[A] Republican Senate committee staff director put it this way: “Democratic bills are going nowhere when we have the gavel.” A personal staff member for a powerful Democratic Senator corroborated that comment by saying, “We introduce our bills, but they get entirely ignored.” Along similar lines, a House committee staffer said that: “Congressional committees can be a lonely place for minority members.”

One extremely important but subtle rule underpinning committee influence is its power to veto proposals within its jurisdiction: any proposal that fails to make a committee majority better off is simply kept from coming to the floor for a vote. [italics added]

The single most important feature of the legislative process in the House and Senate is that, to succeed, a bill must survive a gauntlet of veto gates in each chamber, each of which is supervised by members chosen by their peers to exercise gatekeeping authority. In each chamber of Congress, at least one subcommittee and one full committee have gatekeeping rights in that a bill normally will not be considered by the entire legislative body until it has been approved in committee. [italics added]

Undoubtedly, the most important tool possessed by committees is their gatekeeping power. Since bills are routinely referred to standing committees, committee members can defeat legislation by refusing to report. [italics added]