Video looking at how Congress uses Committees to debate potential bills at length before they ever reach the House. [0:54]

Committees and subcommittees of both the House and the Senate play a significant role in the legislative process, and hold public hearings and oversight hearings on important issues.

Select committees and task forces are used by both the House and the Senate for specific purposes and a limited time.

The House of Representatives has a set of rules governing how committees function. They establish things such as the kinds of issues committees can address, how long they can last, how many members a committee can have, and how many...

The House of Representatives has rules that guide debates, as well as a rules committee that deals with rules for special debates. Other rules for hearings, the presentation of bills, etc. are set by various committees.

A discussion of the forms leadership takes in the House of Representatives and how it has changed at various times in American history. Committee chairs have sometimes held a lot of power and competed to control the legislative agenda.

Bills are assigned to one or more committees when they first enter the House of Representatives or the Senate. They are examined, amended, then go to a hearing, which is often public, for further scrutiny.