Enactment of a Law 

by Robert B. Dove, Parliamentarian, U.S. Senate 

Introduction 

The legislative branch of government has responsibilities which in many cases transcend 

the process of enactment of legislation. Among these are the Senate's power of advice 

and consent with regard to treaties and nominations. The preeminent role of the 

legislative branch, however, is its concern with legislation. 

"All legislative Powers" granted to the Federal government by the Constitution, as stated 

in Article I, Section I, are vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist 

of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Congress meets at least once a year and 

has been doing so since 1789 in the following locations: from March 4, 1789 through 

August 12, 1790, in Federal Hall, New York, New York; from December 6, 1790 through 

December 2, 1799, in Congress Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvani; and from November 17, 

1800, at the Capitol, in Washington, D. C. 

 

Since the Constitution prescribes that there be two Senators from each State, the Senate is 

presently composed of 100 Members. Also pursuant to the Constitution, a Senator must 

be at least 30 years of age, have been a citizen of the United States for 9 years, and, when 

elected, be a resident of the State for which the Senator is chosen. The term of office is 6 

years and approximately one-third of the total membership of the Senate is elected every 

second year. 

Continuing Procedures of the Senate 

The order of business in the Senate is simpler than that of the House. While the procedure 

of both bodies is basically founded on Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice, the 

practices of the two bodies are at considerable variance. The order and privileged status 

of motions and the amending procedure of the two are at less variance than their method 

of calling up business. The business of the Senate (bills and resolutions) is not divided 

into classes as a basis for their consideration, nor are there calendar days set aside each 

month in the Senate for the consideration of particular bills and resolutions. The nature of 

bills has no effect on the order or time of their initial consideration. 

 

The Senate, like the House, gives certain motions a privileged status over others and 

certain business, such as conference reports, command first or immediate consideration, 

under the theory that a bill which has reached the conference stage has been moved a 

long way toward enactment and should be privileged when compared with bills that have 

only been reported. 

 

At any time the Presiding Officer may lay, or a Senator may move to lay, before the 

Senate any bill or other matter sent to the Senate by the President or the House of 

Representatives, and any pending question or business at that time shall be suspended, 

but not displaced. Included in this category are veto messages, which constitute 
privileged business and which may be brought up at almost any time; however, a Senator 

cannot be deprived of his right to the floor for this purpose nor may certain business be 

interrupted, such as approving the Journal, while the Senate is dividing "or while a 

question of order or a motion to adjourn is pending." 

The Senate is a continuing body as contrasted with the House. Two-thirds of the Senators 

of an old Congress return to the subsequent new one without having to be re-elected, but 

all Representatives must stand for re-election every two years. Thus the manner and 

extent of organizing each new Senate have not been established under the influence of 

definite breaks between each Congress as has been the experience of the House, nor have 

the parliamentary rules of the Senate been equally subjected to alterations. 

Representatives re-adopt their old rules of procedure at the inception of each Congress, 

often with slight modification, while Senators have not given a general reaffirmation to 

their rules since 1789. The rules adopted by the Senate in the first Congresses have 

remained in force continuously, with the exceptions of particular additions or 

abolishments from time to time. Any such changes are made by amending the rules to 

meet new needs of the body. Changes have not been frequent, as demonstrated by the fact 

that a codification of the accumulated alterations has occurred on only a few different 

occasions. 

 

The continuity of sessions of the same Congress is provided for by the Senate rules: 

 

At the second or any subsequent session of a Congress, the legislative business of the 

Senate which remained undetermined at the close of the next preceding session of that 

Congress shall be resumed and proceeded with in the same manner as if no adjournment 

of the Senate had taken place. (Rule XVIII) 

In its rules and practices, the Senate always has emphasized the importance of 

maintaining decorum in its proceedings. "At no stage of the Senate's proceedings may a 

Senator "refer offensively to any State of the Union." "No Senator in debate shall, 

directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other 

Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator." "No Senator shall 

interrupt another in debate without his consent, and to obtain such consent he shall first 

address the Presiding Officer; and no Senator shall speak more than twice upon any one 

question in debate on the same day without leave of the Senate, which shall be 

determined without debate." "If any Senator, in speaking or otherwise, transgress the 

rules of the Senate, the Presiding officer shall, or any Senator may, call him to order; and 

when a Senator shall be called to order he shall sit down, and not proceed without leave 

of the Senate, which, if granted, shall be upon motion that he be allowed to proceed in 

order, which motion shall be determined without debate." 

