CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS DATA 1993-1998 Standing and Permanent Committees of the 103rd to 105th Congresses Codebook created: 7/20/98, Updated: 5/7/2005 Prof. Charles Stewart Jonathan Woon ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FILE DESCRIPTIONS File name Date Updated Description house_members_103-109.xls 5/7/05 House membership data HA10501.TXT 7/22/98 House committee assignment data SM10501.TXT 7/22/98 Senate membership data SA10501.TXT 7/22/98 Senate committee assignment data Convention for data file names: first letter represents chamber (H or S); second identifies type of data (Membership or Assignment); next are three numbers for the last congress the data set contains (assumed to start with 103rd), then two numbers for the version number. Note: I have begun to convert the data files to Excel format, and to adopt a naming convention that is not confined to eight characters, and is more explicitly descriptive. Newer files will have file names that reflect this change. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE: All fields are aligned left. (Fields start in first column of variable, trailed by spaces if necessary.) FORMAT SUMMARY FOR MEMBER DATA Columns Variable 1-4 Congress 5-6 Office 7-12 Identification number 13-47 Name (Last, First, Middle) 48-50 District/class 51-53 State (postal abbr.) 54-56 State code 57-58 Party (1 letter abbr.) 59-62 Party code 63-65 Chamber seniority 66-68 Chamber period code 69-71 Chamber status code FORMAT SUMMARY FOR ASSIGNMENT DATA Columns Variable 1-4 Congress 5-8 Committee code 9-14 Identification number 15-49 Name (Last, First, Middle) 50-52 Party status code 53-55 Rank within party status 56-64 Date of assignment (MMDDYYYY) 65-73 Date of termination (MMDDYYYY) 74-76 Senior party member code 77-79 Committee seniority 80-82 Committee period of service code 83-85 Committee status code (at end of congress) 86-88 Committee continuity code (in next congress) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DETAILED CODE DESCRIPTIONS FOR MEMBER DATA Note: Data in Excel spreadsheet format are not in fixed columns. The coding conventions are the same, however. Columns Variable 1-4 CONGRESS NUMBER (VAR13) 103 103rd (1993-1995) 104 104th (1995-1997) 105 105th (1997-1999) 106 106th (1999-2001) 107 107th (2001-2003) 108 108th (2003-2005) 109 109th (2005-2007) 5-6 OFFICE (VAR01) 3 Representative 4 Senate, 1st Class 5 Senate, 2nd Class 6 Senate, 3rd Class 7 Delegate 8 Resident Commissioner 7-12 IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (VAR09) Typically, this is the member's ICPSR number. In practice, however the source for the numbers is Keith Poole's NOMINATE data sets. For members without numbers, the following conventions were used: Delegates/Resident Commissioners -- start with 70X001 for each congress, where X is the last digit of the number of the congress. Members ordered by last name. 13-47 NAME (VAR07) For the most part, the names are as they appear in the Congressional Directory. 48-50 DISTRICT/CLASS (VAR04) 01-59 House Congressional Districts 79 Delegate 80 Resident Commissioner 81 Senate, 1st Class 82 Senate, 2nd Class 83 Senate, 3rd Class 85 House At-large District 51-53 STATE Two letter postal abbreviation. 54-56 STATE CODE (VAR03) New England 01 Connecticut 02 Maine 03 Massachusetts 04 New Hampshire 05 Rhode Island 06 Vermont Middle Atlantic 11 Delaware 12 New Jersey 13 New York 14 Pennsylvania East North Central 21 Illinois 22 Indiana 23 Michigan 24 Ohio 25 Wisconsin West North Central 31 Iowa 32 Kansas 33 Minnesota 34 Missouri 35 Nebraska 36 North Dakota 37 South Dakota Solid South 41 Alabama 42 Arkansas 43 Florida 44 Georgia 45 Louisiana 46 Mississippi 47 North Carolina 48 South Carolina 49 Texas 49 Virginia Border States 51 Kentucky 52 Maryland 53 Oklahoma 54 Tennessee 56 West Virginia Mountain States 61 Arizona 62 Colorado 63 Idaho 64 Montana 65 Nevada 66 New Mexico 67 Utah 68 Wyoming Pacific States 71 California 72 Oregon 73 Washington 74 Alaska 75 Hawaii Territories/Districts 55 District of Columbia 81 Guam 82 Puerto Rico 83 Virgin Islands 84 American Samoa 57-58 PARTY One letter abbreviation 59-62 PARTY CODE (VAR07) 100 Democrat 200 Republican 328 Independent 63-65 CHAMBER SENIORITY (VAR18) The term served in this Congress for Representatives. The Year served for Senators. This variable represents total (not just continuous) service in the chamber and is calculated from the dates/terms of service given in the Congressional Directory. 