With 535 voting Members of Congress, Representatives and Senators generally act together through various committees and caucuses to advance mutual goals and review proposed legislation and broader issues. Most Representatives serve on one to three committees and multiple caucuses.
Committees
Committees are smaller groups of Members and staff who specialize in the various subjects that come before Congress. Most committees further break out into subcommittees of fewer Members for further specialization. In the House there are twenty-one regular committees, five of which are referred to as exclusive meaning that generally that’s the only committee the Member is assigned to due to the breadth of responsibility and workload of the committee.
I serve on the House Appropriations Committee, the oldest committee in Congress, has one of the broadest jurisdictions of any committee. It is responsible for appropriating funding for most of the functions of our federal government, close to $1.7 trillion annually. This assignment gives me the ability to advocate not only for sufficient funding of national programs but also for specific programs critical to Hawai‘i. I serve on the following subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee:
- Defense
- Homeland Security
Caucuses and Coalitions
Caucuses are groups of Representatives who come together to pursue shared goals. They are called coalitions, study groups, task forces or working groups. I currently serve as a member of the following caucuses and other groups:
