This week Craig Benzine clears up the role of committees in Congress. We’ll talk about standing committees, joint committees, conference committees, and caucuses (and not the candidatechoosing kinds) as well as the staff agencies that help advise these committees and congresspeople. As most bills never even make it to the house and senate floors for a vote, the role of committees, and their respective chairpersons as gatekeepers is pretty important. There’s a lot to demystify here as the legislative process can seem pretty arcane at times, but the model, at least in theory, helps Congress run more efficiently.

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Support is provided by Voqal: http://www.voqal.org

Chapters:
Introduction: How does Congress work? 00:00
Congressional committees 0:40
Why does Congress have committees? 1:52
How do congressional committees work? 2:44
How Congress got its leadership structure 4:09
Congressional staff 5:03
Specialized staff agencies in Congress 5:35
Caucuses in Congress 6:15
Caucuses, congressional staff, & committees help make lawmaking more efficient 7:16
Credits 7:55

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