Congressional Committees: Crash Course Government and Politics #7

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 candidate-choosing 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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