HOW OUR LAWS ARE MADE
Revised and Updated
January 31, 2000
by Charles W. Johnson,
Parliamentarian,
U.S. House of
Representatives
FOREWORD
First published in 1953 by the Committee
on the Judiciary of
the
House of Representatives, this 22nd edition of "How Our Laws
Are
Made" reflects changes in congressional procedures since the
21st
edition, which was revised and updated in 1997. This
edition
was prepared by the Office of the Parliamentarian of the
U.S.
House of Representatives in consultation with the Office of
the
Parliamentarian of the U.S. Senate.
The framers of our Constitution created a
strong federal
government
resting on the concept of "separation of powers."
In Article I, Section 1, of the
Constitution, the
Legislative
Branch is created by the following language: "All
legislative
Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress
of
the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House
of
Representatives."
Upon this elegant, yet simple, grant of
legislative powers
has
grown an exceedingly complex and evolving legislative
process. To aid the public's understanding of the
legislative
process,
we have revised this popular brochure.
For more
detailed
information on how our laws are made and for the text of
the
laws themselves, the reader should refer to government
internet
sites or pertinent House and Senate publications
available
from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government
Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.
Charles
W. Johnson
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
I.
INTRODUCTION
II.
THE CONGRESS
III.
SOURCES OF LEGISLATION
IV.
FORMS OF CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
BILLS
JOINT RESOLUTIONS
CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS
SIMPLE RESOLUTIONS
V.
INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE
VI.
CONSIDERATION BY COMMITTEE
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
PUBLIC HEARINGS
MARKUP
FINAL COMMITTEE ACTION
POINTS OF ORDER WITH RESPECT TO COMMITTEE
HEARING PROCEDURE
VII.
REPORTED BILLS
CONTENTS OF REPORTS
FILING OF REPORTS
AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS AND HEARINGS
VIII.
LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES
IX.
CALENDARS
UNION CALENDAR
HOUSE CALENDAR
PRIVATE CALENDAR
CORRECTIONS CALENDAR
CALENDAR OF MOTIONS TO DISCHARGE
COMMITTEES
X.
OBTAINING CONSIDERATION OF MEASURES
UNANIMOUS CONSENT
SPECIAL RESOLUTION OR
"RULE"
CONSIDERATION OF MEASURES MADE IN ORDER
BY RULE REPORTED
FROM
THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
MOTION TO DISCHARGE COMMITTEE
MOTION TO SUSPEND THE RULES
CALENDAR WEDNESDAY
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BUSINESS
QUESTIONS OF PRIVILEGE
PRIVILEGED MATTERS
XI.
CONSIDERATION AND DEBATE
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE
SECOND READING
AMENDMENTS AND THE GERMANENESS RULE
THE COMMITTEE "RISES"
HOUSE ACTION
MOTION TO RECOMMIT
QUORUM CALLS AND ROLLCALLS
VOTING
ELECTRONIC VOTING
PAIRING OF MEMBERS
SYSTEM OF LIGHTS AND BELLS
RECESS AUTHORITY
LIVE COVERAGE OF FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
XII.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS
XIII.
ENGROSSMENT AND MESSAGE TO SENATE
XIV.
SENATE ACTION
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
CHAMBER PROCEDURE
XV.
FINAL ACTION ON AMENDED BILL
REQUEST FOR A CONFERENCE
AUTHORITY OF CONFEREES
MEETINGS AND ACTION OF CONFEREES
CONFERENCE REPORTS
CUSTODY OF PAPERS
XVI.
BILL ORIGINATING IN SENATE
XVII.
ENROLLMENT
XVIII.
PRESIDENTIAL ACTION
VETO MESSAGE
LINE ITEM VETO
XIX.
PUBLICATION
SLIP LAWS
STATUTES AT LARGE
UNITED STATES CODE
APPENDIX
HOW OUR LAWS ARE MADE
I.
INTRODUCTION
This brochure is intended to provide a
basic outline of the
numerous
steps of our federal lawmaking process from the source
of
an idea for a legislative proposal through its publication as
a
statute. The legislative process is a
matter about which every
citizen
should be well informed in order to understand and
appreciate
the work of Congress.
It is hoped that this guide will enable
every citizen to
gain
a greater understanding of the federal legislative process
and
its role as one of the foundations of our representative
system. One of the most practical safeguards of the
American
democratic
way of life is this legislative process with its
emphasis
on the protection of the minority, allowing ample
opportunity
to all sides to be heard and make their views known.
The
fact that a proposal cannot become a law without
consideration
and approval by both Houses of Congress is an
outstanding
virtue of our bicameral legislative system.
The open
and
full discussion provided under the Constitution often results
in
the notable improvement of a bill by amendment before it
becomes
law or in the eventual defeat of an inadvisable proposal.
As the majority of laws originate in the
House of
Representatives,
this discussion will focus principally on the
procedure
in that body.
II.
THE CONGRESS
Article I, Section 1, of the United
States Constitution,
provides
that:
All legislative Powers herein granted
shall be vested in a
Congress
of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate
and
House of Representatives.
The Senate is composed of 100 Members-two
from each state,
regardless
of population or area-elected by the people in
accordance
with the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.
The 17th
Amendment
changed the former constitutional method under which
Senators
were chosen by the respective state legislatures. A
Senator
must be at least 30 years of age, have been a citizen of
the
United States for nine years, and, when elected, be a
resident
of the state for which the Senator is chosen.
The term
of
office is six years and one-third of the total membership of
the
Senate is elected every second year.
The terms of both
Senators
from a particular state are arranged so that they do not
terminate
at the same time. Of the two Senators
from a state
serving
at the same time the one who was elected first-or if both
were
elected at the same time, the one elected for a full term-is
referred
to as the "senior" Senator from that state. The other
is
referred to as the "junior" Senator.
If a Senator dies or
resigns
during the term, the governor of the state must call a
special
election unless the state legislature has authorized the
governor
to appoint a successor until the next election, at which
time
a successor is elected for the balance of the term. Most of
the
state legislatures have granted their governors the power of
appointment.
Each Senator has one vote.
As constituted in the 105th Congress, the
House of
Representatives
is composed of 435 Members elected every two
years
from among the 50 states, apportioned to their total
populations. The permanent number of 435 was established
by
federal
law following the Thirteenth Decennial Census in 1910, in
accordance
with Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution. This
number
was increased temporarily to 437 for the 87th Congress to
provide
for one Representative each for Alaska and Hawaii. The
Constitution
limits the number of Representatives to not more
than
one for every 30,000 of population.
Under a former
apportionment
in one state, a particular Representative
represented
more than 900,000 constituents, while another in the
same
state was elected from a district having a population of
only
175,000. The Supreme Court has since
held unconstitutional
a
Missouri statute permitting a maximum population variance of
3.1
percent from mathematical equality. The
Court ruled in
Kirkpatrick
v. Preisler, 394 U.S. 526 (1969), that the variances
among
the districts were not unavoidable and, therefore, were
invalid. That decision was an interpretation of the
Court's
earlier
ruling in Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964), that
the
Constitution requires that "as nearly as is practicable one
man's
vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as
another's."
A law enacted in 1967 abolished all
"at-large" elections
except
in those less populous states entitled to only one
Representative. An "at-large" election is one in
which a
Representative
is elected by the voters of the entire state
rather
than by the voters in a congressional district within the
state.
A Representative must be at least 25
years of age, have been
a
citizen of the United States for seven years, and, when
elected,
be a resident of the state in which the Representative
is
chosen. If a Representative dies or
resigns during the term,
the
governor of the state must call a special election pursuant
to
state law for the choosing of a successor to serve for the
unexpired
portion of the term.
Each Representative has one vote.
In addition to the Representatives from
each of the States,
a
Resident Commissioner from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and
Delegates
from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam,
and
the Virgin Islands are elected pursuant to federal law. The
Resident
Commissioner and the Delegates have most of the
prerogatives
of Representatives including the right to vote in
committees
to which they are elected. However, the
Resident
Commissioner
and the Delegates do not have the right to vote on
matters
before the House.
Under the provisions of Section 2 of the
20th Amendment to
the
Constitution, Congress must assemble at least once every
year,
at noon on the 3rd day of January, unless by law they
appoint
a different day.
A Congress lasts for two years,
commencing in January of the
year
following the biennial election of Members.
A Congress is
divided
into two sessions.
The
Constitution authorizes each House to determine the rules of
its
proceedings. Pursuant to that
authority, the House of
Representatives
adopts its rules on the opening day of each
Congress. The Senate considers itself a continuing
body and
operates
under continuous standing rules that it amends from time
to
time.
Unlike some other parliamentary bodies,
both the Senate and
the
House of Representatives have equal legislative functions and
powers
with certain exceptions. For example,
the Constitution
provides
that only the House of Representatives originate revenue
bills. By tradition, the House also originates
appropriation
bills. As both bodies have equal legislative
powers, the
designation
of one as the "upper" House and the other as the
"lower"
House is not appropriate.
The
chief function of Congress is the making of laws. In
addition,
the Senate has the function of advising and consenting
to
treaties and to certain nominations by the President. However
under
the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, both Houses confirm
the
President's nomination for Vice-President when there is a
vacancy
in that office. In the matter of
impeachments, the House
of
Representatives presents the charges-a function similar to
that
of a grand jury-and the Senate sits as a court to try the
impeachment. No impeached person may be removed without a
two-thirds
vote of the Senate. The Congress also
plays a role in
presidential
elections. Both Houses meet in joint
session on the
sixth
day of January, following a presidential election, unless
by
law they appoint a different day, to count the electoral
votes. If no candidate receives a majority of the
total
electoral
votes, the House of Representatives, each state
delegation
having one vote, chooses the President from among the
three
candidates having the largest number of electoral votes.
The
Senate, each Senator having one vote, chooses the Vice President
from
the two candidates having the largest number of votes for that
office.
III.
SOURCES OF LEGISLATION
Sources of ideas for legislation are
unlimited and proposed
drafts
of bills originate in many diverse quarters.
Primary
among
these is the idea and draft conceived by a Member or
Delegate. This may emanate from the election campaign
during
which
the Member had promised, if elected, to introduce
legislation
on a particular subject. The Member may
have also
become
aware after taking office of the need for amendment to or
repeal
of an existing law or the enactment of a statute in an
entirely
new field.
In addition, the Member's constituents,
either as
individuals
or through citizen groups may avail themselves of the
right
to petition and transmit their proposals to the Member.
The
right to petition is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the
Constitution. Many excellent laws have originated in this
way,
as
some organizations, because of their vital concern with
various
areas of legislation, have considerable knowledge
regarding
the laws affecting their interests and have the
services
of legislative draftspersons for this purpose.
Similarly,
state legislatures may "memorialize" Congress to
enact
specified federal laws by passing resolutions
to
be transmitted to the House and Senate as memorials. If
favorably
impressed by the idea, the Member may introduce the
proposal
in the form in which it has been submitted or may
redraft
it. In any event, the Member may
consult with the
Legislative
Counsel of the House or the Senate to frame the ideas
in
suitable legislative language and form.
In modern times, the "executive
communication" has become a
prolific
source of legislative proposals. The
communication is
usually
in the form of a message or letter from a member of the
President's
Cabinet, the head of an independent agency, or the
President
transmitting a draft of a proposed bill to the Speaker
of
the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate.
Despite
the structure of separation of powers, Article II,
Section
3, of the Constitution imposes an obligation on the
President
to report to Congress from time to time on the "State
of
the Union" and to recommend for consideration such measures as
the
President considers necessary and expedient.
Many of these
executive
communications follow on the President's message to
Congress
on the state of the Union. The
communication is then
referred
to the standing committee or committees having
jurisdiction
of the subject matter of the proposal.
The chairman
or
the ranking minority member of the relevant committee usually
introduces
the bill promptly either in the form in which it was
received
or with desired changes. This practice
is usually
followed
even when the majority of the House and the President
are
not of the same political party, although there is no
constitutional
or statutory requirement that a bill be introduced
to
effectuate the recommendations. The
committee or one of its
subcommittees
may also decide to examine the communication to
determine
whether a bill should be introduced.
The most
important
of the regular executive communications is the annual
message
from the President transmitting the proposed budget to
Congress. The President's budget proposal, together
with
testimony
by officials of the various branches of the government
before
the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate, is
the
basis of the several appropriation bills that are drafted by
the
Committee on Appropriations of the House.
Many of the executive departments and
independent agencies
employ
legislative counsels who are charged with the drafting of
bills. These legislative proposals are forwarded to
Congress
with
a request for their enactment.
The drafting of statutes is an art that
requires great
skill,
knowledge, and experience. In some
instances, a draft is
the
result of a study covering a period of a year or more by a
commission
or committee designated by the President or a member
of
the cabinet. The Administrative
Procedure Act and the Uniform
Code
of Military Justice are two examples of enactments resulting
from
such studies. In addition,
congressional committees
sometimes
draft bills after studies and hearings covering periods
of
a year or more.
IV.
FORMS OF CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
The work of Congress is initiated by the
introduction of a
proposal
in one of four forms: the bill, the joint resolution,
the
concurrent resolution, and the simple resolution. The most
customary
form used in both Houses is the bill.
During the 105th
Congress
(1997-1998), 7,529 bills and 200 joint resolutions were
introduced
in both Houses. Of the total number
introduced, 4,874
bills
and 140 joint resolutions originated in the House of
Representatives.
For the purpose of simplicity, this
discussion will be
confined
generally to the procedure on a House of Representatives
bill,
with brief comment on each of the forms.
BILLS
A bill is the form used for most
legislation, whether
permanent
or temporary, general or special, public or private.
The
form of a House bill is as follows:
A BILL
For the establishment, etc. [as the title
may be].
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of
the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That, etc.
The enacting clause was prescribed by law
in 1871 and is
identical
in all bills, whether they originate in the House of
Representatives
or in the Senate.
Bills may originate in either the House
of Representatives
or
the Senate with one notable exception provided in the
Constitution. Article I, Section 7, of the Constitution
provides
that
all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House
of
Representatives but that the Senate may propose or concur with
amendments. By tradition, general appropriation bills
also
originate
in the House of Representatives.
There are two types of bills-public and
private. A public
bill
is one that affects the public generally.
A bill that
affects
a specified individual or a private entity rather than
the
population at large is called a private bill.
A typical
private
bill is used for relief in matters such as immigration
and
naturalization and claims against the United States.
A bill originating in the House of
Representatives is
designated
by the letters "H.R." followed by a number that it
retains
throughout all its parliamentary stages.
The letters
signify
"House of Representatives" and not, as is sometimes
incorrectly
assumed, "House resolution."
A Senate bill is
designated
by the letter "S." followed by its number. The term
"companion
bill" is used to describe a bill introduced in one
House
of Congress that is similar or identical to a bill
introduced
in the other House of Congress.
A bill that has been agreed to in
identical form by both
bodies
becomes the law of the land only after-
(1) Presidential approval; or
(2) failure by the President to return it with
objections to the
House
in which it originated within 10 days while Congress is in
session;
or
(3) the overriding of a presidential veto by a two-thirds
vote
in
each House.
It does not become law without the
President's signature if
Congress
by their final adjournment prevent its return with
objections. This is known as a "pocket
veto." For a discussion
of
presidential action on legislation, see Part XVIII.
JOINT
RESOLUTIONS
Joint resolutions may originate either in
the House of
Representatives
or in the Senate-not, as is sometimes incorrectly
assumed,
jointly in both Houses. There is little
practical
difference
between a bill and a joint resolution and the two
forms
are often used interchangeably. One
difference in form is
that
a joint resolution may include a preamble preceding the
resolving
clause. Statutes that have been
initiated as bills
have
later been amended by a joint resolution and vice versa.
