Making laws
subcommittee
A smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.
In full
Standing committees divide their work among subcommittees, each covering part of the parent committee's jurisdiction. A bill is typically referred down to a subcommittee, which holds the hearings and reports it back up; the full committee then marks it up again before it can reach the floor. A bill that dies in subcommittee never generates a full-committee vote, which is how most legislation ends without anyone recording a position on it.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.