66-68 PERIOD OF SERVICE IN CHAMBER (VAR08) 1 Only period of House service 2 1st Period of House service 3 2nd Period of House service 4 3rd Period of House service 5 4th Period of House service 6 Only period of Senate service 7 1st period of Senate service 8 2nd period of Senate Service 69-71 STATUS OF MEMBER IN NEXT CONGRESS 1 Continued in next congress 2 Defeated for election to next congress 3 Defeated for nomination to next congress 4 Elected to another federal post (Senate, President...) 5 Elected to a state or local post (governor, mayor...) 6 Appointed to another federal post (cabinet...) 7 Appointed to a state or local post 8 Retired from public life 9 Unsuccessful contest for another office 0 Inapplicable. Member died or left chamber before the end of this congress. NB: 0 would be used if a member resigned midterm to accept an appointment to another post, such as a cabinet position. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DETAILED CODE DESCRIPTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT DATA Columns Variable 1-4 CONGRESS (VAR Same as member data set. 5-8 COMMITTEE CODE (VAR See list at the end of this document for committee codes. The same set of codes was used for all three congresses under consideration. Even though jurisdictions and names of committees changed at the start of the 104th Congress, the same committee codes were used. For example, the Armed Services committee became the National Security committee, but both use the same committee code. 9-14 IDENTIFICATION NUMBER Same as member data set. 15-49 NAME Same as member data set. 50-52 PARTY STATUS CODE (VAR15) Original appointments 1 Majority 2 Minority 3 Other party Members added to committees 4 Majority addition 5 Minority addition Members replacing departed members 6 Majority replacement 7 Minority replacement Other 8 Other party additions or replacemnts 0 Inapplicable; no committee assignment 53-55 RANK WITHIN PARTY STATUS (VAR16) Original rankings come from the Resolution appointed the members to committee. Additions are numbered starting after the original number of appointments. For example: a committee has 10 members and 1 member is added midterm. The additional member would be ranked 11, but still categorized as an Addition under Party Status. Additions and replacements are also ranked according to date of assignment, then the order which they are listed on the resolution. 56-64 DATE OF ASSIGNMENT (VAR 23-25) Formatted as a six digit number: MMDDYYYY. Two digits each for the month and day, using leading zeroes, and four digits for the year. 65-73 DATE OF TERMINATION (VAR26-28) Same format as Date of Assignment (MMDDYYYY). Dates used typically follow the rules set forth in the original codebook. The following rules are a combination of the codebook and the preface to Garrison Nelson's Committees in the U.S. Congress, Volume 1. For deaths or resignations from the chamber, the date found in the front of the Congressional Directory is used. This also applies to members that change party affiliations. For in-session resignations, the date that the resignation letter appears in the Congressional Record is used unless the letter mentions a specific date. This applies mainly to the House. For House committee assignments that last until the end of the congress, the closing date of the congress is used. The Twentieth Amendment sets this date as the January 3rd in odd numbered years. The closing date of the term is also used for members in either chamber that are not assigned to committee. In the Senate, the resolutions appointing members to committees will often list the whole committee roster. The date the resolution appears naming successors to the committee is used. If a Senate committee assignment lasts until the end of congress AND the member continues in the next congress, the naming of successors in the next congress is used as the termination date. If the senator does not continue in the next congress, the January 3rd closing date is used. 74-76 SENIOR PARTY MEMBER (VAR17) These codes only apply to the particular congress listed for that entry. Codes for Speaker, Leaders, or Whips only apply to the committee codes 661 (House Leadership) and 662 (Senate Leadership). Otherwise, the senior party codes only apply to that particular committee. Unless changes are made mid-term, the assignment and termination dates are January 3rd of the appropriate odd numbered year. 0 Inapplicable; either no committee assignment or the member did not reach senior party status for that committee or congress. Committee