Forms of Legislative Business 

All proposed legislation, and nearly all formal actions by either of the two Houses, take 

the form of a bill or resolution. 

A bill is a legislative proposal of a general nature. A bill may propose either a public or 

private matter, but both are numbered in the same sequence. Public bills are the most 
numerous. Private bills are designed to affect or benefit specific individuals or groups of 

individuals. Together, bills account for a large majority of the total of legislative 

proposals of each Congress. The Senate numbers bills in sequence starting with number 

1, and each number is preceded by the designation "S". House bills are similarly 

numbered and prefaced by "H.R." Thus, bill number 100 in the Senate is written S. 100, 

and in the House, H.R. 100. 

 

Joint resolutions, which have the same effect as bills unless they are used to propose 

amendments to the Constitution, are designated "S.J. Res. ___." Concurrent resolutions, 

which are designated "S. Con. Res. ___" for Senate concurrent resolutions, are chosen to 

express the sense of the Congress to the President or other parties; to attend to 

"housekeeping" matters affecting both Houses, such as the creation of a joint committee; 

or to carry proposals to correct the language of measures passed by one House (an 

engrossment) or both Houses (an enrollment). All concurrent resolutions, including 

corrective resolutions, must be agreed to in both the Senate and House. One House may 

seek to correct a measure it passed, or both Houses may wish to correct a measure 

awaiting the President's signature. 

 

The former may be accomplished merely by specifying what changes or additions are to 

be made and requesting the other House to make them, or requesting the return of the 

measure to the originating House for that purpose. Correction of measures already sent to 

the President, however, are made after agreement of both Houses to concurrent 

resolutions requesting return of the measures from the White House. Such resolutions 

include a resolve that if and when a measure is returned, the action of the Presiding 

Officers of the two Houses in signing the measure shall be deemed rescinded, and the 

Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House is authorized and directed in the reenrollment of the measure to make the necessary corrections. The corrected measure (bill 

or joint resolution) is then again signed by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the 

House, the Speaker, and the Vice President and again delivered to the White House. 

 

Finally there is the designation of "S. Res. ___" for Senate resolutions, which are used 

primarily to express the sense of the Senate only, or to take care of "housekeeping" 

matters, including changes in rules, that apply only to the Senate. 

 

When the question of agreement to, or formal acceptance of, a resolution is raised, 

concurrent and simple resolutions are agreed to or adopted, whereas bills and joint 

resolutions are passed. 

 

In the House of Representatives, measures have the following designations: "H.R. ___," 

for House bills; "H.J.Res. ___," for House joint resolutions; "H. Con. Res. ___," for 

House concurrent resolutions; and "H. Res. ___," for House resolutions. Bills and 

resolutions are numbered ad seriatim, in the chronological order in which they are 

introduced or submitted. 

 

Senate and House bills and joint resolutions, when passed by both Houses in identical 

form and approved by the President, become public or private law--public laws affect the 
Nation as a whole; private laws benefit only an individual or a class thereof. The 

procedure on each is identical, with the exception of joint resolutions proposing 

amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which under the Constitution must 

be passed in each House by a two-thirds vote of the Members present and voting, a 

quorum being present. They are not sent to the President for his approval but to the 

Administrator of the General Services Administration, who transmits them to the various 

States. Constitutional amendments are valid when ratified by at least three-fourths of the 

States. 

 

Concurrent resolutions have the force of both Houses and must be approved by them in 

identical form to be effective. However, they are not presented to the White House for the 

President's signature, because they do not become law. They are not signed by the 

President nor by the Speaker and the Vice President. Instead, they are attested by the 

Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House and transmitted after approval to the 

Administrator of the General Services Administration for publication in the Statutes at 

Large. 

A House or Senate resolution (H. Res. ___ or S. Res. ___) only has the force of the 

House passing it, and action by the one House is all that is necessary. 

Origins of Legislation 

Legislation originates in several ways. The Constitution provides that the President "shall 

from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and 

recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and 

expedient;..." 

