ABSTRACT
Procedures have a profound impact on congressional policymaking and other activities. The rules, in short, set the limits of acceptable behavior and procedures under which the congressional system can perform the lawmaking, oversight, and representational activities expected of it. In sum, rules of procedure are essential; there must be accepted modes of doing business if the legislative system is to operate at all. Each and every stage of the legislative process in the House—from the introduction of a bill to the time it goes in final form to the president for signature—is governed by a number of potentially applicable rules. The formal rules protect and defend the power of committees, and the legislative system remains fragmented and decentralized. This legislation constitutes a relatively small proportion of House business, but it includes virtually all important bills from the Union and House Calendars, the major items of the year's legislative program that entail most controversy.
