The United States Congress has operated with more than 1,500 standing, special, select, or joint committees over the years.
Early select committees were very fluid, serving their established function and then going out of existence.
In a number of instances, the official journal and other congressional publications did not consistently refer to an individual committee by the same title.
[4] Therefore, this list does include hundreds of select committees established by Congress during its early years, particularly prior to 1795 and 1816, when a system of permanent standing committees was established in the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively.
[5] The majority of these committees were assigned specific legislative bills, but many served merely ceremonial functions.