In-House Business
In-house business involves conducting tasks within a company rather than outsourcing them to external parties, such as legal teams, software developers, or marketers. Firms may also complete in-house financing of vehicles like carmakers do with lenders like banks and credit unions. This business method is often preferred when handling roles requiring direct relations, such as human resource management or accounting.
However, hiring from within can be quite costly for firms as this often limits potential candidates and results in lower wages overall – this can especially be true of high-level expertise positions.
Committee of the Whole
The Committee of the Whole enables members to collaborate towards an understanding of a topic by listening and reviewing reports together in one room at once, discussing and debating relevant issues, and making recommendations for action over several meetings. Meeting materials are made available before every Committee of the Whole meeting for viewing by attendees and live broadcast on both King County TV and the Internet. When approved by the Council, final minutes will be posted online as soon as authorized.
At the outset of the 1st United States Congress, its rules provided for House members to convene into a Committee of the Whole at any point during any business day to consider any issue or bill that came before it, such as bills containing tax increase/outlay provisions as well as receiving the President’s State of the Union message and hearing private statements (later, a separate Committee of the Whole would be used instead). Conventionally, one or both Speakers preside(d) over Committee of the Whole meetings if no Chair exists in standing committees;
Once the House divides into Committee of the Whole, members discuss and propose amendments to the measure. Once discussions in the committee have concluded, a motion can be made either to close the debate and limit further discussion (for example, to 20 minutes) or demand a recorded vote, though only a smaller percentage of members need to support this action than in full House voting sessions.
House rules govern proceedings in a Committee of the Whole, such as no amendments being offered during debate on an item at hand, a five-minute law, and agreement on the previous question before further discussion can occur. A less strict Committee of the Whole procedure can often be employed to limit general debate, limit individual amendment debate times, and waive points of order against rules of the House, as long as these changes occur before the committee finishes its work and rises from the committee.
Subcommittees
Subcommittees of congressional committees are subdivisions that examine specified matters before reporting back to their parent committees. Both chambers have their traditions, laws, and precedents for operating committee and subcommittee operations.
Congressional subcommittees investigate bills to decide whether or not they should be recommended to their parent committees for further consideration. They hold hearings to listen to testimony from advocates, experts, and opponents, with subpoena power available should someone need to testify on their behalf. Bills that pass through a subcommittee or committee can then go before the full chamber for further analysis before being sent back out again for approval or rejection.
Committees perform numerous administrative functions beyond conducting hearings and reviewing bills. For instance, committees can set aside money for specific projects or tasks and develop rules and procedures of their own. The chair, as the most senior member of a committee, has wide latitude to regulate the operations of his committee – such as determining its agenda, taking or delaying action when necessary, presiding over meetings, etc. Additionally, a ranking minority member (usually a senior minority party committee member with the most extended service in terms of committee tenure) often shares in this regulation responsibility while leading on matters concerning minority members within his committee.
Committees also have the authority to convene conference committees, temporary panels that address differences in legislation between the House and Senate. While committees’ autonomy has proven helpful in resolving differences, according to American historian George Galloway, it has also fragmented congressional power relative to the executive and judiciary branches.
House bills introduced in the House are usually assigned to one or more committees upon introduction, though in rare instances, measures with such broad subject matters as to require multiple referrals may require referral to various panels. When possible, single committee referrals tend to fare better when it comes to passing and becoming law. There are 20 standing committees, 68 subcommittees, and four joint committees available in the House.