Both
are subject to the same procedure except for a joint
resolution
proposing an amendment to the Constitution.
When a
joint
resolution amending the Constitution is approved by
two-thirds
of both Houses, it is not presented to the President
for
approval. Following congressional
approval, a joint
resolution
to amend the Constitution is sent directly to the
Archivist
of the United States for submission to the several
states
where ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of
the
states within the period of time prescribed in the joint
resolution
is necessary for the amendment to become part of the
Constitution.
The
form of a House joint resolution is as follows:
JOINT RESOLUTION
Authorizing, etc. [as the title may be].
Resolved by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the
United
States of America in Congress assembled, That all, etc.
The resolving clause is identical in both
House and Senate
joint
resolutions as prescribed by statute in 1871.
It is
frequently
preceded by a preamble consisting of one or more
"whereas"
clauses indicating the necessity for or the
desirability
of the joint resolution.
A joint resolution originating in the
House of
Representatives
is designated "H.J. Res." followed by its
individual
number which it retains throughout all its
parliamentary
stages. One originating in the Senate
is
designated
"S.J. Res." followed by its number.
Joint resolutions, with the exception of
proposed amendments
to
the Constitution, become law in the same manner as bills.
CONCURRENT
RESOLUTIONS
A
matter affecting the operations of both Houses is usually
initiated
by a concurrent resolution. In modern
practice,
and as determined by the Supreme Court in INS v.
Chadha,
462 U.S. 919 (1983), concurrent and simple resolutions
normally
are not legislative in character since not "presented"
to
the President for approval, but are used merely for expressing
facts,
principles, opinions, and purposes of the two Houses. A
concurrent
resolution is not equivalent to a bill and its use is
narrowly
limited within these bounds.
The term "concurrent," like
"joint," does not signify
simultaneous
introduction and consideration in both Houses.
A concurrent resolution originating in
the House of
Representatives
is designated "H. Con. Res." followed by its
individual
number, while a Senate concurrent resolution is
designated
"S. Con. Res." together with its number. On approval
by
both Houses, they are signed by the Clerk of the House and the
Secretary
of the Senate and transmitted to the Archivist of the
United
States for publication in a special part of the Statutes
at
Large volume covering that session of Congress.
SIMPLE
RESOLUTIONS
A matter concerning the rules, the
operation, or the opinion
of
either House alone is initiated by a simple resolution. A
resolution
affecting the House of Representatives is designated
"H.
Res." followed by its number, while a Senate resolution is
designated
"S. Res." together with its number.
Simple
resolutions
are considered only by the body in which they were
introduced. Upon adoption, simple resolutions are
attested to by
the
Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the
Senate
and are published in the Congressional Record.
V.
INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE
Any Member, the Resident Commissioner
from Puerto Rico, or
the
Delegates in the House of Representatives may introduce a
bill
at any time while the House is in session by simply placing
it
in the "hopper," a wooden box provided for that purpose
located
on the side of the rostrum in the House Chamber.
Permission
is not required to introduce the measure.
Printed
blank
forms for an original bill are available through the
Clerk's
office. The Member introducing the bill
is known as the
sponsor.
An unlimited number of Members may co-sponsor a bill.
To
prevent the possibility that a bill might be introduced in the
House
on behalf of a Member without that Member's prior approval,
the
sponsor's signature must appear on the bill before it is
accepted
for introduction. Members who
co-sponsor a bill upon
its
date of introduction are original co-sponsors.
Members who
co-sponsor
a bill after its introduction are additional
co-sponsors. Co-sponsors are not required to sign the
bill. A
Member
may not be added or deleted as a co-sponsor after the bill
has
been reported by the last committee authorized to consider
it,
but in no event shall the Speaker entertain a request to
delete
the name of the sponsor. In the Senate,
unlimited
multiple
sponsorship of a bill is permitted.
Occasionally, a
Member
may insert the words "by request" after the Member's name
to
indicate that the introduction of the measure is at the
suggestion
of some other person or group.
In the Senate, a Senator usually
introduces a bill or
resolution
by presenting it to one of the clerks at the Presiding
Officer's
desk, without commenting on it from the floor of the
Senate. However, a Senator may use a more formal
procedure by
rising
and introducing the bill or resolution from the floor. A
Senator
usually makes a statement about the measure when
introducing
it on the floor. Frequently, Senators
obtain consent
to
have the bill or resolution printed in the body of the
Congressional
Record following their formal statement.
If any Senator objects to the
introduction of a bill or
resolution,
the introduction of the bill or resolution is
postponed
until the next day. If there is no
objection, the bill
is
read by title and referred to the appropriate committee.
In the House of Representatives, it is no
longer the custom
to
read bills-even by title-at the time of introduction. The
title
is entered in the Journal and printed in the Congressional
Record,
thus preserving the purpose of the custom.
The bill is
assigned
its legislative number by the Clerk.
The bill is then
referred
as required by the rules of the House to the appropriate
committee
or committees by the Speaker, the Member elected by
the
Members to be the Presiding Officer of the House, with the
assistance
of the Parliamentarian. The bill number
and committee
referral
appear in the next issue of the Congressional Record.
It
is then sent to the Government Printing Office where it is
printed
in its introduced form and printed copies are made available
in
the document rooms of both Houses.
Printed and electronic
versions
of the bill are also made available to the public.
Copies of the bill are sent to the office
of the chairman of
the
committee to which it has been referred.
The clerk of the
committee
enters it on the committee's Legislative Calendar.
Perhaps the most important phase of the
legislative process
is
the action by committees. The
committees provide the most
intensive
consideration to a proposed measure as well as the
forum
where the public is given their opportunity to be heard. A
tremendous
volume of work, often overlooked by the public, is
done
by the Members in this phase. There
are, at present, 19
standing
committees in the House and 16 in the Senate as well as
several
select committees. In addition, there
are four standing
joint
committees of the two Houses, that have oversight
responsibilities
but no legislative jurisdiction. The
House may
also
create select committees or task forces to study specific
issues
and report on them to the House. A task
force may be
established
formally through a resolution passed by the House or
informally
through an organization of interested Members and
committees
by the House leadership.
Each committee's jurisdiction is divided
into certain
subject
matters under the rules of each House and all measures
affecting
a particular area of the law are referred to the
committee
with jurisdiction over the particular subject matter.
For
example, the Committee on the Judiciary in the House has
jurisdiction
over measures relating to judicial proceedings
generally,
and 17 other categories, including constitutional
amendments,
immigration and naturalization, bankruptcy, patents,
copyrights,
and trademarks. In total, the rules of
the House and
of
the Senate each provide for over 200 different classifications
of
measures to be referred to committees.
Until 1975, the
Speaker
of the House could refer a bill to only one committee.
In
modern practice, the Speaker may refer an introduced bill to
multiple
committees for consideration of those provisions of the
bill
within the jurisdiction of each committee concerned. The
Speaker
must designate a primary committee of jurisdiction on
bills
referred to multiple committees. The
Speaker may place
time
limits on the consideration of bills by all committees, but
usually
time limits are placed only on additional committees.
Additional
committees are committees other than the primary
committee
to which a bill has been referred, either initially on
its
introduction or sequentially following the report of the
primary
committee. A time limit would be placed
on an additional
committee
only when the primary committee has reported its
version
to the House.
Membership on the various committees is
divided between the
two
major political parties. The proportion
of the Members of
the
minority party to the Members of the majority party is
determined
by the majority party, except that half of the members
on
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct are from the
majority
party and half from the minority party.
The respective
party
caucuses nominate Members of the caucus to be elected to
each
standing committee at the beginning of each Congress.
Membership
on a standing committee during the course of a
Congress
is contingent on continuing membership in the party
caucus
that nominated the Member for election to the committee.
If
the Member ceases to be a Member of the party caucus, the
Member
automatically ceases to be a member of the standing
committee.
Members of the House may serve on only
two committees and
four
subcommittees with certain exceptions.
However, the rules
of
the caucus of the majority party in the House provide that a
Member
may be chairman of only one subcommittee of a committee or
select
committee with legislative jurisdiction, except for
certain
committees performing housekeeping functions and joint
committees.
A Member usually seeks election to the
committee that has
jurisdiction
over a field in which the Member is most qualified
and
interested. For example, the Committee
on the Judiciary
traditionally
is composed almost entirely of lawyers.
Many
Members
are nationally recognized experts in the specialty of
their
particular committee or subcommittee.
Members rank in seniority in accordance
with the order of
their
appointment to the full committee and the ranking majority
member
with the most continuous service is usually elected
chairman. The rules of the House require that
committee chairmen
be
elected from nominations submitted by the majority party
caucus
at the commencement of each Congress.
No Member of the
House
may serve as chairman of the same standing committee or of
the
same subcommittee thereof for more than three consecutive
Congresses.
The rules of the House prohibit a
committee that maintains a
subcommittee
on oversight from having more than six subcommittees
with
the exception of the Committee on Appropriations and the
Committee
on Government Reform.
Each committee is provided with a
professional staff to
assist
it in the innumerable administrative details involved in
the
consideration of bills and its oversight responsibilities.
For
standing committees, the professional staff is limited to 30
persons
appointed by a vote of the committee. Two-thirds of the
committee
staff are selected by a majority vote of the majority
committee
members and one-third of the committee staff are
selected
by a majority vote of minority committee members. All
staff
appointments are made without regard to race, creed, sex,
or
age. The minority staff provisions do
not apply to the
Committee
on Standards of Official Conduct because of its
bipartisan
nature. The Committee on Appropriations
has special
authority
under the rules of the House for appointment of staff
for
the minority.
VI.
CONSIDERATION BY COMMITTEE
One of the first actions taken by a
committee is to seek the
input
of the relevant departments and agencies.
Frequently,
the
bill is also submitted to the General Accounting Office
with
a request for an official report of views on the necessity
or
desirability of enacting the bill into law. Normally, ample
time
is given for the submission of the reports and they are accorded
serious
consideration. However, these reports
are not binding on
the
committee in determining whether or not to act
favorably
on the bill. Reports of the departments
and agencies
in
the executive branch are submitted first to the Office of
Management
and Budget to determine whether they are consistent
with
the program of the President. Many
committees adopt rules
requiring
referral of measures to the appropriate subcommittee
unless
the full committee votes to retain the measure at the full
committee.
COMMITTEE
MEETINGS
Standing committees are required to have
regular meeting
days
at least once a month. The chairman of
the committee may
also
call and convene additional meetings.
Three or more members
of
a standing committee may file with the committee a written
request
that the chairman call a special meeting.
The request
must
specify the measure or matter to be considered. If the
chairman
fails to call the requested special meeting within three
calendar
days after the filing of the request, to be held within
seven
calendar days after the filing of the request, a majority
of
the members of the committee may call the special meeting by
filing
with the committee written notice specifying the date,
hour,
and the measure or matter to be considered.
In
the Senate, the Chair may still control the agenda of the
special
meeting through the power of recognition.
Committee
meetings may be held for various purposes including the
"markup"
of legislation, authorizing subpoenas, or internal
budget
and personnel matters.
A
subpoena may be authorized and issues at a meeting by a vote
of
a committee or subcommittee with a majority of members
present. The power to authorize and issue subpoenas
also
may
be delegated to the chairman of the committee.
A
subpoena
may require both testimonial and documentary evidence
to
be furnished to the committee. A
subpoena is signed by the
chairman
of the committee or by a member designated by the
committee.
All
meetings for the transaction of business of standing
committees
or subcommittees, except the Committee on Standards of
Official
Conduct, must be open to the public, except when the
committee
or subcommittee, in open session with a majority
present,
determines by record vote that all or part of the
remainder
of the meeting on that day shall be closed to the
public.
Members of the committee may authorize congressional
staff
and departmental representatives to be present at any meeting
that
has been closed to the public. Open committee
meetings may be
covered
by the media. Permission to cover
hearings and meetings
is
granted under detailed conditions as provided in the rules of
the
House.
The
rules of the House provide that House committees may not meet
during
a joint session of the House and Senate or during a recess
when
a joint meeting of the House and Senate is in progress.
Committees
may meet at other times during an adjournment or
recess
up to the expiration of the constitutional term.
PUBLIC
HEARINGS
If the bill is of sufficient importance,
the committee may
set
a date for public hearings. Each
committee, except for the
Committee
on Rules, is required to make public announcement of
the
date, place, and subject matter of any hearing to be
conducted
by the committee on any measure or matter at least one
week
before the commencement of that hearing, unless the
committee
chairman with the concurrence of the ranking minority
member
or the committee by majority vote determines that there is
good
cause to begin the hearing at an earlier date.
If that
determination
is made, the chairman must make a public
announcement
to that effect at the earliest possible date.
Public
announcements are published in the Daily Digest portion of
the
Congressional Record as soon as possible after the
announcement
is made and are often noted by the media.
Personal
notice
of the hearing, usually in the form of a letter, is sometimes
sent
to relevant individuals, organizations, and government
departments
and agencies.
Each hearing by a committee and
subcommittee, except the
Committee
on Standards of Official Conduct, is required to be
open
to the public except when the committee or subcommittee, in
open
session and with a majority present, determines by record
vote
that all or part of the remainder of the hearing on that day
shall
be closed to the public because disclosure of testimony,
evidence,
or other matters to be considered would endanger the
national
security, would compromise sensitive law enforcement
information,
or would violate a law or a rule of the House.
The
committee
or subcommittee by the same procedure may vote to close
one
subsequent day of hearing, except that the Committees on
Appropriations,
Armed Services, and the Permanent Select
Committee
on Intelligence, and subcommittees thereof, may vote to
close
up to five additional consecutive days of hearings. When a
quorum
for taking testimony is present, a majority of the members
present
may close a hearing to discuss whether the evidence or
testimony
to be received would endanger national security or
would
tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person. A
committee
or subcommittee may vote to release or make public
matters
originally received in a closed hearing or meeting. Open
committee
hearings may be covered by the media.
Permission to
cover
hearings and meetings is granted under detailed conditions
as
provided in the rules of the House.
Hearings on the Budget are required to be
held by the
Committee
on Appropriations in open session within 30 days after
its
transmittal to Congress, except when the committee, in open
session
and with a quorum present, determines by record vote that
the
testimony to be taken at that hearing on that day may be
related
to a matter of national security. The
committee may by
the
same procedure close one subsequent day of hearing.
On the day set for the public hearing in
a committee or
subcommittee,
an official reporter is present to record the
testimony. After a brief introductory statement by the
chairman
and
often by the ranking minority member or other committee member,
the
first witness is called. Members or
Senators who wish to be
heard
sometimes testify first out of courtesy and due to the
limitations
on their time. Cabinet officers and
high-ranking
civil
and military officials of the government, as well as
interested
private individuals, testify either voluntarily or by
subpoena.
So far as practicable, committees require
that witnesses who
appear
before it file a written statement of their proposed
testimony
in advance of their appearance and limit their oral
presentations
to a brief summary of their arguments.
In the case
of
a witness appearing in a nongovernmental capacity, a written
statement
of proposed testimony shall include a curriculum vitae
and
a disclosure of certain federal grants and contracts.
Minority party members of the committee
are entitled to call
witnesses
of their own to testify on a measure during at least
one
day of the hearing.
Each member is provided only five minutes
in the interrogation
of
each witness until each member of the committee who desires to
question
a witness has had an opportunity to do so.
In addition,
a
committee may adopt a rule or motion to permit committee members
to
question a witness for a specified period not longer than one
hour. Committee staff may also be permitted to
question a witness
for
a specified period not longer than one hour.
A
transcript of the testimony taken at a public hearing is
made
available for inspection in the office of the clerk of the
committee. Frequently, the complete transcript is
printed and
distributed
widely by the committee.
