Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 108th Congress-Joint and Select Committees

[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 108th Congress]
[108th Congress]
[House Document 107-284]
[Joint and Select Committees]
[Pages 949-952]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

[[Page 949]]

JOINT AND SELECT COMMITTEES

__________

Joint Committees

Sec. 1108. Joint Economic Committee.

The Joint Economic
Committee is composed of 10 Members of the Senate and 10 Members of the
House. The 10 House Members are appointed by the Speaker: Six from the
majority and four from the minority (15 U.S.C. 1024(a)). The 10 Senate
Members are appointed by the President of the Senate: Five from the
majority and five from the minority (for the duration of the 107th
Congress so long as the majority and minority have equal representation)
(P.L. 107-3). The committee conducts a continuing study of matters
relating to the Economic Report made by the President and studies means
of promoting the national policy on employment as outlined in the
Employment Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1021). The committee is required to
file, not later than March 1 of each year, a report with the Senate and
the House containing its findings and recommendations on each of the
main recommendations made by the President in the Economic Report. It is
authorized to hold hearings and make other reports to the Congress and
to issue a monthly publication on economic conditions (15 U.S.C. 1024-
1025). The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 (sec. 302,
P.L. 95-523) requires the joint committee to review and analyze the
short-term and medium-term goals set forth in the Economic Report and to
hold hearings on the Report to hear testimony from Members of Congress
and other groups. Within 30 days after receipt of the Report by the
Congress, standing committees with legislative jurisdiction and joint
committees may submit reports to the joint committee with views and
recommendations on matters within their jurisdiction. On or before each
March 15, a majority of the members of the joint committee are required
to submit a report to the Senate and House Budget Committees, including
findings, recommendations, and appropriate analyses with respect to each
of the short-term and medium-term goals set forth in the Economic
Report.

[[Page 950]]

ings at times and places it deems advisable, has subpoena powers, and
reports to the Committee on Ways and Means, and, in its discretion,
directly to the House (26 U.S.C. 8001-8023).

Sec. 1109. Joint Committee on Internal Revenue
Taxation.

The Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation is composed of five
Members of the Senate and five Members of the House. The House Members,
three from the majority and two from the minority, are chosen by the
Committee on Ways and Means from the membership of that committee. The
joint committee investigates the operation and effects of the Federal
system of internal revenue taxation. It is authorized to hold hear

Sec. 1110. Joint Committee of Congress on the
Library.

The Joint Committee of Congress on the Library is composed of five
Members of the Senate (the chairman and four members of the
Committee on Rules and Administration) and six Members of the House.
House membership consists of the chairman and four members of the
Committee on House Administration (2 U.S.C. 132b) and the chairman of
the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch of the House Committee on
Appropriations with respect to the financial management, organization,
budget development and implementation, and program development and
administration, as well as any other element of the mission of the
Library of Congress which is subject to the requirements of Federal law
(2 U.S.C. 132b (note)).

Sec. 1111. Joint Committee on Printing.

The Joint Committee
on Printing is composed of five Members of the Senate
(the chairman and four members of the Committee on Rules and
Administration) and five Members of the House (the chairman and four
members of the Committee on House Administration) (44 U.S.C.
101). The committee adopts and employs measures necessary to
remedy inefficiencies or waste in the public printing, binding, and
distribution of Government publications. It has control of the
arrangement and style of the Congressional Record (44 U.S.C. 901-910).
The joint committee is directed to provide for printing in the Record
the legislative program for the day, together with a list of
congressional committee meetings and hearings and the place of meeting
and subject matter; and to cause a brief resume of congressional
activities for the previous day to be incorporated in the Record,
together with an index of its contents. Such data is prepared under the
supervision of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of
Representatives, respectively.

[[Page 951]]

Sec. 1112. Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural
Ceremonies.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is
established by concurrent resolution in the second session of the
Congress occurring before a Presidential inauguration and reestablished
at the beginning of the next Congress. It is composed of three Members
of both the Senate and the House. The three House Members are appointed
by the Speaker and are traditionally the Speaker, the Majority Leader,
and the Minority Leader. The committee is authorized to make the
necessary arrangements for the inauguration of the President-elect and
Vice President-elect. (see, e.g., S. Con. Res. 47, 104th Cong., Aug. 2,
1996, p. 21405; S. Con. Res. 2, 105th Cong., Jan. 7, 1997, p.
143; S. Con. Res. 89, 106th Cong., Mar. 14, 2000, p. ----;
S. Con. Res. 2, 107th Cong., Jan. 3, 2001, p. ----).

Select Committees

Sec. 1112a. Select committees

The 103d Congress, and each
succeeding Congress, did not reestablish Select Committees on Hunger, on
Children, Youth, and Families, on Narcotics Abuse and Control, or on
Aging (formerly established in standing rule X). The
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has been reestablished by the
adoption of clause 11 of rule X each Congress.

In the 107th Congress the House established a Select Committee on
Homeland Security (H. Res. 449, June 19, 2002, p. ----). Its mission was
to develop recommendations on such matters that relate to the
establishment of a department of homeland security as may be referred to
it by the Speaker and on recommendations submitted to it by standing
committees to which the Speaker referred a bill establishing the
department and to report its recommendation to the House on such bill.
It was terminated after final disposition of the specified bill (Nov.
25, 2002, p. ----). In the 108th Congress the House reestablished a
Select Committee on Homeland Security (sec. 4, H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 2003,
p. ----). Its mission is to develop recommendations on such matters that
relate to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296) as may be
referred to it by the Speaker; to conduct oversight of laws, programs,
and Government activities relating to homeland security; to conduct a
study of the operation and implementation of the rules of the House,
including rule X, with respect to homeland security; and to report its
recommendations to the House by bill or otherwise on matters referred to
it by the Speaker and to report its recommendations on changes to House
rules to the Committee on Rules by Sept. 30, 2004.

In the 105th Congress a new subparagraph (3) was added at the end of
former clause 4(e) of rule X to establish a Select Committee on Ethics
only to resolve an inquiry originally undertaken by the standing
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in the 104th Congress (H.
Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 121). The Select Committee filed
one report to the House (H. Rept. 105-1, H. Res. 31, Jan. 21, 1997, p.
393).

[[Page 952]]

and instructed the Clerk to grant access to those records only with the
approval of the chairman and ranking minority member of the former
Select Committee (so long as each remains a Member) and, thereafter,
with the approval of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
In the 105th Congress the House adopted a resolution establishing the
Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial
Concerns With the People's Republic of China (H. Res. 463, June 18,
1998, p. ----). In the 106th Congress the Select Committee was
reestablished until April 1, 1999, solely for the purpose of completing
activities directly associated with the declassification and public
release of its report (sec. 2, H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). It was
extended for the same purposes to April 30, 1999 (H. Res. 129, Mar. 24,
1999, p. ----), to May 14, 1999 (H. Res. 153, Apr. 29, 1999, p. ----),
and to May 31, 1999 (H. Res. 170, May 13, 1999, p. ----). The House gave
the select committee the authority to dispose of its records consistent
with the rules and laws concerning classified information (sec. 2(f)(3),
H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). Pursuant to that authority the Select
Committee transferred its records to the Clerk

For a history of select committees in the House, see House Practice,
ch. 11, Sec. Sec. 12, 13.