[106th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 106-320]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID:hrulest-86]
[Page 921-925]
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JOINT AND SELECT COMMITTEES
HOUSE OFFICES
EARLY ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE
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JOINT AND SELECT COMMITTEES
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Joint Committees
The Joint <> Economic
Committee is composed of 10 Members of the Senate and 10 Members of the
House. The 10 House Members are appointed by the Speaker: Six from the
majority and four from the minority (15 U.S.C. 1024(a)). The 10 Senate
Members are appointed by the President of the Senate: Five from the
majority and five from the minority (for the duration of the 107th
Congress so long as the majority and minority have equal representation)
(P.L. 107-3). The committee conducts a continuing study of matters
relating to the Economic Report made by the President and studies means
of promoting the national policy on employment as outlined in the
Employment Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1021). The committee is required to
file, not later than March 1 of each year, a report with the Senate and
the House containing its findings and recommendations on each of the
main recommendations made by the President in the Economic Report. It is
authorized to hold hearings and make other reports to the Congress and
to issue a monthly publication on economic conditions (15 U.S.C. 1024-
1025). The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 (sec. 302,
P.L. 95-523) requires the joint committee to review and analyze the
short-term and medium-term goals set forth in the Economic Report and to
hold hearings on the Report to hear testimony from Members of Congress
and other groups. Within 30 days after receipt of the Report by the
Congress, standing committees with legislative jurisdiction and joint
committees may submit reports to the joint committee with views and
recommendations on matters within their jurisdiction. On or before each
March 15, a majority of the members of the joint committee are required
to submit a report to the Senate and House Budget Committees, including
findings, recommendations, and appropriate analyses with respect to each
of the short-term and medium-term goals set forth in the Economic
Report.
The Joint <> Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation is composed of five
Members of the Senate and five Members of the House. The House Members,
three from the majority and two from the minority, are chosen by the
Committee on Ways and Means from the membership of that committee. The
joint committee investigates the operation and effects of the Federal
system of internal revenue taxation. It is authorized to hold hear
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ings at times and places it deems advisable, has subpoena powers, and
reports to the Committee on Ways and Means, and, in its discretion,
directly to the House (26 U.S.C. 8001-8023).
The Joint <> Committee of Congress on the Library is composed of five
Members of the Senate and five Members of the House. The chairman of the
Committee on House Administration is a member and four other members of
that committee are elected by the House. (2 U.S.C. 132b).
The House <> elects
four members of the Committee on House Administration to serve with the
chairman of that committee on the Joint Committee on Printing, together
with the chairman and four other members of the Senate Committee on
Rules and Administration (44 U.S.C. 101). The committee adopts and
employs measures necessary to remedy inefficiencies or waste in the
public printing, binding, and distribution of Government publications.
It has control of the arrangement and style of the Congressional Record
(44 U.S.C. 901-910). The joint committee is directed to provide for
printing in the Record the legislative program for the day, together
with a list of congressional committee meetings and hearings and the
place of meeting and subject matter; and to cause a brief resume of
congressional activities for the previous day to be incorporated in the
Record, together with an index of its contents. Such data is prepared
under the supervision of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of
the House of Representatives, respectively.
The <> Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is
established by concurrent resolution in the second session of the
Congress occurring before a Presidential inauguration and reestablished
at the beginning of the next Congress. It is composed of three Members
of both the Senate and the House. The three House Members are appointed
by the Speaker and are traditionally the Speaker, the Majority Leader,
and the Minority Leader. The committee is authorized to make the
necessary arrangements for the inauguration of the President-elect and
Vice President-elect. (see, e.g., S. Con. Res. 47, 104th Cong., Aug. 2,
1996, p. 21405; S. Con. Res. 2, 105th Cong., Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----; S.
Con. Res. 89, 106th Cong., Mar. 14, 2000, p. ----; S. Con. Res. 2, 107th
Cong., Jan. 3, 2001, p. ----).
Select Committees
The <> 103d Congress, and each
succeeding Congress, did not reestablish Select Committees on Hunger, on
Children, Youth, and Families, on Narcotics Abuse and Control, or on
Aging (formerly established in standing rule X). However, the
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Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has been reestablished by the
adoption of clause 11 of rule X each Congress.
In the 105th Congress a new subparagraph (3) was added at the end of
former clause 4(e) of rule X to establish a Select Committee on Ethics
only to resolve an inquiry originally undertaken by the standing
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in the 104th Congress (H.
Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). The Select Committee filed one report to
the House (H. Rept. 105-1, H. Res. 31, Jan. 21, 1997, p. ----).
In the 105th Congress the House adopted a resolution establishing the
Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial
Concerns With the People's Republic of China (H. Res. 463, June 18,
1998, p. ----). In the 106th Congress the Select Committee was
reestablished until April 1, 1999, solely for the purpose of completing
activities directly associated with the declassification and public
release of its report (sec. 2, H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). It was
extended for the same purposes to April 30, 1999 (H. Res. 129, Mar. 24,
1999, p. ----), to May 14, 1999 (H. Res. 153, Apr. 29, 1999, p. ----),
and to May 31, 1999 (H. Res. 170, May 13, 1999, p. ----). The House gave
the select committee the authority to dispose of its records consistent
with the rules and laws concerning classified information (sec. 2(f)(3),
H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). Pursuant to that authority the Select
Committee transferred its records to the Clerk and instructed the Clerk
to grant access to those records only with the approval of the chairman
and ranking minority member of the former Select Committee (so long as
each remains a Member) and, thereafter, with the approval of the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
For a history of select committees in the House, see House Practice,
p. 238.