	Introduction

All Senate committees must adopt rules of procedure, unless exempted from doing so, and publish them in the Congressional Record by March 1 of the first year of a new Congress. A committee's rules must be "not inconsistent" with the Senate's rules. This report catalogues and compares the rules in the 114 th Congress of the 18 Senate committees with legislative authority—committees having authority to report legislation to the Senate. Committee Rules

The rules of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and Appropriations Committees stated that the chair and ranking minority member of the full committee served as ex officio members on the committee's subcommittees on which they did not serve; however, they were not allowed to vote in or be counted toward a quorum of a subcommittee on which they served ex officio. The Finance Committee's rules had a specific provision on discharging legislation from a subcommittee. Additional Committee Meetings

			Senate Rule

A Senate rule authorizes each committee chair to call additional meetings "as [the chair] may deem necessary." Notice of Meetings

				On Adding Agenda Items

A rule of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee allowed a committee member through a written request to the chair to place legislation, a nomination, or another matter on the agenda of the committee's next business meeting. Committees' Rules

As shown in Table 2 , the Senate rule is reflected in many committees' rules. A rule of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee provided that the chair would designate another member to preside in the chair's absence at a meeting or hearing and authorized the ranking minority member to designate a minority member to act in the ranking minority member's stead at a meeting or hearing. A rule requiring that a vote to report a measure appear in the committee report on that measure also provides that the rule does not curtail the power of a committee to adopt rules allowing a lesser quorum on an action other than reporting a measure or matter. The six reasons enumerated in Rule XXVI, paragraph 5(b) allowing a meeting to be closed are—
"matters necessary to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or the confidential conduct of the foreign relations of the United States" will be disclosed; matters related solely to committee staff or staff management and procedure will be discussed; deliberations or testimony "will tend to charge an individual with crime or misconduct, to disgrace or injure the professional standing of an individual, or otherwise to expose an individual to public contempt or obloquy, or will represent a clearly unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual"; "the identity of any informer or law enforcement agent or ... any information relating to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense that is required to be kept secret in the interests of effective law enforcement" will be revealed; deliberations or testimony "will disclose information relating to trade secrets of financial or commercial information pertaining specifically to a given person" if an act of Congress requires government officials to keep the information confidential or if the information was provided confidentially to the government (other than by an application of the person for a government financial or other benefit) and is required to be kept secret to "prevent undue injury to the competitive position" of the person; and matters required by other provisions of law or regulation to be kept confidential may be disclosed. (Rule XXVI, paragraph 1.) Subpoenas

			Senate Rule

Committees are authorized to subpoena witnesses and documents. Legislation might also be held at the desk or might be placed on the calendar by unanimous consent. The Intelligence Committee's rule authorized the chair or vice chair within his or her discretion to seek executive comment. This rule, however, could be waived upon the concurrence of the chair and the ranking minority member. In addition, if a majority of a committee files with the committee's clerk a request to report to the Senate a measure that was approved by the committee, the report must be filed with the Senate within seven days, counting from the day after the request was filed with the committee clerk. Another committee rule delegated to the chair and ranking minority member joint authority to approve on the committee's behalf rules and regulations for which the committee's approval was required. The Indian Affairs Committee's rules provided that the committee's rules could only be amended by a majority vote of all committee members.
Senate Rule XXVI directs Senate committees to adopt rules of procedure and publish them in the Congressional Record by March 1 of the first year of a new Congress. A committee's rules must be "not inconsistent" with the Senate's rules. Committee rules, even if they have not been amended, must be revalidated in each Congress as provided in Rule XXVI.
Committee rules cover a variety of subjects—from meeting dates to quorums to processing nominations. Some Senate rules that are reflected in committees' rules must be followed, such as the rule that requires a majority of a committee to be physically present to report a measure or matter. Other committee rules, such as those concerning the relationship between a committee and its subcommittees, are largely within the discretion of each committee to design.
From a chair's perspective, a committee's rules authorize the chair to act on a variety of matters. However, the rules might provide the chair with a different authority for each matter. A chair might be able to act on his or her own authority on one matter but need the concurrence of the ranking minority member on another matter. In one instance, a chair may be able to act quickly, but in another instance the chair might be required to give notice prior to taking an action. Each committee's rules have evolved distinctively, and different degrees of discretion or limitation in each committee's rules govern each action that a chair might take.
From the minority's perspective, a committee's rules govern the minority's role in agenda setting, decision making, and procedural prerogatives. Committees' rules vary in what role they provide the minority in selecting witnesses, placing matters on the agenda, forming a quorum, bringing a matter to a vote, authorizing subpoenas, and so on.
From an individual committee member's perspective, a committee's rules allocate authority between the chair and ranking minority member and between the chair and the committee's members. In many rules, the chair, or the chair with the concurrence of the ranking minority member, may make decisions, such as reducing the notice of a meeting or waiving other requirements in the committee's rules related to holding a meeting. In other rules, decisions may be made only by action of the committee.
Just as in the Senate, many actions in committees are taken by unanimous consent. Unanimous consent may allow some or many committee rules to be set aside. It might also be used to create ad hoc procedures that accommodate committee members on a particular piece of legislation or for a specific meeting or to facilitate a committee's conduct of business. Before agreeing to unanimous consent, a committee member might wish to understand the specific committee rules and committee member prerogatives being set aside.
In cataloguing and comparing the breadth of 114th Congress Senate committee rules on legislative and executive business, this report provides the reader with a guide to the variety of committee rules. This report will be updated during the 115th Congress.
A companion report on House committees' rules is also available: CRS Report R41605, House Standing Committees' Rules on Legislative Activities: Analysis of Rules in Effect in the 114th Congress, by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].