A select or special committee of the United States Congress is a congressional committee appointed to perform a special function that is beyond the authority or capacity of a standing committee . A select committee is usually created by a resolution that outlines its duties and powers and the procedures for appointing members. Select and special committees are often investigative, rather than legislative, in nature though some select and special committees have the authority to draft and report legislation.
46-596: The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian , Native Hawaiian , and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 1947, after which it was folded into the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs . A new Native Affairs Committee was created in 1977, initially as
92-423: A select committee , as a result of the detachment of indigenous affairs from the new Committee on Energy and National Resources , which had succeeded the old Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. The committee was initially intended to be temporary, but was made permanent in 1984. The committee tends to include senators from Western and Plains states, who have more Native American constituents. In 1977,
138-639: A 20-year hiatus in Native affairs known as the "Termination Era" – a period in which the prevailing policy of the United States was to terminate the Federal relationship with Native tribes or transfer jurisdiction over tribal lands to the states. By the mid-1960s, this Termination philosophy was in decline as a failed policy and the Congress began to include Native tribes in legislation designed to rebuild
184-599: A bipartisan January 6 Commission. Bipartisan membership on the committee was a point of significant political contention. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were the only two House Republicans to serve on the committee, and the Republican National Committee eventually censured them for their participation. There have been a number of unsuccessful proposals to create select committees. For example, in 2017, Representative Mike Thompson and 162 other Democratic members of Congress unsuccessfully introduced
230-471: A dissenting report, Democrats accused the committee and its chairman, Trey Gowdy , "of flagrant political bias while arguing the investigation wasted taxpayer money to try to damage Clinton". On July 1, 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a select committee to investigate the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol , following the U.S. Senate's failure to overcome a Republican-led filibuster to create
276-609: A far-reaching proposal for reorganization of the entire Senate committee system. Under this proposal, the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs under the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs was to be abolished with its natural resource functions to be distributed among other newly formed Senate committees and its human resources functions to be transferred to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources . In view of
322-599: A means to accomplish its work. In the 1st Congress (1789–1791), the House appointed roughly six hundred select committees over the course of two years. By the 3rd Congress (1793–95), Congress had three permanent standing committees , the House Committee on Elections , the House Committee on Claims , and the Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills , but more than three hundred fifty select committees. While
368-540: A measure to create a House Select Committee on Gun Violence Prevention to address gun violence in the United States . In the same year, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Senator Cory Gardner introduced bipartisan legislation to create a Select Committee on Cybersecurity. The United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government
414-640: A noticeable impact on federal legislation and American history . One was the select committee dealing with Missouri 's admission to the Union as a new state . The committee was established in 1821 and lasted just 7 days. Chaired by Henry Clay , the committee helped draft the Missouri Compromise , which attempted to resolve the question of whether slavery would be permitted in newly admitted states. Some select committees went on to become permanent standing committees. The most notable of these
460-564: A provision to establish a Select Committee on Native Affairs with full jurisdiction over all proposed legislation and other matters relating to Native affairs. With the commencement of the 96th Congress , the Select Committee on Indian Affairs was to expire and jurisdiction over Native matters was to be transferred to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. As the Select Committee on Indian Affairs grappled with
506-447: A standing committee, and still operates as one today. Notable select and special committees established in the 20th century include: The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was established in 2007 in the 110th Congress (under Speaker Nancy Pelosi ) and renewed for the 111th Congress . The committee was advisory in nature, and lacked the legislative authority granted to standing committees . The committee
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#1732776355038552-584: Is the Ways and Means Committee . It was first established as a select committee July 24, 1789 during a debate on the creation of the Treasury Department . Representatives had concerns over giving the new department too much authority over revenue proposals, so the House felt it would be better equipped if it established a committee to handle the matter. This first Committee on Ways and Means had 11 members and existed for just two months. In 1801, it became
598-555: The 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi , Libya . The committee spent more than $ 7.8 million on its investigation over two and a half years, issued its final report in December 2016, and shut down at the conclusion of the 114th Congress . The committee was "one of the longest, costliest and most bitterly partisan congressional investigations in history", lasting longer than the congressional inquiries into 9/11 , Watergate ,
644-596: The Senate Agriculture Committee . Republican Mike Enzi of Wyoming continued to serve as Ranking Member . Source: 2010 Congressional Record , Vol. 156, Page S6226 , Source: 2011 Congressional Record , Vol. 157, Page S557 Source: 2013 Congressional Record , Vol. 159, Page S296 to 297 Source Source: 2015 Congressional Record , Vol. 161, Page S67 to 68 The committee has had other subcommittees in
690-550: The assassination of President Kennedy , and the attack on Pearl Harbor . Democrats and critics viewed the inquiry as intended to damage the presidential prospects of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy prompted controversy when he suggested that Republicans had succeeded with the Benghazi special committee in bringing down Clinton's poll numbers. James Fallows wrote that
