#79: CIVICS 101: The Legislative Branch
Q&A #79: Has Congress ever altered its committee organization?
Our American Government
Our American Government is a small book published by the House of Representatives for citizens and those who seek a greater understanding of the American interpretation of democracy. It follows a question-and-answer format and covers a broad range of topics dealing with the three branches of our Government, the electoral process, and the role of political parties.
The Savvy Citizen is reproducing the 169 questions-and-answers through a series of posts called Civics 101. Each post will contain the Q&A as well as some additional commentary to add historical context, fun facts, or anything we believe will add to our collective understanding of these topics.
Think of it as your adult Civics class but without the test!
Let’s keep at it.
SECTION: The Legislative Branch: The Congress
The Committee System
Q&A #79: Has Congress ever altered its committee organization?
Congressional organization and procedure have changed considerably over Congress’s 200-year history in response to new needs and circumstances.
With respect to the committee system, for example, in the early years of the Republic, Congress relied on temporary, ad hoc committees to process legislation the full Chambers had considered. A system of permanent standing committees developed in the first half of the 19th century, when committees acquired many modernday powers, such as the power to hold legislation they do not recommend for full Chamber action. Throughout the 19th century, so many committees were created to deal with emerging national issues that, by the 20th century, the system had become unwieldy. Early 20th century action by the Chambers abolished and consolidated panels to streamline decision making.
Major reorganization of the committee system was also achieved by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. It established standardized committee procedures in many areas, abolished and merged committees to form integrated panels with broad jurisdictions, and gave each standing committee a permanent complement of staff. The act also revamped other areas of congressional procedure. For example, it established the first comprehensive laws to regulate the lobbying of Congress, which have since been amended. A similar 1970 Reorganization Act revised committee and other procedures, including strengthening Congress’s fiscal controls. A 1974 House committee reform measure refined committees’ jurisdictions, amended committee procedures, and expanded Congress’s oversight of the executive branch. A 1977 Senate committee reform measure realigned and consolidated jurisdictions, revised and expanded Senators’ service limitations on committees, and amended procedures for hiring staff and referring legislation, among other things. In 1993, another reform review was initiated by the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress.
My Thoughts
The History, Art & Archives section of the House’s website includes an Historical Highlight on the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, which you can find here. I’ve also reproduced the text below.
President Harry S. Truman signed the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 into law on this day. Drafted by the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress and spearheaded by Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr. of Wisconsin and Representative Almer Monroney of Oklahoma, the legislation streamlined the sprawling, complex committee system and the cumbersome appropriations process. Representative Monroney observed that the congressional workload had “increased by geometric proportions in recent years and we must modernize our machinery to handle it.” When the legislation went into effect at the start of the 80th Congress (1947–1949), the reforms reduced the number of House committees from 48 to 19 and the number of Senate committees from 33 to 15. The legislation included a congressional pay raise, free education for House and Senate Pages, and the expansion of the Legislative Reference Service (later known as the Congressional Research Service). Committee centralization created a new subcommittee structure which, over time, steadily increased the number of professional staff members working in the House.
For the legislative nerds, you can read the full text f the law here.
Back next time with a new section Q&A #80: What is a conference committee?
Meanwhile, don’t forget that we’re organizing the post links on a single page available here.
xo,
Kelley for the Savvy Citizen Team
April 14, 2025