Select committees in the
Congress of the
United States of America:
- Senate Select Committee on Ethics
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
- House Select Committee on Homeland Security
- House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
A member of Congress can only join two
standing committees, but they can be a member of a select committee while still maintaining their seats on two standing committees. This is the only appreciable difference between the two types: the other differences are procedural in nature and not really pertinent unless you're the
Speaker of the House. While a few select committes have been created to deal with temporary problems (e.g. the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Presidential Campaign Activities, which was in charge of the
Watergate hearings), the few that currently exist are all more or less permanent.
In the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a select committee is a committee formed for investigatory purposes, whereas a standing committee is a committee that actually makes and edits a law. As of January 2004, there are 35 select committees in the House of Commons, 13 in the House of Lords, and 11 joint committees between the two houses.