The New Roles of Parliamentary Committees by Lawrence D. Longley & Roger H. Davidson

Author:Lawrence D. Longley & Roger H. Davidson [Longley, Lawrence D. & Davidson, Roger H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, General, Political Science, Public Affairs & Administration
ISBN: 9780714644424
Google: 72ez7wAoQ6gC
Goodreads: 7968776
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1998-01-15T11:37:09+00:00

SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMITTEES IN UNDERSTANDING LEGISLATIVE BEHAVIOUR

As with most national legislatures, the US Congress displays the traits and biases of its membership and structure.47 It is bicameral with each chamber retaining separate electoral and procedural customs and many competing and informed agenda setters.48 It is representative, especially where geographic interests are concerned. Leaders and committees of both chambers attempt to control the legislative agenda, especially in the absence of unified party control of both the House and the Senate. This competition naturally creates adversarial sources of information for legislators. Even under conditions of unified party control, differences in the rules under which lawmakers are elected may lead them to divide on some issues. Legislative action is divided further by procedure and practice within each chamber of Congress. The leadership and party committees have the knowledge and incentive to serve as verifiers of the statements made by competing authorising committees.

Responsibility for the details of public policy has long been entrusted to standing committees. At times, however, power has instead resided in the hands of central party leaders. There are several hypotheses about these alternative patterns – decentralised, committee-oriented decision making versus centralised, party-oriented decision making. Some see committees as compliant subordinates of their parent chamber, assigned to help to manage large workloads by holding hearings, conduct investigations, writing reports and offering advice to colleagues. Others perceive that committees are mere agents of their party caucuses; by giving priority to their party’s agenda, committee members operate to enhance the reputation of their party and to achieve their party’s policy goals. And following the logic of rational choice theory, individual careerism is also sometimes seen as the chief determinant of the structure and operations of committees, with committees serving as autonomous policy makers that work to meet the demands of their members’ home constituencies.

Over the years Congress has been a remarkably adaptive institution in finding different means to address and formulate public policy. When confronted with stress brought on by external forces, the institution has pursued alternative organisational strategies.49 The committee system is a tool Congress has appropriated to accommodate a variety of goals, however lofty or crass. In one sense, committees grow out of the inadequacies in Congress, as creatures both of the parent house and of the parent party. In other instances they develop more because of the unusual nature and complexity of a given policy problem. This process conveys a valuable insight about Congress: procedurally the institution is very inventive.

For the past two decades substantial changes have occurred in the role of committees in congressional policy making. More assertive party leaders, more legislation referred to committees and less deferential parent chambers have altered the place and character of committees and their subcommittees in the policy-making process. The committee system of the 1990s is more accountable to the party structure than the committee system of the 1950s or 1960s. Today, when committees act, they are often bound by external forces or are likely to be second-guessed by members when their legislation reaches the floor.

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