Because the volume of work that Congress must do is so large, not every member of Congress is able to review the intimate details of each piece of proposed legislation; as a result, Congress has organized itself into committees. Today, there are twenty standing committees in the House, plus several select committees. Membership in these committees is determined by a complicated mixture of seniority, interest, qualifications, and politics. In 1979, the House leadership referred the proposed Refugee Act legislation to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary has responsibility not just for the Judiciary, but for nineteen categories, including immigration policy. We have this document in the CMS archive because the donor, Arthur P. Endres, was an attorney for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and International Law. Typically, when a bill is referred to committee, the appropriate subcommittee will make a report to the full committee, which will then make a report to the full House such as the one before us.

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​During the review process, a committee may or may not hold public hearings using Congress’s broad subpoena power. In this case, as with most major pieces of legislation, the Subcommittee did hold hearings, where it heard testimony from Federal officials, State government representatives, nongovernmental agencies including Amnesty International, and private experts with knowledge of various aspects of refugee policy.

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​According to the report, the purpose of the Refugee Act of 1979 (which, in its final version, became the Refugee Act of 1980) was to “establish a coherent and comprehensive U.S. Refugee policy,” which would be accomplished by eliminating geographical and ideological discrimination, separating immigrants from refugees under the preference system, and authorizing a certain number of refugees to be admitted per year. The report recommended that the bill pass, including recommended amendments.

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Sources:

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​U.S. House of Representatives. “About the Judiciary Committee.” Web. Accessed March 31, 2013. <http://judiciary.house.gov/about/about.html>

Library of Congress. “Bill Summary and Status—96th Congress (1979–1980)—S. 643—All Information.” Web. Accessed March 31, 2013. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d096:SN00643:@@@L&summ2=m&|/home/LegislativeData.php?n=BSS;c=96|>

Library of Congress. “Consideration by Committee.” Web. Accessed March 31, 2013. <http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.bysec/considbycomm.html>

Library of Congress. “Introduction and Referral to Committee.” Web. Accessed March 31, 2013. <http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.bysec/introtocomm.html>