Summary
Mission:
The Joint Committee on the Library is a Joint Committee of the United States Congress devoted to the affairs and administration of the Library of Congress, which is the library of the federal legislature. There are five members of each house on the committee. It has no subcommittees.
Democratic Senate Members (Minority):
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota, Vice Chair
Mark Warner, Virginia
Jon Ossoff, Georgia
Democratic House Members (Minority):
Joe Morelle, New York
Terri Sewell, Alabama
Republican House Members (Majority):
Bryan Steil, Wisconsin, Chair
Mike Carey, Ohio
Mark Amodei, Nevada
Republican Senate Members ((Majority):
Deb Fischer, Nebraska
Bill Hagerty, Tennessee
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Library Of Congress Digitizing Historic Archives
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News
Majority Press Releases and news can be found here at the committee website.
Minority Press Releases and news can be found here at the committee website.
Press Release – July 13, 2021
Washington – Today, Committee on House Administration Chairman Candice Miller (R-MI), Ranking Member Robert Brady (D-PA), and Joint Committee on the Library Vice-Chairman Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) issued the following statement on the Senate’s vote confirming Dr. Carla Hayden to serve as the next Librarian of Congress:
“We congratulate Dr. Carla Hayden on her confirmation to serve as the 14th Librarian of Congress. The Librarian is trusted with overseeing one of our nation’s most treasured institutions; an institution that is deeply rooted in the tradition of advancing knowledge throughout the world. We look forward to working with Dr. Hayden as she leads the Library and undertakes the important task of collecting, preserving, and dispersing a vast collection of educational resources for today’s generation and the generations to come.”
About
Overview
The committee was originally established in 1806 (House Journal. 1806. 9th Cong., 1st sess., 27 February.) to support the expansion of a congressional library. In 1811, the committee was officially made permanent. It is Congress’s oldest continuing joint committee.
The Committee currently has oversight of the operations of the Library of Congress, as well as management of the congressional art collection, the National Statuary Hall Collection, and the United States Botanic Garden, but does not have legislative authority.
The committee is authorized to accept any work of the fine arts on behalf of Congress and designate a location in the United States Capitol for the work of art (pursuant to the Revised Statutes). This authority was expanded in 1875 to require that artwork that was not the property of the United States could not be displayed in the Capitol and that rooms in the Capitol cannot be used as private studios for works of art without written permission of the Committee. The Architect of the Capitol has the authority to enforce this provision.
On February 24, 1933, with the passage of House Concurrent Resolution No. 47, the Architect of the Capitol was authorized and directed to relocate within the Capitol any of the statues already received and placed in Statuary Hall, upon the approval of the Joint Committee on the Library, and to provide for the reception and location of statues received from the states. This provision was permanently enacted into law in 2000 in the legislative branch appropriations.
Membership consists of the chairman and four Members of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, chairman and three Members of the Committee on House Administration and chairman (or his designee) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. The chairmanship of the Committee alternates between the House and Senate every two years, at the start of a new Congress.
Source: Wikipedia
Joint Committee of Congress on the Library Rules for the 116th Congress
Title I – Meetings of the Committee
- Regular meetings may be called by the Chair, with the concurrence of the Vice-Chair, as may be deemed necessary or pursuant to the provision of paragraph 3 of rule XXVI of the Standings Rules of the Senate.
- Meetings of the committee, including meetings to conduct hearings, shall be open to the public, except that a meeting or series of meetings by the committee on the same subject for a period of no more than 14 calendar days may be closed to the public on a motion made and seconded to go into closed session to discuss only whether the matters enumerated in subparagraphs (A) through (F) would require the meeting to be closed followed immediately by a recorded vote in open session by a majority of the members of the committee when it is determined that the matters to be discussed or the testimony to be taken at such meeting or meetings –
- (a) will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or the confidential conduct of the foreign relations of the United States;
- (b) will relate solely to matters of the committee staff personal or internal staff management or procedures;
- (c) will tend to charge an individual with a crime or misconduct, to disgrace or injure the professional standing of an individual, or otherwise to expose an individual to public contempt or obloquy, or will represent a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy of an individual;
- (d) will disclose the identity of any informer or law enforcement agent or will disclose any information relating to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense that is required to be kept secret in the interest of effective law enforcement;
- (e) will disclose information relating to the trade secrets or financial or commercial information pertaining specifically to a given person if – 1) an Act of Congress requires the information to be kept confidential by Government officers and employees; or 2) the information has been obtained by the Government on a confidential basis, other than through an application by such person for a specific Government financial or other benefit, and is required to be kept secret in order to prevent undue injury to the benefit, and is required to be kept secret in order to prevent undue injury to the competitive position of such person; or
- (f) may divulge matters required to kept confidential under the provisions of law or Government regulation. (Paragraph 5(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate.)
