[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
[105th Congress]
[House Document 104-272]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 373-473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 373]]
 

                                 Rule X.


         establishment and jurisdiction of standing committees.


                  The Committees and Their Jurisdiction




Sec. 669. Number and jurisdiction of standing 
committees.

  1.  There shall be in the House the following standing 
committees, each of which shall have the jurisdiction and related 
functions assigned to it by this clause and clauses 2, 3, and 4; and all 
bills, resolutions, and other matters relating to subjects within the 
jurisdiction of any standing committee as listed in this clause shall 
(in accordance with and subject to clause 5) be referred to such 
committees, as follows:


  Under the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), the 
44 committees of the 79th Congress were consolidated into 19, effective 
January 2, 1947. The total number of standing committees grew over time 
with the creation of the Committee on Science and Astronautics (now the 
Committee on Science), established on July 21, 1958 (p. 14513); the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, established on April 13, 
1967 (p. 9425); the Committee on the Budget, established on July 12, 
1974, by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 297); and the 
Committee on Small Business, established as a standing committee 
effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470). The Committee on Internal Security was abolished in the 94th 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20) thereby setting the total 
number of standing committees at 22.


[[Page 374]]

merly Armed Services), and Science (formerly Science, 
Space, and Technology (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  The 104th Congress reduced the total number to 19 by abolishing the 
Committees on the District of Columbia, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 
and Post Office and Civil Service (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----). Matters formerly in the jurisdiction of the Committees on the 
District of Columbia and Post Office and Civil Service were transferred 
to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight (formerly Government 
Operations); and matters formerly in the jurisdiction of the Committee 
on Merchant Marine and Fisheries were transferred to the Committees on 
Resources (formerly Natural Resources), Transportation and 
Infrastructure (formerly Public Works and Transportation), National 
Security (for-

  A Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was established on July 
14, 1977, and is now carried in rule XLVIII. A permanent Select 
Committee on Aging was added to clause 6 of this rule effective January 
3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470) until stricken 
in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----).

  Although earlier forms of the rule specified the number of Members 
comprising each of the standing committees, those specifications were 
eliminated in the 93d Congress, leaving to the House the authority to 
establish the sizes of committees by the numbers elected to each 
standing committee pursuant to clause 6(a)(1) of rule X. The rules still 
specify part of the composition of the Committee on the Budget (clause 
1(d)(1) of rule X) as well as the overall size and preferred composition 
of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (clause 1(a) of rule 
XLVIII).

  The rule is mandatory on the Speaker in referring public bills and on 
Members in referring private bills and petitions under rule XXII, but 
when the House itself refers a bill it may send it to any committee 
without regard to the rules of jurisdiction (IV, 4375; V, 5527; VII, 
2131) and jurisdiction is thereby conferred (IV, 4362-4364; VII, 2105). 
Motions for change of reference of public bills and resolutions must be 
authorized either by the committee claiming jurisdiction (clause 4 of 
rule XXII; VII, 2121; Feb. 13, 1918, p. 2070; Jan. 10, 1941, p. 100) or 
by report of the committee to which the erroneous reference was made 
(clause 4 of rule XXII), must be made immediately following the reading 
of the Journal (VII, 1809, 2119, 2120), must apply to a single bill and 
not to a class of bills (VII, 2125), must apply to a bill erroneously 
referred (VII, 2125), may be amended (VII, 2127), may not be divided 
(VII, 2125); and may not be debated (VII, 2126, 2128), but are not in 
order on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 2117), and are not privileged if the 
original reference was not erroneous (VII, 2125). The re-referral of 
most bills is accomplished by unanimous consent (see Procedure, ch. 17, 
sec. 17-38).

  Prior to the 94th Congress, a bill could not be divided among two or 
more committees, even though it might contain matters properly within 
the jurisdiction of several committees (IV, 4372). The Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974 added clause 5 of rule X, permitting the Speaker to 
refer any matter to more than one committee (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., 
Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Clause 5 was amended in the 104th Congress to 
require the Speaker to designate a primary committee among those to 
which a matter is initially referred (sec. 205, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----).


[[Page 375]]

the Senate with a substitute amendment relating to a new 
and different subject, the reference could nevertheless be to the 
committee having jurisdiction of the original bill (IV, 4373, 4374); 
normally, however such amended measures are held at the Speaker's table 
until disposed of by the House. The erroneous reference of a public bill 
under this rule, if it remain uncorrected, gives jurisdiction (IV, 4365-
4371; VII, 2108), but such is not the case with a private bill or 
petition (IV, 3364, 4382-4389) unless the reference be made by action of 
the House itself (IV, 4390, 4391; VII 2131). A point of order as to the 
reference of a private bill is good when the bill comes up for 
consideration, either in the House or in Committee of the Whole (IV, 
4382-4389; VII, 2116, 2132; VIII, 2262) or at any time prior to passage 
(VII, 2116). The reference of a bill to a committee involving the same 
subject matter as a bill previously reported confers jurisdiction anew 
upon the committee to consider and report the bill subsequently 
introduced (VIII, 2311).
  A committee having jurisdiction of a subject by means of a petition 
(IV, 3365) properly referred (IV, 4361) can report on the subject 
thereof. It has generally been held that a committee may not report a 
bill whereof the subject matter has not been referred to it by the House 
(IV, 4355-4360, 4372; VII, 1029, 2101, 2102). Where a House bill is 
returned from 


  Clause 2 of rule XXII prohibits the reception or consideration of 
certain private bills relating to claims, pensions, construction of 
bridges, correction of military or naval records, etc. The clause was 
expanded in the 104th Congress to prohibit introduction or consideration 
of any bill or resolution expressing a commemoration by designation of a 
specified period of time (sec. 216, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

  (a) Committee on Agriculture.



Sec. 670. Agriculture.

      (1)  Adulteration of seeds, insect 
pests, and protection of birds and animals in forest reserves.


      (2) Agriculture generally.

      (3) Agricultural and industrial chemistry.

      (4) Agricultural colleges and experiment stations.

      (5) Agricultural economics and research.

      (6) Agricultural education extension services.

      (7) Agricultural production and marketing and stabilization of 
prices of agricultural products, and commodities (not including 
distribution outside of the United States).

      (8) Animal industry and diseases of animals.

      (9) Commodities exchanges.


[[Page 376]]

      (10) Crop insurance and soil conservation.

      (11) Dairy industry.

      (12) Entomology and plant quarantine.

      (13) Extension of farm credit and farm security.

      (14) Inspection of livestock, and poultry, and meat products, and 
seafood and seafood products.

      (15) Forestry in general, and forest reserves other than those 
created from the public domain.

      (16) Human nutrition and home economics.

      (17) Plant industry, soils, and agricultural engineering.

      (18) Rural electrification.

      (19) Rural development.


      (20) Water conservation related to activities of the Department of 
Agriculture.

  This Committee was established in 1820 (IV, 4149). In 1880 the subject 
of forestry was added to its jurisdiction, and the Committee was 
conferred authority to receive estimates of and to report appropriations 
(IV, 4149). However, on July 1, 1920, authority to report appropriations 
for the Department of Agriculture was transferred to the Committee on 
Appropriations (VII, 1860).

  The basic form of the present jurisdictional statement was made 
effective January 2, 1947, as a part of the Legislative Reorganization 
Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812). Subparagraph (7) was altered by the 93d 
Congress, effective January 3, 1975, to include jurisdiction over 
agricultural commodities (including the Commodity Credit Corporation) 
while transferring jurisdiction over foreign distribution and 
nondomestic production of commodities to the Committee on International 
Relations (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). 
Nevertheless, the Committee has retained a limited jurisdiction over 
measures to release CCC stocks for such foreign distribution (Sept. 14, 
1989, p. 20428). Previously unstated jurisdictions over commodities 
exchanges and rural development were codified effective January 3, 1975.


[[Page 377]]

  The 104th Congress consolidated the Committee's jurisdiction over 
inspection of livestock and meat products to include inspection of 
poultry, seafood, and seafood products, and added subparagraph (20) 
relating to water conservation (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----).

  The Committee has had jurisdiction of bills for establishing and 
regulating the Department of Agriculture (IV, 4150), for inspection of 
livestock and meat products, regulation of animal industry, diseases of 
animals (IV, 4154; VII, 1862), adulteration of seeds, insect pests, 
protection of birds and animals in forest reserves (IV, 4157; VII, 
1870), the improvement of the breed of horses, even with the cavalry 
service in view (IV, 4158; VII, 1865).

  The Committee, having charge of the general subject of forestry, has 
reported bills relating to timber, and forest reserves other than those 
created from the public domain (IV, 4160). It has also exercised 
jurisdiction of bills: relating to agricultural colleges and experiment 
stations (IV, 4152), incorporation of agricultural societies (IV, 4159), 
and establishment of a highway commission (IV, 4153); to discourage 
fictitious and gambling transactions in farm products (IV, 4161; VII, 
1861); to regulate the transportation, sale, and handling of dogs and 
cats intended for use in research and the licensing of animal research 
facilities (July 29, 1965, p. 18691); and to designate an agricultural 
research center (May 14, 1996, p. ----). The Committee shares with the 
Committee on the Judiciary original jurisdiction over a bill 
comprehensively amending the Immigration and Nationality Act and 
including food stamp eligibility requirements for aliens (Sept. 19, 
1995, p. ----).

  The House referred the President's message dealing with the 
refinancing of farm-mortgage indebtedness to the Committee, thus 
conferring jurisdiction (Apr. 4, 1933, p. 1209).


  The Committee has jurisdiction over a bill relating solely to 
executive level positions in the Department of Agriculture (Mar. 2, 
1976, p. 4958) and has jurisdiction over bills to develop land and water 
conservation programs on private and non-Federal lands (June 7, 1976, p. 
16768).

  (b) Committee on Appropriations.



Sec. 671a. Appropriations.

      (1)    Appropriation of the 
revenue for the support of the Government.


      (2) Rescissions of appropriations contained in appropriation Acts.

      (3) Transfers of unexpended balances.


[[Page 378]]

debtedness (other than indebtedness 
[in]\1\ incurred under chapter 31 of title 31 of the United States 
Code) for the repayment of which the United States is liable, the budget 
authority for which is not provided in advance by appropriation Acts; 
new entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, including bills and resolutions 
(reported by other committees) which provide new entitlement authority 
as defined in section 3(9) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and 
are referred to the committee under clause 4(a); authority to forego the 
collection by the United States of proprietary offsetting receipts, the 
budget authority for which is not provided in advance by appropriation 
Acts to offset such foregone receipts; and authority to make payments by 
the United States (including loans, grants, and payments from revolving 
funds) other than those covered by this subparagraph, the budget 
authority for which is not provided in advance by appropriation Acts.
The committee shall include separate headings for ``Rescissions'' and 
``Transfers of Unexpended Balances'' in any bill or resolution as 
reported from the committee under its jurisdiction specified in 
subparagraph (2) or (3), with all proposed rescissions and proposed 
transfers listed therein; and shall include a separate section with 
respect 

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      (4) The amount of new authority to enter into contracts under 
which the United States is obligated to make outlays, the budget 
authority for which is not provided in advance by appropriation Acts; 
new authority to incur in-


[[Page 379]]

to such rescissions or transfers in the accompanying committee 
report. In addition to its jurisdiction under the preceding provisions 
of this paragraph, the committee shall have the fiscal oversight 
function provided for in clause 2(b)(3) and the budget hearing function 
provided for in clause 4(a).
  \1\ Section 10116(a)(6) of Public Law 105-33 amended this 
provision as shown above. However, the word ``in'' probably should not 
have appeared in the matter proposed to be inserted by that public law.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  This Committee was established in 1865, when all the general 
appropriation bills were confided to its care. In 1885 a portion of the 
bills were distributed to other committees. On July 1, 1920, the 
Committee again was given jurisdiction over all appropriations by an 
amendment to the rules adopted June 1, 1920 (VII, 1741).



Sec. 671b. Responsibilities under Budget Act.

  Effective  July 
12, 1974, special Presidential messages on rescissions and deferrals of 
budget authority submitted pursuant to sections 1012 and 1013 of the 
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 683-4), as well as rescission 
bills and impoundment resolutions defined in section 1011 (2 U.S.C. 682) 
and required in section 1017 (2 U.S.C. 688) to be referred to the 
``appropriate'' committee, are referred to the Committee on 
Appropriations if the proposed rescissions or deferrals involve funds 
already appropriated or obligated. Also effective July 12, 1974, the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (sec. 404(a); 88 Stat. 320) added to 
the Committee's jurisdiction, and later perfected by the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470), subparagraphs (2), (3), and (4).


  In the 95th Congress this paragraph was amended to correct a 
typographical error (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, p. 53). Subparagraph (4) 
was amended in the 105th Congress to conform to changes made by the 
Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (sec. 10116, P.L. 105-33).

  While this Committee has authority to report appropriations, the power 
to report legislation relating thereto belongs to other committees (IV, 
4033; clause 2 of rule XXI), and a general appropriation bill reported 
from this Committee may not contain items of appropriation not 
authorized by law or provisions amending existing law (except 
retrenchments and rescissions of appropriations) (clause 2 of rule XXI), 
and may not contain reappropriations of unexpended balances except 
within agencies (clause 6 of rule XXI). General appropriation bills may 
not be considered in the House until reports and hearings have been 
available for three days (clause 7 of rule XXI), and other reports from 
the Committee likewise may not be considered until available for the 
time prescribed in clause 2(l)(6) of rule XI.


[[Page 380]]

of January 9, 1945 (p. 135); and incorporated into permanent law in section 
202(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812). 
This authority was first made part of the standing rules on January 3, 
1953 (pp. 17, 24), and is now listed as a general oversight 
responsibility of the Committee in clause 2(b)(3) of rule X, effective 
January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The 
Committee is also authorized and directed to hold hearings on the budget 
as a whole in open session within 30 days of its submission (clause 
4(a)(1)(A) of rule X), and to study on a continuing basis provisions of 
law providing spending authority or permanent budget authority and to 
report to the House recommendations for terminating or modifying such 
provisions (clause 4(a)(3) of rule X). The requirement of section 139 of 
the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812) that the 
Committees on Appropriations of the House and Senate develop a standard 
appropriation classification schedule was superseded by section 202(a) 
of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1167), which now 
imposes that responsibility upon the Secretary of the Treasury and the 
Office of Management and Budget. The further requirement of section 139 
of the 1946 Act that the Appropriations Committees study existing 
permanent appropriations and recommend which, if any, should be 
discontinued was made the responsibility of all standing committees of 
the House by clauses 4(f)(1) and (2) of rule XI, through enactment of 
section 253 of the 1970 Act (84 Stat. 1175).

  The authority to conduct studies and examinations of the organization 
and operation of executive departments and agencies was first given to 
this Committee on February 11, 1943 (p. 884); continued by resolution 

  (c) Committee on Banking and Financial Services.



Sec. 672. Banking and Financial Services.

      (1)  Banks and 
banking, including deposit insurance and Federal monetary policy.


      (2) Bank capital markets activities generally.

      (3) Depository institution securities activities generally, 
including the activities of any affiliates, except for functional 
regulation under applicable securities laws not involving safety and 
soundness.

      (4) Economic stabilization, defense production, renegotiation, and 
control of the price of commodities, rents, and services.


[[Page 381]]

      (5) Financial aid to commerce and industry (other than 
transportation).

      (6) International finance.

      (7) International financial and monetary organizations.

      (8) Money and credit, including currency and the issuance of notes 
and redemption thereof; gold and silver, including the coinage thereof; 
valuation and revaluation of the dollar.

      (9) Public and private housing.


      (10) Urban development.

  This Committee was established in 1865 as the Committee on Banking and 
Currency (IV, 4082). In the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, 
effective January 3, 1975, its name was changed to Banking, Currency and 
Housing (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 95th 
Congress its name was changed to Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70). In the 104th Congress its name was 
changed to Banking and Financial Services (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 
4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 382]]

jurisdiction over the Commodity Credit Corporation was transferred to 
the Committee on Agriculture, jurisdiction over export controls and 
international economic policy to the Committee on International 
Relations, jurisdiction over construction of nursing home facilities to 
what is now the Committee on Commerce, and jurisdiction over urban mass 
transportation to what is now the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 
104th Congress subparagraphs (2) and (3) were added (sec. 202(a), H. 
Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  The Committee was given much of its present jurisdiction in the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), by which it 
absorbed the jurisdiction of the former Committee on Coinage, Weights, 
and Measures (created in 1864; IV, 4090), except jurisdiction over 
matters relating to the standardization of weights and measures and the 
metric system was given to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign 
Commerce and was later transferred to the Committee on Science and 
Astronautics (now Science) in the 85th Congress (H. Res. 580, July 21, 
1958, p. 14513). In the 92d Congress jurisdiction over the impact on the 
economy of tax-exempt foundations and charitable trusts was transferred 
from the Subcommittee on Foundations of the Select Committee on Small 
Business, along with all that subcommittee's files, to this Committee 
(H. Res. 320, Apr. 27, 1971, p. 12081). Prior to the end of the 93d 
Congress, the Committee had legislative jurisdiction over the problems 
of small business under its general jurisdiction over financial aid to 
commerce and industry; but with the adoption of the Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, that jurisdiction was 
transferred to the standing Committee on Small Business, the permanent 
Select Committee on Small Business was abolished, and this Committee was 
specifically given jurisdiction over Federal monetary policy, money and 
credit, urban development, economic stabilization, defense production, 
and renegotiation (the latter matter formerly within the jurisdiction of 
the Committee on Ways and Means), international finance, and 
International Financial and Monetary organizations (formerly within the 
jurisdiction of the Committee on International Relations), while 


  The Committee has reported on subjects relating to the strengthening 
of public credit, issues of notes, and state taxation and redemption 
thereof (IV, 4084), propositions to maintain the parity of the money of 
the United States (IV, 4089; VII, 1792), the issue of silver 
certificates as currency (IV, 4087, 4088), national banks and current 
deposits of public money (IV, 4083; VII, 1790), the incorporation of an 
international bank (IV, 4086), subjects relating to the Freedman's Bank 
(IV, 4085), and Federal Reserve system, farm loan act, home loan bills, 
stabilization of the dollar, War Finance Corporation, Federal Reserve 
Bank buildings (VII, 1793, 1795). The Committee has jurisdiction of 
bills providing consolidation of grant-in-aid programs for urban 
development (Mar. 18, 1970, p. 7887), bills providing for U.S. 
participation in the International Development Association (Mar. 9, 
1960, p. 5046), bills to authorize GSA to acquire land in D.C. for 
transfer to the International Monetary Fund (May 1, 1962, p. 7428), 
bills relating to flood insurance (Dec. 4, 1975, p. 38701), and over an 
executive communication proposing regulations for college housing 
programs (notwithstanding that the requirement for such regulations was 
contained in higher education legislation reported from the Committee on 
Education and Labor) (June 15, 1982, p. 13638).

  (d)(1) Committee on the Budget, consisting of the following Members:



Sec. 673a. Budget, Composition of.

       (A) Members who are 
members of other standing committees, including five Members who are 
members of the Committee on Appropriations, and five Members who are 
members of the Committee on Ways and Means;


      (B) one Member from the leadership of the majority party; and


[[Page 383]]

No Member other than a representative from the leadership of a party may 
serve as a member of the Committee on the Budget during more than four 
Congresses in any period of six successive Congresses (disregarding for 
this purpose any service performed as a member of such committee for 
less than a full session in any Congress), except that an incumbent 
chairman or ranking minority member having served on the committee for 
four Congresses and having served as chairman or ranking minority member 
of the committee for not more than one Congress shall be eligible for 
reelection to the committee as chairman or ranking minority member for 
one additional Congress.

      (C) one Member from the leadership of the minority party.



Sec. 673b. Jurisdiction and duties.

      (2)  All concurrent 
resolutions on the budget (as defined in section 3 of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974), other matters required to be referred to the 
committee under titles III and IV of that Act, and other measures 
setting forth appropriate levels of budget totals for the United States 
Government.


      (3) Measures relating to the budget process, generally.


[[Page 384]]

      (4) Measures relating to the establishment, extension, and 
enforcement of special controls over the Federal budget, including the 
budgetary treatment of off-budget Federal agencies and measures 
providing exemption from reduction under any order issued under part C 
of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

      (5) The committee shall have the duty--

          (A) to report the matters required to be reported by it under 
titles III and IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974;

          (B) to make continuing studies of the effect on budget outlays 
of relevant existing and proposed legislation and to report the results 
of such studies to the House on a recurring basis;

          (C) to request and evaluate continuing studies of tax 
expenditures; to devise methods of coordinating tax expenditures, 
policies, and programs with direct budget outlays, and to report the 
results of such studies to the House on a recurring basis; and


          (D) to review, on a continuing basis, the conduct by the 
Congressional Budget Office of its functions and duties.

  This Committee was established in the 93d Congress, effective July 12, 
1974, by section 101 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 
299). The separate subpoena authority conferred upon the Committee by 
section 101(b) of that Act has been superseded by the general grant of 
subpoena authority to all committees in clause 2(m) of rule XI (H. Res. 
988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In addition to the duties 
contained in clause 1(d)(5), the Committee is also charged with the 
special oversight function of studying the effect of budget outlays on 
existing and proposed legislation, and of studying tax policies and 
coordinating them with budget outlays, and reporting to the House 
thereon (clause 3(b) of rule X); as well as the additional function set 
forth in clause 4(b) of rule X of studying programs exempt from 
inclusion in the budget and recommending termination or modification of 
such programs.


[[Page 385]]

amended this paragraph to remove any numerical limitation 
on the membership of the Committee (H. Res. 7, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 393).
  In the 94th Congress the membership of the Committee was increased to 
25 (from 23), with 13 (rather than 11) members elected from committees 
other than Appropriations and Ways and Means (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, 
p. 20). The membership was increased again in the 97th Congress to 30, 
with 28 from other standing committees and two from the respective 
leaderships (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113), and again in the 98th 
Congress to 31 (unanimous consent order, Feb. 7, 1983, p. 1791). The 
99th Congress 

  This paragraph was amended in the 96th Congress to relax the 
limitation on Members' service on the Committee to three Congresses 
(from two) in any period of five successive Congresses, to exempt 
representatives from the party leaderships from the limitation, and to 
permit an incumbent chairman who had served on the Committee for three 
Congresses and as chairman for not more than one Congress to be eligible 
for reelection as chairman for one additional Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 
15, 1979, p. 8). It was again amended in the 100th Congress to eliminate 
as obsolete the words ``beginning after 1974'' following ``any period of 
five successive Congresses'' as a measure of permissible terms of 
service on the Committee (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1987, p. 6). It was further 
amended in the 101st Congress to permit, in that Congress only, a 
minority Member who had served on the Committee for three terms to run 
within his party's caucus for the position of ranking minority Member 
and thus be able to serve on the Committee for one additional Congress, 
and to permit a Member elected as ranking minority Member during his 
third term on the Committee to serve one additional term on the 
Committee should he be re-elected as the ranking minority Member (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72). It was again amended in the 102d Congress 
to extend the waiver of the tenure restriction for the ranking minority 
member of the Committee (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39), but in the 
103d Congress that provision was stricken as obsolete (H. Res. 5, Jan. 
5, 1993, p. ----). In the 104th Congress the limitation on a Member's 
service on the Committee was relaxed to four Congresses (from three) in 
any period of six successive Congresses, with the exception that a 
Member who has served as chairman or as ranking minority member during a 
fourth such Congress may serve in either capacity during a fifth, so 
long as he would not thereby exceed two consecutive terms as chairman or 
as ranking minority member (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. --
--).