736-546: The 2009 Waxman-Markey bill (which was passed by the House, but never acted upon by the Senate). The committee was disbanded by the House in 2011, at the beginning of the 112th Congress , after Republicans took control of the chamber following the 2010 elections . In May 2014, the House of Representatives voted to create the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi to investigate
782-570: The HELP Committee, the committee was originally founded on January 28, 1869, as the Committee on Education . Its name was changed to the Committee on Education and Labor on February 14, 1870, when petitions relating to labor were to its jurisdiction from the Committee on Naval Affairs . The committee’s jurisdiction at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused largely on issues relating to federal employees’ working conditions and federal education aid. Prominent action considered by
828-461: The Select Committee on Indian Affairs in the 98th Congress , introduced S.Res. 127 to make the committee a permanent committee. This Resolution had 28 cosponsors. On November 1, 1983, the Committee on Rules and Administration voted unanimously to report the Resolution without amendment, and the Resolution was so reported on November 2, 1983 (S. Rept. 98–294). On November 18, the last day of
874-705: The Senate approved S.Res. 4 which re-established the Committee on Indian Affairs as a temporary select committee . The Select Committee was to disband at the close of the 95th Congress , but following several interim extensions, the Senate voted to make the Committee permanent on June 6, 1984. The committee has jurisdiction to study the unique problems of American Indian , Native Hawaiian , and Alaska Native peoples and to propose legislation to alleviate these difficulties. These issues include, but are not limited to, Native education, economic development, land management, trust responsibilities, health care, and claims against
920-464: The Senate. S.Res. 405 , to make the Select Committee on Indian Affairs a permanent committee of the Senate, was introduced by Senator Abourezk on February 22, 1978. The measure was amended by the Rules Committee to extend the life of the committee for two years until January 2, 1981, and was agreed to by the Senate on October 14, 1978. In the 96th Congress , Senator John Melcher , who
966-570: The United States with American Native tribes and people. The Senate and the House of Representatives both adopted S.J. Res. 133 and on January 2, 1975, the Resolution was signed into law by the President, thus establishing the American Indian Policy Review Commission. As the work of this Commission progressed, it became readily apparent that a full Senate committee with full legislative and oversight authority
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#17327763550381012-483: The United States. Additionally, all legislation proposed by Members of the Senate that specifically pertains to American Indians, Native Hawaiians, or Alaska Natives is under the jurisdiction of the committee. Until 1946, when the Legislative Reorganization Act abolished both the House and Senate Committees on Indian Affairs, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs had been in existence since
1058-742: The committee in the 1910s and 1920s included the creation of a national minimum wage , the establishments of a Department of Labor , a Department of Education , and a Children’s Bureau . During the 1930s, the committee took action on the National Labor Relations Act , the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. In 1944, the jurisdiction of the Public Health Service
1104-610: The committee was an " oppo-research arm of the Republican National Committee, far more interested in whatever it might dig up about or against ... Clinton than any remaining mysteries on the four Americans killed in Benghazi". The committee's "most significant, if inadvertent, discovery" was Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state, which prompted an FBI investigation. The committee's final report found no evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Clinton, but did criticize Defense Department, Central Intelligence Agency and State Department officials for security lapses. In
1150-460: The date they were created or by a petition or other document that had been referred to them. In a number of instances, the official journal and other congressional publications did not consistently refer to an individual committee by the same title. Though such inconsistencies still appeared during the 20th century, they were less frequent. While earlier select committees often narrowly tailored to specific issues, some select committees ultimately had
1196-466: The early 19th century. After 1946, Native affairs legislative and oversight jurisdiction was vested in subcommittees of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate. While this subcommittee arrangement may not have specifically reflected a diminishment of the consideration given Native affairs by the Congress, the revised arrangement historically coincided with
1242-401: The first session of the 98th Congress, the Senate agreed to an extension of the select committee to July 1, 1984, in order to allow time for later debate. By the time the Resolution was brought to the floor for consideration there were 60 cosponsors. On June 4, 1984, the Select Committee on Indian Affairs was made a permanent committee of the Senate. In 1993, the Select Committee on Indian Affairs
1288-617: The following subject matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee: The Committee was chaired by Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts until his death on August 25, 2009. Under seniority rules, Acting Chairman Christopher Dodd was next in line, but Dodd chose instead to remain chairman of the Senate Banking Committee . Tom Harkin , next in line by seniority, assumed the chairmanship on September 9, 2009, vacating his post as chairman of
1334-463: The modern committee system is now firmly established in both House and Senate procedure, with the rules of each House establishing a full range of permanent standing committees and assigning jurisdiction of all legislative issues among them, select committees continue to be used to respond to unique and difficult issues as the need arises. The United States Senate did not establish its first standing committees until 1816, so select committees performed
1380-411: The newly created Committee on Veterans Affairs . In the 95th Congress , the Senate passed S. Res. 4, which renamed the committee to be the Committee on Human Resources . However, the name was again changed in the 96th Congress by S. Res. 30 to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources . On March 18, 1992, the committee’s jurisdiction was updated to include all of the areas listed below. The committee
1426-650: The next. Examples include the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the House and the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is a select committee, though the word select is no longer a part of its name. Some select committees are called special committees , such as the Senate Special Committee on Aging . However, they do not differ in any substantive way from
