List of defunct United States Congressional committees

The United States Congress Congress has operated with more than 1500 standing, special, select, or joint committees over the years.cite|author=Walter Stubbs|title=Congressional Committees, 1789-1982: A Checklist|publisher=Greenwood Press|date=1985] cite|author=Robert C. Byrd|title=The Senate: 1789-1989 Historical Statistics 1789-1992, Vol. 4|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|date=1992] PDF| [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/CommitteeChairs.pdf Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees 1789-present] |290 KB, United States Senate Historical Office. November 2006.]

Many committees of these committees are now defunct. In some cases, their responsibilities were merged with other committees. For others, the committee remained in existence, but its name was changed. However, the bulk of committees were eliminated because they served a single purpose or that subject matter no longer merited its own committee.

These lists contain both select committees and standing committees. When known, the committee's type, years, reason for elimination, and any successor committees are noted. Some committees, such as the myriad "Committee(s) to Investigate," are included in the list alphabetically by the primary subject matter being studied or investigated.

Defunct House Committees

* Accounts (1803–1947; jurisdiction merged into House Administration)
* Alcoholic Liquor Traffic (1893–1927)
* Assassinations (Select, 1976-1979)
* Banking and Currency (renamed Financial Services)
* Census (1901–1946; jurisdiction merged into Post Office and Civil Service)
* Civil Service (1924–1946; jurisdiction merged into into Post Office and Civil Service)
* Claims (1794–1946; jurisdiction merged into Judiciary)
* Coinage, Weights and Measures
* Commerce and Manufactures (1795-1819; renamed Commerce)
* Commerce, (1819-1981; renamed Interstate and Foreign Commerce)
* Disposition of Executive Papers (1889–1947; jurisdiction merged into House Administration)
* District of Columbia (1808-1999; jurisdiction merged into Government Reform)
* Economic and Educational Opportunities (1995-1997; renamed Committee on Education and the Workforce)
* Education (1883-1947; merged into Education and Labor)
* Education and Labor (1867-1883; split into Education and Labor)
** restored (1947-1995; renamed Economic and Educational Opportunities)
** renamed Education and the Workforce (1997-2007)
** restored (2007)
* Elections (1789-1947; jurisdiction merged into House Administration)
* Election of the President, Vice President and Representatives in Congress (1893–1947; jurisdiction merged into House Administration)
* Engraving (1844–1860;jurisdiction merged into Printing)
* Enrolled Bills (1876–1947; jurisdiction merged into House Administration)
* Expenditures in the Executive Departments (1927–1952; created by the merger of several predecessor expenditure committees; jurisdiction merged into Government Operations)
** Expenditures in the Agriculture Department (1889–1927; jurisdiction merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Commerce and Labor Departments (1905–1913; split between Expenditures in the Commerce Department and Expenditures in the Labor Department)
** Expenditures in the Commerce Department (1913–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Interior Department (1860–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Justice Department (1874–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Labor Department (1913–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Navy Department (1816–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Post Office Department (1816–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the State Department (1816–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the Treasury Department (1816–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures in the War Department (1816–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
** Expenditures on Public Buildings (1816–1927; merged into Expenditures in the Executive Departments)
* Flood Control
* Freedmen's Affairs (1866–1875; implementation of 14th and 15th Amendments)
* Government Operations (1952-1999; moved into Government Reform)
* Government Reform (1999-2007; renamed Oversight and Government Reform)
* Hurricane Katrina (Select) (2005-2006; select committee expired)
* Immigration and Naturalization (1893–1946; moved into Judiciary)
* Indian Affairs (1821–1946; moved into Public Lands)
* Industrial Arts and Expositions
* Insular Affairs (1899–1946; Cuban affairs moved to Foreign Affairs in 1906; moved to Public Lands)
