If a committee does not act on a bill, it's the same as if they would have

If a committee does not act on a bill, it's the same as if they would have voted it down.

When a bill is introduced in the Congress, it is referred to a committee, where they, as an essential part of the legislative process, have the chance to examine it carefully and determine whether it passes or not to the next step. However, if the committee does not act on the bill, the bill is "dead", which it's the same as they have voted it down.  

the committees of correspondence were the american colonies’ means for maintaining communication lines in the years before the revolutionary war. in 1764, boston formed the earliest committee of correspondence to encourage opposition to britain’s stiffening of customs enforcement and prohibition of american paper money. the following year, new york formed a similar committee to keep the other colonies notified of its actions in resisting the stamp act. in 1773, the virginia house of burgesses proposed that each colonial legislature appoint a committee for intercolonial correspondence. the exchanges that followed built solidarity during the turbulent times and bring about the formation of the first continental congress in 1774.