The President fulfills this duty either by personally addressing a joint session of the two 

Houses or by sending messages in writing to Congress, or to either body thereof, which 

are received and referred to the appropriate committees. The President usually presents or 

submits his annual message on the state of the Union shortly after the beginning of a 

session. 

In addition, there are many executive communications sent to Congress. These are 

documents signed by the President or by an agency or department head, and filed or 

submitted as a report to the Senate as directed by law or otherwise. These items are 

numbered sequentially for a Congress and assigned a prefix EC. They are described only 

by a brief statement of the contents in the Congressional Record. 

The right of petition is guaranteed the citizens of the United States by the Constitution, 

and many individual petitions as well as memorials from State legislatures are sent to 

Congress. They are laid before the two Houses by their respective Presiding Officers or 

submitted by individual Members of the House and Senate in their respective bodies, and 

are usually referred to the appropriate committees of the House in which they were 

submitted. 

 
Bills to carry out the recommendations of the President are usually introduced "by 

request" by the chairmen of the various committees or subcommittees thereof which have 

jurisdiction of the subject matter. Sometimes the committees themselves may submit and 

report to the Senate "original bills" to carry out such recommendations. 

 

The ideas for legislative proposals may come from an individual Representative or 

Senator, from any of the executive departments of the Government, from private 

organized groups or associations, or from any individual citizen. However, they can be 

introduced in their respective Houses only by Senators and Representatives. When 

introduced, they are referred to the standing committees which have jurisdiction over the 

subject matter. 

 

Members frequently introduce bills that are similar in purpose, in which case the 

committee considering them may add to one of the bills the best features of the others for 

reporting to the parent body, or draft an entirely new bill (known as an original bill) and 

report it in lieu of the others. 

Beginning a Daily Session of the Senate 

Each day in the Senate begins as the Secretary of the Senate and the Presiding Officer for 

that day escort the Chaplain of the Senate or guest chaplain to the desk. The Chaplain is a 

clergyman chosen by the Senate, whose responsibility is to offer the prayer at the opening 

of each daily session, as well as to officiate at various ceremonies and respond to 

Senators' private needs. 

Calendar and Legislative Days 

As the Senate begins its new day, it is important to note that the Senate recognizes two 

meanings for the word "day," the "calendar" day and the "legislative" day. A calendar day 

is recognized as each 24 hour period. Reference may be made to a day certain, as in a 

unanimous consent request to vote on passage of a measure on August 4, 1989 (a 

specific, determined, or fixed day), or a day not yet determined, as in a unanimous 

consent request or rule requiring action "on either of the next two days of actual session." 

The references in these cases are to calendar days. A legislative day is the period of time 

following an adjournment of the Senate until another adjournment. A recess (rather than 

an adjournment) in no way affects a legislative day; therefore, one legislative day may 

consume a considerable period of time--days, weeks, even months--but one or more 

adjournments from one day to the next would cause the calendar and legislative day to 

coincide. 

 

As used in the Rules of the Senate, a day generally is recognized as a legislative day 

unless specified as a calendar day. There is, for example, the proviso that "no Senator 

shall speak more than twice upon any one question in debate on the same legislative 

day..." in Rule XIX. However, Rule V, disallowing motions "to suspend, modify or 

amend any rule..., except on one day's notice in writing...," although not specifying the 

type of day, is interpreted as meaning one calendar day. 
Morning Hour and Morning Business 

The Senate Majority Leader by unanimous consent customarily provides for a brief 

period of time (usually 10 minutes each) at the beginning of each daily session for 

himself and the Minority Leader to be used at their discretion for observations on current 

events or pending legislation, submission and agreement of various legislative matters, 

etc. They may yield all or part of their time to their Senators for sundry purposes. It is 

with these orders that the day of the Senate begins. 

 

During the morning hour of each legislative day, Rule VII of the Senate provides that, 

after the Journal is read, the Presiding Officer lay before the Senate messages, reports, 

and communications of various types. 

 

Measures or matters are transmitted between the two Houses, as are written messages 

from one House to the other pertaining to the passage of measures or other conduct of 

official business requiring concurrence or notification. The President of the United States 

transmits written messages to the Congress, which are brought to the Chamber and 

announced to the Senate by a messenger from the White House. Such messages are 

numbered sequentially for a Congress and assigned a prefix PM. They are printed in full 

in the Congressional Record. Messages from the President may be received at any stage 

of Senate proceedings, except during votes or quorum calls, while the Journal is being 

read, or while a question of order or a motion to adjourn is pending. 