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1472-417: The others. Prior to the advent of permanent standing committees in the early 19th century, the House of Representatives relied almost exclusively on select committees to carry out much of its legislative work. The committee system has grown and evolved over the years. During the earliest Congresses, select committees, created to perform a specific function and terminated when the task was completed, performed
1518-443: The overwhelming majority of the committee work for the Senate during the earliest Congresses. Like the House, standing committees have largely replaced select committees in the modern Senate, but select committees continue to be appointed from time to time. Early select committees were fluid, serving their established function and then going out of existence. This makes tracking committees difficult, since many committees were known by
1564-468: The overwhelming majority of the committee work. The first committee to be established by Congress was on April 2, 1789, during the First Congress . It was a select committee assigned to prepare and report standing rules and orders for House proceedings and it lasted just five days, dissolving after submitting its report to the full House. Since that time, Congress has always relied on committees as
1610-586: The pending report of the American Indian Policy Review Commission and its anticipated recommendations, however, the Senate revamped its committee reorganization proposal to include the establishment of a temporary select committee to receive the Commission's report and to act on its recommendations. Thus, there was included within S.Res. 4 of February 4, 1977, the Committee System Reorganization Amendments of 1977,
1656-599: The rehabilitation, health, and education of veterans. Mine safety was also added to the committee’s jurisdiction in 1949. During the Administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson , the committee took the lead in shaping legislation as part of Johnson's War on Poverty , resulting in the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 . Through the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-510), certain issues pertaining to veterans were transferred to
1702-408: The report of the American Indian Policy Review Commission and the many other Native issues that were presented to it during the 95th Congress, it became increasingly evident that if the Congress was to continue to meet its constitutional, legal, and historical responsibilities in the area of Native affairs, an ongoing legislative committee with adequate expertise and resources should be re-established in
1748-743: The social infrastructure of the Nation and provide economic opportunities for economically depressed areas. In the early 1970s the Termination era was decisively ended with the enactment of the Menominee Restoration Act of 1973. Although a number of important legislative initiatives affecting Natives were enacted in the early 1970s, it became clear that the existing subcommittee structure was not providing an adequate forum for legislating appropriate solutions to problems confronting Native country. Legislative jurisdiction over Native affairs
1794-518: Was at the time chairman of the Select Committee, introduced S.Res. 448 to make it a permanent committee. The Resolution had 28 cosponsors, and was reported by the Rules Committee with an amendment to extend the select committee to January 2, 1984, and to expand the membership to seven members commencing in the 97th Congress . S. Res. 448 was adopted by the Senate on December 11, 1980. On April 28, 1983, Senator Mark Andrews , Chairman of
1840-540: Was chaired by Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts, co-author of the unsuccessful 2009 cap-and-trade legislation (Waxman-Markey) supported by Democrats. The committee held 80 hearings and briefings on issues such as climate change and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . The committee played a role in the creation of the 2007 energy bill , the 2009 stimulus package (which contained funds for energy efficiency and other environmental provisions), and
1886-708: Was established on January 10, 2023 to fulfill promises made during negotiations for election of the House Speaker by Kevin McCarthy to investigate the Biden Administration's alleged weaponization of the federal government. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources The United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ( HELP ) generally considers matters relating to these issues. Its jurisdiction also extends beyond these issues to include several more specific areas, as defined by Senate rules. While currently known as
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1932-466: Was fragmented among a number of committees. Overall, more than 10 committees in the Congress were responsible for Indian affairs, a situation which resulted in a sometimes disjointed treatment of Native affairs and in an often haphazard development of Federal Native policy. In 1973, Senator James Abourezk introduced Senate Joint Resolution 133 to establish a Federal commission to review all aspects of policy, law, and administration relating to affairs of
1978-517: Was given its current name, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, on January 19, 1999, by S. Res. 20. On July 25, 2024, the committee voted 16-4 to issue its first-ever subpoena , compelling the testimony of Steward Health Care's CEO Ralph de la Torre in relation to accusations of mismanagement of the health system. Under the Rule 25 of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
2024-403: Was needed to receive the report of the American Indian Policy Review Commission and to act upon its recommendations. Indeed, one of the final recommendations of the Commission was that a full-fledged Native Affairs Committee be established in the Senate. At the same time the Commission was formulating its recommendation for the establishment of a Native Affairs Committee, the Senate was developing
2070-608: Was redesignated as the Committee on Indian Affairs. Source from 1947 to 1977, Indian Affairs were the responsibility of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, which was superseded by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in 1977. Select or special committee (United States Congress) A select committee generally expires on completion of its designated duties, though it can be renewed. Several select committees are treated as standing committees by House and Senate rules and are permanent fixtures in both bodies, continuing from one Congress to
2116-469: Was transferred from the Commerce Committee to the Committee on Education and Labor, adding issues relating to public health matters to its jurisdiction. The committee's name was changed during the 80th Congress to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare as part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (Public Law 79-601). The act further expanded the committee's oversight to include
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