Final answer:
Assuming proportional representation, there would likely be 11 Republican members in a Senate committee of 20 based on the current 55-45 Republican-Democrat Senate composition.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine how many Republican members would be part of a permanent committee of 20 in the Senate, given that there are 55 Republicans and 45 Democrats, we use proportional representation based on party affiliation.
The total number of senators is 100. Since the committee has 20 members, it represents 20% of the entire Senate. Hence, we would calculate 20% of the Republican senators to approximate the number of Republican members on the committee. To do this, we multiple 55 (the number of Republican senators) by 0.20 (20%).
55 × 0.20 = 11. So, there would likely be 11 Republican members on a 20-member permanent committee in the Senate if the proportion of party representation is maintained.