), Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA) and Chairman John Spratt (D-SC). Such a waiver requires a vote of the whole House, and is usually included in the opening day "Rules Package" that sets the rules for each successive Congress. Such a resolution is normally introduced as "House Resolution 5" or "House Resolution 6."
Several high-profile budget committee members have gone on to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Leon Panetta (budget committee chairman 1989–1993), Rob Portman (budget committee vice chairman) and Jim Nussle (budget committee chairman 2001–2007). Additionally, John Kasich (chairman 1995–2001) went on to serve as Governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, while Paul Ryan (chairman 2011–2015) was the Republican nominee for vice president in 2012 and the House speaker from 2015 to 2019.
This page was last edited on 21 April 2021, at 16:53