MARKUP
After hearings are completed, the
subcommittee usually will
consider
the bill in a session that is popularly known as the
"markup"
session. The views of both sides are
studied in detail
and
at the conclusion of deliberation a vote is taken to
determine
the action of the subcommittee. It may
decide to
report
the bill favorably to the full committee, with or without
amendment,
or unfavorably, or without recommendation.
The
subcommittee
may also suggest that the committee "table" it or
postpone
action indefinitely. Each member of the
subcommittee,
regardless
of party affiliation, has one vote.
Proxy voting is
no
longer permitted in House committees.
FINAL
COMMITTEE ACTION
At full committee meetings, reports on
bills may be
made
by subcommittees. Bills are read for
amendment in
committees
by section and members may offer germane
amendments. Committee amendments are only proposals to
change
the
bill as introduced and are subject to acceptance or rejection
by
the House itself. A vote of committee
members is taken to
determine
whether the full committee will report favorably or
table
the bill. If the committee votes to
report the bill
favorably
to the House, it may report the bill without
amendments
or introduce and report a "clean bill." If the committee
has
approved extensive amendments, the committee may decide to report
the
original bill with one "amendment in the nature of a
substitute"
consisting of all the amendments previously adopted,
or
may report a new bill incorporating those amendments, commonly
known
as a clean bill. The new bill is
introduced (usually by
the
chairman of the committee), and, after referral back to the
committee,
is reported favorably to the House by the committee.
A
committee may table a bill or not take action on it, thereby
preventing
further action on a bill. This makes
adverse reports
to
the House by a committee unusual. On
rare occasions, a
committee
may report a bill without recommendation or
adversely. The House also has the ability to discharge
a
bill
from committee. For a discussion of the
motion to
discharge,
see Part X.
Generally, a majority of the committee or
subcommittee
constitutes
a quorum. A quorum is the number of
members who must
be
present in order for the committee to report.
This ensures
participation
by both sides in the action taken.
However, a
committee
may vary the number of members necessary for a quorum
for
certain actions. For example, a
committee may fix the number
of
its members, but not less than two, necessary for a quorum for
taking
testimony and receiving evidence.
Except for the
Committees
on Appropriations, the Budget, and Ways and
Means,
a committee may fix the number of its members, but not
less
than one-third, necessary for a quorum for taking certain
other
actions. The absence of a quorum is
subject to a point of
order,
an objection that the proceedings are in violation of a
rule
of the committee or of the House, because the required
number
of members are not present.
POINTS
OF ORDER WITH RESPECT TO COMMITTEE HEARING PROCEDURE
A point of order in the House does not
lie with respect to a
measure
reported by a committee on the ground that hearings on
the
measure were not conducted in accordance with required
committee
procedure. However, certain points of
order may be
made
by a member of the committee that reported the measure if,
in
the committee hearing on that measure, that point of order was
(1)
timely made and (2) improperly improperly disposed of.
VII.
REPORTED BILLS
If the committee votes to report the bill
to the House, the
committee
staff writes the committee report. The
report describes
the
purpose and scope of the bill and the reasons for its recommended
approval. Generally, a section-by-section analysis is
set forth
explaining
precisely what each section is intended to accomplish.
All
changes in existing law must be indicated in the report and
the
text of laws being repealed must be set out.
This
requirement
is known as the "Ramseyer rule."
A similar rule in
the
Senate is known as the "Cordon rule." Committee amendments
also
must be set out at the beginning of the report and
explanations
of them are included. Executive
communications
regarding
the bill may be referenced in the report.
If at the time of approval of a bill by a
committee, except
the
Committee on Rules, a member of the committee gives notice of
an
intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views,
that
member is entitled to not less than two additional calendar
days
after the day of such notice (excluding Saturdays, Sundays,
and
legal holidays unless the House is in session on those days)
in
which to file those views with the clerk of the committee.
Those
views that are timely filed must be included in the report
on
the bill. Committee reports must be
filed while the House is
in
session unless unanimous consent is obtained from the House to
file
at a later time or the committee is awaiting additional views.
The report is assigned a report number
upon its filing and
is
sent to the Government Printing Office for printing. House
reports
are given a prefix-designator that indicates the number
of
the Congress. For example, the first
House report in the
106th
Congress was numbered 106-1.
In the printed report, committee
amendments are indicated by
showing
new matter in italics and deleted matter in line-through
type. The report number is printed on the bill and
the calendar
number
is shown on both the first and back pages of the bill.
However,
in the case of a bill that was referred to two or more
committees
for consideration in sequence, the calendar number is
printed
only on the bill as reported by the last committee to
consider
it. For a discussion of House
calendars, see Part IX.
Committee reports are perhaps the most
valuable single
element
of the legislative history of a law.
They are used by
courts,
executive departments, and the public as a source of
information
regarding the purpose and meaning of the law.
CONTENTS
OF REPORTS
The report of a committee on a measure
that has been
approved
by the committee must include (1) the committee's
oversight
findings and recommendations, (2) a statement required
by
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, if the measure
is
a bill or joint resolution providing new budget authority
(other
than continuing appropriations) or an increase or
decrease
in revenues or tax expenditures, (3) a cost
estimate
and comparison prepared by the Director of the
Congressional
Budget Office whenever the Director has submitted
that
estimate and comparison to the committee prior to the filing
of
the report, and (4) a summary of the oversight findings and
recommendations
made by the Committee on Government Reform
whenever
they have been submitted to the reporting committee in
a
timely fashion to allow an opportunity to consider the findings
and
recommendations during the committee's deliberations on the
measure. Each report accompanying a bill or joint
resolution
relating
to employment or access to public services or
accommodations
must describe the manner in which the provisions
apply
to the legislative branch. Each of
these items are set out
separately
and clearly identified in the report.
With
respect to each record vote by a committee, the total number
of
votes cast for, and the total number of votes cast against any
public
measure or matter or amendment thereto and the names of
those
voting for and against, must be included in the committee
report.
In addition, each report of a committee
on a public bill or
public
joint resolution must contain a statement citing the
specific
powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact
the
law proposed by the bill or joint resolution.
Committee
reports
that accompany bills or resolutions that contain federal
unfunded
mandates are also required to include an estimate
prepared
by the Congressional Budget Office on the cost of the
mandates
on state, local, and tribal governments.
If an estimate
is
not available at the time a report is filed, committees are
required
to publish the estimate in the Congressional Record.
Each
report also must contain an estimate, made by the committee,
of
the costs which would be incurred in carrying out that bill or
joint
resolution in the fiscal year reported and in each of the
five
fiscal years thereafter or for the duration of the program
authorized
if less than five years. The report
must include a
comparison
of the estimates of those costs with the estimate made
by
any Government agency and submitted to that committee.
The
Committees on Appropriations, on House Administration, Rules,
and
Standards of Official Conduct are not required to include cost
estimates
in their reports. In addition, the
committee's own cost
estimates
are not required to be included in reports when a cost
estimate
and comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional
Budget
Office has been submitted prior to the filing of the report a
nd
included in the report.
FILING
OF REPORTS
Measures approved by a committee must be
reported promptly
after
approval. A majority of the members of
the committee may
file
a written request with the clerk of the committee for the
reporting
of the measure. When the request is
filed, the clerk
must
immediately notify the chairman of the committee of the
filing
of the request, and the report on the measure must be
filed
within seven days (excluding days on which the House is not
in
session) after the day on which the request is filed. This
does
not apply to a report of the Committee on Rules with respect
to
the rule, joint rule, or order of business of the House or
to
the reporting of a resolution of inquiry addressed to the head
of
an executive department.
AVAILABILITY
OF REPORTS AND HEARINGS
A measure or matter reported by a
committee (except the
Committee
on Rules in the case of a resolution providing a rule,
joint
rule, or other order of business) may not be considered in
the
House until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays,
Sundays,
and legal holidays unless the House is in session on
those
days) on which the report of that committee on that measure
has
been available to the Members of the House. This rule is
subject
to certain exceptions including resolutions providing for
certain
privileged matters, measures declaring war or other
national
emergency, and government agency decisions,
determinations,
and actions that are effective unless disapproved
or
otherwise invalidated by one or both Houses of Congress.
However,
it is always in order to consider a report from the
Committee
on Rules specifically providing for the consideration
of
a reported measure or matter notwithstanding this restriction.
If
hearings were held on a measure or matter so reported, the
committee
is required to make every reasonable effort to have
those
hearings printed and available for distribution to the
Members
of the House prior to the consideration of the measure in
the
House. Committees are also required, to
the maximum extent
feasible,
to make their publications available in electronic
form. General appropriation bills may not be
considered until
printed
committee hearings and a committee report thereon have
been
available to the Members of the House for at least three
calendar
days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays
unless
the House is in session on those days).
VIII.
LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES
Each standing committee, other than the
Committees on
Appropriations
and on the Budget, is required to review and
study,
on a continuing basis, the application, administration,
execution,
and effectiveness of the laws dealing with the subject
matter
over which the committee has jurisdiction and the
organization
and operation of federal agencies and entities
having
responsibility for the administration and evaluation of
those
laws.
The purpose of the review and study is to
determine whether
laws
and the programs created by Congress are being implemented
and
carried out in accordance with the intent of Congress and
whether
those programs should be continued, curtailed, or
eliminated. In addition, each committee having oversight
responsibility
is required to review and study any conditions or
circumstances
that may indicate the necessity or desirability of
enacting
new or additional legislation within the jurisdiction of
that
committee, and must undertake, on a continuing basis, future
research
and forecasting on matters within the jurisdiction of
that
committee. Each standing committee also
has the function of
reviewing
and studying, on a continuing basis, the impact or
probable
impact of tax policies on subjects within its
jurisdiction.
The rules of the House provide for
special treatment of an
investigative
or oversight report of a committee.
Committees are
allowed
to file joint investigative and activities reports and
to
file investigative and activities reports after the House has
completed
its final session of a Congress. In
addition, several
of
the standing committees have special oversight
responsibilities. The details of those responsibilities are
set
forth
in the rules of the House.
IX.
CALENDARS
The House of Representatives has five
calendars of business:
the
Union Calendar, the House Calendar, the Private Calendar, the
Corrections
Calendar, and the Calendar of Motions to Discharge
Committees. The calendars are compiled in one
publication
printed
each day the House is in session. This
publication also
contains
a history of Senate-passed bills, House bills reported
out
of committee, bills on which the House
has acted, as well as
other
useful information.
When a public bill is favorably reported
by all committees
to
which referred, it is assigned a calendar number on either the
Union
Calendar or the House Calendar, the two principal calendars
of
business. The calendar number is
printed on the first page of
the
bill and, in certain instances, is printed also on the back
page. In the case of a bill that was referred to
multiple
committees
for consideration in sequence, the calendar number is
printed
only on the bill as reported by the last committee to
consider
it.
UNION
CALENDAR
The rules of the House provide that there
shall be:
A Calendar of the Committee of the Whole
House on the
state
of the Union, to which shall be referred public bills and
public
resolutions raising revenue, involving a tax or charge on
the
people, directly or indirectly making appropriations of money
or
property or requiring such appropriations to be made, authorizing
payments
out of appropriations already made, releasing any liability
to
the United States for money or property, or referring a claim
to
the Court of Claims.
The
large majority of public bills and resolutions reported to
the
House are placed on the Union Calendar.
For a discussion of
the
Committee of the Whole House, see Part XI.
HOUSE
CALENDAR
The rules further provide that there
shall be:
A House Calendar, to which shall be
referred all
public
bills and public resolutions not requiring
referral
to the Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House
on
the state of the Union.
PRIVATE
CALENDAR
The rules also provide that there shall
be:
A Private Calendar...to which shall be
referred all
private
bills and private resolutions.
All private bills reported to the House
are placed on the
Private
Calendar. The Private Calendar is
called on the first
and
third Tuesdays of each month. If two or more Members object
to
the consideration of any measure called, it is
recommitted
to the committee that reported it.
There are six
official
objectors, three on the majority side and three on the
minority
side, who make a careful study of each bill or
resolution
on the Private Calendar. The official
objectors' role
is
to object to a measure that does not conform to the
requirements
for that calendar and prevent the passage without
debate
of nonmeritorious bills and resolutions.
Private bills
that
have been reported from committee are only considered under
the
calendar procedure. Alternative
procedures reserved for
public
bills are not applicable for reported private bills.
CORRECTIONS
CALENDAR
If a measure pending on either the House
or Union Calendar
is
of a noncontroversial nature, it may be placed on the
Corrections
Calendar. The Corrections Calendar was
created to
address
specific problems with federal rules, regulations, or
court
decisions that bipartisan and narrowly targeted bills could
expeditiously
correct. After a bill has been
favorably reported
and
is on either the House or Union Calendar, the Speaker may,
after
consultation with the Minority Leader, file with the Clerk
a
notice requesting that such bill also be placed upon a special
calendar
known as the Corrections Calendar. On
the second and
fourth
Tuesdays of each month, the Speaker directs the Clerk to
call
any bill that has been on the Corrections Calendar for three
legislative
days. A three-fifths vote of the
Members voting is
required
to pass any bill called from the Corrections Calendar.
A
failure to adopt a bill from the Corrections Calendar does not
necessarily
mean the final defeat of the bill because it may then
be
brought up for consideration in the same way as any other bill
on
the House or Union Calendar.
CALENDAR
OF MOTIONS TO DISCHARGE COMMITTEES
When a majority of the Members of the
House sign a motion to
discharge
a committee from consideration of a public bill or
resolution,
that motion is referred to the Calendar of Motions to
Discharge
Committees. For a discussion of motions
to discharge,
see
Part X.
X.
OBTAINING CONSIDERATION OF MEASURES
Certain measures, either pending on the
House and Union
Calendars
or unreported and pending in committee, are more
important
and urgent than others and a system permitting
their
consideration ahead of those that do not require immediate
action
is necessary. If the calendar numbers
alone were the
determining
factor, the bill reported most recently would be the
last
to be taken up as all measures are placed on the House and
Union
Calendars in the order reported.
UNANIMOUS
CONSENT
The House occasionally employs the
practice of allowing
reported
or unreported measures to be considered by the unanimous
agreement
of all Members in the House Chamber.
The power to
recognize
Members for a unanimous consent request is ultimately in
the
discretion of the Chair but recent Speakers have issued strict
guidelines
on when such a request is to be entertained.
Most
unanimous
consent requests for consideration of measures may only
be
entertained by the Chair when assured that the majority and
minority
floor and committee leaderships have no objection.
SPECIAL
RESOLUTION OR "RULE"
To avoid delays and to allow selectivity
in the
consideration
of public measures, it is possible to have them
taken
up out of their order on their respective calendar or to
have
them discharged from the committee or committees to which
referred
by obtaining from the Committee on Rules a special
resolution
or "rule" for their consideration.
The Committee on
Rules,
which is composed of majority and minority members but with
a
larger proportion of majority members than other committees, is
specifically
granted jurisdiction over resolutions relating to
the
order of business of the House.
Typically, the chairman of
the
committee that has favorably reported the bill requests the
Committee
on Rules to originate a resolution that will provide
for
its immediate or subsequent consideration.
