Subcommittees in the House of Representatives

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Subcommittees are entities created by full committees to assist them in managing their work.
Pursuant to Rule XI, clause 1(a)(A), “The Rules of the House are the rules of its committees and
subcommittees so far as applicable....” According to clause 1(a)(2) of the same rule, “each
subcommittee of a committee is a part of that committee, and is subject to the authority and
direction of that committee and to its rules, so far as applicable.”
Service on subcommittees enables members to develop expertise in specialized fields.
Subcommittees diffuse the legislative process. For the most part, they are independent,
autonomous units with written jurisdictions, and, pursuant to longstanding practice, most bills are ^th
referred by a full committee to them. Prior to the 104 Congress, subcommittees controlled their
own, autonomous staffs.

Creati on ....................................................................................................................... .............. 1
Jurisdiction and Bill Referral....................................................................................................1
Staff and Funding......................................................................................................................1
Chairman and Ranking Member Selection...............................................................................2
Subcommittee Assignments......................................................................................................2
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................2

ubcommittees are entities created by full committees to assist them in managing their work.
Pursuant to Rule XI, clause 1(a)(A), “The Rules of the House are the rules of its
committees and subcommittees so far as applicable....” According to clause 1(a)(2) of the S

same rule, “each subcommittee of a committee is a part of that committee, and is subject to the
authority and direction of that committee and to its rules, so far as applicable.”
Service on subcommittees enables members to develop expertise in specialized fields.
Subcommittees diffuse the legislative process. For the most part, they are independent,
autonomous units with written jurisdictions, and, pursuant to longstanding practice, most bills are ^th
referred by a full committee to them. Prior to the 104 Congress, subcommittees controlled their
own, autonomous staffs.
House Rule X, clause 5(d) prohibits committees from having more than five subcommittees.
However, a committee that maintains a subcommittee on oversight may have not more than six
subcommittees. The Appropriations Committee may have up to 13 subcommittees (12 have been
created) and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform may have up to seven ^th
subcommittee. For the 110 Congress, pursuant to H.Res. 6, the Armed Services Committee and
the Foreign Affairs Committee may each have seven subcommittees, and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure may have six subcommittees.
House rules further limit committees from creating “panels” by stating that any subunit of a full
committee that lasts longer than six months counts against the subcommittee limit.
Democratic Caucus Rule 26 addresses creation of subcommittees “when the Democratic party is
the majority party.” Essentially, each committee caucus would establish the number of
subcommittees, fix their jurisdiction, and determine their size, although no subcommittee could
be more than 60% of the size of the full committee.
Subcommittee jurisdictions are not enumerated in House rules. Their jurisdictions are determined
by each committee, and several panels list the jurisdictions in their committee rules. Pursuant to
jurisdiction and by practice, most legislation is referred by a committee to a subcommittee prior
to consideration by the full committee. However, some committees retain specific legislation at
the full-committee level. For example, the Ways and Means Committee keeps legislation
amending the income tax sections of the Internal Revenue Code at full committee, and the
Natural Resources Committee retains matters relating to Native Americans for the full committee.
In the 104^th Congress, the Republican majority adopted procedures whereby all subcommittee
staff would be controlled by the full-committee chair. Previously, subcommittee chairs had the
authority to hire one staffer. The rule, House Rule X, clause 6(d), requires the committee chair “to
ensure that sufficient staff is made available to each subcommittee to carry out its
responsibilities.” Relatedly, associate staff for the Appropriations Committee was reduced from
two staffers per member to one; continuing members of the Budget Committee (funding for new

Budget members to hire associates was withheld) and all Rules Committee members were
entitled to retain their associate staff.
Under Republican Conference rules, each committee leader determines and provides to other
Republican members of the committee the method for selecting subcommittee leaders. However,
a majority of the Republican members of the full committee can disapprove the selection ^th
procedure. For the 110 Congress, subcommittee leaders of the Appropriations Committee
require the approval of the Republican Steering Committee. House Republicans also limit
members to a single committee or subcommittee ranking slot, although the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct and House Administration Committee are exempt. Finally,
Republican Conference rules prohibit full-committee leaders from leading a subcommittee of the
committee they head. Under House rules, subcommittee chairs are limited to 6 years of service,
although waivers can be granted.
House Democrats allow each committee member to bid, in order of seniority, for available
subcommittee leadership slots. For all committees, except Appropriations, this is done by full-
committee seniority; for Appropriations, it is done by subcommittee seniority. Caucus rules
generally limit members to chair only one full committee or one subcommittee with legislative
jurisdiction. Some subcommittee leaders require full Democratic Caucus approval.
Under House Rule X, clause 5(b)(2)(A), Members generally are limited to service on four
subcommittees. However, there are some exceptions. House rules are silent on subcommittee
assignment procedures; they are traditionally governed by party rules and practices.
Republicans generally leave assignment decisions to the committee leader to determine, although
most employ a bidding approach that allows members to select subcommittee slots. Democrats
formally provide for such a bidding process.
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