Welfare reform and the legislative process

Named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson and maintained by the Library of Congress, "Thomas" is perhaps the richest site on the web for information about the United States Congress. The site is located at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Use the "Bill Summary and Status" feature of Thomas to search the legislation debated in the 104th Congress (1995-96) for H.R. 4, a bill that was proposed to reform the nation's welfare system. Once you have located H.R. 4, review the bill's "Detailed Legislative Status" and "Floor/Executive Actions." How does the information that you found here illustrate (1) the role that committees play in developing legislation; (2) how bills can undergo significant changes even after committees have completed their work on them; and (3) the important role that the President plays in the legislative process?




Committees: The Workhorses of the Congress

Use the Thomas site introduced in the above exercise (1) to complete the following exercises. Peruse the home pages for the Committees of the House and the Senate, noting the jurisdictions of the committees you have chosen to view. (Hint: If you look carefully, you'll find a good summary of House Committee jurisdictions on the Thomas home page.) Note in particular the role and jurisdictions of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. While the jurisdictional domains of these committees appear relatively short compared to the other committees in the Congress, many members of Congress and Congress-watchers consider Appropriations one of (if not the) most powerful committees in either chamber. How could that be given that the list describing its jurisdiction is so short?