Under unusual
circumstances,
the Committee on Rules may originate a resolution
providing
for the "discharge" and consideration of a measure that
has
not been reported by the legislative committee of committees
of
jurisdiction. If the Committee on Rules
has determined that
the
measure should be taken up, it may report a resolution reading
substantially
as follows with respect to a bill on the Union Calendar
or
an unreported bill:
Resolved, That upon the adoption of this
resolution the
Speaker
declares pursuant to rule XVIII that the House resolve
itself
into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union
for the consideration of the bill (H.R.__) entitled, etc.,
and
the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. After
general
debate, which shall be confined to the bill and shall
continue
not to exceed __ hours, to be equally divided and
controlled
by the chairman and ranking minority member of the
Committee
on __, the bill shall be read for amendment under the
five-minute
rule. At the conclusion of the consideration of the
bill
for amendment, the Committee shall rise and report the bill
to
the House with such amendments as may have been adopted, and
the
previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill
and
amendments thereto to final passage without intervening
motion
except one motion to recommit with or without
instructions.
If the measure is on the House Calendar
or the
recommendation
is to avoid consideration in the Committee of the
Whole,
the resolution reads substantially as follows:
Resolved, That upon the adoption of this
resolution it shall
be
in order to consider the bill (H.R. __) entitled, etc., in the
House.
The resolution may waive points of order
against the bill.
A
point of order is an objection that a pending matter or
proceeding
is in violation of a rule of the House.
The bill may
be
susceptible to various points of order that may be made
against
its consideration, including an assertion that the bill
carries
a retroactive federal income tax increase, contains a
federal
unfunded mandate, or has not been reported from committee
properly. When a rule limits or prevents floor
amendments,
it is popularly known as a "closed rule" or "modified
closed
rule." However, a special
resolution may not deny the
minority
party the right to offer a motion to recommit the bill
with
amendatory or general instructions. For
a discussion of the
motion
to recommit, see Part XI.
CONSIDERATION
OF MEASURES MADE IN ORDER BY RULE REPORTED FROM THE
COMMITTEE
ON RULES
When a rule has been reported to the
House and is not
considered
immediately, it is referred to the calendar and, if
not
called up for consideration by the who filed the report
within
seven legislative days thereafter, any member of the
Committee
on Rules may call it up as a privileged matter, after
having
given one calendar day notice of the Member's intention to
do
so. The Speaker will recognize any
member of the committee
seeking
recognition for that purpose.
If the House has adopted a resolution
making in order a
motion
to consider a bill, and such a motion has not been offered
within
seven calendar days thereafter, such a motion shall be
privileged
if offered by direction of all reporting committees
having
initial jurisdiction of the bill.
There are several other methods of
obtaining consideration
of
bills that either have not been reported by a committee or, if
reported,
for which a rule has not been granted. Two of those
methods,
a motion to discharge a committee and a motion to
suspend
the rules, are discussed below.
MOTION
TO DISCHARGE COMMITTEE
A Member may present to the Clerk a
motion in writing to
discharge
a committee from the consideration of a public bill or
resolution
that has been referred to it 30 days prior thereto. A
Member
also may file a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules
from
further consideration of a resolution providing a special
rule
for the consideration of a public bill or resolution
reported
by a standing committee, or a special rule for the
consideration
of a public bill or resolution that has been
referred
to a standing committee for 30 legislative days.
This
motion to discharge the Committee on Rules may be made only
when
the resolution has been referred to that committee at least
seven
legislative days prior to the filing of the motion to
discharge. The motion may not permit consideration of
nongermane
amendments. The motion is placed in the custody of the
Journal
Clerk,
where Members may sign it at the House rostrum only when
the
House is in session. The names of
Members who have signed a
discharge
motion are available electronically or published in
the
Congressional Record on a weekly basis.
When a majority
of
the total membership of the House (218 Members) have signed
the
motion, it is entered in the Journal, printed with all the
signatures
thereto in the Congressional Record, and referred to
the
Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees.
On the second and fourth Mondays of each
month, except
during
the last six days of a session, a Member who has signed a
motion
to discharge that has been on the calendar at least seven
legislative
days may seek recognition and be recognized for the
purpose
of calling up the motion. The motion to
discharge is
debated
for 20 minutes, one-half in favor of the proposition and
one-half
in opposition.
If the motion to discharge the Committee
on Rules from a
resolution
prevails, the House shall immediately consider such
resolution. If the resolution is adopted, the House
proceeds to
its
execution. This is the modern practice
for utilization of
the
discharge rule.
If the motion to discharge a standing
committee of
the
House from a public bill or resolution pending before the
committee
prevails, a Member who signed the motion may move that
the
House proceed to the immediate consideration of the bill or
resolution. If the motion is agreed to, the bill or
resolution
is
considered immediately under the general rules of the House.
If
the House votes against the motion for immediate
consideration,
the bill or resolution is referred to its proper
calendar
with the same status as if reported favorably by a
standing
committee.
MOTION
TO SUSPEND THE RULES
On Monday and Tuesday of each week and
during the last six
days
of a session, the Speaker may entertain a motion to suspend
the
rules of the House and pass a public bill or resolution.
Members
need to arrange in advance with the Speaker to
be
recognized to offer such a motion. The
Speaker usually
recognizes
only a major member of the committee that has reported
or
has primary jurisdiction over the bill. The motion to suspend the
rules
and pass the bill is debatable for 40 minutes, one-half of
the
time in favor of the proposition and one-half in opposition.
The
motion may not be separately amended but may be amended in
the
form of a manager's amendment included in the motion when it
is
offered. Because the rules may be
suspended and the bill
passed
only by affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members
voting,
a quorum being present, this procedure is usually used
only
for expedited consideration of relatively noncontroversial
public
measures.
The Speaker may postpone all recorded and
yea-nay votes on
certain
questions before the House, including a motion to suspend
the
rules and the passage of bills and resolutions, until a
specified
time on that legislative day or the next two
legislative
days. At that time, the House disposes
of the
postponed
votes consecutively without further debate.
After an
initial
fifteen-minute vote is taken, the Speaker may
reduce
to not less than five minutes the time period for
subsequent
votes. If the House adjourns before
completing action
on
postponed votes, the postponed votes must be the first order
of
business on the next legislative day.
Eliminating
intermittent
recorded votes on suspensions reduces interruptions
of
committee activity and allows more efficient scheduling of
voting.
CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday of each week, unless
dispensed with by
unanimous
consent or by affirmative vote of two-thirds of the
Members
voting, a quorum being present, the standing committees
are
called in alphabetical order. A
committee when named may
call
up for consideration any bill reported by it on a previous
day
and pending on either the House or Union Calendar. The
report
on the bill must have been available for three days
and
must not be priviliged under the rules of the House.
General
debate is limited to two hours on any Calendar Wednesday
measure
and must be confined to the subject matter of the
measure,
the time being equally divided between those for and
those
against it. An affirmative vote of a
simple majority of
the
Members present is sufficient to pass the measure. The
purpose
of this rarely utilized procedure is to provide an
alternative
method of consideration when the Committee on Rules
has
not reported a rule for a specific bill.
DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA BUSINESS
On the second and fourth Mondays of each
month, after the
disposition
of motions to discharge committees and after the
disposal
of business on the Speaker's table requiring only
referral
to committee, the Committee on Government Reform may
call
up for consideration any District of Columbia business
reported
from that committee.
QUESTIONS
OF PRIVILEGE
House
rules provide special privilege to questions of privilege.
Questions
of privilege are classified as those questions 1)
affecting
the rights of the House collectively, its safety,
dignity,
and the integrity of its proceedings, and 2) affecting
the
rights, reputations, and conduct of Members, individually, in
their
representative capacity. A question of
privilege has been
held
to take precedence over all questions except the motion to
adjourn. Questions of the privileges of the House,
those
concerning
the rights of the House collectively, take the form of
a
resolution which may be called up by any Member after proper
notice. A question of personal privilege, affecting
the rights,
reputation,
and conduct of individual Members, may be raised from
the
floor without formal notice. Debate on
a question of
privilege
proceeds under the hour rule, with debate on a question
of
the privileges of the House divided between the proponent and
the
leader of the opposing party or a designee.
PRIVILEGED
MATTERS
Under the rules of the House, certain
matters are regarded
as
privileged matters and may interrupt the order of business.
Conference
reports, veto messages from the President, and certain
amendments
to measures by the Senate after the stage of
disagreement
between the two Houses are examples of privileged
matters. Certain reports from House committees are
also
privileged,
including reports from the Committee on Rules,
reports
from the Committee on Appropriations on the general
appropriation
bills, printing and committee funding resolutions
reported
from the Committee on House Administration, and reports
on
Member's conduct from the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct. Bills, joint resolutions, and motions may
also take on
privileged
status as a result of special procedures written into
statute. The Member in charge of such a matter may
call it up at
practically
any time for immediate consideration when no other
business
is pending. Usually, this is done after
consultation
with
both the majority and minority floor leaders so that the
Members
of both parties will have advance notice.
At any time after the reading of the
Journal, a Member, by
direction
of the Committee on Appropriations, may move that the
House
resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the
State
of the Union for the purpose of considering general
appropriation
bills. A general appropriation bill may
not be
considered
in the House until three calendar days (excluding
Saturdays,
Sundays, and legal holidays unless the House is in
session
on those days) after printed committee reports and
hearings
on the bill have been available to the Members. The limit
on
general debate on such a bill is generally fixed by a rule
reported
from the Committee on Rules.
XI.
CONSIDERATION AND DEBATE
Our democratic tradition demands that
bills be given
consideration
by the entire membership usually with adequate
opportunity
for debate and the proposing of amendments.
COMMITTEE
OF THE WHOLE HOUSE
In order to expedite the consideration of
bills and
resolutions,
the rules of the House provide for a parliamentary
mechanism,
known as the Committee of the Whole House on the
state
of the Union, that enables the House to act with a
quorum
of less than the requisite majority of 218.
A quorum
in
the Committee of the Whole is 100 members.
All
measures
on the Union Calendar-those involving a tax, making
appropriations,
authorizing payments out of appropriations
already
made, or disposing of property-must be first considered
in
the Committee of the Whole.
The Committee on Rules reports a rule
allowing for immediate
consideration
of a measure by the Committee of the Whole.
After
adoption
of the rule by the House, the Speaker may declare the
House
resolved into the Committee of the Whole.
When the House
resolves
into the Committee of the Whole, the Speaker leaves the
chair
after appointing a Chairman to preside.
The rule referred to in the preceding
paragraph also fixes
the
length of the debate in the Committee of the Whole. This may
vary
according to the importance of the measure.
As provided in
the
rule, the control of the time is usually divided equally between
the
chairman and the ranking minority member of the relevant
committee. Members seeking to speak for or against the
measure
may
arrange in advance with the Member in control of the time on
their
respective side to be allowed a certain amount of time in
the
debate. Members may also ask the Member
speaking at the time to
yield
to them for a question or a brief statement.
A transcript
of
the proceedings in the House and the Senate is printed daily
in
the Congressional Record. Frequently,
permission is granted a
Member
by unanimous consent to revise and extend his remarks in
the
Congressional Record if sufficient time to make a lengthy
oral
statement is not available during actual debate. These
revisions
and extensions are printed in a distinctive type and
cannot
substantively alter the verbatim transcript.
The conduct of the debate is governed
principally by the
rules
of the House that are adopted at the opening of each
Congress. Jefferson's Manual, prepared by Thomas
Jefferson for
his
own guidance as President of the Senate from 1797 to 1801, is
another
recognized authority. The House has a
long-standing rule
that
the provisions of Jefferson's Manual should govern
the
House in all applicable cases and where they are not
inconsistent
with the rules of the House. The House
also relies
on
an 11-volume compilation of parliamentary precedents, entitled
Hinds'
Precedents and Cannon's Precedents of the House of
Representatives,
dating from 1789 to 1935, to guide its action.
A
later compilation, Deschler-Brown Precedents of the
House
of Representatives, spans 15 volumes and
covers
1936 to date. In addition, a summary of
the House
precedents
prior to 1959 can be found in a single volume entitled
Cannon's
Procedure in the House of Representatives.
Procedure in
the
U.S. House of Representatives, fourth edition, as
supplemented,
and House Practice, published in 1996, are recent
compilations
of the precedents of the House, in summary form,
together
with other useful related material.
Also, various
rulings
of the Chair are set out as notes in the current House
Rules
and Manual. Most parliamentary
questions arising during
the
course of debate are responded to by a ruling based on a
precedent
of action in a similar situation. The
Parliamentarian
of
the House is present in the House Chamber in order to assist
the
Speaker or the Chairman in making a correct ruling on
parliamentary
questions.
SECOND
READING
During general debate on a bill, an
accurate account of the
time
used on both sides is kept and the Chairman terminates the
debate
when all the time allowed under the rule has been
consumed. After general debate, the second reading of
the bill
begins. The second reading is a section-by-section
reading
during
which time germane amendments may be offered to a section
when
it is read. Under some special
"modified closed" rules
adopted
by the House, certain bills are considered as read and
open
only to prescribed amendments under limited time
allocations. Under the normal "open" amendment
process, a Member
is
permitted five minutes to explain the proposed amendment,
after
which the Member who is first recognized by the Chair is
allowed
to speak for five minutes in opposition to it.
There is
no
further debate on that amendment, thereby effectively
preventing
filibuster-like tactics. This is known
as the
"five-minute
rule." However, Members may offer
an amendment to
the
amendment, for separate five-minute debate, or may offer a
pro
forma amendment-"to strike out the last word"-which does not
change
the language of the amendment but allows the Member five
minutes
for debate. Each substantive amendment
and amendment
thereto
is put to the Committee of the Whole for adoption unless
the
House has adopted a special rule "self-executing" the
adoption
of certain amendments in the Committee of the Whole.
At any time after debate has begun on
proposed amendments to
a
section or paragraph of a bill under the five-minute rule, the
Committee
of the Whole may by majority vote of the Members
present
close debate on the section or paragraph.
However, if
debate
is closed on a section or paragraph before there has been
debate
on an amendment that a Member has caused to be printed in
the
Congressional Record at least one day prior to floor
consideration
of the amendment, the Member who caused the amendment
to
be printed in the Record is given five minutes in which to explain
the
amendment. Five minutes is also given
to speak in opposition to
the
amendment and no further debate on the amendment is allowed.
Amendments
placed in the Congressional Record must indicate the
full
text of the proposed amendment, the name of the Member
proposing
it, the number of the bill or amendment to which it will
be
offered, and the point in the bill or amendment thereto where
the
amendment is intended to be offered.
These amendments appear
in
the portion of the Record designated for that purpose.
AMENDMENTS
AND THE GERMANENESS RULE
The rules of the House prohibit
amendments of a subject
matter
different from the text under consideration.
This rule,
commonly
known as the germaneness rule, is considered the single
most
important rule of the House of Representatives because of
the
obvious need to keep the focus of a body the size of the
House
on a predictable subject matter. The
germaneness rule
applies
to the proceedings in the House, the Committee of the
Whole,
and the standing committees. There are
hundreds of prior
rulings
or "precedents" on issues of germaneness available to
guide
the Chair.
THE
COMMITTEE "RISES"
At the conclusion of the consideration of
a bill for
amendment,
the Committee of the Whole "rises" and reports the
bill
to the House with the amendments that have been adopted. In
rising,
the Committee of the Whole reverts back to the House and
the
Chairman of the Committee is replaced in the chair by the
Speaker
of the House. The House then acts on
the bill and any
amendments
adopted by the Committee of the Whole.
HOUSE
ACTION
Debate on a bill in the House is cut off
by moving and
ordering
"the previous question." All
debate is cut off on the
bill
if this motion is carried by a majority of the Members
voting,
a quorum being present, or by a special rule ordering the
previous
question upon the rising of the Committee of the Whole.
The
Speaker then puts the question: "Shall the bill be engrossed
and
read a third time?" If this
question is decided in the
affirmative,
the bill is read a third time by title only and
voted
on for passage.
