Title: The Congressional Committee System
Headings: The Congressional Committee System
The Congressional Committee System
Who's Doing What?
Brief History of the Committee System
Where the Action Happens
The Standing Committees
Committees in the Legislative Process

Content: The Congressional Committee System
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The Congressional Committee System
Who's Doing What? The US Capitol Bulding in 1900. Getty Images
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Phaedra Trethan is a news reporter at the Courier-Post, where she covers politics, immigration, poverty, and more. She has been recognized by the New Jersey Press Association for her work. our editorial process
Phaedra Trethan
Updated December 10, 2020
The congressional committees are subdivisions of the U.S. Congress that concentrate on specific areas of U.S. domestic and foreign policy and general government oversight. Often called the “little legislatures,” congressional committees review pending legislation and recommend action on that legislation by the whole House or Senate. The congressional committees provide Congress with critical information related to specialized, rather than general subjects. President Woodrow Wilson once wrote of the committees, “It is not far from the truth to say that Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work.” Brief History of the Committee System
Today’s congressional committee system had its beginnings in the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the first and still the most ambitious restructuring of the original system of standing committees as used in the First Continental Congress in 1774. Under the 1946 Act, the number of permanent House committees was reduced from 48 to 19 and the number of Senate committees from 33 to 15.