Committees 119th Congress

Every bill is sent somewhere before it goes anywhere. This is where the 119th Congress sent them, how much each committee took on, and how much of it came back out.

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9 committees take half the work

27,915 referrals were spread across 45 committees, but 9 of them, 20% of the field, account for half. The busiest is Energy and Commerce Committee, with 9.9% of everything referred.

Referrals by Congress 107th to 119th
Committees
45

Receiving at least one bill

Referrals
27,915

A bill can be sent to more than one

Reported out
4.6%

Share of referrals a committee acts on

Half the work
9

Committees accounting for half of referrals

Every committee

The 39 committees that received at least 10 bills, of 45 in all.

Most bills referred first.

Committee Chamber Bills Reported Reported % Became law Law % Members D R Caseload
Energy and Commerce Committee House 2,584 198 7.7% 16 0.6% 54 24 30
Judiciary Committee House 2,233 42 1.9% 6 0.3% 44 19 25
Ways and Means Committee House 2,007 50 2.5% 10 0.5% 45 19 26
Education and Workforce Committee House 1,361 71 5.2% 3 0.2% 37 16 21
Oversight and Government Reform Committee House 1,260 22 1.7% 3 0.2% 47 21 26
Foreign Affairs Committee House 1,030 0 0.0% 6 0.6% 53 25 28
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee House 988 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 68 31 37
Finance Committee Senate 984 2 0.2% 6 0.6% 27 12 14
Financial Services Committee House 979 125 12.8% 5 0.5% 54 24 30
Judiciary Committee Senate 952 42 4.4% 5 0.5% 23 10 13
Natural Resources Committee House 938 45 4.8% 24 2.6% 45 20 25
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate 883 42 4.8% 3 0.3% 23 10 12
Agriculture Committee House 716 3 0.4% 1 0.1% 53 24 29
Armed Services Committee House 699 2 0.3% 5 0.7% 57 27 30
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Senate 598 88 14.7% 11 1.8% 28 13 15
Veterans' Affairs Committee House 588 79 13.4% 9 1.5% 25 11 14
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Senate 562 73 13.0% 6 1.1% 15 7 8
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Senate 536 6 1.1% 6 1.1% 24 11 13
Foreign Relations Committee Senate 535 72 13.5% 2 0.4% 22 10 12
Energy and Natural Resources Committee Senate 472 26 5.5% 21 4.4% 20 8 11
Committee on House Administration House 412 14 3.4% 2 0.5% 12 4 8
Science, Space, and Technology Committee House 390 5 1.3% 0 0.0% 40 18 22
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Senate 366 19 5.2% 2 0.5% 23 11 12
Homeland Security Committee House 309 26 8.4% 0 0.0% 33 15 18
Rules Committee House 303 62 20.5% 0 0.0% 13 4 9
Environment and Public Works Committee Senate 302 15 5.0% 4 1.3% 20 8 11
Veterans' Affairs Committee Senate 273 15 5.5% 13 4.8% 19 7 10
Armed Services Committee Senate 233 3 1.3% 3 1.3% 27 12 14
Small Business Committee House 188 45 23.9% 1 0.5% 26 12 14
Appropriations Committee House 155 21 13.5% 6 3.9% 63 28 35
Budget Committee House 152 2 1.3% 7 4.6% 37 16 21
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Senate 110 11 10.0% 4 3.6% 19 9 10
Rules and Administration Committee Senate 96 2 2.1% 0 0.0% 17 8 9
Indian Affairs Committee Senate 94 36 38.3% 6 6.4% — — —
Intelligence (Permanent Select) Committee House 82 1 1.2% 1 1.2% 27 12 15
Ethics Committee House 66 1 1.5% 0 0.0% 10 5 5
Appropriations Committee Senate 36 8 22.2% 1 2.8% 30 14 16
Budget Committee Senate 26 3 11.5% 2 7.7% 22 9 12
Intelligence (Select) Committee Senate 24 4 16.7% 0 0.0% — — —

A bill referred to several committees counts once for each, so the columns here total more than the bills introduced. "Reported" counts bills a committee sent back to its chamber; "became law" counts referred bills that were eventually enacted, which a committee shares with every other panel that handled them. Committees with fewer than 10 bills are left out, because a rate built on a handful of bills moves on one of them. Seats are counted from the roster on file; D and R will not always add up to the total, where a member sits as an independent or is not matched to a party record. A dash means no roster is held for that committee.