If the previous question has been ordered
by the terms of
the
rule on a bill reported by the Committee of the Whole, the
House
immediately votes on whatever amendments have been reported
by
the Committee in the order in which they appear in the bill
unless
voted on en bloc. After completion of
voting on the
amendments,
the House immediately votes on the passage of the
bill
with the amendments it has adopted.
However, a motion to
recommit,
as described in the next section, may be offered and
voted
on prior to the vote on passage.
The Speaker may postpone a recorded vote
on final passage of
a
bill or resolution or agreement to a conference report for up
to
two legislative days.
Measures that do not have to be
considered in the Committee
of
the Whole are considered in the House in accordance with the
terms
of the rule limiting debate on the measure or under the
"hour
rule." The hour rule limits the
amount of time that a
Member
may occupy in debate on a pending question to 60 minutes.
Generally,
the opportunity for debate may also be curtailed when
the
Speaker makes the rare determination that a motion is
dilatory.
After passage or rejection of the bill by
the House, a pro
forma
motion to reconsider it is automatically made and laid on
the
table. The motion to reconsider is
tabled to prohibit this
motion
from being made at a later date because the vote of the
House
on a proposition is not final and conclusive until there
has
been an opportunity to reconsider it.
MOTION
TO RECOMMIT
After the previous question has been
ordered on the passage
of
a bill or joint resolution, it is in order to offer one motion
to
recommit the bill or joint resolution to a committee and the
Speaker
is required to give preference in recognition for that
purpose
to a minority party Member who is opposed to the bill or
joint
resolution. This motion is normally not
subject to debate.
However,
a motion to recommit with instructions offered after the
previous
question has been ordered is debatable for 10 minutes,
except
that the majority floor manager may demand that the debate
be
extended to one hour. Whatever time is
allotted for debate is
divided
equally between the proponent and opponent of the
motion. Instructions in the motion to recommit
normally take the
form
of germane amendments proposed by the minority to
immediately
change the final form of the bill prior to passage.
Instructions
may also be "general," directing the committee to
take
specified actions such as to review the bill with a
particular
political viewpoint or to hold further hearings.
QUORUM
CALLS AND ROLLCALLS
Article
1, Section 5, of the Constitution provides that a
majority
of each House constitutes a quorum to do business and
authorizes
a smaller number than a quorum to compel the
attendance
of absent Members. In order to fulfill
this
constitutional
responsibility, the rules of the House provide
alternative
procedures for quorum calls in the House and the
Committee
of the Whole.
In the absence of a quorum, 15 Members
may initiate a call
of
the House to compel the attendance of absent Members. Such a
call
of the House must be ordered by a majority vote. A call of
the
House is then ordered and the call is taken by electronic
device
or by response to the alphabetical call of the roll of
Members. Absent Members have a minimum of 15 minutes
from the
ordering
of the call of the House by electronic device to have
their
presence recorded. If sufficient excuse
is not offered for
their
absence, they may be sent for by the Sergeant-at-Arms and
their
attendance secured and retained. The
House then determines
the
conditions on which they may be discharged.
Members who
voluntarily
appear are, unless the House otherwise directs,
immediately
admitted to the Hall of the House and must report
their
names to the Clerk to be entered in the Journal as present.
Compulsory
attendance or arrest of Members has been rare in
modern
practice. The rules of the House provide special
authority
for the Speaker to recognize a Member of the
Speaker's
choice to move a call of the House at any time.
When a question is put to a vote by the
Speaker and a quorum
fails
to vote on such question, if a quorum is not present and
objection
is made for that reason, there is a call of the House
unless
the House adjourns. The call is taken
by electronic
device
and the Sergeant-at-Arms may bring in absent Members. The
yeas
and nays on the pending question are at the same time
considered
as ordered and an "automatic" recorded vote is taken.
The
Clerk utilizes the electronic system or calls the roll and
each
Member who is present may vote on the pending question.
If
those voting on the question and those who are present and
decline
to vote together make a majority of the House, the Speaker
declares
that a quorum is constituted, and the pending question
is
decided as the majority of those voting have determined.
The rules of the House prohibit points of
order of no
quorum
unless the Speaker has put a question to a vote.
The rules for quorum calls are different
in some respects in
the
Committee of the Whole. The first time
the Committee of the
Whole
finds itself without a quorum during a day the Chairman
is
required to order the roll to be called by electronic device,
unless
the Chairman orders a call of the Committee.
However, the
Chairman
may refuse to entertain a point of order of no quorum
during
general debate. If on a call, a quorum
(100 Members)
appears,
the Committee continues its business.
If a quorum does
not
appear, the Committee rises and the Chairman reports the
names
of the absentees to the House. The
rules provide for the
expeditious
conduct of quorum calls in the Committee of the
Whole. The Chairman may suspend a quorum call after
100 Members
have
recorded their presence. Under such a
short quorum call,
the
Committee will not rise proceedings under the quorum call
are
vacated. In that case, a recorded vote,
if ordered
immediately
following the termination of the short quorum call,
is
a minimum of 15 minutes. In the
alternative, the Chair may
choose
to permit a full 15-minute quorum call, wherein all
Members
are recorded as present or absent, to be followed
by
a five-minute record vote on the pending question. Once a
quorum
of the Committee of the Whole has been established for a
day,
a quorum call in the Committee is only in order when the
Committee
is operating under the five-minute rule and the
Chairman
has put the pending question to a vote. The rules
prohibit
a point of order of no quorum against a vote in which
the
Committee of the Whole agrees to rise.
However, an
appropriate
point of no quorum would be permitted against a
vote
defeating a motion to rise.
VOTING
There are three methods of voting in the
Committee of the
Whole
that are also employed in the House.
These are the voice
vote,
the division, and the recorded vote.
The yea-and-nay vote
is
an additional method used only in the House, which may be
automatic
if a Member objects to the vote on the ground that a
quorum
is not present.
To conduct a voice vote the Chair puts
the question: "As
many
as are in favor (as the question may be) say `Aye'. As many
as
are opposed, say `No'." The Chair
determines the result on a
comparison
of the volume of ayes and noes. This is
the form in
which
the vote is ordinarily taken in the first instance.
If it is difficult to determine the
result of a voice vote,
a
division may be demanded by a Member or initiated by the Chair.
The
Chair then states: "As many as are in favor will rise and
stand
until counted." After counting
those in favor he calls on
those
opposed to stand and be counted, thereby determining the
number
in favor of and those opposed to the question.
If any Member requests a recorded vote
and that request is
supported
by at least one-fifth of a quorum of the House (44
Members),
or 25 Members in the Committee of the Whole, the vote
is
taken by electronic device. After the
recorded vote is
concluded,
the names of those voting and those not voting are
entered
in the Journal. Members have a minimum
of 15 minutes
to
be counted from the time the record vote is ordered. The
Speaker
may reduce the period for voting to five minutes on
subsequent
votes in certain situations where there has been
no
intervening debate or business. The
Speaker is not required
to
vote unless the Speaker's vote would be decisive.
In the House, if the yeas and nays are
demanded, the Speaker
directs
those in favor of taking the vote by that method to stand
and
be counted. The support of one-fifth of
the Members present
is
necessary for ordering the yeas and nays.
When the yeas and
nays
are ordered or a point of order is made that a quorum is not
present,
the Speaker states: "As many as are in favor of the
proposition
will vote "Aye." "As many as are opposed will vote
"No." The Clerk activates the electronic system or
calls the
roll
and reports the result to the Speaker, who announces it to
the
House.
The rules of the House require a
three-fifths vote to pass a
bill,
joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that
contains
a specified type of federal income tax rate increase.
The rules prohibit a Member from (1)
casting another
Member's
vote or recording another Member's presence in the House
or
the Committee of the Whole or (2) authorizing another
individual
to cast a vote or record the Member's presence in the
House
or the Committee of the Whole.
ELECTRONIC
VOTING
Recorded votes are usually taken by
electronic device,
except
when the Speaker orders the vote to be recorded by other
methods
prescribed by the rules of the House, or in the failure
of
the electronic device to function. In
addition, quorum calls
are
generally taken by electronic device.
The electronic system
works
as follows: A number of vote stations are attached to
selected
chairs in the Chamber. Each station is
equipped with a
vote
card slot and four indicators, marked "yea," "nay,"
"present,"
and "open" that are lit when a vote is in progress and
the
system is ready to accept votes. Each
Member is provided
with
a personalized Vote-ID Card. A Member
votes by inserting
the
voting card into any one of the vote stations and depressing
the
appropriate button to indicate the Member's choice. If a
Member
is without a Vote-ID Card or wishes to change his vote
during
the last five minutes of a vote, the Member may be
recorded
by handing a paper ballot to the Tally Clerk, who then
records
the vote electronically according to the indicated
preference
of the Member. The paper ballots are
green for "yea,"
red
for "nay," and amber for "present." The voting machine
records
the votes and reports the result when the vote is
completed.
PAIRING
OF MEMBERS
The former system of pairing of Members,
where a Member
could
arrange in advance to be recorded as being either in favor
of
or opposed to the question by being "paired" with another
absent
Member who holds contrary views on the question, has
largely
been eliminated. The rules still allow
for "live pairs."
A
live pair is where a Member votes as if not paired,
subsequently
withdraws that vote, and then asks to be marked
"present"
to protect the other Member. The most
common practice
is
for absent Members to submit statements for the Record stating
how
they would have voted if present on specific votes.
SYSTEM
OF LIGHTS AND BELLS
Due to the diverse nature of daily tasks
that they have to
perform,
it is not practicable for Members to be present in the
House
or Senate Chamber at every minute that the body is in
session. Furthermore, many of the routine matters do
not require
the
personal attendance of all the Members.
A legislative call
system
consisting of electric lights and bells or buzzers located
in
various parts of the Capitol Building and House and Senate
Office
Buildings alerts Members to certain occurrences in the
House
and Senate Chambers.
In the House, the Speaker has ordered
that the bells and
lights
comprising the system be utilized as follows:
*
1 long ring followed by a pause and then 3 rings and 3 lights
on
the left-Start or continuation of a notice or short quorum
call
in the Committee of the Whole that will be vacated if and
when
100 Members appear on the floor. Bells are repeated every
five
minutes unless the call is vacated or the call is converted
into
a regular quorum call.
* 1 long ring and extinguishing of 3
lights on the
left-Short
or notice quorum call vacated.
*
2 rings and 2 lights on the left-15 minute recorded vote,
yea-and-nay
vote or automatic rollcall vote by electronic device.
The
bells are repeated five minutes after the first ring.
*
2 rings and 2 lights on the left followed by a pause and then 2
more
rings-Automatic rollcall vote or yea-and-nay vote taken by a
call
of the roll in the House. The bells are repeated when the
Clerk
reaches the R's in the first call of the roll.
*
2 rings followed by a pause and then 5 rings-First vote under
Suspension
of the Rules or on clustered votes. Two bells are
repeated
five minutes after the first ring. The first vote will
take
15 minutes with successive votes at intervals of not less
than
five minutes. Each successive vote is signaled by five
rings.
*
3 rings and 3 lights on the left-15 minute quorum call in
either
the House or in the Committee of the Whole by electronic
device.
The bells are repeated five minutes after the first ring.
*
3 rings followed by a pause and then 3 more rings-15 minute
quorum
call by a call of the roll. The bells are repeated when
the
Clerk reaches the R's in the first call of the roll.
*
3 rings followed by a pause and then 5 more rings-Quorum call
in
the Committee of the Whole that may be followed immediately by
a
five-minute recorded vote.
* 4 rings and 4 lights on the
left-Adjournment of the House.
* 5 rings and 5 lights on the left-Any
five-minute vote.
* 6 rings and 6 lights on the left-Recess
of the House.
* 12 rings at 2-second intervals with 6
lights on the left-
Civil
Defense Warning.
* The 7th light indicates that the House
is in session.
RECESS
AUTHORITY
The House may by vote authorize the
Speaker to declare a
recess
under the rules of the House. The
Speaker also has the
authority
to declare the House in recess for a short time when no
question
is pending before the House.
LIVE
COVERAGE OF FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
The rules of the House provide for
unedited radio and
television
broadcasting and recording of proceedings on the floor
of
the House. However, the rules prohibit
the use of these
broadcasts
and recordings for any political purpose or in any
commercial
advertisement. The rules of the Senate
also provide
for
broadcasting and recording of proceedings in the Senate
Chamber
with similar restrictions.
XII.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control Act of 1974
as
amended provides Congress with a procedure establishing
appropriate
spending and revenue levels for each year.
The
congressional
budget process, as set out in the 1974 Budget Act,
is
designed to coordinate decisions on sources and levels of
revenues
and on objects and levels of expenditures.
Its basic
method
is to prescribe the overall size of the fiscal pie and the
particular
sizes of its various pieces. Each year
the Congress
adopts
a concurrent resolution imposing overall constraints on
revenues
and spending and distributing the overall constraint on
spending
among groups of programs and activities.
Congress aims to complete action on a
concurrent resolution
on
the budget for the next fiscal year by April 15. Congress may
adopt
a later budget resolution that revises the most recently
adopted
budget resolution. One of the
mechanisms Congress uses
to
implement the constraints on revenue and spending is called
the
reconciliation process. Reconciliation
is a two-step process
designed
to bring existing law in conformity with the most
recently
adopted concurrent resolution on the budget.
The first
step
in the reconciliation process is the language found in a
concurrent
resolution on the budget instructing House and Senate
committees
to determine and recommend changes in laws or bills
that
will achieve the constraints established in the concurrent
resolution
on the budget. The instructions to a
committee
specify
the amount of spending reductions or revenue changes a
committee
must attain and leave to the discretion of the
committee
the specific changes to laws or bills that must be
made. The second step involves the combination of
the various
instructed
committees' recommendations into an omnibus
reconciliation
bill which is reported by the Committee on the
Budget
or by the one committee instructed, if only one committee
has
been instructed, and considered by the whole House.
The Budget Act maintains that
reconciliation provisions must
be
related to reconciling the budget. This
principle is codified
in
section 313 of the Budget Act, the so-called Byrd Rule, named
after
Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
Section 313
provides
a point of order in the Senate against extraneous matter
in
reconciliation bills. Determining what
is extraneous is a
difficult
task for the Senate's Presiding Officer.
The Byrd Rule
may
only be waived in the Senate by a three-fifths vote and sixty
votes
are required to overturn the presiding officer's ruling.
Congress aims to complete action on a
reconciliation bill or
resolution
by June 15 of each year. After Congress
has completed
action
on a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal
year,
it is generally not in order to consider legislation that
does
not conform to the constraints on spending and revenue set
out
in the resolution.
Congress has enacted legislation under
which breaches are
remedied
by "sequestration," that is, automatic cancellations of
spending
authority. Sequestration results when
the statutory
parameters
for the deficit, discretionary spending, or the
"Paygo"
requirement have been exceeded. Paygo
requires that tax
reductions
or increases in entitlements must be offset by tax
increases
or reductions in entitlements.
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995,
through an
amendment
to the Congressional Budget Act, established
requirements
on committees with respect to measures containing
unfunded
intergovernmental mandates. An unfunded
intergovernmental
mandate is the imposition of a substantial
financial
requirement or obligation on a state, local or tribal
government. The Act also established a unique point of
order to
enforce
the requirements of the Act with respect to intergovernmental
mandates
in excess of fifty million dollars annually.
In
the House, an unfunded mandate point of order is not disposed
of
by a ruling of the Chair but by the Chair putting the question
of
consideration to the body. The House or
the Committee of the
Whole
then decides by vote whether or not to proceed with the
measure
with the alleged mandate contained therein.
XIII.
