Discussion Board EXPLANATION OF THE KEY TERM Rules Committee or Committee on Rules The Rules Committee is among the oldest standing committees in the House of Representative. The Rules Committee is also known as the “The Speaker’s Committee.” The Rules Committee is the mechanism that the Speaker uses to maintain control of the House floor. Originally, it was chaired by the Speaker of the House until 1910. The rules Committee has two broad categories of jurisdiction: special orders for the consideration of legislation and original jurisdiction matters ("Other About Links") They essentially control of passing amendments or bills to the floor. MAJOR ARTICLE SUMMARY The Committee on Rules has a storied history. Throughout the years, it as acted …show more content…
“As the traffic cop for the House, the Rules Committee deciders what bills will reach the floor for possible enactment; how long the debate will be on each bill that makes it to the floor; how the time for debate will be shared; and what amendments will get a vote” (Kaiser, 2014). This is an accurate display of the job of the Rules Committee. They have control of what reaches the House floor. In the article, it mentions multiple times how the Rules Committee affected bills that reached the house floor. For instance, during the Kennedy administration it blocked bills ranging from education to civil rights, and during the first term of FDR the Rules Committee helped push through the New Deal ("Committee on Rules”). This committee is heavily dependent on who is the majority at the time. Throughout the years they tend to be more conservative when the Republicans have the majority. However, it was not until the 1960s that the committee started to bring forth reforms. The important part though is that in the 1960s the Democrats held majority in the House and for many years afterwards. This was seen again when The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 was presented to the Rules Committee. “..the elected Republicans in the House weren't interested in bipartisanship. They just wanted to block Frank’s bill” (Kaiser, 2014). This was almost achieved by the committee. The Rules Committee is seriously like a traffic cop. They will control all that reaches the House floor. They seriously affect the flow of bills that are reaching the floor. Essentially, this committee controls what bills Congress can see and essentially what laws may be added or changed. The majority of the House also affects the views of the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee can be considered two-faced. One face is the face that they show when the majority is Democrats. The other