[[Page 386]]

ernment Reform and Oversight) jurisdiction 
over budgetary treatment of off-budget Federal agencies and measures 
providing exemption from sequestration orders issued under the Balanced 
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 
4, 1995, p. ----). Three re-referrals from the Committee on Government 
Reform and Oversight to the Committee on the Budget marked this 
migration of off-budget treatment jurisdiction: (1) the Committee on the 
Budget has primary jurisdiction over a bill excluding from the budget 
the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (although the Committee 
on Government Reform and Oversight retains programmatic jurisdiction 
over that Fund); (2) the Committee on the Budget has primary 
jurisdiction over a bill excluding from the budget the Highway Trust 
Fund, the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust 
Fund, and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (although the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure retains programmatic jurisdiction); 
and (3) the Committee on the Budget has secondary jurisdiction over a 
bill amending title 49 of the United States Code and providing off-
budget treatment for the Highway Trust Fund, the Airport and Airway 
Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and the Harbor Maintenance 
Trust Fund (Dec. 6, 1995, p. ----). In the 105th Congress the 
jurisdictional statement in subparagraph (3), previously confined to the 
congressional budget process, was broadened to encompass also the 
executive budget process formerly included in the jurisdiction of the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, 
p. ----).

  In the 99th Congress this paragraph was again amended by section 
232(h) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, 
to confer jurisdiction over Senate joint or concurrent resolutions 
constituting congressional responses to a Presidential sequestration 
order issued pursuant to a report of the Comptroller General under 
section 252(b) of that Act (P.L. 99-177, Dec. 12, 1985). It was again 
amended by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 to conform subparagraph 
(2) to changes in the congressional budget laws (tit. XIII, P.L. 101-
508). The 104th Congress amended the paragraph to expand the limited 
legislative jurisdiction of the Committee by: (1) adding other measures 
setting forth appropriate levels of budget totals to subparagraph (2); 
(2) granting the Committee jurisdiction over the congressional budget 
process generally in a new subparagraph (3); and (3) granting the 
Committee jurisdiction over special controls over the federal budget in 
a new subparagraph (4), including receiving from the former Committee on 
Government Operations (now Gov-

   (e) Committee on Commerce.

      (1) Biomedical research and development.



Sec. 674. Commerce.

        (2) Consumer affairs and consumer 
protection.


      (3) Health and health facilities, except health care supported by 
payroll deductions.

      (4) Interstate energy compacts.

      (5) Interstate and foreign commerce generally.


[[Page 387]]

      (6) Measures relating to the exploration, production, storage, 
supply, marketing, pricing, and regulation of energy resources, 
including all fossil fuels, solar energy, and other unconventional or 
renewable energy resources.

      (7) Measures relating to the conservation of energy resources.

      (8) Measures relating to energy information generally.

      (9) Measures relating to (A) the generation and marketing of power 
(except by federally chartered or Federal regional power marketing 
authorities), (B) the reliability and interstate transmission of, and 
ratemaking for, all power, and (C) the siting of generation facilities; 
except the installation of interconnections between Government 
waterpower projects.

      (10) Measures relating to general management of the Department of 
Energy, and the management and all functions of the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission.

      (11) National energy policy generally.

      (12) Public health and quarantine.

      (13) Regulation of the domestic nuclear energy industry, including 
regulation of research and development reactors and nuclear regulatory 
research.

      (14) Regulation of interstate and foreign communications.

      (15) Securities and exchanges.


The committee shall have the same jurisdiction with respect to 
regulation of nuclear facilities and of use of nuclear energy as it has 
with respect to regulation of nonnuclear facilities and of use of 
nonnuclear energy. In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the 
preceding provisions of this paragraph (and its general over-

[[Page 388]]

sight functions under clause 2(b)(1)), such committee shall have the special 
oversight functions provided for in clause (3)(h) with respect to all 
laws, programs, and Government activities affecting nuclear and other 
energy, and nonmilitary nuclear energy and research and development 
including the disposal of nuclear waste.

      (16) Travel and tourism.

  The Committee dates from 1795 (IV, 4096). Effective January 3, 1975 
(H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), the name of the 
Committee was changed from Interstate and Foreign Commerce to Commerce 
and Health. Effective January 14, 1975, it was redesignated as 
Interstate and Foreign Commerce (H. Res. 5, 94th Cong., p. 20). In the 
96th Congress it was redesignated again as Energy and Commerce and given 
much of its present jurisdiction, effective January 3, 1981 (H. Res. 
549, Mar. 25, 1980, pp. 6405-10; note publication of inter-committee 
memoranda of understanding). In the 104th Congress it was redesignated 
again as the Committee on Commerce (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 
1995, p. ----).


[[Page 389]]

Science), and jurisdiction over trading with 
the enemy to the Committee on Foreign Affairs (now International 
Relations) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 95th 
Congress, when the legislative jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on 
Atomic Energy in the House was transferred to various standing 
committees, this Committee was given the same jurisdiction over nuclear 
energy as it had over non-nuclear energy and facilities by the addition 
of the penultimate sentence to this paragraph (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, 
pp. 53-70). In the 96th Congress the Committee obtained specific 
jurisdiction over national energy policy generally (subpara. (11)), 
measures relating to exploration, production, storage, supply, 
marketing, pricing, and regulation of energy resources (subpara. (6)), 
measures relating to conservation of energy resources (subpara. (7)), 
measures relating to energy information generally (subpara. (8)), 
measures relating to the generation, marketing, interstate transmission 
of, and ratemaking for power as well as the siting of generation 
facilities, with certain exceptions (subpara. (9)), interstate energy 
compacts (subpara. (4)), and measures relating to general management of 
the Department of Energy and all functions of the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (subpara. (10)) (H. Res. 549, Mar. 25, 1980, pp. 
6405-10). In the 104th Congress the Committee's jurisdiction over inland 
waterways and railroads (including railroad labor, retirement, and 
unemployment) was transferred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, and jurisdiction over measures relating to the 
commercial application of energy technology was transferred to the 
Committee on Science, while the Committee on Commerce obtained exclusive 
jurisdiction over regulation of the domestic nuclear energy industry 
(subpara. (13)) from the former Committee on Natural Resources (now 
Resources) (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  In the 74th Congress the jurisdictional statement of the Committee was 
amended to include jurisdiction over bills relating to radio; to deprive 
the Committee jurisdiction over bills relating to water transportation, 
Coast Guard, life-saving service, lighthouses, lightships, ocean 
derelicts, Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Panama Canal; and to vest 
jurisdiction over those subjects in the former Committee on Merchant 
Marine and Fisheries (VII, 1814, 1847), but with the demise of the 
latter Committee in the 104th Congress, the latter subjects now reside 
in the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, except that the Committee on National Security has 
jurisdiction over the Panama Canal (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 
1995, p. ----). In the 85th Congress matters relating to the Bureau of 
Standards, standardization of weights and measures, and the metric 
system (conferred on the Committee by the Legislative Reorganization Act 
of 1946, 60 Stat. 812), were transferred to the Committee on Science and 
Astronautics (now Science) (July 21, 1958, p. 14513). In the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, the Committee 
obtained specific jurisdiction over consumer affairs and consumer 
protection (subpara. (2)), travel and tourism (subpara. (16)), health 
and health facilities, except health care supported by payroll 
deductions (subpara. (3)) (a matter formerly within the jurisdiction of 
the Committee on Ways and Means), and biomedical research and 
development (subpara. (1)), and was released of jurisdiction over civil 
aeronautics to the Committee on Public Works and Transportation (now 
Transportation and Infrastructure), jurisdiction over civil aviation 
research and development, energy and environmental research and 
development, and the National Weather Service to the Committee on 
Science and Technology (now 

  The Committee has the special oversight responsibility under clause 
3(h) of rule X as well as the general oversight responsibility required 
by clause 2(b). This special oversight responsibility was expanded in 
the 96th Congress to include all energy, effective January 3, 1981 (H. 
Res. 549, Mar. 25, 1980, pp. 6405-10). In the 104th Congress it was 
again expanded to include nonmilitary nuclear energy and research and 
development including the disposal of nuclear waste (sec. 202(a), H. 
Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----), though a conforming change in clause 
3(h) was inadvertently omitted.

  The Committee formerly reported the river and harbor appropriation 
bill, but in 1883 a Committee on Rivers and Harbors was created for that 
role (IV, 4096), and since the 66th Congress such appropriations have 
been reported by the Committee on Appropriations.


[[Page 390]]

national congress of hygiene, etc. (IV, 4111), bills 
declaring as to whether or not streams are navigable and for preventing 
or regulating hindrances to navigation (IV, 4101; VII, 1810), such as 
bridges (IV, 4099; VII, 1812) and dams, except such bridges and dams as 
are a part of river improvements (IV, 4100; VII, 1810). This Committee 
formerly had jurisdiction of bills proposing construction of bridges 
across navigable streams which are now banned (Sec. 852; see also 
General Bridge Act, 33 U.S.C. 525, 533).
  The Committee has general jurisdiction of bills affecting domestic and 
foreign commerce, except such as may affect the revenue (IV, 4097). It 
also has jurisdiction of bills authorizing the construction of marine 
hospitals and the acquisition of sites therefor (IV, 4110; VII, 1816), 
the general subjects of quarantine and the establishment of quarantine 
stations (IV, 4109), health, spread of leprosy and other contagious 
diseases, inter-


  Before the 104th Congress the Committee considered bills regulating 
railroads in their interstate commerce relations (IV, 414) and exercised 
jurisdiction with the Committees on Education and Labor (now Education 
and the Workforce) and Public Works and Transportation (now 
Transportation and Infrastructure) over bills providing labor 
protections to workers in the transportation industry, including 
railroad employees (Feb. 24, 1993, p. ----). The Committee considers 
bills relating to commercial travelers as agents of interstate commerce 
and the branding of articles going into such commerce (IV, 4115), the 
prevention of the carriage of indecent and harmful pictures or 
literature (IV, 4116), the adulteration and misbranding of foods and 
drugs (IV, 4112), and protection of game through prohibition of 
interstate transportation (IV, 4117). The Committee has jurisdiction 
over bills imposing safety standards on motor vehicles purchased by the 
U.S. Government (Feb. 16, 1959, p. 2420), bills creating civil remedies 
for false advertising or other violations of commercial ethics (June 4, 
1962, p. 9601), and bills to assist financing of the Arctic Winter Games 
in Alaska (June 7, 1972, p. 19935). The Committee has exercised 
jurisdiction, with the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs 
(now Banking and Financial Services), over a bill to amend the Federal 
Reserve Act to impose reserve requirements on the assets of ``open-end 
investment companies'' that offer their depositors accounts transacted 
by negotiable instrument (Mar. 18, 1981, p. 4610), as well as over a 
Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act that 
focused on health matters rather than job training (June 1, 1981, p. 
11028, Nov. 3, 1993, p. ----). In the 94th Congress, the Committee 
gained jurisdiction over bills amending the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning 
Prevention Act and bills dealing with nursing home construction as 
public health matters (June 10, 1975, p. 18009).

  (f) Committee on Education and the Workforce.

      (1) Child labor.



Sec. 675. Education and the Workforce.

        (2) Columbia 
Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind; Howard University; Freedmen's 
Hospital.



[[Page 391]]

      (3) Convict labor and the entry of goods made by convicts into 
interstate commerce.

      (4) Food programs for children in schools.

      (5) Labor standards and statistics.

      (6) Measures relating to education or labor generally.

      (7) Mediation and arbitration of labor disputes.

      (8) Regulation or prevention of importation of foreign laborers 
under contract.

      (9) United States Employees' Compensation Commission.

      (10) Vocational rehabilitation.

      (11) Wages and hours of labor.

      (12) Welfare of miners.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the special oversight function 
provided for in clause 3(c) with respect to domestic educational 
programs and institutions, and programs of student assistance, which are 
within the jurisdiction of other committees.

      (13) Work incentive programs.

  This Committee was established as the Committee on Education and Labor 
on January 2, 1947, as part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 
1946 (60 Stat. 812), combining the Committee on Education (created in 
1867, IV, 4242) and the Committee on Labor (created in 1883, IV, 4244). 
When it was redesignated as the Committee on Economic and Educational 
Opportunities in the 104th Congress, the jurisdictional statement 
remained unchanged except by the combination of labor standards and 
labor statistics in a single subparagraph (5) (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, 
Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). In the 105th Congress the Committee was again 
redesignated as the Committee on Education and the Workforce (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----).


[[Page 392]]

in schools, an expansion of earlier jurisdiction over school-lunch programs 
(subpara. (4)), work incentive programs (subpara. (13)), and Indian 
education, a matter formerly within the specific jurisdiction of the 
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (now Resources); jurisdiction 
of the Committee over international education matters was specifically 
transferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs (now International 
Relations); and its special oversight function was inserted in clause 
3(c) of rule X (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470).
  By the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, 
the Committee gained jurisdiction over food programs for children 

  The Columbia Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind was renamed 
``Gallaudet College'' (68 Stat. 265), and Freedmen's Hospital is now a 
part of Howard University. The jurisdiction of this Committee over 
education and vocational rehabilitation does not include those subjects 
as they relate to veterans, which fall under the jurisdiction of the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs.


  The Committee has jurisdiction over bills dealing with juvenile 
delinquency (Jan. 22, 1959, p. 1027), runaway youth (July 12, 1973, p. 
23633; Sept. 10, 1973, p. 28970), human services programs administered 
by HEW (June 21, 1972, p. 21733), education of Indians (Apr. 15, 1975, 
p. 10247; June 10, 1991, p. 14049), and compensation for work injuries 
to Federal employees (Apr. 16, 1975, p. 10339); over bills amending the 
Community Services Block Grant Act to continue anti-poverty programs 
originally authorized by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (Nov. 4, 
1993, p. ----); and over an executive communication proposing draft 
legislation to amend the Labor Management Relations Act and the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act (Mar. 24, 1983, p. 7402). The Committee 
shares with the Committee on the Judiciary original jurisdiction over a 
bill comprehensively amending the Immigration and Nationality Act and 
including provisions addressing the enforcement of labor laws (Sept. 19, 
1995, p. ----).

  (g) Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.



Sec. 676. Government Reform and Oversight.

      (1)  The 
Federal Civil Service, including intergovernmental personnel; the status 
of officers and employees of the United States, including their 
compensation, classification, and retirement.


      (2) Measures relating to the municipal affairs of the District of 
Columbia in general, other than appropriations.

      (3) Federal paperwork reduction.


[[Page 393]]

      (4) Government management and accounting measures, generally.

      (5) Holidays and celebrations.

      (6) The overall economy, efficiency and management of Government 
operations and activities, including Federal procurement.

      (7) National archives.

      (8) Population and demography generally, including the Census.

      (9) Postal service generally, including the transportation of the 
mails.

      (10) Public information and records.

      (11) Relationship of the Federal Government to the States and 
municipalities generally.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its oversight functions under clause 
2(b)(1) and (2)), the committee shall have the function of performing 
the duties and conducting the studies which are provided for in clause 
4(c).

      (12) Reorganizations in the executive branch of the Government.

  In the 82d Congress the name of this Committee was changed from 
Expenditures in the Executive Departments to Government Operations (July 
3, 1952, p. 9217). In the 104th Congress it was again changed to 
Government Reform and Oversight (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----). The former Committee on Expenditures in the Executive 
Departments was established December 5, 1927 (VII, 2041), and took the 
place of 11 separate committees on expenditures in the several executive 
departments. The first of these committees was established in 1816, and 
others were added as new departments were created (IV, 4315). They 
reported bills relating to the efficiency and integrity of the public 
service (IV, 4320), and creation and abolition of offices (IV, 4318).


[[Page 394]]

former Committee on Post Office and Civil 
Service) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 104th 
Congress (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----), the Committee 
assumed the jurisdictions of the former Committee on the District of 
Columbia (subpara. (2)) and the former Committee on Post Office and 
Civil Service except that relating to the Franking Commission (subparas. 
(1), (5), (8), and (9)); and subparagraphs (3) and (10) were added to 
clarify existing jurisdiction. At the same time the Committee's 
jurisdiction over measures relating to off-budget treatment of agencies 
or programs, which had been added by the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, Dec. 12, 1985), was 
transferred to the Committee on the Budget. Three re-referrals from the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight to the Committee on the 
Budget marked this migration of off-budget treatment jurisdiction: (1) 
the Committee on the Budget has primary jurisdiction over a bill 
excluding from the budget the Civil Service Retirement and Disability 
Fund (although the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight retains 
programmatic jurisdiction over that Fund); (2) the Committee on the 
Budget has primary jurisdiction over a bill excluding from the budget 
the Highway Trust Fund, the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the Inland 
Waterways Trust Fund, and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (although 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure retains programmatic 
jurisdiction); and (3) the Committee on the Budget has secondary 
jurisdiction over a bill amending title 49 of the United States Code and 
providing off-budget treatment for the Highway Trust Fund, the Airport 
and Airway Trust Fund, the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and the Harbor 
Maintenance Trust Fund (Dec. 6, 1995, p. ----). The Committee was also 
released from jurisdiction over measures relating to exemptions from 
executive orders sequestering budget authority, which had been added by 
the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (tit. XIII, P.L. 101-508). In the 
105th Congress any residual jurisdiction over budget process was 
transferred to the Committee on the Budget (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 
----). The 104th Congress assigned the Committee its responsibilities to 
coordinate committee oversight plans under clause 2(d)(3) (sec. 203(a), 
H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). In the 104th Congress the Committee 
was also given the responsibility to consider and report recommendations 
concerning alternatives to commemorative legislation, although no such 
report was made to the House (sec. 216(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----).
  In addition to the jurisdiction vested in the Committee by the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, assigned the 
Committee jurisdiction over measures relating to the overall economy and 
efficiency of Government operations and activities, including Federal 
procurement, intergovernmental relationships, and general revenue 
sharing (the latter from the Committee on Ways and Means), and the 
National Archives (from the 


[[Page 395]]

a measure redesignating a general-
purpose federal building as a post office (Apr. 24, 1997, p. ----). The 
Committee has exercised jurisdiction over countercyclical programs of 
revenue-sharing grants to State and local governments, such as that 
contained in Title II of the Public Works Employment Act of 1976 (Feb. 
1, 1977, p. 3057). The Committee shares jurisdiction over a bill to 
facilitate the reorganization of an agency by instituting a separation 
pay program to encourage eligible employees to voluntarily resign or 
retire (Aug. 2, 1993, p. ----).
  The Committee has exercised jurisdiction of bills: establishing the 
Rural Electrification Administration as an independent agency and 
transferring certain functions thereto (Mar. 19, 1959, p. 4692); 
establishing a Commission on Population Growth (Sept. 23, 1969, p. 
26568); establishing a Cabinet Committee on Opportunities for Spanish-
Speaking Americans (Nov. 24, 1969, p. 35509); providing payment of 
travel costs for Federal employment applicants (Feb. 15, 1967, p. 3466); 
and a bill to rename an existing post office building (Aug. 4, 1995, p. 
----). The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and not this 
Committee, has jurisdiction over 


  The specific subpoena authority conferred upon the Committee in the 
standing rules on February 10, 1947 (p. 942) was superseded by the 
general conferral of subpoena authority on all committees in clause 2(m) 
of rule XI. By the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective 
January 3, 1975, the Committee was given the general function under 
clause 4(c)(1) of examining and reporting upon reports of the 
Comptroller General, evaluating laws reorganizing the legislative and 
executive branches, and studying intergovernmental relationships 
domestically and with international organizations to which the United 
States belongs (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470).

  (h) Committee on House Oversight.



Sec. 677a. House Oversight.

      (1)  Appropriations from 
accounts for committee salaries and expenses (except for the Committee 
on Appropriations), House Information Resources, and allowances and 
expenses of Members, House officers and administrative offices of the 
House.


      (2) Auditing and settling of all accounts described in 
subparagraph (1).

      (3) Employment of persons by the House, including clerks for 
Members and committees, and reporters of debates.


[[Page 396]]

      (4) Except as provided in clause 1(q)(11), matters relating to the 
Library of Congress and the House Library; statuary and pictures; 
acceptance or purchase of works of art for the Capitol; the Botanic 
Gardens; management of the Library of Congress; purchase of books and 
manuscripts.

      (5) Except as provided in clause 1(q)(11), matters relating to the 
Smithsonian Institution and the incorporation of similar institutions.

      (6) Expenditure of accounts described in subparagraph (1).

      (7) Franking Commission.

      (8) Matters relating to printing and correction of the 
Congressional Record.

      (9) Measures relating to accounts of the House generally.

      (10) Measures relating to assignment of office space for Members 
and committees.

      (11) Measures relating to the disposition of useless executive 
papers.

      (12) Measures relating to the election of the President, Vice 
President, or Members of Congress; corrupt practices; contested 
elections; credentials and qualifications; and Federal elections 
generally.

      (13) Measures relating to services to the House, including the 
House Restaurant, parking facilities and administration of the House 
office buildings and of the House wing of the Capitol.

      (14) Measures relating to the travel of Members of the House.


[[Page 397]]

      (15) Measures relating to the raising, reporting and use of 
campaign contributions for candidates for office of Representative in 
the House of Representatives, of Delegate, and of Resident Commissioner 
to the United States from Puerto Rico.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the function of performing the 
duties which are provided for in clause 4(d).

      (16) Measures relating to the compensation, retirement and other 
benefits of the Members, officers, and employees of the Congress.

  This Committee was created as the Committee on House Administration on 
January 2, 1947, as a part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 
(60 Stat. 812), combining the Committees on Accounts (created in 1803, 
IV, 4328), Enrolled Bills (created in 1789, IV, 4350), Disposition of 
Executive Papers (created in 1889, IV, 4419), Printing (created in 
1846), Elections (created in 1794 and divided into three committees in 
1895, IV, 4019), Election of President, Vice President, and 
Representatives in Congress (created in 1893, IV, 4299), and Memorials 
(created January 3, 1929, VII, 2080).


  The Committee was redesignated as the Committee on House Oversight in 
the 104th Congress, obtaining from the former Committee on Post Office 
and Civil Service jurisdiction over the Franking Commission (also known 
as the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards) in 
subparagraph (7), while transferring to the Committee on Resources 
jurisdiction over erection of monuments to the memory of individuals 
(sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). References in 
subparagraphs (1) and (2) to the ``contingent fund'' were eliminated 
without changing the Committee's jurisdiction over the accounts that the 
fund comprised. In the 105th Congress subparagraph (1) was amended to 
effect a technical correction (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----).



Sec. 677b. House facilities.

  The  Committee has jurisdiction 
over measures relating to the House Restaurant, which was first under 
the jurisdiction of the former Committee on Accounts, then under the 
supervision of the Architect of the Capitol (H. Res. 590, 76th Cong., 
Sept. 5, 1940, p. 11552, as made permanent law by P.L. 76-812, 40 U.S.C. 
174k), and then under the supervision of the Select Committee on the 
House Restaurant (H. Res. 472, 91st Cong., July 10, 1969, p. 19080; H. 
Res. 111, 93d Cong., Feb. 7, 1973), which was not re-established after 
the 93d Congress.



