Allowing Congressional Committees to Function

          In his article for the NWI Times, Doug Ross discusses the need to let Congressional Committees function, in response to what he calls the atrophy of the committee system over the last twenty years. The committee system in congress is meant to act as a system of property rights that only allows members of certain committees to affect the status quo. Ross quotes Representative Pete Visclosky D-Merrillville, a member of the highly sought after appropriations committee, who is disgruntled that
"[the bill that resulted in the shutdown] was an appropriations bill," and that "our committee had nothing to do with it." It took a long time for Visclosky to get on to the appropriations committee, and he is disappointed that the purpose of the committee system seems to have gone by the wayside, with house leadership "hammering out deals that bypass the committee."
         It makes sense that a member of a committee would be upset that his committee was not getting the chance to do its job, because public choice implies that the institution of congressional committees are put in place to help congressmen realize their objective of being reelected. When the committee system appears to be losing influence in congress, it clearly follows that committee members will seek to prevent this change.