Congressional Committee Jurisdictions
Congressional committee jurisdictions are often unclear and overlap with
other committees. The table below indicates the extent of this jurisdictional
overlap. The table is based on coding of all hearings during the 102nd
Congress by major substantive topic. It tabulates the number of hearings
on a given topic by the committee that held the hearing. The indices of
overlap (how much a topic spills over into the jurisdictions of more than
a single committee) and span (how much a committee's jurisdiction encompasses
more than one issue) are based on the Herfindahl index, which economists
use to gauge market concentration.
The full analysis may be found in Working
Paper 2.
House Committee Hearings by Topic, 102nd Congress
| Committees |
Macroeconomics |
Civil Rights Civil Liberties |
Health |
Agriculture |
Labor Employment Immigration |
Education |
Environment |
Energy |
Transportation |
Law Crime Family |
Social Welfare |
Housing and Community Development |
Banking Finance and Commerce |
Defense |
Space Science and Technology |
Foreign Trade |
International Affairs |
Government Operations |
Public Lands and Water Management |
TOTAL |
Jurisdictional Span |
| Agriculture |
0 |
0 |
1 |
50 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
16 |
100 |
30 |
| Appropriations |
7 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
18 |
4 |
0 |
7 |
31 |
27 |
150 |
11 |
| Armed Services |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
63 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
82 |
60 |
| Banking, Finance, and Urban Affs |
10 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
26 |
73 |
4 |
0 |
14 |
7 |
8 |
0 |
155 |
27 |
| Budget |
24 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
67 |
18 |
| District of Columbia |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
12 |
* |
| Education and Labor |
0 |
6 |
8 |
0 |
26 |
66 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
8 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
138 |
28 |
| Energy and Commerce |
0 |
1 |
43 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
30 |
13 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
24 |
6 |
15 |
8 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
166 |
14 |
| Foreign Affairs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
3 |
21 |
117 |
0 |
0 |
176 |
48 |
| Government Operations |
3 |
8 |
19 |
3 |
11 |
4 |
13 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
2 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
3 |
7 |
5 |
13 |
4 |
144 |
7 |
| House Administration |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
3 |
16 |
* |
| Interior and Insular Affairs |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
21 |
12 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
76 |
123 |
42 |
| Judiciary |
0 |
9 |
4 |
1 |
14 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
42 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
123 |
18 |
| Merchant Marine |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
51 |
4 |
24 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
0 |
4 |
107 |
29 |
| Post Office and Civil Service |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
56 |
1 |
67 |
71 |
| Public Works and Transportation |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
11 |
4 |
28 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
17 |
3 |
81 |
19 |
| Rules |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
* |
| Science, Space, and Technology |
2 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
20 |
28 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
8 |
54 |
16 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
171 |
16 |
| Small Business |
0 |
4 |
12 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
43 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
93 |
25 |
| Veterans Affairs |
0 |
2 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
27 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
54 |
35 |
| Ways and Means |
20 |
0 |
32 |
2 |
13 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
15 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
20 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
135 |
13 |
|
| Total Hearings |
70 |
40 |
157 |
79 |
85 |
97 |
180 |
79 |
90 |
103 |
42 |
56 |
208 |
184 |
94 |
107 |
175 |
179 |
141 |
2,166 |
|
|
| Index of Jurisdictional Overlap |
23 |
14 |
16 |
44 |
17 |
48 |
15 |
20 |
20 |
21 |
20 |
26 |
20 |
17 |
37 |
13 |
46 |
16 |
34 |
|
| *Not calculated due to low n. |
|
