Standing committee (United States Congress)

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Standing committees in the United States Congress are legislative committees that exist beyond the adjournment of the legislative body. In the U.S. Congress, most work is done by standing committees.

Such committees permanently authorized by United States House of Representatives and United States Senate rules. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 greatly reduced the number of committees. The powers and duties of each committee are set forth in the rules of the House and Senate, and the membership is elected on motion or resolution from the floor at the beginning of each Congress.

The standing committee decides if a specific legislation should be proposed. Investigators and researchers are assigned to the committee in order to help reach a decision. The Senate holds 16 such committees while House of Representatives holds 20.

Committee sizes range from 6 to 50 members per committee, where one person may not be on more than 6 committees at one time. The Committee on Committees assigns Republican representatives to their committee(s), while the Steering and Policy Committee is in charge of assigning Democratic representatives to committees.

[edit] See also

• Standing Committee
• Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC)
• Standing Committee (UK)

Current United States Congressional committees
House (list)	Agriculture • Appropriations • Armed Services • Budget • Education and the Workforce • Energy and Commerce • Financial Services • Government Reform • Homeland Security • House Administration • Hurricane Katrina (Select) • Intelligence (Permanent Select) • International Relations • Judiciary • Resources • Rules • Science • Small Business • Standards of Official Conduct • Transportation and Infrastructure • Veterans' Affairs • Ways and Means • (Whole)
Senate (list)	Aging (Special) • Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry • Appropriations • Armed Services • Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs • Budget • Commerce, Science and Transportation • Energy and Natural Resources • Ethics (Select) • Environment and Public Works • Finance • Foreign Relations • Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions • Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs • Indian Affairs • Intelligence (Select) • Judiciary • Rules and Administration • Small Business and Entrepreneurship • Veterans' Affairs
Joint	(Conference) • Economic • Library • Printing • Taxation	Defunct committees