US congressional committees: Changing legislative workshops

Committees have been a distinctive feature of the US Congress from its earliest days, and their multiple functions have attracted the interest of many scholars and commentators. Some emphasise that they enable the chambers to cope with their complex, growing workload; others note that they respond to the chambers’ party organisations; still others contend that they serve powerful clientele constituencies. The committees’ hegemony is increasingly challenged – from strengthened party leaders and from the growth of broad, cross‐cutting issues that are often resolved by a combination of committees or by extra‐committee bodies (for example, party task forces). House Republicans often circumvented committees during the 104th Congress (1995–97); although the balance of power has since been restored, committees still face potent challenges to their policy‐making dominance.