Final answer:
True. Committee reports serve as the official communication to Congress about a bill, explaining its purpose, the majority and minority opinions, and cost estimates. They are integral to the classic legislative process.
Step-by-step explanation:
True. Committee Reports are indeed the official communications from committees to the respective chambers of Congress, detailing the purpose and implications of a bill. The process starts when bills are introduced and assigned to the relevant specialized committees or subcommittees. Committees have significant powers in the legislative process and play a vital role in determining the congressional agenda.
They hold hearings, engage experts, and gather information to thoroughly understand the bill's potential impact. The intense scrutiny and debate often lead to most bills dying in committee. However, for those that advance, committees craft a report to accompany the bill when sending it to the full chamber for a vote. This report provides a majority opinion supporting the bill, outlines any opposing minority views, and includes estimates of the law's costs and likely impacts. These steps are part of the classic legislative process, which ensures that only thoroughly vetted legislation reaches the floor.
The committee report is thus a key document that summarizes the findings from the committee stage and justifies the legislation to the rest of Congress, framing the subsequent debates on the chamber floors. Notably, this system has evolved over the last few decades with changes in legislative processes and increasing challenges such as filibuster threats in the Senate.