[[Page 398]]

the Committee was given jurisdiction over campaign contributions to 
candidates for the House, a matter formerly within the jurisdiction of 
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (subpara. (15)), and over 
compensation, retirement, and other benefits of Members, officers, and 
employees of Congress (subpara. (16)) (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20).
  By the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, 
the Committee obtained jurisdiction over parking facilities of the 
House, a matter formerly assigned to a select committee (subpara. (13)) 
(H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 94th Congress 


  The Committee has jurisdiction over resolutions authorizing committees 
to employ additional professional and clerical personnel (Feb. 7, 1966, 
p. 2373). The Committee has supervisory authority over the House barber 
shops, beauty shops, House Information Resources, and the Office of 
Placement and Management (the latter formerly within the jurisdiction of 
the former Joint Committee on Congressional Operations and of the former 
Select Committee on Congressional Operations).




Sec. 677c. Enrolled bills.

  The  Committee has absorbed the 
Committee on Enrolled Bills which was established in 1789 by a joint 
rule of the two Houses. This rule lapsed in 1876 with the other joint 
rules; but in 1880 the rules of the House were amended to recognize the 
joint committee (IV, 4350, 4416; VII, 2099). The Committee and the 
Secretary of the Senate make comparisons of bills of their respective 
Houses for enrollment, and the two cooperate in the interchange of bills 
for signature.





Sec. 677d. Library.

  Under  the Reorganization Act the 
Committee has jurisdiction of some of the subjects formerly within the 
jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on the Library, such as matters 
relating to the Library of Congress and the House Library, statuary and 
pictures, acceptance or purchase of works of art for the Capitol, the 
Botanic Gardens, management of the Library of Congress, purchase of 
books and manuscripts, matters relating to the Smithsonian Institution, 
and the incorporation of similar institutions. Excepted are measures 
relating to the construction or reconstruction, maintenance, and care of 
the buildings and grounds of the Botanic Gardens, the Library of 
Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution, which fall under the 
jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation (now Transportation and 
Infrastructure). The House Members of the Joint Committee on the 
Library, provided for by law (2 U.S.C. 132b), are elected by resolution 
each Congress.




Sec. 677e. Congressional Record.

  The  Committee has 
jurisdiction of matters relating to printing and correction of the 
Congressional Record, formerly within the jurisdiction of the Committee 
on Printing. The House Members of the Joint Committee on Printing, 
provided for by law (44 U.S.C. 1), are elected by resolution each 
Congress.



[[Page 399]]

  The Committee has jurisdiction of measures relating to the election of 
the President, Vice President, or Members of Congress; corrupt 
practices; contested elections; credentials and qualifications; Federal 
elections generally, and the Electoral count, which formerly was within 
the jurisdiction of a Committee on Election of the President, Vice 
President, and Representatives in Congress (IV, 4303).


  The special oversight function in clause 4(d)(1) of examining enrolled 
bills was assigned to the Committee by the Committee Reform amendments 
of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470), but its former responsibility to report on Members' 
travel has been supplanted by the function of providing policy direction 
to and oversight of the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief Administrative 
Officer, and Inspector General (sec. 201(e), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----; see rules III, IV, V, and VI and Sec. 697c, infra).

  (i) Committee on International Relations.



Sec. 678. International Relations.

      (1)  Relations of the 
United States with foreign nations generally.


      (2) Acquisition of land and buildings for embassies and legations 
in foreign countries.

      (3) Establishment of boundary lines between the United States and 
foreign nations.

      (4) Export controls, including nonproliferation of nuclear 
technology and nuclear hardware.

      (5) Foreign loans.

      (6) International commodity agreements (other than those involving 
sugar), including all agreements for cooperation in the export of 
nuclear technology and nuclear hardware.

      (7) International conferences and congresses.

      (8) International education.

      (9) Intervention abroad and declarations of war.

      (10) Measures relating to the diplomatic service.


[[Page 400]]

      (11) Measures to foster commercial intercourse with foreign 
nations and to safeguard American business interests abroad.

      (12) Measures relating to international economic policy.

      (13) Neutrality.

      (14) Protection of American citizens abroad and expatriation.

      (15) The American National Red Cross.

      (16) Trading with the enemy.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the special oversight 
functions provided for in clause 3(d) with respect to customs 
administration, intelligence activities relating to foreign policy, 
international financial and monetary organizations, and international 
fishing agreements.

      (17) United Nations organizations.

  This Committee was established in 1822 (IV, 4162), and from 1885 to 
1920 had authority to report appropriations. In the 94th Congress the 
name of the Committee was changed from Foreign Affairs to International 
Relations (H. Res. 163, Mar. 19, 1975, p. 7343). In the 96th Congress it 
was changed back to Foreign Affairs (H. Res. 89, Feb. 5, 1979, pp. 1848-
49). In the 104th Congress the name was again changed to International 
Relations (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 401]]

1974, p. 34470). When 
the legislative jurisdiction in the House of the Joint Committee on 
Atomic Energy was abolished in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 
1977, pp. 53-70), the Committee was given jurisdiction over 
nonproliferation of nuclear technology and hardware (subpara. (4)), and 
over international agreements on nuclear exports (subpara. (6)).
  In addition to the jurisdiction vested in the Committee by the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, gave the Committee 
jurisdiction over measures relating to: international economic policy 
(subpara. (12)) and export controls (subpara. (4)), matters formerly 
within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Banking and Currency (now 
Banking and Financial Services); international commodity agreements 
other than sugar (subpara. (6)), formerly within the jurisdiction of the 
Committee on Agriculture; trading with the enemy (subpara. (16)), 
formerly within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Interstate and 
Foreign Commerce (now Commerce); and international education (subpara. 
(8)); while transferring jurisdiction over international financial and 
monetary organizations to the Committee on Banking and Currency (now 
Banking and Financial Services), and jurisdiction over international 
fishing agreements to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 
(now Resources) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 

  It has a broad jurisdiction over foreign relations, including bills to 
establish boundary lines between the United States and foreign nations, 
to determine naval strengths, and to regulate bridges and dams on 
international waters (IV, 4166; see also the ``General Bridge Act,'' 33 
U.S.C. 525, 533), for the protection of American citizens abroad and 
expatriation (IV, 4169; VII, 1883), for extradition with foreign 
nations, for international arbitration, relating to violations of 
neutrality (IV, 4178a), international conferences and congresses (IV, 
4177; VII, 1884), the incorporation of the American National Red Cross 
and protection of its insignia (IV, 4173), intervention abroad and 
declarations of war (IV, 4164; VII 1880), affairs of the consular 
service, including acquisition of land and buildings for legations in 
foreign capitals (IV, 4163; VII, 1879), creation of courts of the United 
States in foreign countries (IV, 4167), treaty regulations as to 
protection of fur seals (IV, 4170), matters relating to the Philippines 
(see 60 Stat. 315), and measures establishing a District of Columbia 
corporation to support private American organizations engaged in 
communications with foreign nations (June 21, 1971, p. 21062).

  The Committee has also considered measures for fostering commercial 
intercourse with foreign nations and for safeguarding American business 
interests abroad (IV, 4175), and even the subjects of commercial 
treaties and reciprocal arrangements (IV, 4174), although in later 
practice the Committee on Ways and Means has considered such matters 
(IV, 4021). The Committee has exercised a general but not exclusive 
jurisdiction over legislation relating to claims having international 
relations (IV, 4168; VII, 1882). Pursuant to its jurisdiction over 
international education, the Committee (and not former Committee on 
Education and Labor) has exercised jurisdiction over bills establishing 
scholarship programs for foreign students (May 10, 1988, p. 10305). The 
Committee has jurisdiction over a communication from the President 
notifying the House, consistent with the War Powers Resolution, of the 
deployment abroad of U.S. armed forces to participate in an embargo 
against another nation (Nov. 4, 1993, p. ----).


  The special oversight function of the Committee set forth in clause 
3(d) of rule X was made effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470).

  (j) Committee on the Judiciary.



Sec. 679a. Judiciary.

      (1)   The judiciary and judicial 
proceedings, civil and criminal.


      (2) Administrative practice and procedure.


[[Page 402]]

      (3) Apportionment of Representatives.

      (4) Bankruptcy, mutiny, espionage, and counterfeiting.

      (5) Civil liberties.

      (6) Constitutional amendments.

      (7) Federal courts and judges, and local courts in the Territories 
and possessions.

      (8) Immigration and naturalization.

      (9) Interstate compacts, generally.

      (10) Measures relating to claims against the United States.

      (11) Meetings of Congress, attendance of Members and their 
acceptance of incompatible offices.

      (12) National penitentiaries.

      (13) Patents, the Patent Office, copyrights, and trademarks.

      (14) Presidential succession.

      (15) Protection of trade and commerce against unlawful restraints 
and monopolies.

      (16) Revision and codification of the Statutes of the United 
States.

      (17) State and territorial boundaries.




Sec. 679b. Internal Security.

      (18)   Subversive 
activities affecting the internal security of the United States.



[[Page 403]]

the Committee on Internal Security was abolished and 
jurisdiction over communist and other subversive activities affecting 
the internal security of the United States was transferred to this 
Committee (subpara. (18)) (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20), though an 
accompanying provision for the transfer of records and staff of the 
Internal Security Committee to the Judiciary Committee was deleted as 
obsolete in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), and 
the specific reference to communism was deleted as unnecessary in the 
104th Congress (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). The 
104th Congress also inserted ``the judiciary'' in subparagraph (1); 
added subparagraph (2) for clarification; combined former subparagraphs 
(6) and (9) in a new subparagraph (7); and combined former subparagraphs 
(13) and (14) in a new subparagraph (13) (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 
4, 1995, p. ----).
  This Committee dates from 1813 (IV, 4054). The essential jurisdiction 
defined in the rule was made effective January 2, 1947, as a part of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), and combined the 
Committees on Revision of Laws (created 1868, IV, 4293), Patents 
(created in 1837, IV, 4254), Immigration and Naturalization (created in 
1893, IV, 4309), Claims (created in 1794, IV, 4262), and War Claims 
(created in 1883, IV, 4269). By the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, 
effective January 3, 1975, the Committee's jurisdiction over holidays 
and celebrations was transferred to the former Committee on Post Office 
and Civil Service (now under the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 94th 
Congress 

  Under subparagraph (14) the Committee has jurisdiction over 
Presidential nominations to fill vacancies in the office of Vice 
President, submitted pursuant to the 25th amendment to the Constitution 
(Oct. 13, 1973, p. 34032; Aug. 20, 1974, p. 29366). The Committee has 
reported Articles of Impeachment of the President (Aug. 20, 1974, pp. 
29219-81). Where the House has voted impeachment, members of the 
Committee have been appointed as managers on the part of the House in 
presenting the charges to the Senate for trial (H. Res. 501, 99th Cong., 
July 22, 1986, p. 17306; H. Res. 511, 100th Cong., Aug. 3, 1988, p. 
20223; H. Res. 12, 101st Cong., Jan. 3, 1989, p. 84).

  The Committee on the Judiciary considers charges against judges of the 
Federal courts (IV, 4062), legislative propositions relating to the 
service of the Department of Justice (IV, 4067), bills relating to local 
courts in the District of Columbia, Alaska, and the Territories (IV, 
4068), the establishment of a court of patent appeals (IV, 4075), 
relations of labor to courts and corporations (IV, 4072), crimes, 
penalties, extradition (IV, 4069; VII, 1747), construction and 
management of national penitentiaries (IV, 4070), matters relating to 
trusts and corporations (IV, 4057, 4059, 4060; VII, 1764), claims of 
States against the United States (IV, 4080), general legislation 
relating to international and other claims (IV, 4078, 4079, 4081), 
including measures extending the terms of members of the Foreign Claims 
Settlement Commission (Nov. 14, 1991, p. 32130), bills relating to the 
office of President (IV, 4077), to the flag (IV, 4055), bankruptcy (IV, 
4065), removal of political disabilities (IV, 4058), prohibition of 
traffic in intoxicating liquors (IV, 4061; VII, 1773), mutiny and 
willful destruction of vessels (IV, 4145), counterfeiting (IV, 4071; 
VII, 1753), settlement of State and Territorial boundary lines (IV, 
4060; VII, 1768), meeting of Congress and attendance of Members and 
their acceptance of incompatible offices (IV, 4077, VI, 65).


[[Page 404]]

cally exercised jurisdiction over lobbying activities, the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct was assigned such 
jurisdiction during a brief period (H. Res. 1031, 91st Cong., July 8, 
1970, p. 23141; H. Res. 5, 94th Cong., Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20).
  The Committee also has jurisdiction over joint resolutions proposing 
amendments to the Constitution (IV, 4056; VII, 1779). It also reports on 
important questions of law relating to subjects naturally within the 
jurisdiction of other committees (IV, 4063). Although the Committee has 
histori-

  The Committee also has jurisdiction over bills regulating the 
authority of States to impose taxes on interstate commerce (June 18, 
1959, p. 11317), imposing conflict of interest standards and civil and 
criminal penalties relating thereto on government employees (Feb. 25, 
1960, p. 3484), establishing an Academy of Criminal Justice (Apr. 5, 
1965, p. 6822), to eliminate racketeering in the interstate sale of 
cigarettes (Feb. 9, 1972, p. 3429), providing workmen's compensation for 
non-Federal firemen killed during civil disorder (May 6, 1968, p. 
11798), authorizing the Attorney General to consent to a modification of 
a certain trust on behalf of the Library of Congress (Aug. 17, 1959, p. 
16051), amending an omnibus pension act to increase the amount of 
pension granted a certain class of persons (Feb. 15, 1960, p. 2523), and 
imposing criminal sanctions under the Controlled Substances Act (Nov. 
14, 1983, p. 32457). The Committee has exclusive jurisdiction over the 
Legal Services Corporation (Nov. 19, 1975, p. 37288) and over the 
extension of workmen's benefits to non-Federal policemen and firemen 
(Dec. 12, 1975, p. 40204). The Committee has exercised jurisdiction, 
with the Committee on Education and Labor (now Education and the 
Workforce), over bills to amend the Walsh-Healey Act regarding hours of 
work under government contracts (May 15, 1985, p. 11946). This 
Committee, and not the Committee on Public Works and Transportation (now 
Transportation and Infrastructure), exercised jurisdiction over a bill 
extending the authority for the Marshal of the Supreme Court and the 
Supreme Court Police to protect the Chief Justice, Associate Justices, 
officers, and employees of the Supreme Court beyond its building and 
grounds (Nov. 22, 1993, p. ----).


  The Committee has the general oversight responsibility set forth in 
clause 2(b).

  (k) Committee on National Security.



Sec. 680. National Security.

      (1)  Ammunition depots; 
forts; arsenals; Army, Navy, and Air Force reservations and 
establishments.


      (2) Common defense generally.

      (3) Conservation, development, and use of naval petroleum and oil 
shale reserves.


[[Page 405]]

      (4) The Department of Defense generally, including the Departments 
of the Army, Navy, and Air Force generally.

      (5) Interoceanic canals generally, including measures relating to 
the maintenance, operation, and administration of interoceanic canals.

      (6) Merchant Marine Academy, and State Maritime Academies.

      (7) Military applications of nuclear energy.

      (8) Tactical intelligence and intelligence related activities of 
the Department of Defense.

      (9) National security aspects of merchant marine, including 
financial assistance for the construction and operation of vessels, the 
maintenance of the U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair industrial base, 
cabotage, cargo preference and merchant marine officers and seamen as 
these matters relate to the national security.

      (10) Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges 
of members of the armed forces.

      (11) Scientific research and development in support of the armed 
services.

      (12) Selective service.

      (13) Size and composition of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air 
Force.

      (14) Soldiers' and sailors' homes.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the special oversight function 
provided for in clause 3(a) 

[[Page 406]]

with respect to international arms control 
and disarmament, and military dependents education.

      (15) Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common 
defense.

  This Committee was established January 2, 1947, as a part of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), combining the 
Committee on Military Affairs with the Committee on Naval Affairs, both 
of which had been created in 1822 (IV, 4179, 4189) and had had 
jurisdiction over appropriations from 1885 to 1920 (IV, 4179, 4189; VII, 
1741). The Committee was redesignated the Committee on National Security 
in the 104th Congress (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

  Much of the present legislative jurisdiction in this paragraph was 
adopted on January 3, 1953 (p. 17), to reflect jurisdiction over the 
Department of Defense, which was created in the National Security Act of 
1947 (61 Stat. 495). In the 95th Congress, when the Joint Committee on 
Atomic Energy was abolished, this Committee gained jurisdiction over 
military applications of nuclear energy (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, p. 
53). The special oversight function of the Committee in clause 3(a) and 
the general oversight function in clause 2(b)(1) were assigned by the 
Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 
988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The 104th Congress added 
subparagraph (8) for clarification and subparagraphs (5), (6), and (9) 
to reflect the transfer of those matters from the former Committee on 
Merchant Marine and Fisheries (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----), and later amended subparagraph (8) to effect a technical 
correction (H. Res. 254, Nov. 30, 1995, p. ----).

  The Committee has jurisdiction over bills: relating to military 
housing construction (Apr. 18, 1967, p. 9981; Feb. 21, 1962, p. 2684); 
amending title 10 of the United States Code to permit suits against the 
United States for damage to reputation of members of Armed Forces 
acquitted of charges of crimes against civilians in combat zones (July 
15, 1970, p. 24451); for construction of facilities at Walter Reed 
Medical Center (Oct. 3, 1966, p. 24859); to require military commissary, 
post exchange and medical care privileges for veterans with sufficient 
service-connected disabilities (Feb. 3, 1976, p. 1972); of a private 
character to waive the statutory time limit on the award of the 
Congressional Medal of Honor on individuals (Feb. 22, 1982, p. 1812); 
including authorization of appropriations to the Department of Energy 
for resource applications for naval petroleum and oil shale reserves 
(May 1, 1978, p. 11946); and effecting the transfer of military property 
to a state to be designated by the state as a wilderness area (Nov. 15, 
1995, p. ----).


[[Page 407]]

  The Committee exercised jurisdiction with the Committee on Interior 
and Insular Affairs (now Resources) over a resolution expressing the 
sense of Congress regarding continued operation of the Hanford Nuclear 
Reactor to produce power for the Bonneville Power Administration (July 
17, 1986, p. 16888).

  (l) Committee on Resources.



Sec. 681. Resources.

      (1)  Fisheries and wildlife, 
including research, restoration, refuges, and conservation.


      (2) Forest reserves and national parks created from the public 
domain.

      (3) Forfeiture of land grants and alien ownership, including alien 
ownership of mineral lands.

      (4) Geological Survey.

      (5) International fishing agreements.

      (6) Interstate compacts relating to apportionment of waters for 
irrigation purposes.

      (7) Irrigation and reclamation, including water supply for 
reclamation projects, and easements of public lands for irrigation 
projects, and acquisition of private lands when necessary to complete 
irrigation projects.

      (8) Measures relating to the care and management of Indians, 
including the care and allotment of Indian lands and general and special 
measures relating to claims which are paid out of Indian funds.

      (9) Measures relating generally to the insular possessions of the 
United States, except those affecting the revenue and appropriations.


[[Page 408]]

      (10) Military parks and battlefields, national cemeteries 
administered by the Secretary of the Interior, parks within the District 
of Columbia, and the erection of monuments to the memory of individuals.

      (11) Mineral land laws and claims and entries thereunder.

      (12) Mineral resources of the public lands.

      (13) Mining interests generally.

      (14) Mining schools and experimental stations.

      (15) Marine affairs (including coastal zone management), except 
for measures relating to oil and other pollution of navigable waters.

      (16) Oceanography.

      (17) Petroleum conservation on the public lands and conservation 
of the radium supply in the United States.

      (18) Preservation of prehistoric ruins and objects of interest on 
the public domain.

      (19) Public lands generally, including entry, easements, and 
grazing thereon.

      (20) Relations of the United States with the Indians and the 
Indian tribes.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the special oversight 
functions provided for in clause 3(e) with respect to all programs 
affecting Indians.

      (21) Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline (except ratemaking).

  The Committee on Public Lands was created in 1805 (IV, 4194). Its name 
has since been changed to Interior and Insular Affairs (Feb. 2, 1951, p. 
883); to Natural Resources (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----); and to 
Resources (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 409]]

(created in 1865, IV, 4223), Insular Affairs (created in 1899, IV, 
4213), Irrigation and Reclamation (created in 1893, IV, 4307), Indian 
Affairs (created in 1821, IV, 4204), and Territories (created in 1825, 
IV, 4208), though vesting the subject of welfare of men working in 
mines, formerly under the jurisdiction of a Committee on Mines and 
Mining, in the Committee on Education and Labor (now Education and the 
Workforce). Until the Reorganization Act, military parks, battlefields, 
and national cemeteries were under jurisdiction of a Committee on 
Military Affairs. Jurisdiction over cemeteries of the United States in 
which veterans may be buried, except those administered by the Secretary 
of the Interior, was transferred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 
in the 90th Congress (H. Res. 241, Oct. 20, 1967).
  The core of the jurisdiction reflected in this paragraph was assigned 
to the Committee effective January 2, 1947, as a part of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), which consolidated in this 
Committee the jurisdictions of the former Committees on Mines and Mining 

  In Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, the 
Committee gained jurisdiction over parks within the District of 
Columbia, formerly within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Public 
Works and Transportation, now Transportation and Infrastructure 
(subpara. (10)), and lost specific jurisdiction over Indian education 
and over Hawaii and Alaska, generally (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470). By that same resolution, the Committee was given 
special oversight functions in clause 3(e).

  The 104th Congress expanded the jurisdiction of the Committee by: 
adding subparagraphs (1), (5), (15), and (16) to reflect the transfer of 
those matters from the former Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries; inserting the subject of monuments in memory of individuals 
in subparagraph (10) to reflect the transfer of that matter from the 
Committee on House Administration (now House Oversight); adding 
subparagraph (21), an exceptional treatment of pipeline jurisdiction 
otherwise vested in the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; 
and deleting the subject of regulation of the domestic nuclear energy 
industry to reflect the transfer of that jurisdiction, which this 
Committee had acquired when the 95th Congress abolished the Joint 
Committee on Atomic Energy (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70) and 
which it shared with the Committee on Commerce, to the Committee on 
Commerce (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). At the same 
time, the statements of special oversight functions in this paragraph 
and in paragraph (e) of this clause were adjusted to reflect the 
transfer of nonmilitary nuclear energy and research and development 
including disposal of nuclear waste from this Committee to the Committee 
on Commerce, though conforming changes in paragraphs (e) and (h) of 
clause 3 were inadvertently omitted.


