Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Setting the Agenda
- 1 Introduction
- PART I WHY PARTY GOVERNMENT?
- PART II NEGATIVE AGENDA POWER
- 3 Modeling Agenda Power
- 4 The Primacy of Reed's Rules in House Organization
- 5 Final Passage Votes
- 6 The Costs of Agenda Control
- 7 The Textbook Congress and the Committee on Rules
- 8 The Bills Reported from Committee
- 9 Which Way Does Policy Move?
- PART III THE CONSEQUENCES OF POSITIVE AGENDA POWER AND CONDITIONAL PARTY GOVERNMENT
- Appendix
- Addendum
- Bibliography
- Index
- Author Index
7 - The Textbook Congress and the Committee on Rules
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Setting the Agenda
- 1 Introduction
- PART I WHY PARTY GOVERNMENT?
- PART II NEGATIVE AGENDA POWER
- 3 Modeling Agenda Power
- 4 The Primacy of Reed's Rules in House Organization
- 5 Final Passage Votes
- 6 The Costs of Agenda Control
- 7 The Textbook Congress and the Committee on Rules
- 8 The Bills Reported from Committee
- 9 Which Way Does Policy Move?
- PART III THE CONSEQUENCES OF POSITIVE AGENDA POWER AND CONDITIONAL PARTY GOVERNMENT
- Appendix
- Addendum
- Bibliography
- Index
- Author Index
Summary
In Congresses of the late twentieth century, the Rules Committee consisted of thirteen members, nine from the majority party, four from the minority party. This heavy majority party ratio of 2 to 1 plus 1 reflected the committee's status since the mid 1970s as an “arm of the leadership” and “legislative gatekeeper.” The committee of the 1990s served principally to assist the majority leadership in scheduling bills for floor action. Bills were scheduled by means of special rules that gave them priority status for consideration in the House and established procedures for their debate and amendment.
– U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Rules, 2004INTRODUCTION
In the 106th Congress, the Republican majority sought to pass legislation that would ensure increased accountability for juvenile offenders. After reneging on its promise to consider the bill under regular order, the majority party succeeded in having the matter referred to the Rules Committee. In the Democrats' view of events, Rules began by giving conflicting instructions to the minority party about how amendments should be drafted. In response to such instructions, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) exclaimed:
We ought to be honest about what really appears to be happening – a rule is being structured, in my judgment, so that the Republican leadership can isolate and kill the Senate passed gun violence amendments while still being able to point to what will be largely meaningless juvenile justice provisions.
(Letter to Henry Hyde 1999)- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Setting the AgendaResponsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives, pp. 124 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005