Operations of Congress

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress's decisions of certain operations.

The first factor that seems to have influenced the operations of Congress is the committee system. Congress has four different types of committees. The four committees are the joint committees, conference committees, standing committees, and select committees. The standing committee has an influence on Congress because of the fact that they have jurisdiction over all the bills of a given type. Select committees, however, influence congress because since they study and investigate rather than consider legislation, congress has to take into consideration of who is making sure that they have to make careful decisions with these operations with according to what is considered "right and wrong". The joint committee has to give a full congressional overview to a complex subject to Congress and to the public. This influence congress because again it shows Congress that they are being watched and cannot make any decisions that might seem unfair or unfit. Both houses because they were created to make sure that both the House and the Senate agree on passing a bill, or for them to produce a version that would pass the Conference committee influences congress.

The second factor that seems to have an influence on the operations of Congress is seniority. The Committee chairpersons are the ones with the real power. There is an unwritten rule that the majority party member with the longest continuous service on a committee becomes chairperson when a vacancy occurs. The committee chairperson is the only one in the committee that actually has a real say in what is going on, and that opportunity is given to the one that has served his time the longest. However, that is no longer allowed. A historical event that has influenced Congress's operations is the Legislation Reorganization act of 1970.This act ensures that there will be no more seniority because. Now a secret ballot elects them, however, the member with the most seniority usually wins anyway.

The third factor that seems to have an influence on the operations of Congress is the public opinion. Logically, if the public thinks that a certain congressman doesn't