[[Page 410]]

the public domain (July 18, 1977, p. 
23434); to admission of States (IV, 4208); to preservation of 
prehistoric ruins and objects of interest on the public domain (IV, 
4199); and sometimes to projects of general legislation relating to 
various classes of land claims (IV, 4203). The Committee also has 
jurisdiction over bills relating to proceeds from disposal of oil shale 
on public lands (other than Naval Oil Shale Reserves) (Aug. 3, 1967, p. 
21179); bills to exclude certain lands in the outer continental shelf 
from mineral leasing provisions of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 
(May 16, 1963, p. 8777); bills reinstating a U.S. oil and gas lease 
(Aug. 5, 1959, p. 15190); bills addressing U.S. claims to lands along 
the Colorado River forming state boundaries (June 28, 1967, p. 17738); 
bills designating national forest lands created from the public domain 
as wilderness (May 6, 1969, p. 11459); bills including additional units 
in the Missouri River Basin project (Sept. 8, 1959, p. 18587); bills 
establishing a commission on development of Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. 
as a national historic site (Oct. 21, 1965, p. 27803); bills authorizing 
the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a feasibility investigation of 
potential water resource development (May 1, 1975, p. 12764); bills to 
establish a commission to consider the creation of a (Hudson) River 
Compact (July 21, 1975, p. 23653); bills to name a building constructed 
as part of a federal recreation area (June 8, 1988, p. 13803); bills 
addressing the siting on Federal parkland of an established national 
memorial (Sept. 24, 1991, p. 23731); and (with the Committee on 
Agriculture) bills exchanging a Federal tree nursery for certain State 
mining patents touching a western forest (Sept. 17, 1991, p. 23193). The 
Committee on National Security, and not this Committee, has jurisdiction 
over the transfer of military property to a state to be designated by 
the state as a wilderness area (Nov. 15, 1995, p. ----). The Committee 
on Agriculture, and not this Committee, has jurisdiction over the 
designation of an agricultural research center (May 14, 1996, p. ----).
  The Committee reports on subjects relating to the mineral resources of 
the public lands (IV, 4202), forfeiture of land grants and alien 
ownership (IV, 4201), validation of certain conveyances of erstwhile 
public lands by a railway company (July 11, 1995, p. ----), public lands 
of Alaska (IV, 4196), forest reserves (IV, 4197), and national parks 
created out of the public domain (IV, 4199; VII, 1925), including 
measures relating to criminal trespass provisions applying only within 
national forests created from 


  The authority of the Committee to report as privileged bills for the 
forfeiture of land grants to railroad and other corporations, bills 
preventing speculation in the public lands, bills for the preservation 
of the public lands for the benefit of actual and bona fide settlers, 
and bills for the admission of new States was eliminated in the 
Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 
988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470; see clause 4(a) of rule XI).

  (m) Committee on Rules.



Sec. 682a. Rules.

      (1)  The rules and joint rules (other 
than rules or joint rules relating to the Code of Official Conduct), and 
order of business of the House.



[[Page 411]]

The Committee on Rules is authorized to sit and act whether or not the 
House is in session.

      (2) Recesses and final adjournments of Congress.

  This Committee, which had existed as a select committee from 1789, 
became a standing committee in 1880 (IV, 4321; VII, 2047). The Speaker 
was first made a member of the Committee in 1858 (IV, 4321), and ceased 
to be a member on March 19, 1910 (VII, 2047). However, the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 deleted from the former rule the prohibition 
against the Speaker serving on the Committee. The size of the Committee 
was increased from 12 to 15 members for the 87th Congress (Jan. 31, 
1961, p. 1589), and the increase in the Committee's size was 
incorporated as a part of the rules in the 88th Congress (Jan. 9, 1963). 
Effective January 3, 1975, however, the rules were amended to eliminate 
prescriptions of committee sizes (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, 
p. 34470), and in the 94th through the 98th Congresses 16 members were 
named to the Committee on nominations from the respective party caucuses 
(see, e.g., H. Res. 76, Jan. 20, 1975, p. 803; H. Res. 101, Jan. 28, 
1975, p. 1611), and in the 99th through 101st Congresses, 13 members 
were named to the Committee on nominations from the respective party 
caucuses (see, e.g., H. Res. 34, 35, Jan. 30, 1985, p. 1271, 1273).

  The jurisdiction defined in this paragraph became effective January 2, 
1947, as a part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 
812). The last sentence, formerly designated as subparagraph (3) (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----), is from section 134(c) of the 1946 Act, 
but the Committee has had authority to sit during sessions of the House 
since 1893 (IV, 4546), even during the five-minute rule under clause 
2(i) of rule XI. The subject of recesses and adjournments was formerly 
under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means. In section 
402(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-344, July 12, 
1974), the Committee was given specific authority to report emergency 
waivers of the required reporting date for bills and resolutions 
authorizing new budget authority. That authority was incorporated into 
this rule, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470), but was repealed as obsolete in the 102d Congress (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39). Jurisdiction over rules relating to 
official conduct and financial disclosure was transferred to the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct on April 3, 1968 (H. Res. 
1099, 90th Cong.), but in the 95th Congress, jurisdiction over rules 
relating to financial disclosure by Members, officers, and employees of 
the House was returned to this Committee (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 
53-70).


[[Page 412]]

all committees to sit and act whether the House 
is in session or has adjourned, and authority to issue subpoenas (clause 
2(m) of rule XI) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The 
Committee also reports resolutions relating to the hour of daily meeting 
and the days on which the House shall sit (IV, 4325), and orders 
relating to the use of the galleries during the electoral count (IV, 
4327).

  The jurisdiction of this Committee is primarily over propositions to 
make or change the rules (V, 6770, 6776; VII, 2047), for the creation of 
committees (IV, 4322; VII, 2048), and directing them to make 
investigations (IV, 4322-4324; VII, 2048). Effective January 3, 1975, 
however, the authority for all committees to conduct investigations and 
studies was made a part of the standing rules (clause 1(b) of rule XI), 
as was the authority for 



Sec. 682b. Special orders.

  Since  1883 the Committee on Rules 
has reported special orders providing times and methods for 
consideration of special bills or classes of bills, thereby enabling the 
House by majority vote to forward particular legislation, instead of 
being forced to use for the purpose the motion to suspend the rules, 
which requires a two-thirds vote (IV, 3152; V, 6870; for forms of, IV, 
3238-3263).


  Special orders may still be made by suspension of the rules (IV, 3154) 
or by unanimous consent (IV, 3165, 3166; VII, 758); but it is not in 
order, by motion in the House, to provide that a subject be made a 
special order by a motion to postpone to a day certain (IV, 3164). But 
before the adoption of rules, and consequently before there is a rule as 
to the order of business, a Member may offer a special order for 
immediate consideration (V, 4971, 5450). A special order reported by the 
Committee on Rules must be agreed to by a majority vote of the House 
(IV, 3169).

  It is not in order to move to postpone a special order providing for 
the consideration of a class of bills (V, 4958), but a bill which comes 
before the House by the terms of a special order merely assigning the 
day for its consideration may be postponed by a majority vote (IV, 3177-
3182). A motion to rescind a special order is not privileged under the 
rules regulating the order of business (IV, 3173, 3174; V, 5323).

  A motion to amend the rules of House does not present a question of 
privilege (VIII, 3377, overruling VIII, 3376; see also rule IX and 
Sec. 664, supra), and it is not in order by raising a question of the 
privileges of the House under rule IX to move to direct the Committee on 
Rules to consider a request to report a special order of business 
(Speaker Albert, June 27, 1974, p. 21599), or to direct the Committee on 
Rules to meet, to elect a temporary chairman (in the temporary absence 
of the chairman) and consider special orders of business (Speaker 
Albert, July 31, 1975, p. 26250).


  For further discussion of the Committee on Rules, see Sec. Sec. 729a-
731, infra.

  (n) Committee on Science.


[[Page 413]]



Sec. 683. Science.

      (1)  All energy research, development, 
and demonstration, and projects therefor, and all federally owned or 
operated nonmilitary energy laboratories.


      (2) Astronautical research and development, including resources, 
personnel, equipment, and facilities.

      (3) Civil aviation research and development.

      (4) Environmental research and development.

      (5) Marine research.

      (6) Measures relating to the commercial application of energy 
technology.

      (7) National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
standardization of weights and measures and the metric system.

      (8) National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

      (9) National Space Council.

      (10) National Science Foundation.

      (11) National Weather Service.

      (12) Outer space, including exploration and control thereof.

      (13) Science Scholarships.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the special oversight function 
provided for in clause 3(f) with respect to all nonmilitary research and 
development.

      (14) Scientific research, development, and demonstration, and 
projects therefor.


[[Page 414]]

over the Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology) and science scholarships (July 21, 1958, p. 14513). By the 
Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, the 
Committee was redesignated as the Committee on Science and Technology 
and given additional jurisdiction over civil aviation research and 
development, environmental research and development, non-nuclear energy 
research and development, and the National Weather Service (now part of 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). At the same time the Committee was given 
the general and special oversight functions set forth in clause 2(b) and 
clause 3(f). When the House abolished the Joint Committee on Atomic 
Energy in the 95th Congress, this Committee was given jurisdiction over 
nuclear research and development, as well (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 
53-70). Its jurisdiction over energy research and development (now 
subpara. (1)) was amended in the 96th Congress, effective January 3, 
1981, to specifically include energy demonstration projects and 
federally owned nonmilitary energy laboratories (H. Res. 549, Mar. 25, 
1980, pp. 6405-10). In the 100th Congress, the Committee was 
redesignated as the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (H. Res. 
5, Jan. 6, 1987, p. 6). In the 103d Congress the jurisdictional 
statement of the Committee was updated to reflect the renaming of 
Executive Branch entities (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----). The 104th 
Congress again renamed the Committee as the Committee on Science and 
expanded its jurisdiction by adding subparagraph (5), from the former 
Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and subparagraph (6), from 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce (now Commerce) (sec. 202(a), H. 
Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  The standing Committee on Science and Astronautics was established in 
the 85th Congress and given jurisdiction formerly vested in a Select 
Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration established a few months 
earlier (Mar. 5, 1958, p. 3443), as well as the former jurisdiction of 
the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (now Commerce) 


  The Committee has jurisdiction over proposals dealing with U.S. 
participation in the World Science Pan-Pacific Exposition (June 24, 
1959, p. 11810); over a resolution condemning Soviet Union internal 
exile of an individual, and recommending that government agencies 
including NASA, the National Bureau of Standards and the National 
Science Foundation defer official travel to that country (Jan. 30, 1980, 
p. 1320); with the Committees on Armed Services (now National Security) 
and Interior and Insular Affairs (now Resources), over bills to test the 
commercial viability of oil shale technologies within the naval oil 
shale reserves or on other public lands (Sept. 26, 1978, p. 31623); and 
with four other committees over a bill coordinating Federal agencies' 
research into ground water contamination, including that done by the 
Environmental Protection Agency (Mar. 15, 1989, p. 4163).

  (o) Committee on Small Business.


[[Page 415]]



Sec. 684. Small Business.

      (1)  Assistance to and 
protection of small business, including financial aid, regulatory 
flexibility and paperwork reduction.



In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provisions of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the special oversight function 
provided for in clause 3(g) with respect to the problems of small 
business.

      (2) Participation of small-business enterprises in Federal 
procurement and Government contracts.

  A Select Committee on Small Business was first established in the 77th 
Congress (H. Res. 294, pp. 9418-28) and was reconstituted each Congress 
thereafter by resolution reported from the Committee on Rules until made 
permanent in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144).

  The Committee Reform Amendments of 1974 established a standing 
Committee on Small Business, effective January 3, 1975, and vested it 
with legislative jurisdiction formerly held by the Committee on Banking 
and Currency (subpara. (1)) and the Committee on the Judiciary (subpara. 
(2)) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). At the same time 
the general and special oversight functions were set forth in clause 
2(b) and in clause 3(g).


  The 104th Congress expanded the jurisdiction of the Committee over 
assistance to and protection of small business by inserting the 
references to regulatory flexibility and paperwork reduction in 
subparagraph (1) (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----; see 
also Feb. 9, 1995, p. ----) and later effected a technical correction 
(H. Res. 254, Nov. 30, 1995, p. ----).

  (p) Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.


In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding 
provision of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under 
clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the functions with respect to 
recommendations, studies, investigations, and reports which are provided 
for in 

[[Page 416]]

clause 4(e), and the functions designated in titles I and V of 
the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and sections 7342, 7351, and 7353 
of title 5, United States Code.



Sec. 685a. Standards of Official Conduct.

      (1)  Measures 
relating to the Code of Official Conduct.


  In the 90th Congress the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
was established as a standing committee (H. Res. 418, Apr. 13, 1967, p. 
----). Its precursor was the Select Committee on Standards and Conduct, 
created in the 89th Congress (H. Res. 1013, Oct. 19, 1966, pp. 27713-
30).

  At various times in its history, the legislative jurisdiction of the 
Committee has included jurisdiction over measures relating to (1) 
financial disclosure by Members, officers, and employees of the House 
(H. Res. 1099, 90th Cong., Apr. 3, 1968); (2) the raising, reporting, 
and use of campaign contributions for candidates for the House (H. Res. 
988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470); and (3) lobbying activities (H. 
Res. 1031, 91st Cong., July 8, 1970, p. 23141). However, legislative 
jurisdiction over measures relating to financial disclosure was 
transferred to the Committee on Rules in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70); legislative jurisdiction over measures 
relating to campaign contributions for candidates for the House was 
transferred to House Administration (now House Oversight), and 
legislative jurisdiction over measures relating to lobbying activities 
was removed from the Committee (thereby devolving on the Committee on 
the Judiciary) in the 94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20).

  In the 95th Congress, several rules relating to the official conduct 
of Members were adopted outside the confines of rule XLIII, the ``Code 
of Official Conduct,'' as follows: rule XLV, prohibiting unofficial 
office accounts; rule XLVI, limiting the use of the frank; and rule 
XLVII, limiting outside earned income (H. Res. 287, Mar. 2, 1977, pp. 
5933-53).

  Under clause 4(a) of rule XI, the Committee is empowered to report as 
privileged resolutions recommending action by the House of 
Representatives with respect to the official conduct of an individual 
Member, officer, or employee of the House.

  In addition to its legislative jurisdiction, the Committee has the 
general oversight responsibility set forth in clause 2(b) and the 
additional functions of conducting the investigations and making the 
reports and recommendations required by clause 4(e) or by resolution of 
the House (see, e.g., H. Res. 252, 95th Cong., Feb. 9, 1977, pp. 3966-
75, directing investigation of gifts from Korean government; H. Res. 
1042, 94th Cong., Feb. 16, 1976, pp. 3158-61, directing investigation of 
unauthorized publication of report of Select Committee on Intelligence; 
and H. Res. 608, 96th Cong., Mar. 27, 1980, pp. 6995-98, relating to 
``Abscam'').


[[Page 417]]

515 of Public Law 95-105 to act as the ``employing agency'' for the 
House of Representatives under the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, 
and the Committee promulgated regulations under that statute concerning 
acceptance of foreign gifts and decorations by Members and employees 
(Jan. 23, 1978, p. 452). In the 96th Congress the Committee was assigned 
as additional responsibilities the functions designated in title I of 
the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-521) relating to the 
administration of government ethics laws as they apply to Members, 
officers, and employees of the House (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, p. 7). 
In the 102d Congress those responsibilities were enlarged to include 
also the functions designated in title V of the Act and the specified 
sections of title 5, United States Code (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 
39).
  The Committee has investigated rollcall procedures in the House and 
recommended installation of a modernized voting system (June 19, 1969, 
p. 16629). In the 95th Congress the Committee was authorized by section 

  The Committee has compiled statutory and rule-based ethical standards 
in the House Ethics Manual (102d Cong., 2d Sess.). In the Manual, the 
Committee incorporates its advisory opinions issued under clause 
4(e)(1)(D) of rule X, together with advisory opinions issued by the 
former Select Committee on Ethics, in its discussions of various ethical 
issues, including gifts, outside income, financial disclosure, staff 
rights and duties, official allowances and franking, casework 
considerations, campaign financing and practices, and involvement with 
official and unofficial organizations.



Sec. 685b. Former Select Committees on 
Ethics.

  In the 95th  Congress, the House established a Select Committee on Ethics 
and granted it exclusive legislative jurisdiction over bills that 
incorporated into permanent law provisions of House rules addressing 
financial ethics of Members, officers, and employees (H. Res. 383, Mar. 
9, 1977, pp. 6811-16). The Select Committee was also granted 
jurisdiction to promulgate implementing regulations and to issue 
advisory opinions. The resolution creating the Select Committee provided 
that it would expire on December 31, 1977, but the Committee and its 
functions ultimately were extended through the ``completion of its 
official business'' (H. Res. 871, Oct. 31, 1977, p. 35957). The advisory 
opinions compiled by the former Select Committee on Ethics have been 
incorporated in the House Ethics Manual (102d Cong., 2d Sess.).



[[Page 418]]

  In the 105th Congress a new subparagraph (3) was added at the end of 
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. ----).

  (q) Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.



Sec. 686. Transportation and Infrastructure.

      (1)  Coast 
Guard, including lifesaving service, lighthouses, lightships, ocean 
derelicts, and the Coast Guard Academy.


      (2) Federal management of emergencies and natural disasters.

      (3) Flood control and improvement of rivers and harbors.

      (4) Inland waterways.

      (5) Inspection of merchant marine vessels, lights and signals, 
lifesaving equipment, and fire protection on such vessels.

      (6) Navigation and the laws relating thereto, including pilotage.

      (7) Registering and licensing of vessels and small boats.

      (8) Rules and international arrangements to prevent collisions at 
sea.

      (9) Measures relating to the Capitol Building and the Senate and 
House office buildings.

      (10) Measures relating to the construction or maintenance of roads 
and post roads, other than appropriations therefor; but it shall not be 
in order for any bill providing general legislation in relation to roads 
to contain any provision for any specific road, nor for any bill in 
relation to a specific road to embrace a provision in relation to any 
other specific road.


[[Page 419]]

the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution.
      (11) Measures relating to the construction or reconstruction, 
maintenance, and care of the buildings and grounds of the Botanic 
Gardens, 

      (12) Measures relating to merchant marine, except for national 
security aspects of merchant marine.

      (13) Measures relating to the purchase of sites and construction 
of post offices, customhouses, Federal courthouses, and Government 
buildings within the District of Columbia.

      (14) Oil and other pollution of navigable waters, including 
inland, coastal, and ocean waters.

      (15) Marine affairs (including coastal zone management) as they 
relate to oil and other pollution of navigable waters.

      (16) Public buildings and occupied or improved grounds of the 
United States generally.

      (17) Public works for the benefit of navigation, including bridges 
and dams (other than international bridges and dams).

      (18) Related transportation regulatory agencies.

      (19) Roads and the safety thereof.

      (20) Transportation, including civil aviation, railroads, water 
transportation, transportation safety (except automobile safety), 
transportation infrastructure, transportation labor, and railroad 
retirement and unemployment (except revenue measures related thereto).


      (21) Water power.


[[Page 420]]

in 1883 (IV, 4118)), and Roads (created in 1913 (VII, 2065)). 
The authority of the Committee to report as privileged bills authorizing 
the improvement of rivers and harbors was eliminated by the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470; see clause 4(a) of rule XI). At the same 
time the Committee's jurisdiction over parks in the District of Columbia 
was transferred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (now 
Resources); and it gained jurisdiction over transportation, including 
civil aviation (except railroads, railroad labor, and railroad 
pensions), over roads and the safety thereof, over water transportation 
subject to the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and 
over related transportation regulatory agencies with certain exceptions. 
The 104th Congress changed the name of the Committee from Public Works 
and Transportation to Transportation and Infrastructure and expanded its 
jurisdiction by: adding subparagraphs (1), (6)-(8), (12), and (15) to 
reflect the transfer of those matters from the former Committee on 
Merchant Marine and Fisheries; adding subparagraph (4) and enlarging 
subparagraph (20) to reflect the transfer of those matters from the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce (now Commerce); and adding subparagraph 
(2) and inserting the reference to inland, coastal, and ocean waters in 
subparagraph (14), as clarifying consolidations of formerly 
fractionalized subjects (sec. 202(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  The Committee was created effective January 2, 1947, as a part of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), combining the 
Committees on Flood Control (created in 1916 (VII, 2069)), Public 
Buildings and Grounds (created in 1837 (IV, 4231)), Rivers and Harbors 
(created 


[[Page 421]]

on Government Reform 
and Oversight, and not this Committee, has jurisdiction over a bill 
renaming an existing post office building (Aug. 4, 1995, p. ----), but 
this Committee, and not the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight, has jurisdiction over a bill redesignating a general-purpose 
federal building as a post office (Apr. 24, 1997, p. ----). This 
Committee, and not the Committee on Ways and Means, has jurisdiction 
over a bill designating a customs building (Dec. 12, 1995, p. ----). The 
Committee on Resources, and not this Committee, has jurisdiction over a 
bill to validate certain conveyances of erstwhile public lands by a 
railway company (July 11, 1995, p. ----).
  The Committee has jurisdiction over proposals establishing Treasury 
revolving funds for the Southeastern and Southwestern Power 
Administrations (July 2, 1959, p. 12629); directing the Secretary of the 
Army to provide school facilities for dependents of Corps of Engineers 
construction workers (June 17, 1968, p. 17429); conveying Corps of 
Engineers flood-control project lands (July 15, 1965, p. 17002) or 
naming reservoirs within such projects (Oct. 3, 1989, p. 22770) or 
allocating or limiting water use therefrom (Feb. 28, 1990, p. 2893); 
directing the Secretary of the Army to renew the license of an American 
Legion Post to use a parcel of land on a Corps of Engineer project (May 
10, 1988, p. 10282); authorizing construction of an annex to the 
National Gallery of Art by the Smithsonian Institution (Apr. 10, 1968, 
p. 9553); addressing the location and development of the J. F. Kennedy 
Center for the Performing Arts (Sept. 15, 1965, p. 23927; Oct. 21, 1965, 
p. 27803); transferring land under the control of the Corps of Engineers 
to Indian tribes (Jan. 29, 1976, p. 1577); amending the Interstate 
Commerce Act to regulate truck transportation (Feb. 24, 1976, p. 4109; 
Mar. 1, 1979, p. 3754); concerning the treatment of a U.S. air freight 
carrier by the Japanese Ministry of Transport pursuant to an 
understanding negotiated under the International Air Transportation 
Competition Act of 1979 (not a Trade Act matter) (July 28, 1988, p. 
19536); and over an executive communication amending Public Law 90-553, 
reported by the Committee, to authorize the transfer, conveyance, lease 
and improvement of, and construction on, certain property in the 
District of Columbia, for use as a headquarters site for an 
international organization, as sites for governments of foreign 
countries (Sept. 10, 1981, p. 20598). The Committee 

  The Committee has shared jurisdiction: with the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce (now Commerce) over a bill amending the Solid Waste 
Disposal Act to provide for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites or 
discharges presenting a threat to human health and the environment, 
including navigable waters (Mar. 21, 1984, p. 6186); with the Committee 
on Government Operations (now Government Reform and Oversight) over a 
bill to require the Administrator of General Services to convey certain 
real property (a federal building) to the Museum for the American Indian 
and providing for renovation and alteration of the property (Oct. 28, 
1987, p. 29685); with the Committee on House Administration (now House 
Oversight) over a bill authorizing the Smithsonian Institution to 
construct, expand, and renovate facilities at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum 
in New York (July 21, 1987, p. 20309), and over a bill authorizing 
appropriations to plan, design, construct, and equip museum space for 
the Smithsonian (July 18, 1991, p. 18830); with several other committees 
over bills to convert from a defense economy by, inter alia,  
authorizing economic assistance for public works and economic 
development (June 24, 1991, p. 16021; June 11, 1992, p. ----); and with 
the Committee on Education and Labor (now Education and the Workforce) 
over bills providing labor protections to workers, including airline 
employees, in the transportation industry (June 24, 1991, p. 16020; Feb. 
24, 1993, p. ----).

