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A Congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress).
The House of Representatives relies more on its committees because of its larger size (there are 435 members of the House, as opposed to 100 members in the Senate).
There are two types of committees:
'''standing''' — permanent group conducting business throughout the Congress which focuses on a certain, long-lasting issue
Committees are formed in various configurations:
'''conference committee''' — a joint ad hoc group to work out the differences between similar bills from both houses and then to make a single bill for final passage
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Current Committees
In the House of Representatives, there are 20 standing committees. In the smaller United States Senate, there are only 17 standing committees.
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Defunct Committees
The functions of some of these may have been merged into extant committees.
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Defunct House Committees
Census (1901–1946; moved into Post Office and Civil Service)
Civil Service (1924–1946; moved into Post Office and Civil Service)
Enrolled Bills (1789–1876 as Joint committee; 1876–1947 as House committee)
Library (created in 1806 as a Joint Committee)
Public Lands (1805–1951; renamed Interior and Insular Affairs)
functions transferred (1975) to the Judiciary.
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Defunct Senate Committees
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Defunct Joint Committees
Enrolled Bills (1789–1876 as Joint committee; 1876–1947 as House committee)
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See also
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