ENGROSSMENT AND MESSAGE TO SENATE
The preparation of a copy of the bill in
the form in which
it
has passed the House can be a detailed and complicated process
because
of the large number and complexity of amendments to some
bills
adopted by the House. Frequently, these
amendments are
offered
during a spirited debate with little or no prior formal
preparation. The amendment may be for the purpose of
inserting
new
language, substituting different words for those set out in
the
bill, or deleting portions of the bill.
It is not unusual to
have
more than 100 amendments adopted, including those proposed
by
the committee at the time the bill is reported and those
offered
from the floor during the consideration of the bill in
the
Chamber. In some cases, amendments
offered from the floor
are
written in longhand. Each amendment
must be inserted in
precisely
the proper place in the bill, with the spelling and
punctuation
exactly as it was adopted by the House.
It is
extremely
important that the Senate receive a copy of the bill in
the
precise form in which it has passed the House.
The
preparation
of such a copy is the function of the enrolling
clerk.
In the House, the enrolling clerk is
under the Clerk of the
House. In the Senate, the enrolling clerk is under
the Secretary
of
the Senate. The enrolling clerk
receives all the papers
relating
to the bill, including the official Clerk's copy of the
bill
as reported by the standing committee and each amendment
adopted
by the House. From this material, the
enrolling clerk
prepares
the engrossed copy of the bill as passed, containing all
the
amendments agreed to by the House. At
this point, the
measure
ceases technically to be called a bill and is termed "An
Act"
signifying that it is the act of one body of the Congress,
although
it is still popularly referred to as a bill.
The
engrossed
bill is printed on blue paper and is signed by the
Clerk
of the House. Bills may also originate
in the Senate with
certain
exceptions. For a discussion of bills
originating in
the
Senate, see Part XVI.
XIV.
SENATE ACTION
The Parliamentarian, in the name of the
Vice President, as
the
President of the Senate, refers the engrossed bill to the
appropriate
standing committee of the Senate in conformity with
the
rules of the Senate. The bill is
reprinted immediately and
copies
are made available in the document rooms of both Houses.
This
printing is known as the "Act print" or the "Senate referred
print."
COMMITTEE
CONSIDERATION
Senate committees give the bill the same
detailed
consideration
as it received in the House and may report it with
or
without amendment. A committee member
who wishes to express
an
individual view or a group of Members who wish to file a
minority
report may do so by giving notice, at the time of the
approval
of a report on the measure, of an intention to file
supplemental,
minority, or additional views. These
views may be
filed
within three days with the clerk of the committee and
become
a part of the report. When a committee
reports a bill, it
is
reprinted with the committee amendments indicated by showing
new
matter in italics and deleted matter in line-through type.
The
calendar number and report number are indicated on the first
and
back pages, together with the name of the Senator making the
report. The committee report and any minority or
individual
views
accompanying the bill also are printed at the same time.
All committee meetings, including those
to conduct hearings,
must
be open to the public. However, a
majority of the members
of
a committee or subcommittee may, after discussion in closed
session,
vote in open session to close a meeting or series of
meetings
on the same subject for no longer than 14 days if it is
determined
that the matters to be discussed or testimony to be
taken
will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret in the
interests
of national defense or the confidential conduct of the
foreign
relations of the United States; will relate solely to
internal
committee staff management or procedure; will tend to
charge
an individual with a crime or misconduct, to disgrace or
injure
the professional standing of an individual, or otherwise
to
expose an individual to public contempt, or will represent a
clearly
unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual;
will
disclose law enforcement information that is required to be
kept
secret; will disclose certain information regarding certain
trade
secrets; or may disclose matters required to be kept
confidential
under other provisions of law or government
regulation.
CHAMBER
PROCEDURE
The rules of procedure in the Senate
differ to a large
extent
from those in the House. The Senate
relies heavily on the
practice
of obtaining unanimous consent for actions to be taken.
For
example, at the time that a bill is reported, the Majority
Leader
may ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration
of
the bill. If the bill is of a
noncontroversial nature and
there
is no objection, the Senate may pass the bill with little
or
no debate and with only a brief explanation of its purpose and
effect. Even in this instance, the bill is subject
to amendment
by
any Senator. A simple majority vote is
necessary to carry an
amendment
as well as to pass the bill. If there
is any
objection,
the report must lie over one legislative day and the
bill
is placed on the calendar.
Measures reported by standing committees
of the Senate may
not
be considered unless the report of that committee has been
available
to Senate Members for at least two days (excluding
Sundays
and legal holidays) prior to consideration of the measure
in
the Senate. This requirement, however,
may be waived by
agreement
of the Majority and Minority leaders and does not apply
in
certain emergency situations.
In the Senate, measures are brought up
for consideration by
a
simple unanimous consent request, by a complex unanimous
consent
agreement, or by a motion to proceed to the consideration
of
a measure on the calendar. A unanimous
consent agreement,
sometimes
referred to as a "time agreement," makes the
consideration
of a measure in order and often limits the amount
of
debate that will take place on the measure and lists the
amendments
that will be considered. The offering
of a unanimous
consent
request to consider a measure or the offering of a motion
to
proceed to the consideration of a measure is reserved, by
tradition,
to the Majority Leader.
Usually a motion to consider a measure on
the calendar is
made
only when unanimous consent to consider the measure cannot
be
obtained. There are two calendars in
the Senate, the Calendar
of
Business and the Executive Calendar.
All legislation is
placed
on the Calendar of Business and treaties and nominations
are
placed on the Executive Calendar.
Unlike the House, there is
no
differentiation on the Calendar of Business between the
treatment
of (1) bills raising revenue, general appropriation
bills,
and bills of a public character appropriating money or
property,
and (2) other bills of a public character not
appropriating
money or property.
The rules of the Senate provide that at
the conclusion of
the
morning business for each "legislative day" the Senate
proceeds
to the consideration of the calendar.
In the Senate,
the
term "legislative day" means the period of time from when the
Senate
adjourns until the next time the Senate adjourns. Because
the
Senate often "recesses" rather than "adjourns" at the end
of
a
daily session, the legislative day usually does not correspond
to
the 24-hour period comprising a calendar day.
Thus, a
legislative
day may cover a long period of time-from days to
weeks,
or even months. Because of this and the
modern practice
of
waiving the call of the calendar by unanimous consent at the
start
of a new legislative day, it is rare to have a call of the
calendar. When the calendar is called, bills that are
not
objected
to are taken up in their order, and each Senator is
entitled
to speak once and for five minutes only on any question.
Objection
may be interposed at any stage of the proceedings, but
on
motion the Senate may continue consideration after the call of
the
calendar is completed, and the limitations on debate then do
not
apply.
On any day (other than a Monday that
begins a new
legislative
day), following the announcement of the close of
morning
business, any Senator, usually the Majority Leader,
obtaining
recognition may move to take up any bill out of its
regular
order on the calendar. The five-minute
limitation on
debate
does not apply to the consideration of a bill taken up in
this
manner, and debate may continue until the hour when the
Presiding
Officer of the Senate "lays down" the unfinished
business
of the day. At that point consideration
of the bill is
discontinued
and the measure reverts back to the Calendar of
Business
and may again be called up at another time under the
same
conditions.
When a bill has been objected to and
passed over on the call
of
the calendar it is not necessarily lost.
The Majority Leader,
after
consulting the Minority Leader, determines the time at
which
the bill will be considered. At that
time, a motion is
made
to consider the bill. The motion is
debatable if made after
the
morning hour.
Once a Senator is recognized by the
Presiding Officer, the
Senator
may speak for as long as the Senator wishes and loses the
floor
only when the Senator yields it or takes certain
parliamentary
actions that forfeit the Senator's right to the
floor. However, a Senator may not speak more than
twice on any
one
question in debate on the same legislative day without leave
of
the Senate. Debate ends when a Senator
yields the floor and
no
other Senator seeks recognition, or when a unanimous consent
agreement
limiting the time of debate is operating.
On occasion, Senators opposed to a
measure may extend debate
by
making lengthy speeches or a number of speeches at various
stages
of consideration intended to prevent or defeat action
on
the measure. This is the tactic known
as "filibustering."
Debate,
however, may be closed if 16 Senators sign a motion to
that
effect and the motion is carried by three-fifths of the
Senators
duly chosen and sworn. Such a motion is
voted on one
hour
after the Senate convenes, following a quorum call on the
next
day after a day of session has intervened.
This procedure
is
called "invoking cloture." In
1986, the Senate amended its
rules
to limit "post-cloture" consideration to 30 hours. A
Senator
may speak for not more than one hour and may yield all or
a
part of that time to the majority or minority floor managers of
the
bill under consideration or to the Majority or Minority
leader. The Senate may increase the time for
"post-cloture"
debate
by a vote of three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and
sworn. After the time for debate has expired, the
Senate may
consider
only amendments actually pending before voting on the
bill.
While a measure is being considered it is
subject to
amendment
and each amendment, including those proposed by the
committee
that reported the bill, is considered separately.
Generally,
there is no requirement that proposed amendments be
germane
to the subject matter of the bill except in the case of
general
appropriation bills or where "cloture" has been invoked.
Under
the rules, a "rider," an amendment proposing substantive
legislation
to an appropriation bill, is prohibited.
However,
this
prohibition may be suspended by two-thirds vote on a motion
to
permit consideration of such an amendment on one day's notice
in
writing. Debate must be germane during
the first three hours
after
business is laid down unless determined to the contrary by
unanimous
consent or on motion without debate.
After final
action
on the amendments the bill is ready for engrossment and
the
third reading, which is by title only.
The Presiding Officer
then
puts the question on the passage and a voice vote is usually
taken
although a yea-and-nay vote is in order if demanded by
one-fifth
of the Senators present. A simple
majority is
necessary
for passage. Before an amended measure
is cleared for
its
return to the House of Representatives, or an unamended
measure
is cleared for enrollment, a Senator who voted with the
prevailing
side, or who abstained from voting, may make a motion
within
the next two days to reconsider the action.
If the
measure
was passed without a recorded vote, any Senator may make
the
motion to reconsider. That motion is
usually tabled and its
tabling
constitutes a final determination. If,
however, the
motion
is granted, the Senate, by majority vote, may either
affirm
its action, which then becomes final, or reverse it.
The original engrossed House bill,
together with the
engrossed
Senate amendments, if any, is then returned to the
House
with a message stating the action taken by the Senate.
Where
the Senate has adopted amendments, the message
requests
that the House concur in them.
For a more detailed discussion of Senate
procedure, see
Enactment
of a Law, by Robert B. Dove, Parliamentarian of the
Senate.
XV.
FINAL ACTION ON AMENDED BILL
On their return to the House, the
official papers relating
to
the amended measure are placed on the Speaker's table to await
House
action on the Senate amendments.
Although rarely
exercised,
the Speaker has the authority to refer Senate
amendments
to the appropriate committee(s) with or without time
limits
on their consideration. If the
amendments are of a minor
or
noncontroversial nature, any Members, usually the chairman of
the
committee that reported the bill, may, at the direction of
the
committee, ask unanimous consent to take the bill with the
amendments
from the Speaker's table and agree to the Senate
amendments. At this point, the Clerk reads the title of
the bill
and
the Senate amendments. If there is no
objection, the amendments
are
then declared to be agreed to, and the bill is ready to be
enrolled
for presentation to the President. If
unanimous consent
is
not obtainable, the few bills that do not require consideration
in
the Committee of the Whole are privileged and may be called up
from
the Speaker's table by motion for immediate consideration of
the
amendments. A simple majority is
necessary to carry the motion
and
thereby complete floor action on the measure.
A Senate amendment
to
a House bill is subject to a point of order that it must first be
considered
in the Committee of the Whole, if, originating in the
House,
it would be subject to that point of order.
Most Senate
amendments
require consideration in the Committee of the Whole
and
this procedure by privileged motion is seldom utilized.
REQUEST
FOR A CONFERENCE
The mere fact that each House may have
separately passed is
own
bill on a subject is not sufficient to make either bill eligible
for
conference. One House must first take
the additional step of
amending
and then passing the bill of the other House to form the
basis
for a conference. If the amendments are substantial or
controversial,
a Member, usually the chairman of the committee of
jurisdiction,
may request unanimous consent to take the House
bill
with the Senate amendments from the Speaker's table,
disagree
to the amendments and request or agree to a conference
with
the Senate to resolve the disagreeing votes of the two
Houses. In the case of a Senate bill with House
amendments, the
House
may insist on the House amendments and request a
conference. For a discussion of bills originating in the
Senate,
see
Part XVI. If there is objection, the
Speaker may recognize a
Member
for a motion, if offered by the direction of the primary
committee
and of all reporting committees that had initial
referral
of the bill, to (1) disagree to the Senate amendments
and
ask for or agree to a conference or
(2)
insist on the House amendments to a Senate bill and request
or
agree to a conference. This may also be
accomplished by a
motion
to suspend the rules with a two-thirds vote or by a rule
from
the Committee on Rules. If there is no
objection to the
request,
or if the motion is carried, a motion to instruct the
managers
of the conference would be in order.
This initial
motion
to instruct is the prerogative of the minority party. The
instructions
to conferees usually urge the managers to accept or
reject
a particular Senate or House provision or to take a more
generally
described political position to the extent possible
within
the scope of the conference. However,
such instructions
are
not binding on House or Senate conferees.
After the motion
to
instruct is disposed of, the Speaker then appoints the
managers,
informally known as conferees, on the part of the House
and
a message is sent to the Senate advising it of the House
action.
A majority of the Members appointed to
be conferees must
have
been supporters of the House position, as determined by the
Speaker. The Speaker must appoint Members primarily
responsible
for
the legislation and must include, to the fullest extent
feasible,
the principal proponents of the major provisions of the
bill
as it passed the House. The Speaker
usually follows the
suggestion
of the committee chairman bill designating the
conferees
on the part of the House from among the members of the
committee
with jurisdiction over the House or Senate provisions.
Occasionally,
the Speaker appoints conferees from more than
one
committee and may specify the portions of the House and
Senate
versions to which they are assigned.
The number is
fixed
by the Speaker and majority party representation
generally
reflects the ratio for the full House
committee,
but may be greater on important bills.
The Speaker
also
has the authority to name substitute conferees on specific
provisions
and add or remove conferees after his original
appointment. Representation of both major parties is an
important
attribute of all our parliamentary procedures but, in
the
case of conference committees, it is important that the views
of
the House on the House measure be fully represented.
If the Senate agrees to the request for a
conference, a
similar
committee is appointed by unanimous consent by the
Presiding
Officer of the Senate. Both political
parties may be
represented
on the Senate conference committee. The
Senate and
House
committees need not be the same size but each House has one
vote
in conference as determined by a majority within each set or
subset
of managers.
The request for a conference can be made
only by the body in
possession
of the official papers. Occasionally,
the Senate,
anticipating
that the House will not concur in its amendments,
votes
to insist on its amendments and requests a conference on
passage
of the bill prior to returning the bill to the House.
This
practice serves to expedite the matter because time may be
saved
by the designation of the Senate conferees before returning
the
bill to the House. The matter of which
body requests the
conference
is not without significance because the body asking
for
the conference normally acts last on the report to be
submitted
by the conferees and a motion to recommit the
conference
report is not available to the body that acts last.
AUTHORITY
OF CONFEREES
The conference committee is sometimes
popularly referred to
as
the "Third House of Congress."
Although the managers on the
part
of each House meet together as one committee they are in
effect
two separate committees, each of which votes separately
and
acts by a majority vote. For this
reason, the number of
managers
from each House is largely immaterial.
The conferees are strictly limited in
their consideration to
matters
in disagreement between the two Houses.
Consequently,
they
may not strike out or amend any portion of the bill that was
not
amended by the other House.