  In the 101st Congress, the Committee reported a bill requiring a 
cooling-off period in a labor-management dispute between an airline and 
its unions under the Railway Labor Act (H.R. 1231, Mar. 13, 1989, p. 
4032).


  The general oversight responsibility of the Committee is set forth in 
clause 2(b) of rule X.

  (r) Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

      (1) Veterans' measures generally.


[[Page 422]]



Sec. 687. Veterans' Affairs.

      (2) Cemeteries of the  United 
States in which veterans of any war or conflict are or may be 
buried, whether in the United States or abroad, except cemeteries 
administered by the Secretary of the Interior.


      (3) Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of 
veterans.

      (4) Life insurance issued by the Government on account of service 
in the Armed Forces.

      (5) Pensions of all the wars of the United States, general and 
special.

      (6) Readjustment of servicemen to civil life.

      (7) Soldiers' and sailors' civil relief.


      (8) Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.


  This Committee was established January 2, 1947, as a part of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), and was vested 
with jurisdiction formerly exercised by the Committees on World War 
Veterans' Legislation (VII, 2077); Invalid Pensions (IV, 4258); and 
Pensions (IV, 4260). Jurisdiction over veterans' cemeteries administered 
by the Department of Defense was transferred from the Committee on 
Interior and Insular Affairs in the 90th Congress (H. Res. 241, Oct. 20, 
1967, p. 29560). Vocational rehabilitation, except that pertaining to 
veterans, is under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Education and 
the Workforce. The Committee has jurisdiction over bills to amend the 
Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940 to permit certain 
declarations of fact in lieu of affidavits (Feb. 4, 1959, p. 1812), and 
over bills to amend the Servicemen's and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act 
relating to service-connected deaths of retired members of the uniformed 
services (May 18, 1959, p. 8273).

  (s) Committee on Ways and Means.



Sec. 688. Ways and Means.

      (1)  Customs, collection 
districts, and ports of entry and delivery.


      (2) Reciprocal trade agreements.

      (3) Revenue measures generally.

      (4) Revenue measures relating to the insular possessions.

      (5) The bonded debt of the United States (subject to the last 
sentence of clause 4(g) of this rule).

      (6) The deposit of public moneys.


[[Page 423]]

      (7) Transportation of dutiable goods.

      (8) Tax exempt foundations and charitable trusts.


      (9) National social security, except (A) health care and 
facilities programs that are supported from general revenues as opposed 
to payroll deductions and (B) work incentive programs.

  A select Committee on Ways and Means dates from 1789. It was made a 
standing committee in 1802. Originally it considered both revenue and 
appropriations, but in 1865 the appropriation bills were given to the 
Committee on Appropriations and certain other bills to the Committee on 
Banking and Currency (now Banking and Financial Services) (IV, 4020). 
Its jurisdiction was also amended on April 5, 1911 (p. 58), and further 
defined in the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), 
which transferred the subject of recesses and final adjournments from 
this Committee to the Committee on Rules.

  By the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975, 
the Committee gained legislative jurisdiction over tax exempt 
foundations and charitable trusts (subpara. (8)), formerly within the 
jurisdiction of the Committee on Banking and Currency, because of their 
impact on the economy, while it was released from: jurisdiction over 
health care and facilities programs supported from general revenues to 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce (now Commerce); jurisdiction over 
work incentive programs to the Committee on Education and Labor (now 
Education and the Workforce); jurisdiction over general revenue sharing 
to the Committee on Government Operations (now Government Reform and 
Oversight); and jurisdiction over renegotiation to the Committee on 
Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs (now Banking and Financial Services) 
(H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470).

  The Committee's jurisdiction over the bonded debt of the United States 
(subpara. (5)) was made subject to the last sentence of clause 4(g) of 
rule X in the 96th Congress by Public Law 96-78 (93 Stat. 589).


[[Page 424]]

trust funds in the Treasury, 
funded by assessments on all quantities of oil, petrochemical 
feedstocks, and other hazardous substances sold for sale, where the 
scope and size of the funds and the method of assessment (similar to an 
excise tax) represented the collection of general revenue to fund 
particular Federal activities, a type of financing mechanism over which 
the Ways and Means Committee has traditionally exercised jurisdiction 
(May 20, 1980, p. 11862).
  The revenue jurisdiction of the Committee extends to such subjects as 
transportation of dutiable goods, collection districts, ports of entry 
and delivery (IV, 4026), customs unions, reciprocity treaties (IV, 
4021), revenue relations of the United States with Puerto Rico (IV, 
4025), the revenue bills relating to agricultural products generally, 
excepting oleomargarine (IV, 4022), and tax on cotton and grain futures. 
The Committee formerly had jurisdiction as to seal herds and other 
revenue producing animals in Alaska but this jurisdiction was changed in 
the 68th Congress to the former Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries (VII, 1725, 1851). As exemplified by sequential referrals in 
the 96th Congress, the Committee has jurisdiction of reported bills 
creating major oilspill and hazardous waste 

  The Committee has jurisdiction over subjects relating to the Treasury 
of the United States and the deposit of the public moneys (IV, 4028), 
but it failed to make good a claim to the subjects of ``national 
finances'' and ``preservation of the Government credit'' (IV, 4023). The 
Committee has jurisdiction over bills providing tax incentives for 
persons investing in Indian property (Feb. 1, 1964, p. 1582), providing 
unemployment compensation to individuals with military or Federal 
service (Apr. 28, 1976, p. 11590), providing extended and increased 
unemployment compensation (Apr. 16, 1975, p. 10346), and over private 
bills waiving provisions of the Tariff Act to require reliquidation of 
certain imported materials as duty-free (July 13, 1982, p. 16014). The 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and not this Committee, 
has jurisdiction over a bill to designate a customs administrative 
building (Dec. 12, 1995, p. ----).

  The Committee has exercised jurisdiction, with the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce (now Commerce), over 
executive communications reporting on inpatient hospital services under 
title XVIII (medicare) and under title XIX (medicaid) of the Social 
Security Act (Dec. 21, 1982, p. 33261); with the Committee on Public 
Works and Transportation (now Transportation and Infrastructure) over 
executive communications proposing draft legislation reauthorizing the 
Surface Transportation Act but also containing a revenue title raising 
taxes to fund surface transportation programs (Mar. 20, 1986, p. 5804); 
with the former Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries (succeeded by 
the Committee on Resources) over a bill amending the Fishermen's 
Protective Act to authorize the President to prohibit the importation of 
any product from a country violating an international fishery 
conservation program (Mar. 21, 1989, p. 5077); and with three other 
committees over a bill imposing certain international economic sanctions 
including tariffs (May 27, 1992, p. ----).

  The Committee in the earlier practice reported resolutions 
distributing the President's annual message (IV, 4030), but since the 
first session of the 64th Congress this practice has been discontinued 
(VIII, 3350).


  The general oversight responsibility set forth in clause 2(b) was 
assigned to the Committee by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, 
effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470).


                   General Oversight Responsibilities



[[Page 425]]

  2. (a) In order to assist the House in--



Sec. 692a. General oversight.

      (1)  its analysis, 
appraisal, and evaluation of (A) the application, administration, 
execution, and effectiveness of the laws enacted by the Congress, or (B) 
conditions and circumstances which may indicate the necessity or 
desirability of enacting new or additional legislation, and


      (2) its formulation, consideration, and enactment of such 
modifications of or changes in those laws, and of such additional 
legislation, as may be necessary or appropriate,
the various standing committees shall have oversight responsibilities as 
provided in paragraph (b).


[[Page 426]]

jurisdiction of that committee (whether or not any bill or resolution 
has been introduced with respect thereto), and shall on a continuing 
basis undertake futures research and forecasting on matters within the 
jurisdiction of that committee. Each such committee <> having more than twenty members shall 
establish an oversight subcommittee, or require its subcommittees, if 
any, to conduct oversight in the area of their respective jurisdiction, 
to assist in carrying out its responsibilities under this subparagraph. 
The establishment of oversight subcommittees shall in no way limit the 
responsibility of the subcommittees with legislative jurisdiction from 
carrying out their oversight responsibilities.
  (b)(1) Each standing committee (other than the Committee on 
Appropriations and the Committee on the Budget) shall review and study, 
on a continuing basis, the application, administration, execution, and 
effectiveness of those laws or parts of laws, the subject matter of 
which is within the jurisdiction of that committee and the organization 
and operation of the Federal agencies and entities having 
responsibilities in or for the administration and execution thereof, in 
order to determine whether such laws and the programs thereunder are 
being implemented and carried out in accordance with the intent of the 
Congress and whether such programs should be continued, curtailed, or 
eliminated. In addition, each such committee shall review and study any 
conditions or circumstances which may indicate the necessity or 
desirability of enacting new or additional legislation within the 

  (2) The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight shall review and 
study, on a continuing basis, the operation of Government activities at 
all levels with a view to determining their economy and efficiency.

  (3) The Committee on Appropriations shall conduct such studies and 
examinations of the organization and operation of executive departments 
and other executive agencies (including any agency the majority of the 
stock of which is owned by the Government of the United States) as it 
may deem necessary to assist it in the determination of matters within 
its jurisdiction.


[[Page 427]]

impact of tax policies affecting subjects within its jurisdiction as 
described in clauses 1 and 3.
  (c) Each standing committee of the House shall have the function of 
reviewing and studying on a continuing basis the impact or probable 

  (d)(1) Not later than February 15 of the first session of a Congress, 
each standing committee of the House shall, in a meeting that is open to 
the public and with a quorum present, adopt its oversight plans for that 
Congress. Such plans shall be submitted simultaneously to the Committee 
on Government Reform and Oversight and to the Committee on House 
Oversight. In developing such plans each committee shall, to the maximum 
extent feasible

          (A) consult with other committees of the House that have 
jurisdiction over the same or related laws, programs, or agencies within 
its jurisdiction, with the objective of ensuring that such laws, 
programs, or agencies are reviewed in the same Congress and that there 
is a maximum of coordination between such committees in the conduct of 
such reviews; and such plans shall include an explanation of what steps 
have been and will be taken to ensure such coordination and cooperation;

          (B) give priority consideration to including in its plans the 
review of those laws, programs, or agencies operating under permanent 
budget authority or permanent statutory authority; and


[[Page 428]]

          (C) have a view toward ensuring that all significant laws, 
programs, or agencies within its jurisdictions are subject to review at 
least once every ten years.

  (2) It shall not be in order to consider any committee expense 
resolution (within the meaning of clause 5 of rule XI), or any amendment 
thereto, for any committee that has not submitted its oversight plans as 
required by this paragraph.

  (3) Not later than March 31 in the first session of a Congress, after 
consultation with the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority 
Leader, the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight shall report to 
the House the oversight plans submitted by each committee together with 
any recommendations that it, or the House leadership group referred to 
above, may make to ensure the most effective coordination of such plans 
and otherwise achieve the objectives of this clause.


  (e) The Speaker, with the approval of the House, may appoint special 
ad hoc oversight committees for the purpose of reviewing specific 
matters within the jurisdiction of two or more standing committees.


[[Page 429]]

porated into the 
rule, and on January 14, 1975 (H. Res. 5, 94th Cong., p. 20), the size 
of those standing committees required by clause 2(b)(1) to establish an 
oversight subcommittee or to require its subcommittees to conduct 
oversight was increased from 15 to more than 20. In the 100th Congress, 
the requirement that representatives from the Committee on Government 
Operations meet with other committees at the beginning of each Congress 
to discuss oversight plans and that the Government Operations Committee 
report to the House its oversight coordination recommendations within 
sixty days after convening of the first session was deleted (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 6, 1987, p. 6). The 104th Congress added paragraph (d) to require 
that each standing committee adopt by February 15 of the first session 
of a Congress its oversight plans for that Congress, such plans to be 
submitted to the Committees on Government Reform and Oversight and House 
Oversight. The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight is required 
to report such plans to the House by March 31, with recommendations to 
ensure coordination among committees. Consideration of funding for each 
committee is contingent on submission of its oversight plans to the 
committees specified under paragraph (d)(1). The 104th Congress also 
added paragraph (e) to authorize the Speaker to appoint special, ad hoc 
oversight committees to review matters within the jurisdiction of more 
than one standing committee (sec. 203(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. --
--).

  Clause 2(a), and the first requirement of clause 2(b)(1) that each 
standing committee shall review the application, etc. of all laws within 
its jurisdiction, was originally contained in section 118(b) of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and was made part 
of the standing rules on January 22, 1971 (H. Res. 5, p. 144). The 
oversight authority conferred by clause 2(b)(2) on the Committee on 
Government Operations (now Government Reform and Oversight) was first 
made effective as part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 
Stat. 812), and the responsibility of the Committee on Appropriations 
set forth in clause 2(b)(3) was first given that committee on February 
11, 1943, p. 884, continued by resolution of January 9, 1945, p. 135, 
and incorporated into permanent law in section 202(b) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946, and made a part of the standing rules on 
Jan. 3, 1953 (pp. 17, 24). Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), the general oversight responsibilities 
set forth in the remainder of the clause were incor-


                       Special Oversight Functions



Sec. 693. Special oversight.

  3.  (a) The Committee on 
National Security shall have the function of reviewing and studying, on 
a continuing basis, all laws, programs, and Government activities 
dealing with or involving international arms control and disarmament and 
the education of military dependents in schools.


  (b) The Committee on the Budget shall have the function of--


[[Page 430]]

      (1) making continuing studies of the effect on budget outlays of 
relevant existing and proposed legislation, and reporting the results of 
such studies to the House on a recurring basis; and

      (2) requesting and evaluating continuing studies of tax 
expenditures, devising methods of coordinating tax expenditures, 
policies, and programs with direct budget outlays, and reporting the 
results of such studies to the House on a recurring basis.

  (c) The Committee on Education and the Workforce shall have the 
function of reviewing, studying, and coordinating, on a continuing 
basis, all laws, programs, and Government activities dealing with or 
involving domestic educational programs and institutions, and programs 
of student assistance, which are within the jurisdiction of other 
committees.

  (d) The Committee on International Relations shall have the function 
of reviewing and studying, on a continuing basis, all laws, programs, 
and Government activities dealing with or involving customs 
administration, intelligence activities relating to foreign policy, 
international financial and monetary organizations, and international 
fishing agreements.

  (e) The Committee on Resources shall have the function of reviewing 
and studying, on a continuing basis, all laws, programs, and Government 
activities dealing with Indians.

  (f) The Committee on Science shall have the function of reviewing and 
studying, on a continuing basis, all laws, programs, and Government 
activities dealing with or involving nonmilitary research and 
development.


[[Page 431]]

on a continuing basis, the problems of all 
types of small business.
  (g) The Committee on Small Business shall have the function of 
studying and investigating, 

  (h) The Committee on Commerce shall have the function of reviewing and 
studying, on a continuing basis, all laws, programs and Government 
activities relating to nuclear and other energy, and nonmilitary nuclear 
energy and research and development including the disposal of nuclear 
waste.


  (i) The Committee on Rules shall have the function of reviewing and 
studying, on a continuing basis, the congressional budget process, and 
the committee shall, from time to time, report its findings and 
recommendations to the House.


[[Page 432]]

vide that the Speaker, 
the Majority and Minority Leaders, and the chairman and ranking minority 
member of the Committee on House Administration be informed of tie votes 
in that subcommittee (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----), but paragraph 
(j) was deleted entirely in the 104th Congress (sec. 201(d), H. Res. 6, 
Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). The names of the committees addressed in 
paragraphs (a), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (h) were changed at the 
beginning of the 104th Congress (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----). Later in the 104th Congress conforming amendments to 
paragraphs (e) and (h) were adopted to reflect the transfer of 
jurisdiction over nonmilitary nuclear energy from the Committee on 
Resources to the Committee on Commerce (H. Res. 254, Nov. 30, 1995, p. 
----). In the 105th Congress paragraph (c) was amended to reflect a 
further committee name change (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----).

  The special oversight responsibilities of the Committee on the Budget 
set forth in clause 3(b) were made part of the rules effective July 12, 
1974 by section 101(c) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 
300). The remainder of the clause became effective January 3, 1975 (H. 
Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470) except that paragraph (h) 
was added on January 4, 1977, upon the abolition of the legislative 
jurisdiction in the House of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (H. 
Res. 5, 95th Cong., pp. 53-70) and the name of the Committee on 
International Relations was changed back to Foreign Affairs (H. Res. 89, 
Feb. 5, 1979, pp. 1848-49). Paragraph (e) was amended in the 103d 
Congress to reflect the change from Interior and Insular Affairs to 
Natural Resources (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----). Paragraph (h) was 
amended in the 96th Congress to change the name of the Committee on 
Interstate and Foreign Commerce to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
and to expand that committee's special oversight responsibilities over 
nuclear energy to all energy programs (H. Res. 549, Mar. 25, 1980, pp. 
6405-10) effective January 3, 1981. Paragraph (i) was added by section 
226 of P.L. 99-177, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 
Act of 1985 (Dec. 12, 1985). A paragraph (j) was added by section 9 of 
the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, Apr. 9, 
1992, p. ----) to establish a bipartisan Subcommittee on Administrative 
Oversight of the Committee on House Administration, to be chaired by the 
chairman of the Committee on House Administration and to be composed of 
members of the Committee on House Administration, one-half from the 
majority party and one-half from the minority party, and paragraph 
(j)(3) was rewritten in the 103d Congress to pro-


                   Additional Functions of Committees



Sec. 694a. Committee on Appropriations; budget 
hearings.

  4.  (a)(1)(A) The Committee on Appropriations shall, within 
thirty days after the transmittal of the Budget to the Congress each 
year, hold hearings on the Budget as a whole with particular reference 
to--


              (i) the basic recommendations and budgetary policies of 
the President in the presentation of the Budget; and

              (ii) the fiscal, financial, and economic assumptions used 
as bases in arriving at total estimated expenditures and receipts.

          (B) In holding hearings pursuant to subdivision (A), the 
committee shall receive testimony from the Secretary of the Treasury, 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chairman of the 
Council of Economic Advisers, and such other persons as the committee 
may desire.


[[Page 433]]

when the committee, in open 
session and with a quorum present, determines by rollcall vote that the 
testimony to be taken at that hearing on that day may be related to a 
matter of national security: Provided, however, That the committee may 
by the same procedure close one subsequent day of hearing. A transcript 
of all such hearings shall be printed and a copy thereof furnished to 
each Member, Delegate, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.


Sec. 694b. Procedure for budget 
hearings.

          (C)  Hearings pursuant to subdivision (A), or any part thereof, 
shall be held in open session, except 



          (D) Hearings pursuant to subdivision (A), or any part thereof, 
may be held before joint meetings of the committee and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate in accordance with such procedures as the 
two committees jointly may determine.


  This part of clause 4 was originally contained in section 242(c)(1) of 
the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 and was made part of the 
standing rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). 
Paragraph (a)(1)(C), requiring open hearings, was first adopted in the 
93d Congress (H. Res. 259, Mar. 7, 1973, pp. 6713-20), and was amended 
in the 94th Congress to limit the effect of a vote to close a hearing to 
that day and one subsequent day (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20).


[[Page 434]]

in clause 4(h) in connection with the most recently agreed to 
concurrent resolution on the budget for such fiscal year, such bill or 
resolution shall then be referred to the Committee on Appropriations 
with instructions to report it, with the committee's recommendations and 
(if the committee deems it desirable) with an amendment limiting the 
total amount of new entitlement authority provided in the bill or 
resolution, within 15 calendar days (not counting any day on which the 
House is not in session) beginning with the day following the day on 
which it is so referred. If the Committee on Appropriations fails to 
report the bill or resolution within such 15-day period, the committee 
shall be automatically discharged from further consideration of the bill 
or resolution and the bill or resolution shall be placed on the 
appropriate calendar.


Sec. 694c. Budget Act; 15day referral to 
Appropriations.

     (2)  Whenever any bill or resolution which provides new 
entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 is reported by a committee of the House and the 
amount of new budget authority which will be required for the fiscal 
year involved if such bill or resolution is enacted as so reported 
exceeds the appropriate allocation of new budget authority reported as 
described 



      (3) In addition, the Committee on Appropriations shall study on a 
continuing basis those provisions of law which (on the first day of the 
first fiscal year for which the congressional budget process is 
effective) provide spending authority or permanent budget authority and 
shall report to the House from time to time its recommendations for 
terminating or modifying such provisions.


[[Page 435]]

January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Subparagraph (2) was amended in the 
105th Congress to reflect the repeal of the collective definition of 
``new spending authority'' and the revision of various remaining parts 
(Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (sec. 10116, P.L. 105-33)).

  Subparagraph (2) first became effective on July 12, 1974 by inclusion 
in section 401(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 
317), was incorporated into the rules effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 
988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), and was amended in the 95th 
Congress to correct an error in cross-reference (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 
1977, pp. 53-70). Subparagraph (3) was also contained in the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 in section 402(f), and was likewise 
incorporated into the rules effective 



Sec. 695. Budget.

  (b)  The Committee on the Budget shall have 
the duty--


      (1) to review on a continuing basis the conduct by the 
Congressional Budget Office of its functions and duties;

      (2) to hold hearings, and receive testimony from Members of 
Congress and such appropriate representatives of Federal departments and 
agencies, the general public, and national organizations as it deems 
desirable, in developing the concurrent resolutions on the budget for 
each fiscal year;

      (3) to make all reports required of it by the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, including the reporting of reconciliation bills and 
resolutions when so required;

      (4) to study on a continuing basis those provisions of law which 
exempt Federal agencies or any of their activities or outlays from 
inclusion in the Budget of the United States Government, and to report 
to the House from time to time its recommendations for terminating or 
modifying such provisions; and


[[Page 436]]

      (5) to study on a continuing basis proposals designed to improve 
and facilitate methods of congressional budget-making, and to report to 
the House from time to time the results of such study together with its 
recommendations.



  Paragraph (b)(1) became a part of the rules on July 12, 1974 by 
enactment of section 101(c) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 
Stat. 300). Subparagraph (2), contained in section 301(d) of that Act, 
subparagraph (3), subparagraph (4), contained in section 606 of that 
Act, and subparagraph (5), contained in section 703 of that Act, all 
were made part of the rules effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Paragraph (b)(2) was amended in the 99th 
Congress by section 232 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, Dec. 12, 1985) to remove reference to 
the first concurrent resolution on the budget.



Sec. 696. Government Reform and Oversight.

  (c)(1)  The 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight shall have the general 
function of--


          (A) receiving and examining reports of the Comptroller General 
of the United States and of submitting such recommendations to the House 
as it deems necessary or desirable in connection with the subject matter 
of such reports;

          (B) evaluating the effects of laws enacted to reorganize the 
legislative and executive branches of the Government; and

          (C) studying intergovernmental relationships between the 
United States and the States and municipalities, and between the United 
States and international organizations of which the United States is a 
member.


