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(詳細はHouse and Senate is complex with numerous committees handling a disparate array of topics presided over by elected officers. Some committees manage other committees. Congresspersons have various privileges to help the presidents serve the national interest and are paid a salary and have pensions. Congress formed a Library of Congress to help assist investigations and developed a Government Accountability Office to help it analyze complex and varied federal expenditures.〔alina〕 ==Committees== (詳細はCongressional committees provide invaluable informational services to Congress by investigating and reporting back in regard to specialized subject matter. While this investigatory function is indispensable to Congress, procedures such as the House discharge petition process (the process of bringing a bill onto the floor without a committee report or mandatory consent from its leadership) are so difficult to implement that committee jurisdiction over particular subject matter of bills has expanded into semi-autonomous power. Of the 73 discharge petitions submitted to the full House from 1995 through 2007, only one was successful in securing a definitive yea-or-nay vote for a bill on the floor of the House of Representatives.〔The one successful discharge petition from the 104th Congress, session 1 through the 110th Congress, session 1 – 1995 through 2007 – was in behalf of HR 2356 (campaign finance reform), which secured 218 signatures on 1/24/2002. Source on discharge petitions since 1997: Beginning with the 105th Congress, the House Clerk lists discharge petitions per Congress at its (website, )〕 Not without reason have congressional committees been called independent fiefdoms. In 1931 a reform movement temporarily reduced the number of signatures required on discharge petitions in the U.S. House of Representatives from a constitutional majority of 218 down to 145, i.e. from one-half to one-third of the House membership. This reform was abolished in a 1935 counterattack led by the intra-House oligarchy.〔''Cannon's Precedents'', vol. 7, sect. 1007, gives a short history of the discharge rules from early times to 1935. In 1910 the House established the first known discharge rule since the Civil War. In 1924 the House passed the rule requiring Congressmen’s signatures on discharge petitions, and the required number of signatories was 150. (Record'', 68 Congress 1, pp. 944-1143 ). In 1925 the House increased the signature requirement to 218. (69 Congress 1, pp. 383-91 ). But in 1931 the House reduced the signature requirement to 145 and rewrote the rule. (72 Congress 1, pp. 10-83 ). Finally in 1935 the Democrats reversed their 1931 policy — they had been disconcerted by the discharge of several bills that the House leadership and FDR opposed — and by a vote of 245 to 166 they raised the signature requirement to 218. (74 Congress 1, pp. 13-20 ). Today's rule is identical to that of 1935.〕 Thus the era of the Great Depression marks the last across-the-board change, albeit a short-lived one, in the autonomy of House standing committees.〔The "21-day rule" applied to the Rules Committee alone; this rule was in force during 1949-1951, and 1965-1967, and it allowed the chairman of the legislative committee involved to bypass the Rules Committee and report a bill directly to the House floor, provided that three weeks had passed without a rule being reported for floor debate on the bill. (James A. Robinson, ''The House Rules Committee'' (New York: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1963), pp. 70, 87; ''Congressional Record'', 81 Congress 1, p. 10; ''CR'', 89 Congress 1, p. 21; ''CR'', 92 Congress 1, p. H69; ''Congressional Quarterly Almanac'', 1967, pp. 180-81; ''CQ Weekly Report'' 29 (January 29, 1971): 257-58 ).〕 On strategy for an enduring reform in the system of semi-autonomous committees see the citation.〔Robert Struble, Jr., ''Treatise on Twelve Lights'', chapter seven, subsection on ("Committee Autonomy" )〕 In the course of committee work, members will often develop personal expertise on the matters under the jurisdiction of their respective committee(s). Such expertise, or claims thereof, are invariably cited during disputes over whether the parent body should bow to obdurate committee negatives. Congress divides its legislative, oversight, and internal administrative tasks among approximately two hundred committees and subcommittees. Within assigned areas, these functional sub-units gather information, compare and evaluate legislative alternatives, identify policy problems and propose solutions, select, determine, and report measures for full chamber consideration, monitor executive branch performance (oversight), and investigate allegations of wrongdoing.〔(Committee Types and Roles ), ''Congressional Research Service'', April 1, 2003〕 Decision on which areas individual members choose to specialize may be influenced by their constituency and regional issues of importance to them, as well as prior background and experience of the member.〔English, p. 46〕 Senators will also try to differentiate themselves from the other senator from the same state, so that areas of specialization do not overlap. The Ways and Means Committee has been seen as a powerful one since it controlled other aspects of House affairs. Here is a list of major House committees: Major Senate committees Major House committees 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Structure of the United States Congress」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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