Established on April 2, 1789, during the first meeting of Congress, the Rules Committee is one of the oldest and most powerful committees in the House. During the first century following its inception, the Rules Committee played a much more limited role than it does today, however, by 1910, it had become an “an arm of leadership”.
The Rules Committee now determines when bills reach the floor of the House, how much said bills may be amended, and may set a time limit for debate on the bill. The Rules Committee also settles disputes amongst other committees of the House.
Originally, the Rules Committee was only able to report at specific time and was charged with the task of amending the rules of the previous Congress if needed. During the first Congress, it established twelve rules involving duties of the Speaker, decorum and debate, bill procedure, procedure for the Committee of the Whole, committee service, leaves of absence, creation of a standing committee on elections, an oath of office for the clerk, and the appointment and duties of the sergeant at arms. These resolutions were passed without amendment and became the basis for the parliamentary procedure of the House for the next two hundred years.
Ninety years later, the House adopted a resolution that allowed the Rules Committee "leave to report at all times." This signaled the first movement toward the role the Rules Committee would come to play, allowing it to interrupt and direct the direction of debate at anytime. In 1880, the Speaker of the House received the right to chair the Rules Committee, making the Committee.
From 1880 to 1910, the role of the Rules Committee changed dramatically as it increasingly became a “legislative gatekeeper”. Speaker of the House, Thomas B. Reed, established a set of resolutions known as the Reed Rules that enabled the majority party to use the Rules Committee to push through its own legislative agenda free of obstruction from the minority party.
The party continued to grow in power until the term of speaker Joseph G. Cannon, from 1903 to 1910. Cannon fully utilized his power as chair of the Rules committee to increase the standing of his party until a revolt of progressive Republicans under the leadership of George W. Norris removed him from his chair position. The Rules committee did not regain its former position of power until the 1970's.
Today, the Rules Committee is composed of fifteen members and chaired by Louise McIntosh Slaughter of New York. The minority chairman is David Dreier of California. Two subcommittees of the Rules committee exist, the Legislative and Budget Process subcommittee and Rules and Organization of the House subcommittee. The Rules committee generally reflects the overall political composition of the House. If seventy-five percent of the House is controlled by the majority party, so seventy-five percent of the Rules committee will be composed of the majority party.
The role of the Rules Committee today is to help schedule the calendar of bills to be brought before the Committee of the Whole and to establish special rules for issues that depart from standing rules and regular order of the House.
While the Rules Committee was originally established to edit the standing procedures of Congress only when necessary, it is now a vital tool used to move legislation through the House in an expedient way. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious committees in the House and holds more power than any other.
Without the Rules Committee, representatives could never sort through the mass amounts of bills that are presented to the House and most legislation would be bogged down by procedure and party politics, never getting a chance to become law.
