1910 and now the speaker of the house is someone who decides who can speak on the floor of congress. Those reforms in 1910 passed down the speaker's jurisdiction to the committees and subcommittees. The members themselves have more of a symbolic purpose as they are invested with voting powers, which are also influenced by the committees and subcommittees (Greenberg and Page, 343).
             Traditionally, the committees and subcommittees were where the details of legislation are hammered out. Lawmaking among these groups is a long process: after a bill is introduced on the floor of congress, it is forwarded to the committee, then to a subcommittee for revision before being referred back to the committee for action (Greenberg and Page, 333). The committees and subcommittees also perform the daunting task of filtering all the bills that come to Congress so that only a small percentage of all the legislation that passes through makes it to the floor of Congress. Now, however, there has been a great increase in power invested to the committees and subcommittees. Typically, the House and Senate members themselves are specialists in one specific area whether it is environmental or labor-related or biomedical. If the House or Senate member is to vote on a bill that is economically-related, he/she is likely to defer his/her decision to the committee or subcommittee of that nature because that particular committee or subcommittee knows more about the subject. It is recurring situations like this that gain so much power to the committees and subcommittees. Additionally, the committees and subcommittees are where much of the oversight of the executive branch takes place. This, however, does not inhibit the executive branch's ability to perform basic policymaking actions.
             The executive branch's purpose is, as the name indicates, to execute policy carried out by Congress. These policies and laws, however, may be vaguely stated or...