Chairmen 11 Only Chairman 12 1st Chairman 13 2nd Chairman 14 3rd Chairman 16 Acting Chairman Ranking Minority Members 21 Only ranking minority member 22 1st ranking minority member 23 2nd ranking minority member 24 3rd ranking minority member Speakers of the House 31 Only Speaker 32 1st Speaker 33 2nd Speaker Majority Leadership 41 Only Majority Leader 42 1st Majority Leader 43 2nd Majority Leader 51 Only Majority Whip 52 1st Majority Whip 53 2nd Majority Whip Minority Leadership 61 Only Minority Leader 62 1st Minority Leader 63 2nd Minority Leader 64 Only Minority Whip 65 1st Minority Whip 66 2nd Minority Whip Non-standing committee senior party status 81 Only Vice Chairman 82 1st Vice Chairman 83 2nd Vice Chairman 86 Co-chairman 77-79 COMMITTEE SENIORITY (VAR20) For the House, this is the number of the term presently served by the member on the committee. Each time a member leaves the committee and returns, the number of terms is reset to 1. For the Senate, the unit of measure is the year. It can best be described as the year on the committee as of the assignment date for that entry. For example, a freshman senator assigned at the beginning of a congress to committee would have this variable coded 1. Similarly, a senator assigned to a committee in October of the 2nd session would have that initial entry coded 1. If he is reappointed to the same committee at the start of the next congress, he is still coded 1 since he is still serving his first year on the committee. 80-82 COMMITTEE PERIOD OF SERVICE (VAR19) 1 Temporary assignment 2 Only period of service 3 First period of service 4 Second period of service 5 Third period of service 0 Inapplicable; no committee assignments 83-85 COMMITTEE STATUS AT END OF THIS CONGRESS (VAR29) 1 House: Remained on committee until adjournment. Senate: Remained on committee until next assignments announced. 2 Transferred to another committee. 3 Left committee for no other. 4 Left committee before departing chamber. 5 Member died. 6 Resigned to hold another office. 7 Resigned to seek another office unsuccessfully. 8 Resigned, but neither held nor sought another office. 9 Member lost special election (Senate). 0 Inapplicable; no committee assignments 86-88 COMMITTEE CONTINUITY OF ASSIGNMENT IN NEXT CONGRESS (VAR31) 1 Continues on committee (or successor) 2 Continues in congress, but not committee 3 Continues in congress, presently unassigned 4 Committee is eliminated 0 Inapplicable; member died or does not serve in next congress. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COMMITTEE CODES House of Representatives Code Committee 102 Agriculture 104 Appropriations 106 Armed (103rd) National Security (104th and 105th) 113 Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs (103rd) Banking and Financial Services (104th and 105th) 115 Budget 120 District of Columbia (103rd) 124 Education and Labor (103rd) Economic and Educational Opportunities (104th) Education and the Workplace (105th) 128 Energy and Commerce (103rd) Commerce (104th and 105th) 134 Foreign Affairs (103rd) International Relations (104th and 105th) 138 Government Operations (103rd) Government Reform and Oversight (104th and 105th) 142 House Administration (103rd) House Oversight (104th and 105th) 156 Judiciary 160 Merchant Marine and Fisheries (103rd) 164 Natural Resources (103rd) Resources (104h and 105th) 168 Post Office and Civil Service (103rd) 173 Public Works and Transportation (103rd) Transportation and Infrastructure (104th and 105th) 176 Rules 182 Science, Space, and Technology (103rd) Science (104th and 105th) 184 Small Business 186 Standards of Official Conduct 192 Veterans Affairs 196 Ways and Means 242 Intelligence (Select) SENATE COMMITTEE CODES Code Committee Name 305 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 306 Appropriations 308 Armed Services 314 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 316 Budget 321 Commerce, Science, and Transportation 330 Energy and Natural Resources 332 Environment and Public Works 336 Finance 338 Foreign Relations 344 Governmental Affairs 358 Judiciary 362 Labor and Human Resources 380 Rules and Administration 381 Small Business 388 Veterans Affairs 419 Aging (Special) 432 Intelligence (Select) 434 Ethics (Select) 435 Indian Affairs (Select) Leadership 661 House Party Leadership 662 Senate Party Leadership No assignment 770 Elected, not sworn 772 Resigned before assignment 775 Appointed, not sworn 780 Sworn, only select committee 790 Elected and sworn, not assigned 795 Appointed and sworn, not assigned