This is a complete list of U.S. congressional committees (standing committees and select or special committees) that are currently operating in the United States Senate. Senators can be a member of more than one committee.
As of 2015, there are 88 subsidiary bodies of the US Senate: 16 standing committees with 67 subcommittees, and 5 non-standing committees .
There are five non-standing, select, or special committees, which are treated similarly to standing committees.
Senate committees are divided, according to relative importance, into three categories: Class A, Class B, and Class C. Individual Senators are in general limited to service on two Class A committees and one Class B committee. Assignment to Class C committees is made without reference to a member's service on any other panels.
Standing committees are permanent bodies with specific responsibilities spelled out in the Senate's rules. Twelve of the sixteen current standing committees are Class A panels. They are Agriculture; Appropriations; Armed Services; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Environment and Public Works; Finance; Foreign Relations; Governmental Affairs; Judiciary; and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
There are four Class B standing committees: Budget; Rules and Administration; Small Business; and Veterans' Affairs. There are currently no Class C standing committees.
Other (i.e., Indian Affairs), select and special committees are ranked as Class B or Class C committees. They are created for clearly specified purposes. There are currently two Class B committees: the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Special Committee on Aging, and two Class C committees: the Committee on Indian Affairs and the Select Committee on Ethics.
Joint Committees are used for purposes of legislative and administrative coordination. At present there are four: the Joint Economic Committee (Class B), the Joint Committee on the Library (Class C), the Joint Committee on Printing (Class C), and the Joint Committee on Taxation (Class C).