* Interior and Insular Affairs (1951–1993; moved to Resources)
* Internal Security (1969–1975; functions transferred to the Judiciary)
* International Relations (1975-1979 - renamed Foreign Affairs; Restored 1995-2007 - reverted back to Foreign Affairs)
* Interstate and Foreign Commerce (-1981; renamed Energy and Commerce)
* Invalid Pensions (1831–1946; terminated)
* Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran (Select) (January 1987 - November 1987; Iran-Contra Committee)
* Irrigation and Reclamation (1924–1946; moved to Public Lands)
* Irrigation of Arid Lands (1893–1924; renamed Irrigation and Reclamation)
* Labor (1883-1947; merged into Education and Labor)
* Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River
* Library (some functions moved into House Administration; now Joint Committee on the Library)
* Manufactures (1819-1911)
* Memorials (1929–1947; moved into House Administration)
* Merchant Marine and Fisheries (1887–1932, 1935–1994)
* Merchant Marine, Radio and Fisheries (1932–1935; temporary renaming of Merchant Marine and Fisheries)
* Mileage (1837–1927; duties returned to Accounts)
* Military Affairs (1822–1946; moved into Armed Services)
* Military Pensions (1825–1831; renamed Invalid Pensions)
* Militia (1835–1911; moved to Military Affairs)
* Mines and Mining (1865–1946; moved to Public Lands)
* Mississippi Levees
* Natural Resources (1993-1995; renamed Resources
** (Restored in 2007)
* Naval Affairs (1822–1946; moved into Armed Services)
* Pacific Railroads (1865–1911; terminated)
* Patents (1837–1946; moved into Judiciary)
* Pensions and Revolutionary War Claims (1813–1825; renamed Revolutionary Pensions)
* Pensions (1880–1946; terminated)
* Post Office and Civil Service (1946–1999; moved into Government Reform)
* Post Office and Post Roads (1808–1946; moved into Post Office and Civil Service)
* Printing (created in 1846; moved into House Administration)
* Private Land Claims
* Public Buildings and Grounds
* Public Expenditures (1814–1880)
* Public Lands (1805–1951; renamed Interior and Insular Affairs)
* Public Works
* Railways and Canals
* Reconstruction (Select)
* Records of Committees Relating to Banking and Currency
* Reform in the Civil Service (1893–1924; renamed Civil Service)
* Resources (1995-2007; renamed Natural Resources)
* Revisal and Unfinished Business (1795–1868; unfinished business duties obsolete; remainder renamed Revision of Laws)
* Revision of Laws (1868–1946; moved into Judiciary)
* Revolutionary Claims (1825–1873; moved to War Claims)
* Revolutionary Pensions (-1825; split between Military Pensions and Revolutionary Claims)
* Rivers and Harbors
* Roads
* Roads and Canals
* Science (1995-2007; renamed Science and Technology)
* Science and Astronautics (1959-1974; renamed Science and Technology)
* Science and Technology (1974-1987; renamed Committee on Science, Space and Technology)
** (Restored in 2007)
* Science, Space and Technology (1987-1995; renamed Committee on Science)
* Territories (1825–1946; moved to Public Lands)
* Un-American Activities, also called HUAC or HCUA (1945–1969; became Internal Security)
* Uniform System of Coinage, Weights and Measures
* Ventilation and Acoustics (1893–1911)
* War Claims (1873–1946; moved into Judiciary)
* Woman Suffrage (1917–1927; implementation of the 19th Amendment)
* World War Veterans' Legislation

Defunct Senate Committees

Defunct Joint Committees

External links and Sources

*cite|author=Walter Stubbs|title=Congressional Committees, 1789-1982: A Checklist|publisher=Greenwood Press|date=1985
*cite|author=Robert C. Byrd|title=The Senate: 1789-1989 Historical Statistics 1789-1992, Vol. 4|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|date=1992
*, United States Senate Historical Office. November 2006.
* Via National Archives and Records Administration:
** [http://www.archives.gov/legislative/finding-aids/reference/senate/index.html Committee Resource Guide: Committees of the U.S. Senate]
** [http://www.archives.gov/legislative/guide/senate/table-of-contents-short.html Guide to the Records of the U.S. Senate at the National Archives (Record Group 46)]
** [http://www.archives.gov/legislative/guide/house/table-of-contents-short.html Guide to the Records of the U.S. House of Representatives at the National Archives, 1789-1989 (Record Group 233)]
** [http://www.archives.gov/legislative/guide/house/chapter-23.html Chapter 23. Records of the Joint Committees of Congress 1789-1968 (Record Group 128)]
* [http://www.house.gov/house/CommitteeWWW.shtml Current Committees in the House of Representatives]
* [http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm Current Committees in the United States Senate]

References