[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 3.  Party Organization]
[C. Party Committees and Informal Groups]
[Â§ 11. Committee on Committees]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[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)
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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.(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)
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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.(17) The Republican practice is similar in the case 
of the selection of the ranking Republican on each 
committee.(18)
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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,(19) 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.(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)
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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.(3)
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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.(4)
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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.(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.
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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:(7)
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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.