Bruce Bartlett  One way that chairmen maintained their power was
by insisting that proper procedures be followed in the
legislative process. Bills were referred to subcommittees, which
held hearings and markups before sending them to the full
committee. And then there would be more hearings and markups at
the full committee level. Thorough committee reports were
prepared and printed for each bill, so that every member had a
clear idea of what the legislation would do long before it came
up for a vote.  This was very time-consuming. It often took more
than one Congress for major proposals to even get through one
house, before the process started all over again in the other
house. By the time a bill finally became law, it had been
through the wringer several times, which helped ensure that
everyone knew what was in it and how it would work, and every
affected party had been heard from.  This system, which had
served the country well for almost 200 years, started to break
down in the 1970s, when liberal Democrat