A member
of the House, of a statistical turn of mind, once submitted
figures to the House showing that it would take over sixty-six
years to go through the calendars of one session in regular
order, allowing an average of one minute for each member to
debate each bill. To get anything done, the House must proceed by
special order, and as it is essential to pass the appropriations
to keep up the government, a precedence was allowed to business
reported by that committee which in effect gave it a position of
mastery. O. R. Singleton of Mississippi, in the course of the
same debate, declared that there was a "grievance which towers
above all others as the Alps tower above the surrounding hills.
It is the power resting with said committee, and oftentimes
employed by it, to arrest any legislation upon any subject which
does not meet its approval. A motion to go into committee of the
whole to consider appropriation bills is always in order, and
takes precedence of all other motions as to the order of
business."
The practical effect of the rules was that, instead of remaining
the servant of the House, the committee became its master. Not
only could the committee shut off from any consideration any
measure to which it was opposed, but it could also dictate to the
House the shape in which its own bills should be enacted. While
the form of full consideration and amendment is preserved, the
terms of a bill are really decided by a conference committee
appointed to adjust differences between the House and the Senate.
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