Furthermore, they may not insert new
matter
that is not germane to or that is beyond the scope of the
differences
between the two Houses. Where the
Senate amendment
revises
a figure or an amount contained in the bill, the
conferees
are limited to the difference between the two numbers
and
may neither increase the greater nor decrease the smaller
figure. Neither House may alone, by instructions,
empower its
managers
to make a change in the text to which both Houses have
agreed.
When a disagreement to an amendment in
the nature of a
substitute
is committed to a conference committee, managers on
the
part of the House may propose a substitute that is a
germane
modification of the matter in disagreement, but the
introduction
of any language in that substitute presenting specific
additional
matter not committed to the conference committee
by
either House is not in order. Moreover, their report may not
include
matter not committed to the conference committee by either
House. The report may not include a modification of
any specific
matter
committed to the conference committee by either or
both
Houses if that modification is beyond the scope of that
specific
topic, question, issue, or proposition as committed to
the
conference committee.
The managers on the part of the House are
under specific
guidelines
when in conference on general appropriation bills. An
amendment
by the Senate to a general appropriation bill which
would
be in violation of the rules of the House, if such
amendment
had originated in the House, including an amendment
changing
existing law, providing appropriations not authorized by
law,
or providing reappropriations of unexpired balances, or an
amendment
by the Senate providing for an appropriation on a bill
other
than a general appropriation bill, may not be agreed to by
the
managers on the part of the House.
However, the House may
grant
specific authority to agree to such an amendment by a
separate
vote on each specific amendment.
MEETINGS
AND ACTION OF CONFEREES
The rules of the House require that one
conference meeting
be
open, unless the House, in open session, determines by a
record
vote that a meeting will be closed to the public. When
the
report of the conference committee is read in the House, a
point
of order may be made that the conferees failed to comply
with
the House rule requiring an open conference meeting. If the
point
of order is sustained, the conference report is considered
rejected
by the House and a new conference is deemed to have been
requested.
There are generally four forms of
recommendations available
to
the conferees when reporting back to their bodies:
(1) The Senate recede from all (or certain of)
its amendments.
(2) The House recede from its disagreement to
all (or certain
of)
the Senate amendments and agree thereto.
(3) The House recede from its disagreement to
all (or certain
of)
the Senate amendments and agree thereto with amendments.
(4) The House recede from all (or certain of)
its amendments to
the
Senate amendments or its amendments to Senate bill.
In most instances, the result of the
conference is a
compromise
growing out of the third type of recommendation
available
to the conferees because one House has originally
substituted
its own bill to be considered as a single amendment.
The
complete report may be composed of any one or more of these
recommendations
with respect to the various amendments where there
are
number amendments. Occasionally, on
general appropriation bills
with
numbered Senate amendments, because of the special rules
preventing
House conferees from agreeing to Senate amendments
changing
existing law or appropriations not authorized by law,
the
conferees find themselves, under the rules or in fact, unable
to
reach an agreement with respect to one or more amendments and
report
back a statement of their inability to agree on those
particular
amendments. These amendments may then
be acted upon
separately. This partial disagreement is not practicable
where,
as
is most often the case, one House strikes out all after the
enacting
clause and substitutes its own bill that must be
considered
as a single amendment.
If they are unable to reach any agreement
whatsoever, the
conferees
report that fact to their respective bodies and the
amendments
may be disposed of by motion. Usually,
new
conferees
may be appointed in either or both Houses.
In
addition,
the Houses may provide a new nonbinding instruction
to
the conferees as to the position they are to take.
After House conferees on any bill or
resolution in
conference
between the two bodies have been appointed for 20
calendar
days and have failed to make a report, a motion
to
instruct the House conferees, or discharge them and appoint
new
conferees, is privileged. The motion
can be made only after
the
Member announces his intention to offer the motion and only
at
a time designated by the Speaker in the legislative schedule
of
the following day. In addition, during
the last six days of
a
session, it is a privileged motion to move to discharge, appoint,
or
instruct House conferees after House conferees have been
appointed
36 hours without having made a report.
CONFERENCE
REPORTS
When the conferees, by majority vote of
each group, have
reached
complete agreement or find that they are able to agree
with
respect to some but not all separately numbered amendments,
they
make their recommendations in a report made in duplicate
that
must be signed by a majority of the conferees appointed by
each
body on each provision to which they are appointed. The
minority
of the managers have no authority to file a
statement
of minority views in connection with the conference
report. The report is required to be printed in both
Houses and
must
be accompanied by an explanatory statement prepared jointly
by
the conferees on the part of the House and the conferees on
the
part of the Senate. The statement must
be sufficiently
detailed
and explicit to inform Congress of the effect of the
report
on the matters committed to conference. The engrossed
bill
and amendments and one copy of the report are delivered to
the
body that is to act first on the report, usually, the body
that
had agreed to the conference requested by the other.
In the Senate, the presentation of a
conference report
always
is in order except when the Journal is being read, a point
of
order or motion to adjourn is pending, or while the Senate is
voting
or ascertaining the presence of a quorum.
When the report
is
received, the question of proceeding to the consideration of
the
report, if raised, is immediately voted on without debate.
The
report is not subject to amendment in either body and must be
accepted
or rejected as an entirety. If the time
for debate on
the
adoption of the report is limited, the time allotted must be
equally
divided between the majority and minority party. The
Senate,
acting first, prior to voting on agreeing to the report
may
by majority vote order it recommitted to the conferees. When
the
Senate agrees to the report, its managers are thereby
discharged
and it then delivers the original papers to the House
with
a message advising that body of its action.
A report that contains any
recommendations which extend
beyond
the scope of differences between the two Houses is subject
to
a point of order in its entirety unless that point of order is
waived
in the House by unanimous consent, adoption of a rule
reported
from the Committee on Rules, or the suspension of the
rules
by a two-thirds vote.
The presentation of a conference report
in the House
is
in order at any time, except during a reading of the Journal
or
the conduct of a recorded vote, a vote by division, or a
quorum
call. The report is considered in the House and may not
be
sent to the Committee of the Whole on the suggestion that it
contains
matters ordinarily requiring consideration in that
Committee. The report may not be received by the House
if the
required
statement does not accompany it.
However, it is not in order to consider
either (1) a
conference
report or (2) a motion to dispose of a Senate amendment
(including
an amendment in the nature of a substitute) by a
conference
committee, until the third calendar day (excluding
Saturdays,
Sundays, and legal holidays unless the House is in
session
on those days) after the report and accompanying statement
have
been filed in the House and made available to Members in
the
Congressional Record. However, these provisions do not apply
during
the last six days of the session. It is
also not in order
to
consider a conference report or a motion to dispose of a
Senate
amendment reported in disagreement unless copies of the
report
and accompanying statement, together with the text of the
amendment,
have been available to Members for at least two hours
before
their consideration. By contrast, it is
always in order
to
call up for consideration a report from the Committee on Rules
on
the same day reported that proposes only to waive the
availability
requirements for a conference report or a Senate
amendment
reported in disagreement. The time allotted for debate
on
a conference report or motion is one hour, equally divided between
the
majority party and the minority party.
However, if the
majority
and minority floor managers both support the conference
report
or motion, one-third of the debate time must be allotted
to
a Member who is opposed. If the House
does not agree to
a
conference report that the Senate has already agreed to, the
report
may not be recommitted to conference.
In that
situation,
the Senate conferees are discharged when the Senate
agrees
to the report. The House may then
request a new conference
with
the Senate and conferees must be reappointed.
If a conference report is called up
before the House
containing
matter which would be in violation of the rules of the
House
with respect to germaneness if the matter had been offered
as
an amendment in the House, and which is contained either (1)
in
the Senate bill or Senate amendment to the House measure
(including
a Senate amendment in the nature of a substitute for
the
text of that measure as passed by the House) and accepted by
the
House conferees or agreed to by the conference committee with
modification
or (2) in a substitute amendment agreed to by the
conference
committee, a point of order may be made at the
beginning
of consideration that nongermane matter is contained in
the
report. The point of order may also be
waived by special rule.
If
the point of order is sustained, a motion to reject the
nongermane
matter identified by the point of order is privileged.
The
motion is debatable for 40 minutes, one-half of the time in
favor
of, and one-half in opposition to,
the
motion. Notwithstanding the final
disposition of a point of
order
made with respect to the report, or of a motion to reject
nongermane
matter, further points of order may be made with
respect
to the report, and further motions may be made to reject
other
nongermane matter in the conference report not covered by
any
previous point of order which has been sustained. If a
motion
to reject has been adopted, after final disposition of all
points
of order and motions to reject, the conference report is
considered
rejected and the question then pending before the
House
is whether (1) to recede and concur with an amendment that
consists
of that portion of the conference report not rejected or
(2)
to insist on the House amendment. If
all motions to reject
are
defeated and the House thereby decides to permit the
inclusion
of the nongermane Senate matter in the conference
report,
then, after the allocation of time for debate on the
conference
report, it is in order to move the previous question
on
the adoption of the conference report.
Similar procedures are available in the
House when the
Senate
proposes an amendment to a measure that would be in
violation
of the rule against nongermane amendments, and
thereafter
it is (1) reported in disagreement by a committee of
conference
or (2) before the House and the stage of disagreement
is
reached.
The numbered amendments of the Senate
reported in
disagreement
may be voted on separately and may be
adopted
by a majority vote after the adoption of the conference
report
itself as though no conference had been had with respect
to
those amendments. The Senate may recede
from all amendments,
or
from certain of its amendments, insisting on the others with
or
without a request for a further conference with respect to
them. If the House does not accept the amendments
insisted on by
the
Senate, the entire conference process may begin again with
respect
to them. One House may also further
amend an amendment
of
the other House until the third degree stage of amendment
within
that House is reached.
CUSTODY
OF PAPERS
The custody of the original official
papers is important in
conference
procedure because either body may act on a conference
report
only when in possession of the papers.
The papers are
transmitted
to the body agreeing to the conference and from that
body
to the managers of the House that asked for the conference.
The
latter in turn carry the papers with them to the conference
and
at its conclusion turn them over to the managers of the House
that
agreed to the conference. The managers
of the House that
agreed
to the conference deliver them to their own House, that
acts
first on the report, and then delivers the papers to the
other
House for final action on the report.
However, if the
managers
on the part of the House agreeing to the conference
surrender
the papers to the House asking for the conference, the
report
may be acted on first by the House asking for the
conference.
At the conclusion of the conference, each
group of conferees
retains
one copy of the report that has been made in duplicate
and
signed by a majority of the managers of each body. The House
copy
is signed first by the House managers and the Senate copy is
signed
first by its managers.
A bill cannot become a law of the land
until it has been
approved
in identical form by both Houses of Congress.
When the
bill
has finally been approved by both Houses, all the original
papers
are transmitted to the enrolling clerk of the body in
which
the bill originated.
XVI.
BILL ORIGINATING IN SENATE
The preceding discussion has described
the legislative
process
for bills originating in the House.
When a bill
originates
in the Senate, this process is reversed.
When the
Senate
passes a bill that originated in the Senate, it is sent to
the
House for consideration unless it is held by unanimous
consent
to become a vehicle for a similar House bill, if and
when
passed by the House. The Senate bill is
referred to the
appropriate
House committee for consideration or held at the
Speaker's
table for possible amendment following action on a
companion
House bill. If the committee reports
the bill to the
full
House and if the bill is passed by the House without
amendment,
it is ready for enrollment. If the
House passes an
amended
version of the Senate bill, the bill is returned to the
Senate
for action on the House amendments. The
Senate may agree
to
the amendments or request a conference to resolve the
disagreement
over the House amendments or may futher amend the
House
amendments. In accordance with the
Constitution, the
Senate
cannot originate revenue measures. By
tradition, the
House
also originates general appropriations bills.
If
the
Senate does originate a revenue measure, either as a Senate
bill
or an amendment to a non-revenue House bill, it can be
returned
to the Senate by a vote of the House as an infringement
of
the constitutional prerogative of the House.
XVII.
ENROLLMENT
When the bill has been agreed to in
identical form by both
bodies-either
1) without amendment by the Senate, 2) by House
concurrence
in the Senate amendments, 3) by Senate concurrence
in
House amendments, or 4) by agreement in both
bodies
to the conference report-a copy of the bill is enrolled
for
presentation to the President.
The preparation of the enrolled bill is a
painstaking and
important
task because it must reflect precisely the effect of
all
amendments, either by way of deletion, substitution, or
addition,
agreed to by both bodies. The enrolling
clerk of the
House,
with respect to bills originating in the House, receives
the
original engrossed bill, the engrossed Senate amendments, the
signed
conference report, the several messages from the Senate,
and
a notation of the final action by the House, for the purpose
of
preparing the enrolled copy. From these
documents the
enrolling
clerk must meticulously prepare for presentation to
the
President the final form of the bill as it was agreed to
by
both Houses. On occasion, as many as
500 amendments have been
adopted,
each of which must be set out in the enrollment exactly
as
agreed to, and all punctuation must be in accord with the action
taken.
The enrolled bill is printed on parchment
paper and
certified
by the Clerk of the House stating that the bill
originated
in the House of Representatives. A bill
originating
in
the Senate is examined and certified by the Secretary of the
Senate. A House bill is then examined for accuracy
by the
Committee
on House Administration. When the
committee is
satisfied
with the accuracy of the bill, the chairman of the
committee
attaches a slip stating that it finds the bill truly
enrolled
and sends it to the Speaker of the House for signature.
All
bills, regardless of the body in which they originated, are
signed
first by the Speaker and then by the Vice President of the
United
States, who, under the Constitution, serves as the
President
of the Senate. The President pro
tempore of the Senate
may
also sign enrolled bills. The Speaker
of the House may sign
enrolled
bills whether or not the House is in session.
The
President
of the Senate may sign bills only while the Senate is
actually
sitting but advance permission is normally granted to
sign
during a recess or after adjournment.
If the Speaker or the
President
of the Senate is unable to sign the bill, it may be
signed
by an authorized Member of the respective House. After
both
signatures are affixed, a House bill is returned to the
Committee
on House Administration for presentation to the
President
for action under the Constitution. A
Senate bill is
presented
to the President by the Secretary of the Senate.
XVIII.
PRESIDENTIAL ACTION
Article I, Section 7, of the Constitution
provides in part
that-
Every Bill which shall have passed the
House of
Representatives
and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law,
be
presented to the President of the United States.
In actual practice, a clerk of the
Committee on House
Administration,
or the Secretary of the Senate when the bill
originated
in that body, delivers the original enrolled bill to a
clerk
at the White House and obtains a receipt.
The fact of the
delivery
is then reported to the House by the chairman of the
committee. Delivery to a White House clerk has
customarily been
regarded
as presentation to the President and as commencing the
10-day
constitutional period for presidential action.
Copies of the enrolled bill usually are
transmitted by the
White
House to the various departments interested in the subject
matter
so that they may advise the President on the issues
surrounding
the bill.
If the President approves the bill, he
signs it and usually
writes
the word "approved" and the date.
However, the
Constitution
requires only that the President sign it.
The bill may become law without the
President's signature by
virtue
of the constitutional provision that if the President does
not
return a bill with objections within 10 days (excluding
Sundays)
after it has been presented to the President, it become
law
as if the President had signed it.
However, if Congress by
their
adjournment prevent its return, it does not become law.
This
is known as a "pocket veto"; that is, the bill
does
not become law even though the President has not sent his
objections
to the Congress. The Congress has
interpreted the
President's
ability to pocket veto a bill to be limited to final
adjournment
"sine die" of a Congress where Congress has finally
prevented
return by the originating House and not to interim
adjournments
or first session adjournments where the originating
House
of Congress through its agents is able to receive a veto
message
for subsequent reconsideration by that Congress when it
reconvenes. The extent of pocket veto authority has not
been
definitively
decided by the courts.
