My Committees
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs (HFAC) is responsible for oversight and legislation relating to: foreign assistance (including development assistance, Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Millennium Challenge Account, HIV/AIDS in foreign countries, security assistance, and Public Law 480 programs abroad); national security developments affecting foreign policy; strategic planning and agreements; war powers, treaties, executive agreements, and the deployment and use of United States Armed Forces; peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and enforcement of United Nations or other international sanctions; arms control and disarmament issues; the United States Agency for International Development; activities and policies of the State, Commerce, and Defense Departments and other agencies related to the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act, including export and licensing policy for munitions items and technology and dual-use equipment and technology; international law; promotion of democracy; international law enforcement issues, including narcotics control programs and activities; Broadcasting Board of Governors; embassy security; international broadcasting; public diplomacy, including international communication and information policy, and international education and exchange programs; and all other matters not specifically assigned to a subcommittee.
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
The Asia and Pacific subcommittee is one of five within HFAC with "regional jurisdiction" over a specific area of the globe, in this case, the nations of Asia, Oceania, and the Pacific Rim. Such jurisdiction includes political relations between the United States and countries in the region and related legislation, disaster assistance, boundary issues, and international claims. The subcommittee also oversees the activities of the United Nations and its programs in the Asia and Pacific region.
|
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere subcommittee is also one of the HFAC's five subcommittees with "regional jurisdiction" over a specific area of the globe, in this case, the nations of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Such jurisdiction includes political relations between the United States and countries in the Americas and related legislation, disaster assistance, boundary issues, and international claims. The subcommittee also oversees the activities of the United Nations and its programs in the Western Hemisphere region. |
House Committee on Natural Resources
The House Committee on Natural Resources responsible for oversight and legislation relating to: Fisheries and wildlife, including research, restoration, refuges, and conservation; forest reserves and national parks created from the public domain; forfeiture of land grants and alien ownership, including alien ownership of mineral lands; Geological Survey; international fishing agreements; interstate compacts relating to apportionment of waters for irrigation purposes; irrigation and reclamation, including water supply for reclamation projects and easements and acquisition of public and private lands for irrigation projects; Native Americans generally, including the care and allotment of Native American lands and general and special measures relating to claims that are paid out of Native American funds; insular possessions of the United States generally (except those affecting the revenue and appropriations); military parks and battlefields, national cemeteries administered by the Secretary of the Interior, parks within the District of Columbia, and the erection of monuments to the memory of individuals; mineral land laws and claims and entries thereunder; mineral resources of public lands; mining interests, schools and experimental stations; marine affairs, including coastal zone management (except for measures relating to oil and other pollution of navigable waters); oceanography; petroleum conservation on public lands and conservation of the radium supply in the United States; preservation of prehistoric ruins and objects of interest on the public domain; public lands generally, including entry, easements, and grazing thereon; relations of the United States with Native Americans and Native American tribes; and, Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline (except ratemaking).
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
I serve as ranking member of this Subcommittee which oversees American energy production and mining on federal lands – both onshore and offshore – to ensure that they are developed in a safe and equitable manner so that U.S. taxpayers are properly compensated for their use.
|
Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans
The Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans has jurisdiction over the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Water Division of the United States Geological Survey, and the four Federal Power Marketing Administrations - Bonneville Power Administration, Western Area Power Administration, Southwestern Power Administration and Southeastern Power Administration. It also has jurisdiction over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's ocean, coastal and fisheries programs.
|
Subcommittee on Federal Lands
The Subcommittee on Federal Lands is responsible for all matters related to the National Park System, U.S. Forests, public lands, and national monuments.
|
What Is A Congressional Committee?
The House of Representatives divides its work among over twenty permanent committees. Normally, before a piece of legislation is considered by the House it has been reviewed by at least one of the committees and a report is issued by that committee describing the legislation and indicating (on section-by-section basis) how the proposed statute changes existing statutes. Congress divides its work among over two hundred committees and subcommittees, each of which issues regular reports on its activities.
Types of Committees
Standing committees are permanent panels which consider bills and issues and recommend measures for consideration. They also have oversight responsibility to monitor agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions, and in some cases in areas that cut across committee jurisdictions.
Select or special committees are established generally by a separate resolution of the chamber, sometimes to conduct investigations and studies, and, on other occasions, also to consider measures. Often, select committees examine emerging issues that don’t fit clearly within existing standing committee jurisdictions, or which cut across jurisdictional boundaries.
Joint committees are permanent panels that include members from both chambers, which generally conduct studies or perform housekeeping tasks rather than consider measures.
Subcommittees are formed by most committees to share specific tasks within the jurisdiction of the full committee. Subcommittees are responsible to, and work within the guidelines established by, their parent committees.
What do Congressional Committees Do?
After a bill is introduced on the House or Senate floor, it is referred to the committee of jurisdiction (i.e., the committee charged with reviewing measures in the area of law or policy with which the bill is concerned). The committee of referral most often sends the measure to its specialized subcommittee(s) for study, hearings, revisions and approval.
For most bills, the committee or subcommittee fails to take further action on the referred bill, effectively "killing" the measure at this point. (Occasionally, a committee will report a measure "unfavorably," with explicit recommendations against its passage, or it will report a bill "without recommendation," which has the same effect as an unfavorable report.)
If the bill passes the subcommittee with a favorable vote, it is sent back to the full committee for further consideration, hearings, amendments and a vote.
|
|
Email Alan
