HEARING SUMMARY, APRIL 20, 1993 Seven Witnesses: Daniel P. Mulhollan, Former Senator Adlai Stevenson, Former Senator William Brock, Roger Davidson, Roger Sperry, Norman Ornstein, and Thomas Mann. Chairman Boren commenced the hearing by stating that today was the beginning of a new series of hearings on committees. He gave a brief background on the issues surrounding the committee system. Among these are their number, structure, and jurisdiction. He outlined the future schedule of the hearings and introduced the first witness. Acting Deputy Librarian of Congress Daniel P. Mulhollan The first Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, created after World War II, defined the modern committee system by reducing the number of committees, establishing written committee jurisdictions, clarifying committee procedures, and implementing a staffing system. The second Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress produced the 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act, which addressed committee procedural issues and increased the openness of the legislative process. In 1973, the "Bolling Committee" was created in the House to update the committee system. Its recommendations on staffing and multiple referrals were adopted by the House. The 1976-77 "Stevenson-Brock Committee" in the Senate achieved a degree of success in abolishing some Senate committees and realigning jurisdictions. During this same time, the Obey Commission on Administrative Review examined the management and administrative structure of the House, scheduling, and workload. The Culver Commission on the Operation of the Senate then addressed staffing issues and other matters tangential to committee organization. In 1979, the "Patterson Committee on Committees" in the House focused primarily on realigning energy jurisdiction. The 1984 "Quayle Committee on Committees" primarily addressed the Senate assignment system, but many of the limitations it imposed have since been diluted. Although prior reform panels have made significant contributions to the structure and procedures of the Congress, this set of hearings suggests that there are Members who believe there is still more left to be done. The report by CRS provides models for reorganizing the committee system based on the number of panels, rational jurisdictional alignments, workload parity, the disparity of chamber size, or applying the organization of the Executive Branch or the Federal budget functional categories to committee structure. There are some issues integral to the committee system that are not covered in the report. They include committee assignments, bill referral procedures, staffing, oversight, and the legislative process in committees. The Joint Committee must decide whether or not there is a systemic problem with the committee system. If the system just needs fine tuning, issues to focus on include: |