Notice of the signing of a bill by the
President is sent by
message
to the House in which it originated and that House
informs
the other, although this action is not necessary for the
act
to be valid. The action is also noted
in the Congressional
Record.
A bill becomes law on the date of
approval or passage over
the
President's veto, unless it expressly provides a different
effective
date.
VETO
MESSAGE
By the terms of the Constitution, if the
President does not
approve
the bill "he shall return it, with his Objections to that
House
in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the
Objections
at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider
it." A bill returned with the President's
objections need not
be
voted on at once when laid before the House since the vetoed
bill
can be postponed, referred back to committee, or tabled
before
the question on passage is pending. A
vetoed bill is
always
privileged until directly voted upon, and a motion to take
it
from the table or from committee is in order at any time.
Once the relevant Member moves the
previous question on the
question
of override, the question is then put by the Speaker as
follows:
"Will the House on reconsideration agree to pass the
bill,
the objections of the President to the contrary
notwithstanding?." Under the Constitution, a vote by the yeas
and
nays is required to pass a bill over the President's veto.
The
Clerk activates the electronic system or calls the roll with
those
in favor of passing the bill answering "Aye," and those
opposed
"No." If fewer than
two-thirds of the Members present
vote
in the affirmative, a quorum being present, the bill is
rejected,
and a message is sent to the Senate advising that body
of
the House action. However, if
two-thirds vote in the
affirmative,
the bill is sent with the President's objections to
the
Senate, unless that body has acted first, together with a
message
advising it of the action in the House.
The procedure in the Senate is the same,
as a two-thirds
affirmative
vote is also necessary to pass the bill over the
President's
objections. If the Senate joins the
House and votes
two-thirds
in the affirmative to pass the bill, the measure
becomes
the law of the land notwithstanding the objections of the
President,
and it is ready for publication as a binding statute.
LINE
ITEM VETO
From 1997 until it was declared
unconstitutional in 1998,
the
Line Item Veto Act provided the President authority to cancel
certain
individual items contained in a bill or joint resolution
that
he had signed into law. The law allowed
the President to
cancel
only three types of fiscal items: a dollar amount of
discretionary
budget authority, an item of new direct spending,
and
a tax change benefiting a class of 100 or fewer. The
cancellations
had to be received by the House and Senate within
five
calendar days of the enactment of such a law and were
effective
unless disapproved. The President had
to submit a
single
message to both Houses containing all the cancellations
per
law. The Act also provided special
expedited procedures by
which
the House and Senate could consider a bill or joint
resolution
disapproving a President's cancellation.
Such a
"disapproval
bill" was subject to a majority vote in the House
and
Senate and was presented to the President for his signature
or
veto under the Constitution. If the
disapproval bill were
vetoed
by the President, the House and Senate could override the
veto
by a two-thirds vote in each House, in which case the
President's
cancellations would be null and void.
While the Act
has
not been repealed, the Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of
New
York, 118 S. Ct. 2091, (1998) struck down the Line Item Veto
Act
as unconstitutional.
XIX.
PUBLICATION
One of the important steps in the
enactment of a valid law
is
the requirement that it shall be made known to the people who
are
to be bound by it. There would be no
justice if the state
were
to hold its people responsible for their conduct before it
made
known to them the unlawfulness of such behavior. In
practice,
our laws are published immediately upon their enactment
so
that the public will be aware of them.
If the President approves a bill, or
allows it to become law
without
signing it, the original enrolled bill is sent from the
White
House to the Archivist of the United States for
publication. If a bill is passed by both Houses over the
objections
of the President, the body that last overrides the
veto
transmits it. It is then assigned a
public law number, and
paginated
for the Statutes at Large volume covering that session
of
Congress. The public and private law
numbers run in sequence
starting
anew at the beginning of each Congress and
are
prefixed for ready identification by the number of the
Congress. For example, the first public law of the
106th
Congress
is designated Public Law 106-1 and the first private law
of
the 106th Congress is designated Private Law 106-1.
Subsequent
laws of this Congress also will contain the same
prefix
designator.
SLIP
LAWS
The first official publication of the
statute is in the form
generally
known as the "slip law." In
this form, each law is
published
separately as an unbound pamphlet. The
heading
indicates
the public or private law number, the date of approval,
and
the bill number. The heading of a slip
law for a public law
also
indicates the United States Statutes at Large citation. If
the
statute has been passed over the veto of the President, or
has
become law without the President's signature because he did
not
return it with objections, an appropriate statement is
inserted
instead of the usual notation of approval.
The Office of the Federal Register,
National Archives and
Records
Administration, prepares the slip laws and provides
marginal
editorial notes giving the citations to laws mentioned
in
the text and other explanatory details.
The marginal notes
also
give the United States Code classifications, enabling the
reader
immediately to determine where the statute will appear in
the
Code. Each slip law also includes an
informative guide to
the
legislative history of the law consisting of the committee
report
number, the name of the committee in each House, as well
as
the date of consideration and passage in each House, with a
reference
to the Congressional Record by volume, year, and date.
A
reference to presidential statements relating to the approval
of
a bill or the veto of a bill when the veto was overridden and
the
bill becomes law is included in the legislative history as a
citation
to the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
Copies of the slip laws are delivered to
the document rooms
of
both Houses where they are available to officials and the
public. They may also be obtained by annual
subscription or
individual
purchase from the Government Printing Office and are
available
in electronic form for computer access.
Section 113 of
title
1 of the United States Code provides that slip laws are
competent
evidence in all the federal and state courts,
tribunals,
and public offices.
STATUTES
AT LARGE
The United States Statutes at Large,
prepared by the Office
of
the Federal Register, National Archives and Records
Administration,
provide a permanent collection of the laws of
each
session of Congress in bound volumes.
The latest volume
containing
the laws of the first session of the 105th Congress is
number
111 in the series. Each volume contains
a complete index
and
a table of contents. A legislative history appears at the
end
of each law. There are also extensive marginal notes referring
to
laws in earlier volumes and to earlier and later matters in the
same
volume.
Under the provisions of a statute
originally enacted in
1895,
these volumes are legal evidence of the laws contained in
them
and will be accepted as proof of those laws in any court in
the
United States.
The Statutes at Large are a chronological
arrangement of the
laws
exactly as they have been enacted. The
laws are not arranged
according
to subject matter and do not reflect the present status
of
an earlier law that has been amended.
The laws are organized
in
that manner in the code of laws.
UNITED
STATES CODE
The United States Code contains a
consolidation and
codification
of the general and permanent laws of the United
States
arranged according to subject matter under 50 title
headings,
in alphabetical order to a large degree.
It sets out
the
current status of the laws, as amended, without repeating all
the
language of the amendatory acts except where necessary.
The
Code is declared to be prima facie evidence of
those
laws. Its purpose is to present the
laws in a concise and
usable
form without requiring recourse to the many volumes of the
Statutes
at Large containing the individual amendments.
The Code is prepared by the Law Revision
Counsel of the
House
of Representatives. New editions are
published every six
years
and cumulative supplements are published after the
conclusion
of each regular session of the Congress.
The Code is
also
available in electronic form.
Twenty-three of the 50 titles have been
revised and enacted
into
positive law, and two have been eliminated by consolidation
with
other titles. Titles that have been
revised and enacted
into
positive law are legal evidence of the law and the courts
will
receive them as proof of those laws.
Eventually all the
titles
will be revised and enacted into positive law.
At that
point,
they will be updated by direct amendment.
APPENDIX
SELECT
LIST OF GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Constitution
of the United States of America:
Analysis and Interpretation, with
annotations of cases
decided
by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 29,
1992;
prepared by Congressional Research Service, Library of
Congress,
Johnny H. Killian, George A. Costello, co-editors:
Senate
Document 103-6 (1996).
House
Rules and Manual:
Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and
Rules of the House of
Representatives
of the United States, prepared by Charles W.
Johnson,
Parliamentarian of the House, House Document 105-538
(1999).
New editions are published each Congress.
Senate
Manual:
Containing the rules, orders, laws, and
resolutions
affecting
the business of the United States Senate; Jefferson's
Manual,
Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation,
Constitution
of the United States, etc., prepared under the
direction
of Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. New
editions
are published each Congress.
Hinds'
and Cannon's Precedents of the House of Representatives:
Including references to provisions of the
Constitution,
laws,
and decisions of the Senate, by Asher C. Hinds. Vols. 1-5
(1907).
Vols. 6-8 (1935), as compiled by Clarence
Cannon, are
supplementary
to vols. 1-5 and cover the 28-year period from 1907
to
1935, revised up to and including the 73d Congress.
Vols. 9-11 (1941) are index-digest to
vols. 1-8.
Deschler-Brown
Precedents of the United States House of
Representatives:
Including references to provisions of the
Constitution and
laws,
and to decisions of the courts, covering the period from
1928
to date, by Lewis Deschler, J.D., D.J., M.P.L., LL.D.,
Parliamentarian
of the House (1928-1974), Wm. Holmes Brown,
Parliamentarian
of the House (1974-1994).
Vols. 1-15 have been published,
additional volumes in
preparation.
Cannon's
Procedure in the House of Representatives:
By Clarence Cannon, A.M., LL.B., LL.D.,
Member of Congress,
sometime
Parliamentarian of the House, Speaker pro tempore,
Chairman
of the Committee of the Whole, Chairman of the Committee
on
Appropriations, etc.
House
Practice, A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures
of
the House:
By Wm. Holmes Brown, Parliamentarian of
the House
(1974-1994)
Procedure
in the U.S. House of Representatives, Fourth Edition
(1982)
(1987 Supp.):
By Lewis Deschler, J.D., D.J., M.P.L.,
LL.D.,
Parliamentarian
of the House (1928-1974), and Wm. Holmes Brown,
Parliamentarian
of the House (1974-1994).
Senate
Procedure:
By Floyd M. Riddick, Parliamentarian
Emeritus of the Senate,
Alan
S. Frumin, Parliamentarian of the Senate: Senate Document
No.
101-28 (1992).
Calendars
of the House of Representatives and History of
Legislation:
Published each day the House is in
session; prepared under
the
direction of the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Committee
Calendars:
Published periodically by most of the
standing committees of
the
House of Representatives and Senate, containing the history
of
bills and resolutions referred to the particular committee.
Digest
of Public General Bills and Resolutions:
A brief synopsis of public bills and
resolutions, and
changes
made therein during the legislative process; prepared by
American
Law Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of
Congress.
Congressional
Record:
Proceedings and debates of the House and
Senate, published
daily,
and bound with an index and history of bills and
resolutions
at the conclusion of each session of the Congress.
The
record of debates prior to 1874 was published in the Annals
of Congress (1789-1824), The Register of
Debates (1824-1837),
and
the Congressional Globe (1833-1873).
Journal
of the House of Representatives:
Official record of the proceedings of the
House, published
at
the conclusion of each session under the direction of the
Clerk
of the House.
Journal
of the United States Senate:
Official record of the proceedings of the
Senate, published
at
the conclusion of each session under
the direction of the
Secretary
of the Senate.
United
States Statutes at Large:
Containing the laws and concurrent
resolutions enacted, and
reorganization
plans and proclamations promulgated during each
session
of the Congress, published annually under the direction
of
the Archivist of the United States by the Office of the
Federal
Register, National Archives and Records Administration,
Washington,
D.C. 20408.
Supplemental volumes: Tables of Laws
Affected, Volumes 70-84
(1956-1970),
Volumes 85-89 (1971-1975), containing tables of
prior
laws amended, repealed, or patently affected by provisions
of
public laws enacted during that period.
Additional parts, containing treaties and
international
agreements
other than treaties, published
annually under the
direction
of the Secretary of State until 1950.
United
States Code:
The general and permanent laws of the
United States in force
on
the day preceding the commencement of the session following
the
last session the legislation of which is included: arranged
in
50 titles; prepared under the direction and supervision of the
Law
Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives. New
editions
are published every six years and cumulative supplements
are
published annually.
Federal
Register:
Presidential Proclamations, Executive
Orders, and federal
agency
orders, regulations, and notices, and general documents of
public
applicability and legal effect, published daily. The
regulations
therein amend the Code of Federal Regulations.
Published
by the Office of the Federal Register, National
Archives
and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. 20408.
Code
of Federal Regulations:
Cumulates in bound volumes the general
and permanent rules
and
regulations of Federal agencies published in the Federal
Register,
including Presidential documents. Each volume of the
Code
is revised at least once each calendar year and issued on a
quarterly
basis. Published by the Office of the Federal Register,
National
Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
20408.
Weekly
Compilation of Presidential Documents:
Containing statements, messages, and
other presidential
materials
released by the White House during the previous
week,
published every Monday by the Office of the Federal
Register,
National Archives and Records Administration,
Washington,
D.C. 20408.
History
of the United States House of Representatives:
Prepared by Congressional Research
Service, Library of
Congress,
House Document 103-324.
The
Senate, 1789-1989, Addresses on the History of the United
States
Senate, Vol. 1:
by Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate
Document No. 100-20
(1988).
Historical
Almanac of the United States Senate:
by Senator Bob Dole, Senate Document No.
100-35 (1989).
EARLIER
PRINTINGS
Document
and Number of copies printed
1953,
H. Doc. 210, 83d Cong. (H. Res. 251 by Mr. Reed) - 36,771
1953,
H. Doc. 210, 83d Cong. (H. Res. 251 by Mr. Reed) - 122,732
1955,
H. Doc. 210, 83d Cong. (H. Con. Res. 93 by Mr. Willis) -
167,728
1956,
H. Doc. 451, 84th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 251 by Mr. Willis) -
30,385
1956,
S. Doc. 152, 84th Cong. (S. Res. 293 by Senator Kennedy) -
182,358
1959,
H. Doc. 156, 86th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 95 by Mr. Lesinski) -
228,591
1961,
H. Doc. 136, 87th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 81 by Mr. Willis) -
211,797
1963,
H. Doc. 103, 88th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 108 by Mr. Willis) -
14,000
1965,
H. Doc. 103, 88th Cong. (S. Res. 9 by Senator Mansfield) -
196,414
1965,
H. Doc. 164, 89th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 165 by Mr. Willis) -
319,766
1967,
H. Doc. 125, 90th Cong. (H. Con. Res.
221 by Mr. Willis) -
324,821
1969,
H. Doc. 127, 91st Cong. (H. Con. Res. 192 by Mr. Celler) -
174,500
1971,
H. Doc. 144, 92d Cong. (H. Con. Res. 206 by Mr. Celler) -
292,000
1972,
H. Doc. 92-323, 92d Cong. (H. Con. Res. 530 by Mr. Celler)
-
292,500
1974,
H. Doc. 93-377, 93d Cong. (H. Con. Res. 201 by Mr. Rodino)
-
246,000
1976,
H. Doc. 94-509, 94th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 540 by Mr. Rodino)
-
282,400
1978,
H. Doc. 95-259, 95th Cong. (H. Con. Res.190 by Mr. Rodino)
-
298,000
1980,
H. Doc. 96-352, 96th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 95 by Mr. Rodino)
-
298,000
1981,
H. Doc. 97-120, 97th Cong. (H. Con. Res.106 by Mr. Rodino)
-
298,000
1985,
H. Doc. 99-158, 99th Cong. (H. Con. Res. 203 by Mr. Rodino)
-
298,000
1989,
H. Doc. 101-139, 101st Cong. (H. Con.
Res. 193 by Mr.
Brooks)
- 323,000
1997,
H. Doc. 105-14, 105th Cong. (S. Con. Res. 62 by Mr. Warner)
-
387,000