- Written notices of committee meetings will normally be sent by the committee’s staff director to all members at least 3 days in advance. In addition, the committee staff will email or telephone reminders of committee meetings to all members of the committee or to the appropriate staff assistants in their offices.
- A copy of the committee’s intended agenda enumerating separate items of committee business will normally be sent to all members of the committee by the staff director at least 1 day in advance of all meetings. This does not preclude any member of the committee from raising appropriate non-agenda topics.
- Any witness who is to appear before the committee in any hearing shall file with the clerk of the committee at least 3 business days before the date of his or her appearance, a written statement of his or her proposed testimony and an executive summary thereof, in such form as the Chair may direct, unless the Chair waived such a requirement for good cause.
Title II – Quorums
- Pursuant to paragraph 7(a)(1) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules, 4 members of the committee shall constitute a quorum.
- Pursuant to paragraph 7(a)(2) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules, 2 members of the committee shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of taking testimony; provided, however, once a quorum is established, any one member can continue to take such testimony.
- Under no circumstance may proxies be considered for the establishment of a quorum.
Title III – Voting
- Voting in the committee on any issue will normally be by voice vote.
- If a third of the members present so demand, a recorded vote will be taken on any question by roll call.
- The results of the roll call votes taken in any meeting upon a measure, or any amendment thereto, shall be stated in the committee report on that measure unless previously announced by the committee, and such report or announcement shall be include a tabulation of the votes cast in favor and the votes cast in opposition to each measure and amendment by each member of the committee. (Paragraph 7(b) and (c) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules.)
- Proxy voting shall be allowed on all measures and matters before the committee. However, the vote of the committee to report a measure or matters shall require the concurrence of a majority of the members of the committee who are physically present at the time of the vote. Proxies will be allowed in such cases solely for the purpose of recording a member’s position on the question and then only in those instances when the absentee committee member has been informed of the question and has affirmatively requested that he be recorded. (Paragraph 7(a)(3) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules.)
Title IV – Delegation and Authority to the Chair and Vice Chair
- The Chair and Vice Chair are authorized to sign all necessary vouchers and routine papers for which the committee’s approval is required and to decide in the committee’s behalf on all routine business.
- The Chair is authorized to engage commercial reporters for the preparation of transcripts of committee meetings and hearings.
- The Chair is authorized to issue, on behalf of the committee, regulations normally promulgated by the committee at the beginning of each session.
Source: Committee Website
Web Links
More Information
Wikipedia
The Joint Committee on the Library is a Joint Committee of the United States Congress devoted to the affairs and administration of the Library of Congress, which is the library of the federal legislature. There are five members of each house on the committee. It has no subcommittees.
The committee was originally established in 1806 (House Journal. 1806. 9th Cong., 1st sess., 27 February.) to support the expansion of a congressional library. In 1811, the committee was officially made permanent. It is Congress’s oldest continuing joint committee.[1]
The Committee currently has oversight of the operations of the Library of Congress, as well as management of the congressional art collection, the National Statuary Hall Collection, and the United States Botanic Garden, but does not have legislative authority.
The committee is authorized to accept any work of the fine arts on behalf of Congress and designate a location in the United States Capitol for the work of art (pursuant to the Revised Statutes). This authority was expanded in 1875 to require that artwork that was not the property of the United States could not be displayed in the Capitol and that rooms in the Capitol cannot be used as private studios for works of art without written permission of the Committee. The Architect of the Capitol has the authority to enforce this provision.
On February 24, 1933, with the passage of House Concurrent Resolution No. 47, the Architect of the Capitol was authorized and directed to relocate within the Capitol any of the statues already received and placed in Statuary Hall, upon the approval of the Joint Committee on the Library, and to provide for the reception and location of statues received from the states. This provision was permanently enacted into law in 2000 in the legislative branch appropriations.
