Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee

The HELP committee was started in 1869 under the name of the Committee on Education.  In 1884 it became known as the Committee for Education and Labor, and continued to bear this title until the mid-1900s.  The name was formally changed in 1999 to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee under the direction of chairman James Jeffords (R-Vermont) (US Senate, HELP Committee).


According to the US Senate's HELP committee website (jurisdiction), "all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters" relating to this list of topics should be referred to the HELP Committee for review.  Some topics, as listed on the same website, include: child labor, aging, arts and humanities, disabled individuals, agricultural colleges, public health, wages and hours of labor, and student loans (US Senate, HELP Committee).

"Such committee shall also study and review, on a comprehensive basis, matters relating to health, education and training, and public welfare, and report thereon from time to time" (US Senate, HELP Committee, Jurisdiction).

The HELP Committee reviews items from Congress that pertain to the above subjects.  A portion of those items are selected for consideration by the Committee for approval or denial.  When an item is chosen for consideration the Committee often requests the written opinion of organizations affiliated with the item.  The Committee then conducts hearings at which experts express their opinions and findings and clarify questions posed by members of the Committee.  The Committee then undertakes the task of amending the language within the proposal.  Finally, the HELP Committee sends the bill back to Congress, along with a summary of its findings, for continued debate  (United States Senate, 2002, About the Senate Committee System).