[[Page 437]]

committee's findings and 
recommendations in any such investigation shall be made available to the 
other standing committee or committees having jurisdiction over the 
matter involved (and included in the report of any such other committee 
when required by clause 2(l)(3) of rule XI).

      (2) In addition to its duties under subparagraph (1), the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight may at any time conduct 
investigations of any matter without regard to the provisions of clause 
1, 2, or 3 (or this clause) conferring jurisdiction over such matter 
upon another standing committee. The 


<>   (d)(1) The Committee on House 
Oversight shall have the function of--
  Paragraph (c)(1) became effective January 2, 1947 as part of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812). Paragraph (c)(2) 
was made a function of the Committee on Government Operations (now 
Government Reform and Oversight) effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 
93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The Committee was renamed in the 
104th Congress (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).



Sec. 697b. Enrolled 
bills.

  (A) examining all bills, amendments, and joint resolutions after 
passage by the House and, in cooperation with the Senate, examining all 
bills and joint resolutions which shall have passed both Houses to see 
that they are correctly enrolled,  forthwith presenting those which originated in the House to the 
President of the United States in person after their signature by the 
Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate and reporting the 
fact and date of such presentation to the House;




Sec. 697c. Direction of officers.

  (B)  providing policy 
direction for, and oversight of, the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief 
Administrative Officer, and Inspector General; and



[[Page 438]]

tion, or is not made dependent upon some future 
performance by the House of Representatives and promulgating regulations 
to carry out this paragraph.


Sec. 697d. Acceptance of gifts.

  (C) accepting  a gift, other 
than as otherwise provided by law, if the gift does not involve any 
duty, burden, or condi-





Sec. 697e. Approval of certain settlements.

  (2) An  employing 
office of the House of Representatives may enter a settlement of a 
complaint under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 that 
provides for the payment of funds only after receiving the joint 
approval of the chairman and the ranking minority party member of the 
Committee on House Oversight concerning the amount of such payment.



[[Page 439]]

establishment or continuation of any legislative service 
organization (as that term had been understood in the 103d Congress) and 
directed the Committee on House Oversight to take such steps as were 
necessary to ensure an orderly termination and accounting for funds of 
any legislative service organization in existence on January 3, 1995 
(sec. 222, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

  The requirements set forth in paragraph (d)(1) were originally the 
responsibility of the Committee on Enrolled Bills created in 1789 (IV, 
4350), and became the responsibility of the Committee on House 
Administration (now House Oversight) when that Committee was created 
effective January 2, 1947 as part of the Legislative Reorganization Act 
of 1946 (60 Stat. 812). The Committee's duty to arrange for memorial 
services of Members was eliminated from the rules effective January 3, 
1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), when paragraph 
(d)(3) required the Committee to provide a committee scheduling service. 
The use of that service, provided through House Information Resources, 
was made mandatory on all committees and subcommittees in the 97th 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113), but the requirement was 
stricken altogether when two provisions were added by section 10 of the 
House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, 102d Cong., 
Apr. 9, 1992, p. ----) to ensure the orderly transfer of functions and 
entities from elected officers to the Director of Non-legislative and 
Financial Services and to provide for policy direction and oversight of 
both administrative officials and elected officers. In the 104th 
Congress the rule was amended (1) to reflect the change in the name of 
the Committee on House Administration to the Committee on House 
Oversight and (2) to reflect the abolishment of the Director of Non-
legislative and Financial Services (sec. 201, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----). Later in the 104th Congress the provision for the acceptance 
of gifts was added as paragraph (d)(3) (H. Res. 250, Nov. 16, 1995, p. 
----). In the 105th Congress paragraph (d) was redesignated as (d)(1), 
its former subparagraphs (1) through (3) were redesignated as (1)(A) 
through (1)(C), and a new paragraph (d)(2) was added to require approval 
by the Committee for monetary settlements of certain employment claims 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). The 104th Congress also prohibited the 


[[Page 440]]

tive vote of two-thirds of the members of 
the committee, any substantial evidence of a violation, by a Member, 
officer, or employee of the House, of any law applicable to the 
performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, 
which may have been disclosed in a committee investigation; (D) to give 
consideration to the request of any Member, officer, or employee of the 
House for an advisory opinion with respect to the general propriety of 
any current or proposed conduct of such Member, officer, or employee 
and, with appropriate deletions to assure the privacy of the individual 
concerned, to publish such opinion for the guidance of other Members, 
officers, and employees of the House; and (E) to give consideration to 
the request of any Member, officer, or employee of the House for a 
written waiver in exceptional circumstances with respect to clause 4 of 
rule XLIII.


Sec. 698. 
Standards of Official Conduct; additional duties.

  (e)(1) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is authorized: 
(A) to recommend to the House from time to time such  administrative 
actions as it may deem appropriate to establish or enforce standards of 
official conduct for Members, officers, and employees of the House, and 
any letter of reproval or other administrative action of the committee 
pursuant to an investigation under subdivision (B) shall only be issued 
or implemented as a part of a report required by such subdivision; (B) 
to investigate, subject to subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, any 
alleged violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, of 
the Code of Official Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation, or other 
standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, 
or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his 
responsibilities, and after notice and hearing (unless the right to a 
hearing is waived by the Member, officer, or employee), shall report to 
the House its findings of fact and recommendations, if any, upon the 
final disposition of any such investigation, and such action as the 
committee may deem appropriate in the circumstances; (C) to report to 
the appropriate Federal or State authorities, either with the approval 
of the House or by an affirma-


  (2)(A)(i) No resolution, report, recommendation, or advisory opinion 
relating to the official conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of 
the House shall be made by the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct, and, except as provided by subdivision (ii), no investigation 
of such conduct shall be undertaken by such committee, unless approved 
by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee.


[[Page 441]]

members to serve as an investigative subcommittee.
  (ii)(I) Upon the receipt of information offered as a complaint that is 
in compliance with this rule and the committee rules, the chairman and 
ranking minority member may jointly appoint 

  (II) The chairman and ranking minority member of the committee may 
jointly gather additional information concerning alleged conduct which 
is the basis of a complaint or of information offered as a complaint 
until they have established an investigative subcommittee or the 
chairman or ranking minority member has placed on the committee agenda 
the issue of whether to establish an investigative subcommittee.

  (B) Except in the case of an investigation undertaken by the committee 
on its own initiative, the committee may undertake an investigation 
relating to the official conduct of an individual Member, officer, or 
employee of the House of Representatives only--

          (i) upon receipt of information offered as a complaint, in 
writing and under oath, made by a Member of the House and transmitted to 
the committee by such Member, or


[[Page 442]]

then the chairman and ranking minority member shall jointly establish an 
investigative subcommittee and forward the complaint, or any portion 
thereof, to that subcommittee for its consideration. However, if, at any 
time during those periods, either the chairman or ranking minority 
member places on the agenda the issue of whether to establish an 
investigative subcommittee, then an investigative subcommittee may be 
established only by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of 
the committee.
          (ii) upon receipt of information offered as a complaint, in 
writing and under oath, from an individual not a Member of the House 
provided that a Member of the House certifies in writing to the 
committee that he or she believes the information is submitted in good 
faith and warrants the review and consideration of the committee.
If a complaint is not disposed of within the applicable time periods set 
forth in the rules of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, 

  (C) No investigation shall be undertaken by the committee of any 
alleged violation of a law, rule, regulation, or standard of conduct not 
in effect at the time of the alleged violation; nor shall any 
investigation be undertaken by the committee of any alleged violation 
which occurred before the third previous Congress unless the committee 
determines that the alleged violation is directly related to any alleged 
violation which occurred in a more recent Congress.


[[Page 443]]

  (D) A member of the committee shall be ineligible to participate, as a 
member of the committee, in any committee proceeding relating to his or 
her official conduct. In any case in which a member of the committee is 
ineligible to act as a member of the committee under the preceding 
sentence, the Speaker of the House shall designate a Member of the House 
from the same political party as the ineligible member of the committee 
to act as a member of the committee in any committee proceeding relating 
to the official conduct of such ineligible member.

  (E) A member of the committee may disqualify himself from 
participating in any investigation of the conduct of a Member, officer, 
or employee of the House upon the submission in writing and under oath 
of an affidavit of disqualification stating that he cannot render an 
impartial and unbiased decision in the case in which he seeks to 
disqualify himself. If the committee approves and accepts such affidavit 
of disqualification, the chairman shall so notify the Speaker and 
request the Speaker to designate a Member of the House from the same 
political party as the disqualifying member of the committee to act as a 
member of the committee in any committee proceeding relating to such 
investigation.

  (F) No information or testimony received, or the contents of a 
complaint or the fact of its filing, shall be publicly disclosed by any 
Committee or staff member unless specifically authorized in each 
instance by a vote of the full Committee.

  (3)(A) Notwithstanding clause 2(g)(1) of rule XI, each meeting of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or any subcommittee thereof 
shall occur in executive session, unless the committee or subcommittee 
by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members opens the meeting to 
the public.


[[Page 444]]

mittee, in open session by an affirmative vote of a 
majority of its members, closes all or part of the remainder of the 
hearing on that day to the public.
  (B) Notwithstanding clause 2(g)(2) of rule XI, hearings of an 
adjudicatory subcommittee or sanction hearings held by the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct shall be held in open session unless the 
subcommittee or com-

  (4) Before any member, officer, or employee of the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct, including members of any subcommittee of 
the committee selected pursuant to clause 6(a)(3) and shared staff, may 
have access to information that is confidential under the rules of the 
committee, the following oath (or affirmation) shall be executed:

        ``I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will not disclose, to 
any person or entity outside the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct, any information received in the course of my service with the 
committee, except as authorized by the committee or in accordance with 
its rules.''
Copies of the executed oath shall be retained by the Clerk of the House 
as part of the records of the House. This subparagraph establishes a 
standard of conduct within the meaning of subparagraph (1)(B). Breaches 
of confidentiality shall be investigated by the Committee on Standards 
of Official Conduct and appropriate action shall be taken.


[[Page 445]]

firmative vote of a majority of its members, deems 
appropriate in the circumstances.
  (5)(A) If a complaint or information offered as a complaint is deemed 
frivolous by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the committee may take such 
action as it, by an af-


  (B) Complaints filed before the One Hundred Fifth Congress may not be 
deemed frivolous by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

  The investigative authority contained in paragraph (e) was first 
conferred upon the Committee in the 90th Congress (H. Res. 1099, Apr. 3, 
1968, p. 8802). Effective January 3, 1975, the former requirement in 
paragraph (e)(2)(A) that seven committee members must authorize an 
investigation was changed to permit a majority of the Committee to 
provide that authorization (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470). Paragraph (e)(2)(A) was further amended in the 105th Congress to 
permit the chairman and ranking minority member, with respect to a 
properly filed complaint, to gather additional information or to 
establish an investigative subcommittee (sec. 11, H. Res. 168, Sept. 18, 
1997, p. ----). Paragraph (e)(2)(E) was added in the 95th Congress (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), to provide a mechanism for a committee 
member to disqualify himself from participating in an investigation, and 
paragraph (e)(2)(F) was added in the 96th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 
1979, p. 8).

  Clause 4(e) was amended in several particulars by the Ethics Reform 
Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-194): (1) paragraph (e)(1)(A) was amended to 
enable a letter of reproval or other administrative action of the 
Committee to be implemented as part of a report to the House, with no 
action required of the House; (2) subparagraph (1)(B) was amended to 
require the Committee to report to the House its findings of fact and 
any recommendations respecting the final disposition of a matter in 
which it votes to undertake an investigation; (3) a new subparagraph 
(1)(E) was added to empower the Committee to consider requests that the 
rule restricting the acceptance of gifts be waived in exceptional 
circumstances; and (4) subparagraph (2)(C) was amended to set a general 
limitation on actions for committee consideration of ethics matters.

  In the beginning of the 105th Congress a new subparagraph (3) was 
added at the end of clause 4(e) 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. ----). The 
current form of subparagraph (3) was adopted later in the 105th Congress 
(sec. 5, H. Res. 168, Sept. 18, 1997, p. ----).


[[Page 446]]

filing of complaints by non-Members (sec. 11, H. Res. 
168, Sept. 18, 1997, p. ----); and (3) paragraph (e)(1)(C) was amended 
to permit the Committee to report to the appropriate authorities 
substantial evidence of a violation of law by an affirmative vote of 
two-thirds of the members of the Committee (sec. 18, H. Res. 168, Sept. 
18, 1997, p. ----).
  Additional amendments to paragraph (e) were adopted in the 105th 
Congress as follows: (1) subparagraphs (4) and (5) were adopted (sec. 6 
and sec. 19, H. Res. 168, Sept. 18, 1997, p. ----); (2) paragraph 
(e)(2)(B) was amended to address the disposition of a complaint after 
expiration of periods set forth in the Committee rules and to specify 
parameters for the 


  The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-194) contains free-standing 
provisions requiring: (1) that the respective party caucuses nominate 
seven majority and seven minority members [although in the 104th 
Congress only five returning majority and five returning minority 
members were initially elected (H. Res. 41, H. Res. 42, Jan. 20, 1995, 
p. ----), and in the 105th Congress only the chairman and ranking 
minority member were elected initially pending recommendations by a 12-
member bipartisan task force informally appointed by the Majority and 
Minority Leaders to conduct a comprehensive review of the House ethics 
process (H. Res. 12, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----; H. Res. 44, Feb. 10, 1997, 
p. ----)]; (2) that the Committee adopt rules establishing investigative 
and adjudicative subcommittees; and (3) that the Committee adopt rules 
establishing an Office on Advice and Education (see sec. 803(b), (c), 
(d), and (i), P.L. 101-194, 2 U.S.C. 29d). The texts of those provisions 
are set forth below. Section 803(b), (c), and (d) should be read in 
light of H. Res. 168, adopted in the 105th Congress and described later 
in this annotation.


 ``Sec. 803. Reforms Respecting the Committee on Standards of Official 
                               __________


                               Conduct.--


                                  * * *


  ``(b) committee composition.--The respective party caucus or 
conference of the House of Representatives shall each nominate to the 
House of Representatives at the beginning of each Congress 7 members to 
serve on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

  ``(c) investigative subcommittees.--The Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct shall adopt rules providing--

          ``(1) for the establishment of a 4 or 6-member investigative 

        subcommittee (with equal representation from the majority and 

        minority parties) whenever the committee votes to undertake any 

        investigation;

          ``(2) that the senior majority and minority members on an 

        investigative subcommittee shall serve as the chairman and 

        ranking minority member of the subcommittee; and

          ``(3) that the chairman and ranking minority member of the 

        full committee may only serve as non-voting, ex officio members 


[[Page 447]]

        on an investigative subcommittee.
``Clause 5(d) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
shall not apply to any investigative subcommittee.

  ``(d) adjudicatory subcommittees.--The Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct shall adopt rules providing--

          ``(1) that upon the completion of an investigation, an 

        investigative subcommittee shall report its findings and 

        recommendations to the committee;

          ``(2) that, if an investigative subcommittee by majority vote 

        of its membership adopts a statement of alleged violation, the 

        remaining members of the committee shall comprise an 

        adjudicatory subcommittee to hold a disciplinary hearing on the 

        violation alleged in the statement;

          ``(3) that any statement of alleged violation and any written 

        response thereto shall be made public at the first meeting or 

        hearing on the matter which is open to the public after the 

        respondent has been given full opportunity to respond to the 

        statement in accordance with committee rules, but, if no public 

        hearing or meeting is held on the matter, the statement of 

        alleged violation and any written response thereto shall be 

        included in the committee's final report to the House of 

        Representatives as required by clause 4(e)(1)(B) of rule X of 

        the Rules of the House of Representatives;

          ``(4) that a quorum for an adjudicatory subcommittee for the 

        purpose of taking testimony and conducting any business shall 

        consist of a majority of the membership of the subcommittee plus 

        one; and

          ``(5) that an adjudicatory subcommittee shall determine, after 

        receiving evidence, whether the counts in the statement have 


        been proved and shall report its findings to the committee.
``Clause 5(d) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
shall not apply to any adjudicatory subcommittee.


                                  * * *

  ``(i) advice and education.--(1) The Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct shall establish within the Committee an Office on 
Advice and Education (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the 
`Office') under the supervision of the chairman.

          ``(2) The Office shall be headed by a director who shall be 

        appointed by the chairman, in consultation with the ranking 

        minority member, and shall be comprised of such staff as the 

        chairman determines is necessary to carry out the 

        responsibilities of the Office.

          ``(3) The primary responsibilities of the Office shall 

        include:

                  ``(A) Providing information and guidance to Members, 

                officers and employees of the House regarding any laws, 

                rules, regulations, and other standards of conduct 

                applicable to such individuals in their official 

                capacities, and any interpretations and advisory 

                opinions of the committee.

                  ``(B) Submitting to the chairman and ranking minority 

                member of the committee any written request from any 

                such Member, officer or employee for an interpretation 


[[Page 448]]

                of applicable laws, 

                rules, regulations, or other standards of conduct, together 

                with any recommendations thereon.

                  ``(C) Recommending to the committee for its 

                consideration formal advisory opinions of general 

                applicability.

                  ``(D) Developing and carrying out, subject to the 

                approval of the chairman, periodic educational briefings 

                for Members, officers and employees of the House on 

                those laws, rules, regulations, or other standards of 

                conduct applicable to them.

          ``(4) No information provided to the Committee on Standards of 

        Official Conduct by a Member, officer or employee of the House 

        of Representatives when seeking advice regarding prospective 

        conduct of such Member, officer or employee may be used as the 

        basis for initiating an investigation under clause 4(e)(1)(B) of 

        rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, if such 

        Member, officer or employee acts in accordance with the written 


        advice of the committee.''.


                               __________


  In the 105th Congress a 12-member bipartisan task force was informally 
appointed by the Majority and Minority Leaders to conduct a 
comprehensive review of the House ethics process. At the same time an 
order of the House was adopted imposing a moratorium on filing or 
processing ethics complaints and on raising certain questions of 
privilege under rule IX with respect to official conduct. The moratorium 
was imposed in the expectation that the recommendations of the task 
force would include changes relating to the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct and the process by which the House enforces standards 
of official conduct (Feb. 12, 1997, p. ----). The moratorium was 
extended through September 10, 1997 (July 30, 1997, p. ----). On 
September 18, 1997, the House adopted the recommendations of the task 
force with certain amendments (H. Res. 168, 105th Cong., p. ----), which 
included not only changes to the standing rules of the House but also 
free-standing directives to the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct. The texts of those free-standing provisions are set forth 
below.


                               __________


                              ``H. Res. 168


``SEC. 3. COMMITTEE AGENDAS.
                                  * * *


``SEC. 4. COMMITTEE STAFF.
  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules 
providing that the chairman shall establish the agenda for meetings of 
the committee, but shall not preclude the ranking minority member from 
placing any item on the agenda.


[[Page 449]]

  ``(a) Committee Rules.--The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
shall adopt rules providing that:

          ``(1)(A) The staff is to be assembled and retained as a 

        professional, nonpartisan staff.

          ``(B) Each member of the staff shall be professional and 

        demonstrably qualified for the position for which he is hired.

          ``(C) The staff as a whole and each member of the staff shall 

        perform all official duties in a nonpartisan manner.

          ``(D) No member of the staff shall engage in any partisan 

        political activity directly affecting any congressional or 

        presidential election.

          ``(E) No member of the staff or outside counsel may accept 

        public speaking engagements or write for publication on any 

        subject that is in any way related to his or her employment or 

        duties with the committee without specific prior approval from 

        the chairman and ranking minority member.

          ``(F) No member of the staff or outside counsel may make 

        public, unless approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of 

        the members of the committee, any information, document, or 

        other material that is confidential, derived from executive 

        session, or classified and that is obtained during the course of 

        employment with the committee.

          ``(2)(A) All staff members shall be appointed by an 

        affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee. 

        Such vote shall occur at the first meeting of the membership of 

        the committee during each Congress and as necessary during the 

        Congress.

          ``(B) Subject to the approval of Committee on House Oversight, 

        the committee may retain counsel not employed by the House of 

        Representatives whenever the committee determines, by an 

        affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee, 

        that the retention of outside counsel is necessary and 

        appropriate.

          ``(C) If the committee determines that it is necessary to 

        retain staff members for the purpose of a particular 

        investigation or other proceeding, then such staff shall be 

        retained only for the duration of that particular investigation 

        or proceeding.

          ``(3) Outside counsel may be dismissed prior to the end of a 

        contract between the committee and such counsel only by an 

        affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee.

          ``(4) Only subparagraphs (C), (E), and (F) of paragraph (1) 

        shall apply to shared staff.


``SEC. 5. MEETINGS AND HEARINGS.

  ``(b) Additional Committee Staff.--In addition to any other staff 
provided for by law, rule, or other authority, with respect to the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the chairman and ranking 
minority member each may appoint one individual as a shared staff member 
from his or her personal staff to perform service for the committee. 
Such shared staff may assist the chairman or ranking minority member on 
any subcommittee on which he serves.


[[Page 450]]

                                  * * *

  ``(b) Committee Rules.--The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
shall adopt rules providing that--

          ``(1) all meetings of the committee or any subcommittee 

        thereof shall occur in executive session unless the committee or 

        subcommittee by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members 

        opens the meeting or hearing to the public; and

          ``(2) any hearing held by an adjudicatory subcommittee or any 

        sanction hearing held by the committee shall be open to the 

        public unless the committee or subcommittee by an affirmative 

        vote of a majority of its members closes the hearing to the 


        public.


``SEC. 7. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.
                                  * * *


  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules 
providing that, unless otherwise determined by a vote of the committee, 
only the chairman or ranking minority member, after consultation with 
each other, may make public statements regarding matters before the 
committee or any subcommittee thereof.


``SEC. 10. REQUIREMENTS TO CONSTITUTE A COMPLAINT.
                                  * * *


``SEC. 11. DUTIES OF CHAIRMAN AND RANKING MINORITY MEMBER REGARDING 
PROPERLY FILED COMPLAINTS.
  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall amend its rules 
regarding complaints to provide that whenever information offered as a 
complaint is submitted to the committee, the chairman and ranking 
minority member shall have 14 calendar days or 5 legislative days, 
whichever occurs first, to determine whether the information meets the 
requirements of the committee's rules for what constitutes a complaint.

  ``(a) Committee Rules.--The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
shall adopt rules providing that whenever the chairman and ranking 
minority member jointly determine that information submitted to the 
committee meets the requirements of the committee's rules for what 
constitutes a complaint, they shall have 45 calendar days or 5 
legislative days, whichever is later, after the date that the chairman 
and ranking minority member determine that information filed meets the 
requirements of the committee's rules for what constitutes a complaint, 
unless the committee by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members 
votes otherwise, to--

          ``(1) recommend to the committee that it dispose of the 

        complaint, or any portion thereof, in any manner that does not 

        require action by the House, which may include dismissal of the 

        complaint or resolution of the complaint by a letter to the 

        Member, officer, or employee of the House against whom the 

        complaint is made;

          ``(2) establish an investigative subcommittee; or

          ``(3) request that the committee extend the applicable 45-

        calendar day or 5-legislative day period by one additional 45-


[[Page 451]]

        calendar day pe-

        riod when they determine more time is necessary 


        in order to make a recommendation under paragraph (1).