Membership consists of the chair and four Members of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, chair and three Members of the Committee on House Administration and chair (or his designee) of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch. The chair of the Committee alternates between the House and Senate every two years, at the start of a new Congress.[2]
Committee leadership
A list of former chairs/vice chairs and ranking members/vice ranking member since 1947 are below.[3]
Chairs
Vice Chairs
Ranking Members
Vice Ranking Members
118th Congress
The following members currently serve on the Joint Committee on the Library for the 118th United States Congress.
Members
| Majority | Minority | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate members |
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| House members |
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117th Congress
The 117th United States Congress served from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2023.
Members
| Majority | Minority | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate members |
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| House members |
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116th Congress
The 116th United States Congress served from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2021.
Members
The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the 116th United States Congress.[5]
| Majority | Minority | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate members |
|
|
| House members |
|
|
115th Congress
The 115th United States Congress served from January 3, 2017, to January 3, 2019.
Members
The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the 115th United States Congress.
| Majority | Minority | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate members |
|
|
| House members |
|
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Fine arts introduced
The following resolutions were introduced for displaying fine arts in the United States Capitol during the 115th United States Congress.
- Lads of Pest statue provided by Hungary to commemorate the heroes of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 on the occasion of the Revolution’s 60th anniversary (introduced in the House on 01/05/2017)[8]
- Statue depicting Harriet Tubman provided by the Harriet Tubman Statue Commission of the State of Maryland (introduced in the Senate on 02/15/2017)[9]
- Statue or bust depicting Elie Wiesel (introduced in the House on 04/28/2017)[10]
- Statue depicting Pierre Charles L’Enfant provided by the District of Columbia (introduced in the House on 07/12/2017)[11]
114th Congress
The 114th United States Congress served from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2017.
Members
The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the 114th United States Congress.
| Majority | Minority | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate members |
|
|
| House members |
|
|
Fine arts introduced
The following resolutions were introduced for displaying fine arts in the United States Capitol during the 114th United States Congress.
- Statue depicting Pierre Charles L’Enfant provided by the District of Columbia (introduced in the House on 06/18/2015 – no further action taken)[15]
- Statue depicting Harriet Tubman provided by the Harriet Tubman Statue Commission of the State of Maryland (introduced in the House on 03/17/2016 – no further action taken)[16]
- Statue or bust depicting Elie Wiesel (introduced in the House on 07/08/2016 – no further action taken)[17]
- Lads of Pest statue provided by Hungary to commemorate the heroes of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 on the occasion of the Revolution’s 60th anniversary (introduced in the House on 09/15/2016 – no further action taken)[18]
113th Congress
The 113th United States Congress served from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015.
Members
The following members served on the Joint Committee on the Library for the 113th United States Congress.
| Majority | Minority | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate members |
|
|
| House members |
|
|
Fine arts introduced
The following resolutions were introduced for displaying fine arts in the United States Capitol during the 113th United States Congress.
- Statue depicting Pierre Charles L’Enfant provided by the District of Columbia (introduced in the House on 03/27/2014 – no further action taken)[22]
References
- ^ Murrary, Stuart P. (2009). The library : an illustrated history. New York, NY: Skyhorse Pub. pp. 156. ISBN 9781602397064.
- ^ a b c d e “Joint Committee on the Library” Archived 2017-07-04 at the Wayback Machine. United States House Committee on House Administration. Retrieved on November 26, 2017.
- ^ Nelson, Garrison; Mitchell, Mary; Bensen, Clark (1993). Committees in the U.S. Congress, 1947–1992. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly. pp. 867–880.
- ^ a b c S.Res. 86 at Congress.gov
- ^ “!16th Congress – S.Res. 86, A resolution providing for members on the part of the Senate of the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library”. Congress.gov. February 28, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
- ^ S.Res. 101 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.Res. 82 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.Con.Res. 7 at Congress.gov
- ^ S. 402 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.R. 2230 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.R. 3213 at Congress.gov
- ^ S.Res. 126 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.Res. 171 at Congress.gov
- ^ 2015 Congressional Record, Vol. 161, Page S2928
- ^ H.R. 2837 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.R. 4812 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.R. 5691 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.Con.Res. 156 at Congress.gov
- ^ S.Res. 88 at Congress.gov
- ^ H.Res. 142 at Congress.gov
- ^ 2013 Congressional Record, Vol. 159, Page S3249
- ^ H.R. 4337 at Congress.gov
External links
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| National | |
| Other | |
