Committee Markup

After a bill is referred to committee and, often, after hearings, the committee may hold a markup, named for the way members literally mark up the text with changes. Committees have shaped legislation since the First Congress, and standing committees became the center of lawmaking in the nineteenth century. Markups were usually closed to the public until reforms in the early 1970s, when both chambers opened most committee meetings, and today they are generally public and often broadcast or streamed.

The chair usually begins with a base text, often the bill as introduced or a substitute called the chairman's mark, and members offer amendments that are debated and voted on under the committee's rules. When the amending is done, the committee votes on whether to order the bill reported, favorably or otherwise, to the full chamber, and a quorum must be present. The committee then files a written report explaining the bill, its purpose, any changes to existing law, and its cost as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, along with any dissenting views of the minority.

Markup is where much of the detailed work and bipartisan bargaining on legislation traditionally happens, but in recent decades party leaders have increasingly bypassed committees, writing major bills themselves and bringing them straight to the floor or rewriting committee-passed bills before votes. Committee chairs also decide which bills get a markup at all, which gives them significant power to block legislation. Supporters of a strong committee process say it brings expertise and deliberation to lawmaking, while defenders of leadership control say it is sometimes the only way to pass major bills in a polarized Congress.