                                  * * *


  ``(c) Disposition of Properly Filed Complaints by Chairman and Ranking 
Minority Member if no Action Taken by Them Within Prescribed Time 
Limit.--The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules 
providing that if the chairman and ranking minority member jointly 
determine that information submitted to the committee meets the 
requirements of the committee rules for what constitutes a complaint, 
and the complaint is not disposed of within the applicable time periods 
under subsection (a), then they shall establish an investigative 
subcommittee and forward the complaint, or any portion thereof, to that 
subcommittee for its consideration. However, if, at any time during 
those periods, either the chairman or ranking minority member places on 
the agenda the issue of whether to establish an investigative 
subcommittee, then an investigative subcommittee may be established only 
by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee.


``SEC. 12. DUTIES OF CHAIRMAN AND RANKING MINORITY MEMBER REGARDING 
INFORMATION NOT CONSTITUTING A COMPLAINT.
                                  * * *

  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules 
providing that whenever the chairman and ranking minority member jointly 
determine that information submitted to the committee does not meet the 
requirements for what constitutes a complaint set forth in the committee 
rules, they may--

          ``(1) return the information to the complainant with a 

        statement that it fails to meet the requirements for what 

        constitutes a complaint set forth in the committee's rules; or

          ``(2) recommend to the committee that it authorize the 


``SEC. 13. INVESTIGATIVE AND ADJUDICATORY SUBCOMMITTEES.
        establishment of an investigative subcommittee.

  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules 
providing that--

          ``(1)(A) investigative subcommittees shall be comprised of 4 

        Members (with equal representation from the majority and 

        minority parties) whenever such subcommittee is established 

        pursuant to the rules of the committee; and

          ``(B) adjudicatory subcommittees shall be comprised of the 

        members of the committee who did not serve on the investigative 

        subcommittee (with equal representation from the majority and 

        minority parties) whenever such subcommittee is established 


[[Page 452]]

        pursuant to the rules of the committee;

          ``(2) at the time of appointment, the chairman shall designate 

        one member of the subcommittee to serve as chairman and the 

        ranking minority member shall designate one member of the 

        subcommittee to serve as the ranking minority member of the 

        investigative subcommittee or adjudicatory subcommittee; and

          ``(3) the chairman and ranking minority member of the 

        committee may serve as members of an investigative subcommittee, 


``SEC. 14. STANDARD OF PROOF FOR ADOPTION OF STATEMENT OF ALLEGED 
VIOLATION.
        but may not serve as non-voting, ex officio members.


``SEC. 15. SUBCOMMITTEE POWERS.
  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall amend its rules 
to provide that an investigative subcommittee may adopt a statement of 
alleged violation only if it determines by an affirmative vote of a 
majority of the members of the committee that there is substantial 
reason to believe that a violation of the Code of Official Conduct, or 
of a law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to 
the performance of official duties or the discharge of official 
responsibilities by a Member, officer, or employee of the House of 
Representatives has occurred.


  ``(a) Subpoena Power.--


                                  * * *

          ``(2) Committee rules.--The Committee on Standards of Official 

        Conduct shall adopt rules providing that an investigative 

        subcommittee or an adjudicatory subcommittee may authorize and 

        issue subpoenas only when authorized by an affirmative vote of a 

        majority of the members of the subcommittee.

  ``(b) Expansion of Scope of Investigations.--The Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules providing that an 
investigative subcommittee may, upon an affirmative vote of a majority 
of its members, expand the scope of its investigation approved by an 
affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee.

  ``(c) Amendments of Statements of Alleged Violation.--The Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct shall adopt rules to provide that--

          ``(1) an investigative subcommittee may, upon an affirmative 

        vote of a majority of its members, amend its statement of 

        alleged violation anytime before the statement of alleged 

        violation is transmitted to the committee; and

          ``(2) if an investigative subcommittee amends its statement of 

        alleged violation, the respondent shall be notified in writing 

        and shall have 30 calendar days from the date of that 

        notification to file an answer to the amended statement of 


``SEC. 16. DUE PROCESS RIGHTS OF RESPONDENTS.
        alleged violation.


[[Page 453]]

  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall amend its rules 
to provide that--

          ``(1) not less than 10 calendar days before a scheduled vote 

        by an investigative subcommittee on a statement of alleged 

        violation, the subcommittee shall provide the respondent with a 

        copy of the statement of alleged violation it intends to adopt 

        together with all evidence it intends to use to prove those 

        charges which it intends to adopt, including documentary 

        evidence, witness testimony, memoranda of witness interviews, 

        and physical evidence, unless the subcommittee by an affirmative 

        vote of a majority of its members decides to withhold certain 

        evidence in order to protect a witness, but if such evidence is 

        withheld, the subcommittee shall inform the respondent that 

        evidence is being withheld and of the count to which such 

        evidence relates;

          ``(2) neither the respondent nor his counsel shall, directly 

        or indirectly, contact the subcommittee or any member thereof 

        during the period of time set forth in paragraph (1) except for 

        the sole purpose of settlement discussions where counsels for 

        the respondent and the subcommittee are present;

          ``(3) if, at any time after the issuance of a statement of 

        alleged violation, the committee or any subcommittee thereof 

        determines that it intends to use evidence not provided to a 

        respondent under paragraph (1) to prove the charges contained in 

        the statement of alleged violation (or any amendment thereof), 

        such evidence shall be made immediately available to the 

        respondent, and it may be used in any further proceeding under 

        the committee's rules;

          ``(4) evidence provided pursuant to paragraph (1) or (3) shall 

        be made available to the respondent and his or her counsel only 

        after each agrees, in writing, that no document, information, or 

        other materials obtained pursuant to that paragraph shall be 

        made public until--

                  ``(A) such time as a statement of alleged violation is 

                made public by the committee if the respondent has 

                waived the adjudicatory hearing; or

                  ``(B) the commencement of an adjudicatory hearing if 

                the respondent has not waived an adjudicatory hearing;

        ``but the failure of respondent and his counsel to so agree in 

        writing, and therefore not receive the evidence, shall not 

        preclude the issuance of a statement of alleged violation at the 

        end of the period referred to in paragraph (1);

          ``(5) a respondent shall receive written notice whenever--

                  ``(A) the chairman and ranking minority member 

                determine that information the committee has received 

                constitutes a complaint;

                  ``(B) a complaint or allegation is transmitted to an 

                investigative subcommittee;

                  ``(C) that subcommittee votes to authorize its first 

                subpoena or to take testimony under oath, whichever 


[[Page 454]]

                occurs first; and

                  ``(D) an investigative subcommittee votes to expand 

                the scope of its investigation;

          ``(6) whenever an investigative subcommittee adopts a 

        statement of alleged violation and a respondent enters into an 

        agreement with that subcommittee to settle a complaint on which 

        that statement is based, that agreement, unless the respondent 

        requests otherwise, shall be in writing and signed by the 

        respondent and respondent's counsel, the chairman and ranking 

        minority member of the subcommittee, and the outside counsel, if 

        any;

          ``(7) statements or information derived solely from a 

        respondent or his counsel during any settlement discussions 

        between the committee or a subcommittee thereof and the 

        respondent shall not be included in any report of the 

        subcommittee or the committee or otherwise publicly disclosed 

        without the consent of the respondent; and

          ``(8) whenever a motion to establish an investigative 

        subcommittee does not prevail, the committee shall promptly send 


``SEC. 17. COMMITTEE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
        a letter to the respondent informing him of such vote.

  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall amend its rules 
to provide that--

          ``(1) whenever an investigative subcommittee does not adopt a 

        statement of alleged violation and transmits a report to that 

        effect to the committee, the committee may by an affirmative 

        vote of a majority of its members transmit such report to the 

        House of Representatives; and

          ``(2) whenever an investigative subcommittee adopts a 

        statement of alleged violation, the respondent admits to the 

        violations set forth in such statement, the respondent waives 

        his or her right to an adjudicatory hearing, and the 

        respondent's waiver is approved by the committee--

                  ``(A) the subcommittee shall prepare a report for 

                transmittal to the committee, a final draft of which 

                shall be provided to the respondent not less than 15 

                calendar days before the subcommittee votes on whether 

                to adopt the report;

                  ``(B) the respondent may submit views in writing 

                regarding the final draft to the subcommittee within 7 

                calendar days of receipt of that draft;

                  ``(C) the subcommittee shall transmit a report to the 

                committee regarding the statement of alleged violation 

                together with any views submitted by the respondent 

                pursuant to subparagraph (B), and the committee shall 

                make the report together with the respondent's views 

                available to the public before the commencement of any 

                sanction hearing; and

                  ``(D) the committee shall by an affirmative vote of a 

                majority of its members issue a report and transmit such 

                report to the House of Representatives, together with 


[[Page 455]]

                the respondent's views 

                previously submitted pursuant to 

                subparagraph (B) and any additional views respondent may 

                submit for attachment to the final report; and

          ``(3) members of the committee shall have not less than 72 

        hours to review any report transmitted to the committee by an 

        investigative subcommittee before both the commencement of a 

        sanction hearing and the committee vote on whether to adopt the 


        report.


``SEC. 20. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.
                                  * * *

  ``The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall--

          ``(1) clarify its rules to provide that whenever the committee 

        votes to authorize an investigation on its own initiative, the 

        chairman and ranking minority member shall establish an 

        investigative subcommittee to undertake such investigation;

          ``(2) revise its rules to refer to hearings held by an 

        adjudicatory subcommittee as adjudicatory hearings; and

          ``(3) make such other amendments to its rules as necessary to 


``SEC. 21. EFFECTIVE DATE.
        conform such rules to this resolution.


  ``This resolution and the amendments made by it apply with respect to 
any complaint or information offered as a complaint that is or has been 
filed during this Congress.''


                               __________


[[Page 456]]

1992, p. ----); and to investigate violations of confidentiality by staff 
engaged in the investigation of the operation and management of the Office 
of the Postmaster (July 22, 1992, p. ----). In compliance with one such 
direction of the House, the Acting Chairman of the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct inserted in the Record names and pertinent 
account information of Members and former Members found to have abused 
the privileges of the ``bank'' in the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (H. 
Res. 393, Apr. 1, 1992, p. ----).
  On occasions where the House has directed the Committee to conduct 
specific investigations by separate resolution, it has authorized the 
Committee to take depositions with one Member present, notwithstanding 
clause 2(h)(1) of rule XI, to serve subpoenas within or without the 
United States, and to participate by special counsel in relevant 
judicial proceedings (see H. Res. 252, 95th Cong., Feb. 9, 1977, pp. 
3966-75; H. Res. 608, Mar. 27, 1980, pp. 6995-98; H. Res. 254, June 30, 
1983, p. 18279), and to investigate persons other than Members, officers 
and employees with expanded subpoena authority (see H. Res. 1054, 94th 
Cong., Mar. 3, 1976, pp. 5165-68). By unanimous consent the Committee 
was authorized to receive evidence and take testimony before a quorum of 
one of its Members for the remainder of the second session of the 100th 
Congress (Oct. 13, 1988, p. 30467). By resolutions considered as 
questions of the privileges of the House, the Committee has been 
directed to investigate illegal solicitation of political contributions 
in the House Office Building by unnamed sitting Members (July 10, 1985, 
p. 18397); to review GAO audits of the operations of the ``bank'' in the 
Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (Oct. 3, 1991, p. 25435), to disclose the 
names and pertinent account information of Members and former Members 
found to have abused the privileges of that entity (Mar. 12, 1992, p. --
--), and to disclose further account information respecting Members and 
former Members having checks held by that entity (Mar. 12, 

  Under clause 4(e)(2)(D) a member of the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct is ineligible to participate in a Committee proceeding 
relating to that member's official conduct. Upon notification to the 
Speaker of such ineligibility, the Speaker designates another Member of 
the same political party as the ineligible member to serve on the 
Committee during proceedings relating to that conduct (Speaker O'Neill, 
Feb. 5, 1980, p. 1908; July 23, 1996, p. ----). Under clause 4(e)(2)(E), 
a member of the Committee may be recused from serving on the Committee 
during proceedings relating to a pending investigation by submitting an 
affidavit of disqualification to the Committee stating that the member 
cannot render an impartial and unbiased decision relating to that 
investigation. If the Committee accepts the affidavit, the chairman 
notifies the Speaker and requests the Speaker to designate another 
Member from the same political party as the disqualified member to serve 
on the Committee during proceedings relating to that investigation 
(Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 18, 1980).


  The committee has compiled statutory and rule-based ethical standards 
in the House Ethics Manual (102d Cong., 2d Sess.). In the Manual, the 
Committee incorporates its advisory opinions issued under clause 
4(e)(1)(D) of rule X, together with advisory opinions issued by the 
former Select Committee on Ethics, in its discussions of various ethical 
issues, including gifts, outside income, financial disclosure, staff 
rights and duties, official allowances and franking, casework 
considerations, campaign financing and practices, and involvement with 
official and unofficial organizations.


[[Page 457]]

purposes of this paragraph a Government agency includes the 
organizational units of government listed in clause 7(c) of rule XIII.


Sec. 699a. Annual appropriations.

  (f)(1)  Each standing 
committee of the House shall, in its consideration of all bills and 
joint resolutions of a public character within its jurisdiction, insure 
that appropriations for continuing programs and activities of the 
Federal Government and the District of Columbia government will be made 
annually to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the nature, 
requirements, and objectives of the programs and activities involved. 
For the 



  (2) Each standing committee of the House shall review, from time to 
time, each continuing program within its jurisdiction for which 
appropriations are not made annually in order to ascertain whether such 
program could be modified so that appropriations therefor would be made 
annually.


  The provisions of paragraph (f) derive from section 253(c) of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140), and were made 
part of the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 
144).


[[Page 458]]

the basis for an increase or decrease in the statutory limit on 
such debt under the procedures provided by rule XLIX.


Sec. 
699b. Concurrent resolution on Budget.

  (g) Each standing committee of the House shall, not later than 6 weeks 
after the President submits his budget, submit to the Committee on the 
Budget (1) its views and estimates with respect to all  matters to be set forth in the 
concurrent resolution on the budget for the ensuing fiscal year which 
are within its jurisdiction or functions, and (2) an estimate of the 
total amounts of new budget authority, and budget outlays resulting 
therefrom, to be provided or authorized in all bills and resolutions 
within its jurisdiction which it intends to be effective during that 
fiscal year. The views and estimates submitted by the Committee on Ways 
and Means under the preceding sentence shall include a specific 
recommendation, made after holding public hearings, as to the 
appropriate level of the public debt which should be set forth in the 
concurrent resolution on the budget referred to in such sentence and 
serve as 


  (h) As soon as practicable after a concurrent resolution on the budget 
for any fiscal year is agreed to, each standing committee of the House 
(after consulting with the appropriate committee or committees of the 
Senate) shall subdivide any allocations made to it in the joint 
explanatory statement accompanying the conference report on such 
resolution, and promptly report such subdivisions to the House, in the 
manner provided by section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.




Sec. 699c. Reconciliation 
process.

  (i) Each standing committee of the House which is directed in a 
concurrent resolution on the budget to  determine and recommend changes in laws, bills, or 
resolutions under the reconciliation process shall promptly make such 
determination and recommendations, and report a reconciliation bill or 
resolution (or both) to the House or submit such recommendations to the 
Committee on the Budget, in accordance with the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974.



[[Page 459]]

amending the rules of the House were made applicable to 
the third concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1980 as 
well as the first concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal 1981 
(H. Res. 642, Apr. 23, 1980, pp. 8789-90). In the 99th Congress the 
requirement in paragraph (g) for submissions to the Committee on the 
Budget by March 15 was changed to February 25 by section 232(c) of the 
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, 
Dec. 12, 1985). In the 105th Congress a conforming change was made to 
paragraph (g) by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (sec. 10104, P.L. 
105-33). Paragraph (h) was amended by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 
(tit. XIII, P.L. 101-508) to conform to the enactment of title VI of the 
Budget Act. It was again amended by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 
(sec. 10118, P.L. 105-33) to conform to the subsequent repeal of title 
VI.

  The requirements of paragraphs (g), (h), and (i) were originally 
contained in sections 301(c), 302(b), and 310(c) respectively of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-344, July 12, 1974), and were 
incorporated into this rule effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The requirement in paragraph (g) that 
the Committee on Ways and Means include a specific recommendation as to 
the appropriate level of the public debt in its views and estimates 
submitted to the Committee on the Budget was added in the 96th Congress 
by Public Law 96-78 (93 Stat. 589) and was originally intended to apply 
to concurrent resolutions on the budget for fiscal years beginning on or 
after October 1, 1980. However, in the 96th Congress the provisions of 
that public law 


     Referral of Bills, Resolutions, and Other Matters to Committees



Sec. 700. Referral procedures.

  5.  (a) Each bill, resolution, 
or other matter which relates to a subject listed under any standing 
committee named in clause 1 shall be referred by the Speaker in 
accordance with the provisions of this clause.


  (b) Every referral of any matter under paragraph (a) shall be made in 
such manner as to assure to the maximum extent feasible that each 
committee which has jurisdiction under clause 1 over the subject matter 
of any provision thereof will have responsibility for considering such 
provision and reporting to the House with respect thereto. Any 
precedents, rulings, and procedures in effect prior to the 94th Congress 
shall be applied with respect to referrals under this clause only to the 
extent that they will contribute to the achievement of the objectives of 
this clause.


[[Page 460]]

also may refer the matter to one or more additional committees, for 
consideration in sequence (subject to appropriate time limitations), 
either on its initial referral or after the matter has been reported by 
the committee of primary jurisdiction; or may refer portions of the 
matter to one or more additional committees (reflecting different 
subjects and jurisdictions) for the consideration only of designated 
portions; or may refer the matter to a special ad hoc committee 
appointed by the Speaker with the approval of the House (with members 
from the committees having jurisdiction) for the specific purpose of 
considering that matter and reporting to the House thereon; or may make 
such other provisions as may be considered appropriate.

  (c) In carrying out paragraphs (a) and (b) with respect to any matter, 
the Speaker shall designate a committee of primary jurisdiction; but 


[[Page 461]]

Commerce (now Commerce) was given oversight jurisdiction over all laws, 
programs, and government activities affecting nuclear energy. Paragraph 
(e) was deleted entirely in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, 
p. 98). At the same time the House deleted paragraph (d) which formerly 
required the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress 
to prepare factual descriptions of each bill or resolution introduced in 
the House to be published in the Congressional Record.
  This clause became effective as part of the rules on January 3, 1975 
(H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Prior to that time a 
bill or resolution could not be divided for reference among two or more 
committees, although it contained matter properly within the 
jurisdiction of several committees (IV, 4361). Paragraph (c) was amended 
on January 4, 1977 (H. Res. 5, pp. 53-70) to authorize the Speaker to 
place an appropriate time limit for consideration by the first committee 
or committees to which referred. In the 104th Congress paragraph (c) was 
again amended to require the Speaker to initially designate a committee 
of primary jurisdiction in each referral of a measure to more than one 
committee (sec. 205, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). A paragraph (e) 
was added to the clause on January 4, 1977 (H. Res. 5, pp. 53-70) to 
abolish the legislative jurisdiction in the House of the Joint Committee 
on Atomic Energy. The legislative jurisdiction of the Joint Committee 
was divided among the Committees on Armed Services (now National 
Security) (military applications of nuclear energy), Interior and 
Insular Affairs (now Resources) (regulation of the domestic nuclear 
energy industry, since transferred to the Committee on Commerce in the 
104th Congress), Foreign Affairs (now International Relations) 
(nonproliferation of nuclear energy and international nuclear export 
agreements), Interstate and Foreign Commerce (now Commerce) (the same 
jurisdiction over nuclear energy as exercised over other energy), and 
Science and Technology (now Science) (nondefense nuclear research and 
development). In addition, the Committee on Interstate and Foreign 

  An order of the House that no organizational or legislative business 
be conducted on certain days (first by provision of a concurrent 
resolution, but extended by unanimous consent) was considered not to 
deprive Members of the privilege of introducing bills and resolutions 
during pro forma sessions on those days, such measures being numbered on 
the day introduced but not noted in the Record or referred to committee 
until the day on which business was resumed (H. Con. Res. 260, 102d 
Cong., Nov. 26, 1991, p. 35840; see Jan. 22, 1992, p. ----, and Jan. 28, 
1992, p. ----).


