136 Congressional politics
The working of these committees varies according to political conditions.
Thus, House committee assignments used to be made by the Democratic
members of the House Ways and Means Committee, who were accused of
favouring conservative and Southern Representatives. When Lyndon John-
son was Senate majority leader he used his position to dominate the steering
committee in order to secure compliance with his policies in the Senate.
Thus, in addition to the party caucuses and conferences, there are party
policy committees in each House, but their leadership role on policy mat-
ters is severely limited. They are able to make strong pronouncements on
policy only on the rare occasions when there is virtual unanimity in the party.
Their major function is to consult with the party leadership on problems of
scheduling the legislative programme. There is, therefore, a sizeable group
of people in the two Houses who exercise some degree of leadership. The
Speaker in the House and the majority leader in the Senate are by far the
most important of these, but neither of them is anything like as powerful as a
party leader in a strongly disciplined legislative party. They must work mostly
through persuasion and with the relatively few sanctions available to them.
They must attempt to steer the legislative programme through Congress
even though the process of legislation is only partially under their control.
They must work with the standing committees, which dominate the legisla-
tive process, and they must also cope with two extra difficulties – the power
of the Rules Committee in the House, and the operation of the filibuster in
the Senate.
The House Rules Committee
In order to understand the importance of the Rules Committee in the House
it is first necessary to outline briefly the process by which legislation goes
through Congress. Senators and congressmen introduce Bills, and after a
formal first reading they are sent to the standing committees for considera-
tion. A large number of standing committees are working simultaneously on
many pieces of legislation, and when they have dealt with them they are
reported to the House or Senate for debate on the floor, preliminary to their
passage or rejection. Thus there arises the question of which of the many
Bills that are reported by standing committees should be taken first. Given
the limited time available in a session of Congress, the determination of pri-
orities is all-important, for Bills that are not given time on the floor will die
with the end of the session.
It is here that the Rules Committee of the House of Representatives exer-
cises its authority. Bills must be given a ‘special rule’ by the Rules Committee
if they are going to be given priority for consideration on the floor of the
House. As the House Calendar may contain thousands of Bills a special rule
is necessary in order to ensure that important legislation is given a hearing.
The rule will allocate a certain length of time to the Bill, and may lay down
conditions for the consideration of amendments. Thus the Rules Committee