[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,(13) 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.(14) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.(15) 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.(16) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.(17) The Republican practice is similar in the case of the selection of the ranking Republican on each committee.(18) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17. See Sec. 9, supra. 18. See Sec. Sec. 9, 9.2, supra. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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,(19) although on at least [[Page 193]] 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.(20) 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.(1) The resolution assigning Republican Members to House committees is generally offered in the House by the Republican floor leader.(2) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.(3) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. See Sec. 9.3, supra. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Republican Committee on Committees has made recommendations respecting the selection of the Republican whip.(4) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.(5) 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.(6) 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parliamentarian's Note: The resolution was offered by the [[Page 194]] 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:(7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. 81 Cong. Rec. 201, 75th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 13, 1937. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.