[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c03_txt-12]
[Page 192-194]
CHAPTER 3
Party Organization
C. PARTY COMMITTEES AND INFORMAL GROUPS
Sec. 11. Committee on Committees
Each party has created a committee on committees,<SUP>(13)</SUP>
whose function is to determine the assignments of the respective party
members to positions on standing committees of the House, subject to
approval by the party and by the House.<SUP>(14)</SUP>
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13. See Sec. 8, supra. The party committee on committees and its
relationship to the caucus or conference, have been discussed
extensively elsewhere. See Sec. Sec. 8 and 9, supra. The
discussion here is a brief summary of the committee's
composition and functions.
14. See Sec. Sec. 9.2, 9.3, supra. As to criteria that may affect the
determination of committee assignments, see Sec. 9, supra.
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The Democratic Committee on Committees has in past Congresses
consisted of the Democratic members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
who have been selected by secret ballot in the party
caucus.<SUP>(15)</SUP> The Republican Committee on Committees consists
of one Member from each state having Republican representation in the
House, such Member having been chosen by his state delegation and
approved by the Republican Conference.<SUP>(16)</SUP>
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15. See Sec. 9.1, supra. For discussion of current practice, in which
the function of determining committee assignments has been
transferred to a different party committee, see supplements to
this edition as they appear.
16. See Sec. 8, supra.
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The Democratic committee's recommendations to the caucus regarding
committee assignments need not follow seniority, and may under certain
circumstances be voted on separately by secret ballot in the
caucus.<SUP>(17)</SUP> The Republican practice is similar in the case
of the selection of the ranking Republican on each
committee.<SUP>(18)</SUP>
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17. See Sec. 9, supra.
18. See Sec. Sec. 9, 9.2, supra.
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The list of committee assignments as determined by the committee on
committees and the caucus or conference is submitted to the House in
the form of a resolution. The Democratic resolution has, under the
practice in effect in past Congresses, generally been offered by the
Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means,<SUP>(19)</SUP> although on
at least
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one occasion, in the absence of the chairman, a resolution electing a
new Democratic Member to a committee was offered by the ranking
majority member of the Committee on Ways and Means.<SUP>(20)</SUP>
Resolutions electing Democratic Members to the Committee on Ways and
Means itself, of course, have under these procedures been offered by
the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus.<SUP>(1)</SUP> The resolution
assigning Republican Members to House committees is generally offered
in the House by the Republican floor leader.<SUP>(2)</SUP>
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19. See, for example, 117 Cong. Rec. 1708, 1713, 92d Cong. 1st Sess.,
Feb. 4, 1971; and 115 Cong. Rec. 2083, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.,
Jan. 29, 1969. The resolution has also been offered on occasion
by the Chairman of the Democratic Caucus (see Sec. 3.12,
supra).
20. See 112 Cong. Rec. 15889, 89th Cong. 2d Sess., July 18, 1966.
1. See Sec. 3.11, supra 1.
2. See Sec. 19.7, infra.
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The House has declined to alter the procedure whereby each party,
through the action of that party's committee on committees and its
caucus or conference, determines the committee assignments for its
members.<SUP>(3)</SUP>
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3. See Sec. 9.3, supra.
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The Republican Committee on Committees has made recommendations
respecting the selection of the Republican whip.<SUP>(4)</SUP>
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4. See 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. Sec. 3616, 3619, 3620, 3621;
Riddick, Floyd M., Congressional Procedure, Chapman and Grimes
(Boston, 1941), pp. 36, 37. The Republican floor leader has
announced the selection of the party whip, ``on behalf of the
Committee on Committees'' (see Sec. 23.3, infra).
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Electing Members From Both Parties
Sec. 11.1 In unusual circumstances, the Chairman of the Democratic
Committee on Committees offered a resolution electing Members from
both parties to the newly created Committee on Internal Security.
In the 91st Congress, the House agreed to an amendment to its
rules, abolishing the Committee on Un-American Activities and
transferring the jurisdiction of that committee to a new standing
committee of the House on internal security.<SUP>(5)</SUP> A resolution
was offered by the Chairman of the Democratic Committee on Committees
for the purpose of electing the sitting members of the Committee on Un-
American Activities to the newly created Committee on Internal
Security.<SUP>(6)</SUP> The resolution elected both Democratic and
Republican Members to the newly created committee, and referred all
bills, resolutions, executive communications, and other papers pending
before the Committee on Un-American Activities to the new committee.
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5. See 115 Cong. Rec. 3723, 3724, 3745-3747, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.,
Feb. 18, 1969.
6. See 115 Cong. Rec. 3747, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 18, 1969.
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Parliamentarian's Note: The resolution was offered by the
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Chairman of the Democratic Committee on Committees after consultation
with and approval of the Minority Leader. Both majority and minority
party members were elected by name, rather than by the designation,
``sitting members of the Committee on Un-American Activities,'' so that
their election could be more easily certified to a court in case of
legal proceedings relating to the committee. Such procedure avoided the
necessity of having to refer back at some future time to the previous
resolutions electing the members to the Committee on Un-American
Activities.
Announcement of Meeting
Sec. 11.2 The Republican floor leader made an announcement in the House
concerning a meeting of the party Committee on Committees.
The Minority Leader in the 75th Congress, Bertrand H. Snell, of New
York, made the following announcement in the House:<SUP>(7)</SUP>
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7. 81 Cong. Rec. 201, 75th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 13, 1937.
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Mr. Snell: Mr. Speaker, there will be a meeting of the
Republican members of the committee on committees at 4 o'clock this
afternoon in the rooms of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce
Committee, located in the New House Office Building, and there will
be a Republican Conference in this Hall at 10 o'clock tomorrow
morning.