[[Page 462]]

consideration of such provisions within that portion as fall within their 
respective jurisdictions (Speaker Wright, Sept. 9, 1987, p. 23648); may 
discharge a reported bill from the Union Calendar for sequential reference 
to another committee (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 27, 1978, p. 11742; June 19, 
1986, p. 14741; June 12, 1990, p. 13670); may discharge a committee from 
the further consideration of a bill not reported by it within the time 
period for which the bill was referred by the Speaker and place the bill 
on the appropriate calendar (May 8, 1978, p. 12924); may jointly refer 
designated portions of a bill to a second committee while referring the 
entire bill to another committee (Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 3, 1982, p. 
3155); may delimit the period for sequential consideration of a bill in 
terms of legislative days (June 30, 1988, p. 16597); may sequentially 
refer a bill without day (Sept. 27, 1988, p. 25827); may sequentially 
refer a bill back to the first-reporting committee when it is reported 
from the second-reporting committee with a nongermane amendment within 
the jurisdiction of the first committee and not within the bounds of the 
initial referral (Oct. 4, 1988, p. 28242); and may refer a bill 
primarily to one committee (as now required by paragraph (c)) while also 
referring it initially to additional committees for time periods to be 
subsequently determined when the primary committee reports, in each case 
for consideration of matters within their respective jurisdictions 
(Speaker Gingrich, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). A bill initially referred to 
more than one committee and reported by the primary committee with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute may be sequentially referred to 
yet another committee for consideration of specified portions of the 
introduced bill (Sept. 12, 1995, p. ----).
  Pursuant to his authority under this clause, subject to paragraph (c), 
the Speaker may refer a bill to a special ad hoc committee appointed by 
him with the approval of the House (from the members of the committees 
with legislative jurisdiction) for consideration and report on that 
particular bill (Speaker Albert, Apr. 22, 1975, p. 11261); may jointly 
refer a report of a select committee filed with the Clerk to standing 
committees of the House for their study (Speaker Albert, Feb. 16, 1976, 
p. 3158); may divide a communication or bill for reference where the 
proposition is divisible by jurisdiction (Speaker Albert, Feb. 4, 1975, 
p. 2253); may refer a bill to more than one committee for their 
respective consideration of such provisions of the bill as fall within 
their jurisdiction (Speaker Albert, Feb. 25, 1976, p. 4315); may 
sequentially refer a bill reported from a committee to other committees 
for a time certain for consideration of such portions of the bill as 
fall within their respective jurisdictions (Speaker Albert, Apr. 9, 
1976, p. 10265; May 17, 1976, p. 14093); or may limit a sequential 
referral to matters having a direct effect on subjects within the 
committee's jurisdiction (Speaker O'Neill, June 7, 1983, p. 14699); and 
may extend the time period of a sequentially referred bill and may refer 
the bill to yet another committee under the same sequential referral 
conditions (Speaker Albert, June 1, 1976, p. 16588); may divide a matter 
for initial reference to committees and set (pursuant to the clause as 
amended in the 95th Congress) appropriate time limitations on the 
initial reference to each committee (Speaker O'Neill, Feb. 16, 1977, p. 
4532); may sequentially refer a bill reported by one committee, with a 
committee amendment, to another committee for consideration of the bill 
and amendment of the previous committee (Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1977, 
p. 33716); may sequentially refer to a third committee a portion of an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by one of two 
committees to which the bill had been referred, after the second 
committee reports the bill (Speaker O'Neill, May 22, 1985, p. 13126); 
may refer sequentially to two committees only a portion of the amendment 
reported by the primary committee for 


[[Page 463]]

May 20, 1981, p. 10361). Thus the Speaker may sequentially refer a 
reported bill to another committee solely for consideration of 
provisions of the first committee's amendment within its jurisdiction 
and not for consideration of the entire bill (Apr. 5, 1982, p. 6580), 
may sequentially refer a reported bill to two other committees for 
different periods of time, solely for consideration of designated 
sections of the first committee's recommended amendment (May 18, 
1982, p. 10418; Aug. 1, 1985, p. 22681), may discharge from the 
Union Calendar and sequentially refer to another committee a bill 
solely for consideration of designated portions of the first committee's 
amendment (May 21, 1982, p. 11169), and may sequentially refer a bill 
which has been initially referred to several committees but reported 
only by one, for consideration of the reporting committee's amendment 
(June 17, 1982, p. 14069; Sept. 5, 1990, p. 23477), and may sequentially 
refer a bill referred to more than one committee when the first committee 
reports, for a period ending a number of days after the next committee 
reports (Speaker O'Neill, Aug. 1, 1985, p. 22681), or after all committees 
report (June 10, 1988, p. 14079).
  The Speaker announced a new application of his authority on sequential 
referrals in the 97th Congress, namely that the sequential referral of 
any bills or resolutions from a committee initially reporting a bill 
would be based upon the subject matter contained in any amendment 
recommended by the reporting committee, as well as upon the original 
text of the bill or resolution (Speaker O'Neill, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 115, 
116), or, as announced in the 100th Congress, in certain cases, based 
only upon the text of a reported substitute amendment in lieu of 
original text (Speaker Wright, Jan. 6, 1987, p. 22). In the 96th 
Congress, the Speaker had followed a more restrictive policy, permitting 
a sequential committee to review (1) those portions of introduced text 
within its jurisdiction and (2) those portions of an amendment within 
its jurisdiction when the introduced version also dictated a sequential 
referral to the committee (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 15, 1980, p. 7760). The 
Speaker first exercised the authority to base referrals on committee 
amendments by sequentially referring a bill reported from the Committee 
on Public Works and Transportation, relating only to Corps of Engineers 
water projects as introduced but amended in committee to address general 
water resource policy affecting irrigation and reclamation projects and 
soil conservation programs, to the Committees on Agriculture and 
Interior and Insular Affairs for consideration of provisions of the 
committee amendment within their jurisdiction (Speaker O'Neill, 

  On the last day of an expiring sequential referral, a committee has 
until midnight to file its report with the Clerk (Oct. 9, 1991, p. 
26045).

  Before paragraph (c) was amended in the 104th Congress to require the 
Speaker to designate a committee of primary jurisdiction, the Speaker 
announced at the convening of the 98th Congress that he would exercise 
his authority, in situations which warranted it, to designate a primary 
committee among those to which a bill was jointly referred, and to 
impose time limits on committees having a secondary interest following 
the report of the primary committee under a joint referral (Speaker 
O'Neill, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 54; Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----). The Speaker may 
exercise this authority by referring a bill concurrently to two 
committees, with a time limit on one of the committees ending within a 
certain period after the other committee reports to the House (Jan. 27, 
1983, p. 937; Feb. 2, 1983, p. 1492; Apr. 9, 1987, p. 8665) or with a 
time limit on one committee ending with a date certain (Speaker O'Neill, 
July 31, 1985, p. 21936). In the 98th Congress, the Speaker exercised 
his authority under this clause to sequentially refer a joint resolution 
making continuing appropriations, reported as privileged by the 
Committee on Appropriations pursuant to clause 4(a) of rule XI, to the 
committee having legislative jurisdiction over a legislative provision 
in the resolution, without a time limitation on the sequential referral 
(H.J. Res. 367, Sept. 22, 1983, p. 25523).


[[Page 464]]

committee with jurisdiction over the original 
House bill (Speaker O'Neill, H.R. 31, Mar 26, 1981, p. 5397). Beginning 
with the 98th Congress, the Speaker announced a policy of referring 
nongermane Senate amendments under certain conditions (Jan. 3, 1983, p. 
54; Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----).
  Pursuant to the Speaker's authority under clause 2 of rule XXIV, 
relating to messages from the Senate, he has discretionary authority to 
refer from the Speaker's table to standing committees, Senate amendments 
to House-passed bills, under any conditions permitted under clause 5 of 
rule X for introduced bills; he may for example impose a time limitation 
for consideration only of a portion of the Senate amendment, not germane 
to the original House bill, by the standing committee with subject-
matter jurisdiction, without referring the remainder of the Senate 
amendment to the House 

  Resolutions authorizing the Speaker to establish an ad hoc committee 
for the consideration of a particular bill under paragraph (c) of this 
clause, and extending the reporting date for such a committee, are 
privileged when offered from the floor at the Speaker's request (Speaker 
Albert, Apr. 22, 1975, p. 11261, Jan. 26, 1976, p. 876; Speaker O'Neill, 
Jan. 11, 1977, pp. 894-98; Apr. 21, 1977, pp. 11550-56).

  The Speaker may refer to an ad hoc committee, established with the 
approval of the House, bills, resolutions, and other matters (including 
messages and communications) for the purpose of considering such matters 
and reporting to the House thereon, and the resolution creating such a 
committee may specify whether referrals to such a committee shall be by 
initial or sequential reference or by any of the other methods provided 
by this clause (H. Res. 508, Apr. 21, 1977, pp. 11550-56; Speaker 
O'Neill, July 11, 1977, p. 22183, July 20, 1977, p. 24167). Further, 
under clause 5(c), the Speaker may divide a bill into two or more parts 
for initial reference to different committees and may also jointly refer 
a portion of the bill to some of those committees, and may set 
appropriate time limitations for reporting by every standing committee 
to which the bill is initially referred (Speaker O'Neill, May 2, 1977, 
p. 13184).


 Election and Membership of Committees; Chairmen; Vacancies; Select and 
  Clause 4 of rule XXII provides the mechanism for changes of referrals 
erroneously made.


                          Conference Committees



Sec. 701a. Electing committees.

  6.  (a)(1) The standing 
committees specified in clause 1 shall be elected by the House within 
the seventh calendar day beginning after the commencement of each 
Congress, from nominations submitted by the respective party caucuses. 
It shall always be in order to consider resolutions recommended by the 
respective party caucuses to change the composition of standing 
committees.



[[Page 465]]

the minority party. No Member shall serve as a member of the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct for more than two Congresses in any period 
of three successive Congresses (disregarding for this purpose any 
service performed as a member of such committee for less than a full 
session in any Congress), except that a Member having served on the 
committee for two Congresses shall be eligible for election to the 
committee as chairman or ranking minority member for one additional 
Congress. Not less than two Members from each party shall rotate off the 
committee at the end of each Congress.
  (2) One-half of the members of the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct shall be from the majority party and one-half shall be from 

  (3)(A) At the beginning of each Congress--

          (i) the Speaker (or his designee) shall designate a list of 10 
Members from the majority party; and

          (ii) the Minority Leader (or his designee) shall designate a 
list of 10 Members from the minority party;
who are not members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
and who may be assigned to serve as a member of an investigative 
subcommittee of that committee during that Congress. Members so chosen 
shall be announced to the House.


[[Page 466]]

same number of Members of his respective party from the list to serve on 
that subcommittee.

  (B) Whenever the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee 
on Standards of Official Conduct jointly determine that Members 
designated under subdivision (A) should be assigned to serve on an 
investigative subcommittee of that committee, they shall each select the 

  The old rule entrusting the appointment of committees to the Speaker 
was adopted in 1789 and amended in 1790 and in 1860 (IV, 4448-4476). 
Committees are now elected on resolution offered from the floor (VIII, 
2171) and it is in order to move the previous question on each 
resolution (VIII, 2174). The resolution is not divisible (clause 6 of 
rule XVI), and is privileged (VIII, 2179, 2183). The requirement that 
nominations to standing committees be submitted by the respective party 
caucuses was made part of the rules effective January 3, 1975, by the 
Committee Reform Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470). That same resolution also eliminated the designations 
in the rules of the numbers of Members comprising the standing 
committees, thereby permitting the House to establish committee size by 
the numbers of Members elected to each committee pursuant to this 
paragraph. The role of the party caucuses in presenting privileged 
resolutions to the House electing Members to committees is discussed in 
detail in Deschler's Precedents, vol. 4, ch. 17, sec. 9. In the 99th 
Congress the requirement for early election of standing committees 
within the first seven calendar days and the conferral of privileged 
status on resolutions from the party caucuses to change the composition 
of standing committees were added in subparagraph (1) by section 227 of 
the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-
177, Dec. 12, 1985).


  Prior to the 93d Congress, the rule that established the size of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct at 12 Members also required 
that six Members be elected from the majority and six from the minority 
party. Effective in the 93d Congress, the ratio of the Committee was 
codified in the first sentence of subparagraph (2) (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470). The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 added a sentence to limit 
service on the Committee to three Congresses in any period of five 
successive Congresses (disregarding service performed for less than a 
full session in any Congress) (P.L. 101-194, Nov. 30, 1989). The current 
limitation on service on the Committee was adopted in the 105th Congress 
(sec. 2, H. Res. 168, Sept. 18, 1997, p. ----). Subparagraph (3) also 
was adopted in the 105th Congress (sec. 1, H. Res. 168, Sept. 18, 1997, 
p. ----).


[[Page 467]]

ference, said Member shall automatically cease to be a member of a 
standing committee to which he was elected on the basis of nomination by 
that caucus or conference. The chairman of the relevant party caucus or 
conference shall notify the Speaker whenever a Member ceases to be a 
member of a party caucus or conference and the Speaker shall notify the 
chairman of each standing committee on which said Member serves, that in 
accord with this rule, the Member's election to such committee is 
automatically vacated.


Sec. 701b. Party membership as basis for election.

  (b)(1) Membership on standing committees during the course of 
a  Congress 
shall be contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus or 
conference that nominated Members for election to such committees. 
Should a Member cease to be a member of a particular party caucus or 
con-


  (2)(A) No Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may serve 
simultaneously as a member of more than two standing committees or four 
subcommittees of the standing committees of the House, except that ex 
officio service by a chairman and ranking minority member of a committee 
on each of its subcommittees by committee rule shall not be counted 
against the limitation on subcommittee service. Service on an 
investigative subcommittee of the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct pursuant to paragraph (a)(3) shall not be counted against the 
limitation on subcommittee service. Any other exception to these 
limitations must be approved by the House upon the recommendation of the 
respective party caucus or conference.


[[Page 468]]

tee that is established for a cumulative period longer than six months 
in any Congress.

  (B) For the purposes of this subparagraph, the term ``subcommittee'' 
includes any panel (other than a special oversight panel of the 
Committee on National Security), task force, special subcommittee, or 
any subunit of a standing commit-

  The requirement that membership on standing committees be contingent 
on continuing membership in a party caucus or conference, along with the 
mechanism for the automatic vacating of a Member's election to committee 
should his party relationship cease, was added to the rules in the 98th 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34). In the 104th Congress, 
paragraph (b)(2) was added to limit each Member to two full committee 
assignments and four subcommittee assignments, absent House approval of 
any exception upon recommendation of the respective party caucus (sec. 
204, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----; see H. Res. 11, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----). Paragraph (b)(2) was amended in the 105th Congress to except 
special service on an investigative subcommittee of the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct from the limitation on subcommittee 
service (sec. 1, H. Res. 168, Sept. 18, 1997, p. ----).


  The Speaker lays before the House communications relative to the 
removal of a Member from committee pursuant to this clause (see, e.g., 
Sept. 11, 1984, p. 24790; Feb. 22, 1989, p. 2500; May 10, 1995, p. ----
). The earlier practice was, and the most recent practice is, for the 
minority party to handle committee assignments for third-party Members 
(VIII, 2184-2185; H. Res. 11, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). During the 102d 
and 103d Congresses, the majority leadership took that responsibility by 
separate resolution for a Member who had joined neither major party 
caucus (see, H. Res. 45, Jan. 24, 1991, p. 2171); however, during the 
104th Congress, when control of the House shifted, the minority 
leadership retained responsibility for the committee assignments of such 
third-party Member.


[[Page 469]]

order named in the election of the committee, and so on, as often as 
the case shall happen, shall act as chairman; and in case of a permanent 
vacancy in the chairmanship of any such committee the House shall elect 
another chairman.



Sec. 701c. Committee chairmen.

  (c)  One of the Members of 
each standing committee shall be elected by the House, from nominations 
submitted by the majority party caucus, at the commencement of each 
Congress, as chairman thereof. No Member may serve as the chairman of 
the same standing committee, or as the chairman of the same subcommittee 
thereof, for more than three consecutive Congresses, beginning with the 
One Hundred Fourth Congress (disregarding for this purpose any service 
for less than a full session in any Congress). In the temporary absence 
of the chairman, the Member next in rank in the 



  The requirement that nominations for chairmen be submitted by the 
majority party caucus was made part of the rules effective January 3, 
1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The sentence 
addressing temporary and permanent vacancies in chairmanships was first 
adopted on April 5, 1911 (VIII, 2201), and was continued in the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812). The 104th 
Congress added the sentence setting term limits for committee and 
subcommittee chairmen (sec. 103(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). 
In the 102d Congress a resolution included as a matter properly 
incidental to its election of the chairman of a standing committee a 
proviso that his powers and duties be exercised by the vice chairman 
until otherwise ordered by the House (H. Res. 43, Jan. 24, 1991, p. 
2169; Feb. 6, 1991, p. 3198). In the 103d Congress a privileged 
resolution, offered at the direction of the Democratic Caucus, 
authorized a named acting chairman to exercise the powers and duties of 
a chairman of a standing committee until otherwise ordered by the House 
(H. Res. 396, Mar. 23, 1994, p. ----).




Sec. 701d. Requirement for subcommittees.

  (d)  No committee 
of the House shall have more than five subcommittees (except the 
Committee on Appropriations, which shall have no more than thirteen; the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, which shall have no more 
than seven; and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 
which shall have no more than six).



  The present form of this paragraph was adopted in the 104th Congress 
(sec. 101(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----), replacing a requirement 
that all standing committees having more than 20 members (except the 
Committee on the Budget) establish at least four subcommittees (H. Res. 
5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20).


[[Page 470]]

tions, submitted by the respective party caucus or conference.

  (e) All vacancies in standing committees shall be filled by election 
by the House from nomina-

  This paragraph was first adopted in the 62d Congress (VIII, 2178). At 
the beginning of the 80th Congress it was amended to prevent a Member 
from serving on more than one standing committee, except that Members 
elected to serve on the Committees on District of Columbia or Un-
American Activities (renamed the Committee on Internal Security and 
jurisdiction redefined on Feb. 19, 1969, p. 3723) could be elected to 
serve on not more than two standing committees, and that Members of the 
majority party, serving on the Committee on Expenditures in the 
Executive Departments (changed to Committee on Government Operations 
July 3, 1952, p. 9217) or House Administration could be elected to serve 
on not more than two standing committees. This limitation was continued 
through the 80th, 81st, and part of the 82d Congresses until July 3, 
1952 (p. 9217) when it was modified so that Members elected to serve on 
the Committees on the District of Columbia, Government Operations, Un-
American Activities, or House Administration could be elected to serve 
on not more than two standing committees. It was restored to its 
original form by amendment on January 13, 1953 (pp. 368-69) so that 
there was no limitation in House rules on the number of committees to 
which a Member may be elected until the 104th Congress added paragraph 
(b)(2) (see Sec. 701b, supra). Party caucuses or conferences have also 
placed restrictions on committee assignments. The role of the respective 
party caucus or conference in making nominations to fill vacancies in 
standing committees was made part of the rule in the 98th Congress (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).


  Form of resolution electing a Member to a committee and fixing his 
rank thereon (Jan. 23, 1947, p. 536; H. Res. 157, May 25, 1995, p. ----
). The House by unanimous consent fixed the relative rank of two Members 
on a committee where an error had been made on the original appointment 
(Jan. 20, 1947, p. 481). The House has filled a vacancy on a standing 
committee (H. Res. 43, Jan. 24, 1991, p. 2169) with a Member 
subsequently designated by his party caucus as ``temporary'' (in order 
to avoid caucus limitations on committee assignments) (Feb. 5, 1991, p. 
2814).


[[Page 471]]

point no less than a majority of members who generally supported the House 
position as determined by the Speaker. The Speaker shall name Members 
who are primarily responsible for the legislation and shall, to the 
fullest extent feasible, include the principal proponents of the major 
provisions of the bill as it passed the House.



Sec. 701e. Select and conference committees.

  (f)  The Speaker 
shall appoint all select and conference committees which shall be 
ordered by the House from time to time. At any time after an original 
appointment, the Speaker may remove Members or appoint additional 
Members to select and conference committees. In appointing members to 
conference committees the Speaker shall ap-


  The provision of paragraph (f) relating to select committees was 
adopted in 1880, and the provision in that paragraph relating to 
conference committees was first adopted in 1890, although the practice 
of leaving the appointment of conference committees to the Speaker had 
existed from the earliest years of the House's history (IV, 4470; VIII, 
2192).

  Prior to 1880 the House might take from the Speaker the appointment of 
a select committee (IV, 4448, 4470; VIII, 2192) and on several occasions 
did so in fact (IV, 4471-4476).

  In the earlier usage of the House the Member moving a select committee 
was appointed its chairman (II, 1275, III, 2342, IV, 4514-4516); but 
except for matters of ceremony, the inconvenience and even impropriety 
of the usage has caused it often to be disregarded in modern practice 
(IV, 4517-4523, 4671).

  It is within the discretion of the Chair as to whom he appoints as 
conferees (June 24, 1932, p. 13876; July 8, 1947, p. 8469), and a motion 
to instruct the Speaker as to the number and composition of a conference 
committee on the part of the House is not in order (VIII, 2193, 3221). 
The Speaker may fill a vacancy on a conference committee by appointment 
but may not accept a resignation from a conference committee absent an 
order of the House (Nov. 4, 1987, p. 30808).

  Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470), the Speaker was required to appoint a majority of members who 
generally supported the House position, as determined by him, to all 
conference committees.


[[Page 472]]

discretionary authority to appoint a 
principal proponent of an adopted floor amendment as an additional 
limited conferee on that issue (p. 20132).
  The last sentence of paragraph (f) was added in the 95th Congress (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70). Under that paragraph as amended, the 
Speaker must appoint as conferees Members who are ``primarily 
responsible for the legislation,'' but the exercise of his additional 
discretionary authority under that clause to (1) determine whether a 
majority of the conferees generally supported the House position and (2) 
to appoint to the maximum extent feasible the principal proponents of 
major provisions of the House-passed bill, is not subject to challenge 
on a point of order (Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 12, 1977, pp. 33434-35), and 
is not necessarily affected by a vote on a nonbinding motion to instruct 
House conferees (May 9, 1990, p. 9830). On June 21, 1977, Speaker 
O'Neill first exercised his 

  The second sentence of paragraph (f), authorizing the Speaker to add 
or remove conferees after his initial appointment, was added in the 103d 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----).


  The Speaker may appoint conferees from committees (1) which have not 
reported a measure, (2) which have jurisdiction over provisions of a 
non-germane Senate amendment to a House amendment to a Senate bill 
originally narrower in scope (Speaker O'Neill, Nov. 28, 1979, p. 33904), 
or (3) which have jurisdiction over provisions of an original Senate 
bill where the House amendment was narrower in scope (Speaker O'Neill, 
July 28, 1980, p. 19875; July 11, 1985, p. 18545). The Speaker may also 
appoint one who, although not a member of the committee of jurisdiction, 
is a principal proponent of the measure (Speaker Gingrich, Feb. 1, 1995, 
p. ----). The Speaker has appointed as sole conferees on a nongermane 
portion of a Senate bill or amendment only members from the committee 
having jurisdiction over the subject matter thereof (Speaker O'Neill, 
Aug. 27, 1980, pp. 23548-49; July 24, 1986, p. 17644), and also members 
from such committees as additional rather than exclusive conferees on 
other nongermane portions of the Senate bill (July 24, 1986, p. 17644). 
Where a comprehensive matter is committed to conference, the Speaker may 
appoint separate groups of conferees from several committees for 
concurrent or exclusive consideration of provisions within their 
respective jurisdictions (Feb. 7, 1990, p. 1522; May 9, 1990, p. 9830). 
Pursuant to paragraph (f) the Speaker may by the terms of his 
appointment empower a group of exclusive conferees to report in total 
disagreement (June 10, 1988, p. 14077; Sept. 20, 1989, p. 20955). In the 
102d Congress the Speaker reiterated his announced policy of simplifying 
conference appointments by noting on the occasion of a relatively 
complex appointment that, inasmuch as conference committees are ``select 
committees'' that dissolve when their report is acted upon, conference 
appointments should not be construed as jurisdictional precedent 
(Speaker Foley, June 3, 1992, p. ----).


[[Page 473]]

chairman of the relevant party caucus or conference shall 
notify the Speaker whenever a Member ceases to be a member of a party 
caucus or conference and the Speaker shall notify the chairman of each 
select or joint committee on which said Member serves, that in accord 
with this rule, the Member's appointment to such committee is 
automatically vacated.



Sec. 701f. Party membership as basis for 
appointment.

  (g)  Membership on select and joint committees during the 
course of a Congress shall be contingent on continuing membership in the 
party caucus or conference the Member was a member of at the time of his 
appointment to a select or joint committee. Should a Member cease to be 
a member of that caucus or conference, said Member shall automatically 
cease to be a member of any select or joint committee to which he is 
assigned. The 



  This party membership requirement for select and joint committees 
analogous to paragraph (b) was added in the 98th Congress (H. Res. 5, 
1983, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).




Sec. 701g. Delegates and Resident Commissioner.

  (h)  The 
Speaker may appoint the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and 
Delegates to the House to any select committee and to any conference 
committee.



  Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470), the Speaker was authorized to appoint the Resident Commissioner 
from Puerto Rico and Delegates to be conferees by the addition of 
paragraph (h); that paragraph was further amended in the 96th Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16) to authorize the Speaker to appoint 
the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and Delegates to select 
committees as well, and was further amended in the 103d Congress to 
authorize the Speaker to appoint Delegates and the Resident Commissioner 
to serve at any conference (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----).






Sec. 702. Aging.

  A  paragraph (i) of this clause was 
incorporated into the rules effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), to provide for a permanent Select 
Committee on Aging appointed by the Speaker pursuant to paragraph (f). 
That provision was stricken in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 
1993, p. ----).