Introduction
In the past two centuries, the United States has depended on congressional committees as tools for managing their daily businesses. Since their origin, these committees have slowly progressed from being temporary, ad hoc, and law drafting bodies to be the current permanent jurisdiction bodies. Moreover, their roles are not only limited to crafting legislation, but they have turned into platforms where the Congress oversee the executive agencies and engage in the creation and management of different national policies. The paper will present an in-depth evaluation of the Senates Joint Economic Committee and the Science Space and Technology House Committee.
Brief Overview of the Congressional Committees in the United States
In the United States, the Congressional Committees fall into four categories, which include the standing, select, special, and joint (Welsh, 2008). Out of these four groups, the standing committees are perceived to be the workhorses of the Congress. They operate as permanent bodies that are created by resolution or statute and are mandated to assess and report legislation to the full House or Senate. Moreover, these committees oversee legislation and manage federal agencies within their jurisdiction, as well as conducting hearings and investigations. Some of the examples of standing committees include the House and Senate committees on agriculture, financial institutions, armed services, appropriations, foreign relations, and commerce. As these names suggest, the House and Senate Committees oversee the administration of different major economic sector as well national policy concerns. On the other hand, the select committees have limited roles because of their transient nature. For instance, they may exist for an investigation and become dissolved once the objective is met. When it comes to special committees, they more or less share the same role as select committees. However, the difference between select and special committees is that the former is established by the presiding officers from the House and Senate Committees, while the latter depends on the parties and floor leaders for its establishment. Lastly, the joint committees may be temporary or permanent. Their main characteristic is the fact that their composition comprises of equal members of the Representatives and Senators. The United States currently has four permanent joint committees, whose roles are either advisory of administrative in nature. For instance, the Joint Tax Committee offers professional support to the tax staff, but it does not report out legislation. The Joint Economic Committee is advisory and has the responsibility of evaluating the national economy and budgetary issues. The last two joint committees comprising of Library of Congress and Printing respectively oversees the roles of the Government Printing Office.
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The Senate Joint Economic Committee
In 1946 after the passing of the Employment Act, the Joint Economic Committee was established. The primary reason for the formation of this committee was to evaluate and monitor the subjects that were included in the President’s annual Economic Report. Besides, they were to come up with ways to incorporate federal government programs into the economic issues and create an annual report concerning the economy of the country, which was to be presented not later than May 1. After the committee had assumed their operations, their roles were extended to giving a monthly publication concerning the economic indicators in 1949.
The original membership of the committee comprised of seven members from the House and seven from the Senate. The committee was non-partisan and included representation of individuals from the majority and minority parties. A few adjustments were made, and the final membership number was set at twenty with each contingent comprising of six majority members and four minority members. However, various progressions over the years make the Joint Economic Committee a bicameral congressional convention which comprises of ten Republican and ten Democrats. The chairperson of the Committee is Senator Dan Coats in the 114th Congress who is a Republican from Indiana. It is important to note that the chair and the vice chair of the committee are shared between the Senate and the House of each Congress (United States Congress. Joint Economic Committee, 2007).
According to the Employment Act of 1946, the Joint Economic Committee members are to be nominated by the head of the Senate as well as the Speaker of House. Currently, the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee is Senator Martin Heinrich.
Science Space and Technology House Committee
In 1957, the Soviet Union introduced the first satellite into orbit known as Sputnik 1 into the Space Race. The launch of Sputnik was perceived as a threat and danger to the United States government as they experienced an international scientific competition. During the assembling of the 85th Congress in 1958, one of their major goals was to establish a Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration (Congress, 1987). The Select Committee was created by Speaker Sam Rayburn with the aim of studying space. After its establishment, the Select Committee came up with the Space Act, which formed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Permanent House Committee on Science and Astronautics, which paved the way for the current Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. It is important to note that the formation of the committee was based on bipartisanship and expertise on the matters of science space and technology
In 1959, the 86th Congress assembled and chose Brooks as the Chairman on the Committee of Science Space and Technology. It comprised of twenty-five members with a higher percentage of the Democrats to Republicans in the Select Committee. After various adjustments, the final allotment for the Democrats and Republicans included sixteen and nine seats respectively. The current Science Space and Technology is under the chairmanship of Lamar Smith who is from Texas. The Vice Chairman is Frank Lucas who hails from Oklahoma. On the other hand, Republican Jim Banks from Indiana makes up the membership of the committee. Moreover, the committee’s ranking member is Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.
The Science and Astronautics Committee became the first standing committee formed in the House in over a decade since 1892 (Tollestrup, 2012). The initial goals of the committee revolved around the exploration and protection of outer space, conduct astronautical research and development, develop scientific research, and oversee legislation concerning scientific agencies. The first scientific agencies that were managed by the committee include the National Bureau of Standards, NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The committee was successful in managing and overseeing the space program.
As a way of fulfilling its responsibility, the House Committee granted the Select Committee the power to utilize all every government facility and resources. The majority and minority leaders of the committee both hailed from Massachusetts. Under Brook’s leadership, the committee has passed useful legislation in the past such as the NASA yearly budget authorization, which was considered a public law in 1959. Strict rules were established to govern their expenditure. On the other hand, the committee enhanced scientific research under the management of NSF.
Conclusion
Based on the evaluation of these two committees, it is important for the United Sates to keep them because it the most effective method for the Congress to draft legislation and oversee the federal government. Each of the committees plays a vital role in the sustainability of the economy and the maintenance of American Innovation and Competitiveness. However, it is crucial to note that one of the issues that emerge from the committees is competing for jurisdiction, which has been dealt with through the creation of committee systems.
References
Congress, U. S. (1987). House. Committee on Science. Space, and Technology. Legislative History of the Computer Security Act of , 100-153.
Tollestrup, J. (2012, February). The Congressional appropriations process: An introduction. In Congressional Research Service Report for Congress .
United States Congress. Joint Economic Committee. (2007). Retrieved on 11 April 2016 from https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/pressreleases- 671? ID=FA65B237-7E9C-9AF9-7F02-295F11AF9ECB
Welsh, M. (2008). An Overview of the Development of US Congressional Committees. Law Librarians Society of Washington, DC, July .
