Following the Rules: Understanding the All-Powerful House Committee

The Rules Committee, a powerful group in the House of Representatives that decides how and when bills will be debated, came under sharp criticism during the 2004 or 108th congressional session.

Critics claim that the Rules Committee is altering the very process of lawmaking by allowing a tiny group of Republican leaders to make important legislative decisions. This shift in power, opponents say, undermines the very foundation of our government: representative democracy.

GOP House leaders retort that Democrats are responsible for the Rules Committee structure that they now criticize. While this comeback is historically accurate, what does it mean for one party, either Republican or Democratic, to completely dominate the House of Representatives, the legislative body in which the people are most specifically represented?

The basics: the what, why, and how of the Rules Committee

The primary responsibility of the Rules Committee is to decide how many amendments and which amendments can be debated for any given bill. The reason for this is purely logical: since there are 435 House members, any of whom could offer amendments, it would be impractical for the House to debate without limit; they would never get anything done.

But this power also allows the Rules Committee to prevent a bill from ever reaching the floor, and critics say that the Committee has been using this authority to block legislation that the White House dislikes.

The Rules Committee, is made up of nine Republicans and four Democrats, so the minority has very little if any sway. But Democrats can blame only themselves for this lop-sidedness. When Democrats were in the majority, they changed the composition of the Rules Committee so that the majority would have more than a 2-to-1 advantage over the minority.

In 1961, Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-TX) proposed that the committee be enlarged by two Democrats and one Republican. Although most Republicans in the House opposed the change, the Democratic majority passed it. In 1975, Democrats abolished the size limit altogether and reestablished the Rules Committee as an extension of the House leadership.

Although Democrats in the 1960s and 70s worked to create a Rules Committee that would carry out the wishes of the party leadership and the White House, Democrats now wish to reorganize the committee to give the minority more say.

Further, Democrats say that Republicans are using the Rules Committee to corrupt the legislative process and to silence any congressperson - Republican or Democrat - who disagrees with Republicans in power.

The specifics: Investigating the Rules Committee

The Boston Globe investigated the Rules Committee for six months in 2004 in order to discover how so-called back-room deals were affecting legislation. They found that the Rules Committee often met in secret, rewrote bills, and prevented bills from being altered on the House floor.

While it should be noted that The Boston Globe is widely recognized as a more Democratic paper, its report provides information for discussion and debate:

• The Rules Committee often calls "emergency sessions" that are late at night or very early in the morning. These meetings are often crucial, but other House lawmakers remain unaware of them.
• The Rules Committee frequently rewrites significant passages in legislation that have already been approved by other committees and then prevents lawmakers from changing the rewritten bills on the House floor.
• The Rules Committee is severely limiting debate in the House. In 2004, House members were allowed to amend policy bills only five times. Further, only 28 percent of bills in the 108th Congress were open to amendment. This number equals about half of the bills that Democrats kept open for amendment when they were last in control of the House in 1993-94.

Arguably, these practices are hindering open debate on the issues. Critics point to the Patriot Act for one example of questionable Rules Committee behavior.

What you probably don’t know about The Patriot Act

While much has been written about the problems and merits of The Patriot Act, the congressional events that created the law are often overlooked.

In 2001, Congress was faced with the challenge of preventing terrorism while preserving civil liberties. Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate negotiated tirelessly to come to a bipartisan agreement. In the House, the Judiciary Committee came to a compromise that won a 36-0 vote.

However, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft found the House version of the bill to be too weak on law enforcement, so the Rules Committee rewrote the bill to include its now famous "sneak and peek" provision, which allows the government to search people’s homes without notice. In this instance, the Rules Committee superseded a bipartisan agreement.

But Rules Committee defenders claim that Democrats used similar tactics when they were in power, and they’re only complaining because they’re no longer the majority.

But the question remains: Should the Rules Committee have such power over the legislative process? Should it be reinstated to a bipartisan committee? Should the Committee be required to report its meetings and decisions to the rest of the House?

To learn more about majority rule and the rights of the minority, click here.

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Update Posted on: 1/6/2005