A Survey of House and Senate Committee Rules on Subpoenas.

House Rule XI, clauses 2(m)(1) and (3), authorizes House committees and subcommittees to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents. Senate Rule XXVI, paragraph 1 authorizes Senate committees and subcommittees to subpoena witnesses and documents. In turn, most House and Senate committees have adopted their own rules on subpoena provisions containing procedures for exercising this grant of power from their parent chamber. Committee rules may cover authorization, issuance, and service of subpoenas; may cover just one or two of these actions; or may be silent on exercise of the subpoena power. A subpoena must be authorized pursuant to committee rules. Once authorized, if the committee seeks to take the next step, a subpoena must be issued pursuant to committee rules—signed and given to an individual to serve a subpoena to the person named in it. Most House and Senate committees have included in their rules one or more provisions on committees’ and subcommittees’ power to authorize subpoenas by majority vote. Most House committees have also delegated to their chair the power to authorize subpoenas. Many of these rules delegating authority also require the chair to consult or notify the committee’s ranking minority member. Most Senate committees’ subpoena rules delegate the power to authorize subpoenas to the chair with the agreement of the ranking minority member. In addition to rules on authorizing subpoenas, the rules of most committees in both chambers also address issuing subpoenas. Most House committees’ rules delegate authority to issue subpoenas to the chair, while several committees allow another committee member who has been designated by the committee to sign a subpoena. Most Senate committees’ rules delegate authority to issue subpoenas to the chair and allow another committee member designated by the chair to sign a subpoena. Some committees’ rules enable subcommittees to authorize subpoenas; other committees’ rules do not explicitly provide this authority. Requirements or limitations pertaining to subpoenas may appear in committees’ rules, such as conditions placed on a chair’s exercise of subpoena authority or on a ranking minority member’s role in authorizing a subpoena. Committees’ other procedural rules affect scheduling and conducting meetings to authorize a subpoena. These other rules may deal with the notice for and agenda of a meeting, the quorum to conduct business, and voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]