of members on a committee was in most cases 9 or 11. A few of the
Senate committees are those on Finance (corresponding to the
Committee on Ways and Means in the House), Agriculture, Commerce,
and Foreign Relations.

Both in the House and in the Senate every member is on some
committee, and some members have places on several committees. In
both houses the committees are elected. The chairman and a majority
of the members of each committee are from the members of the party
that has a majority in the house.


Steps in the Progress of a Bill.--(1) The first step in the
progress of a bill is its _introduction_. This is done in the House by
merely placing the bill in a basket on the clerk's desk. In the Senate
the member introducing a bill rises and asks leave to introduce it.

(2) The bill is next _referred_ to a committee.

(3) If the committee decides that the bill should go further they
_report it_ back to the house.

The house will in a great majority of cases pass or reject it according
to the committee's recommendation. Few bills are debated in either
house, and in the most of these cases the discussion has no influence
upon the fate of the bill--it is meant merely to be heard or to be
printed. Hence, it is in that intermediate stage between the reference
of the bill to a committee and the report on it that the real work of
legislation is accomplished.