 

The Presiding Officer then calls for the "presentation of petitions and memorials." These 

are documents memorializing the Government to do or not to do something. Memorials 

and petitions when laid before the Senate are numbered and assigned a prefix POM, and 

all memorials and petitions from State, Territorial, and insular possession legislatures or 

conventions, lawfully called, are printed in full in the Record when presented. Those 

received from other memorialists or petitioners are described only by a brief statement of 

the contents. 

 

Next the Presiding Officer calls for the filing of reports of committees, the introduction of 

bills and joint resolutions, and the submission of other resolutions. Under recent 

practices, however, nearly all bills, resolutions, and committee reports are presented by 

Senators to the clerks at the Presiding Officer's desk for processing throughout the day, 

and without any comments from the floor. 

Presenting Measures 

The Majority Leader customarily secures unanimous consent at the beginning of each 

new Congress to allow receipt at the desk of all measures on days when morning business 

is conducted. Such permission allows Senators to bring measures to the desk at any time 

during the day, instead of following the procedure as set forth in Rule VII, requiring 

introduction of bills and joint resolutions only on a new legislative day during the 

transaction of morning business, followed by submission of other resolutions. 

 
Bills and resolutions still may be introduced from the floor, however, and any Senator, 

when doing so, usually discusses his proposal when he presents it. There can be only one 

prime sponsor of a bill or resolution, but commonly other Senators are included as cosponsors. 

 

The Senate's rules make no mention of multiple sponsorship, which has been a common 

practice for many years. Though custom permits unlimited numbers of Senators to 

sponsor a wide assortment of measures, it prohibits more than one Member's name to 

appear on a reported bill or resolution and the printed report accompanying it. Cosponsors are often shown on measures as introduced, but other names may be added, by 

unanimous consent, at their next printing. Since its inception, the advisability of multiple 

sponsorship has been questioned by many Senators, and others have submitted 

resolutions to abolish the practice. The Committee on Rules and Administration has held 

hearings and favorably reported measures to amend the Rules to prohibit joint 

sponsorship, except under limited conditions, but to date, the full Senate has not voted its 

approval or disapproval. A former practice of holding measures at the desk for days, to 

permit the addition of names, has often met considerable opposition and was 

discontinued in the 1960s. 

 

Measures can be submitted with the phrase "by request", a term found following the 

names of the sponsors of bills and resolutions that are introduced or submitted at the 

request of the Administration or private organizations or individuals. Such proposals, 

though introduced as a courtesy, are not necessarily favored by the Senators sponsoring 

them. Drafts of proposed legislation from the President or an executive agency are 

usually introduced by the chairman of the committee of jurisdiction, who may be of the 

opposition party. 

Motions, Quorums, and Votes 

Motions 

The motions which "shall be received" under Rule XXII when "a question is pending" 

"and which shall have precedence as they stand arranged" are: 

 

To adjourn. 

 

To adjourn to a day certain, or that when the Senate adjourn it shall be to a day certain. 

 

To take a recess. 

 

To proceed to the consideration of executive business. 

 

To lay on the table. 

 

To postpone indefinitely. 

To postpone to a day certain. 
 

To commit. 

 

To amend. 

 

All but the last four of these motions are not debatable. 

 

The motion to adjourn should be distinguished from a resolution to adjourn both houses 

of Congress. Neither is debatable. The Senate may adjourn for as long a period of time as 

it sees fit, up to the Constitutional limitation of three days, without the consent of the 

other House, or it may adjourn for only a few minutes and reconvene on a new legislative 

day in the same calendar day. 

 

The motion to lay on the table is a simple way of taking final action on pending business 

on which the Senate wishes to take a negative position. It is applicable to a bill and 

amendments thereto as well as to certain motions. An amendment can be laid on the table 

without prejudice to the bill to which it was offered, but an amendment to the amendment 

would also go to the table. Since the motion is not debatable, the question can be brought 

to a vote in a hurry. The motion is used generally to reach a final disposition on motions 

to reconsider or appeals from the decision of the chair. While the motion is applicable to 

pending business, it is not commonly used for the disposition of legislation--bills are 

generally either voted up or down. The preamble to a bill or resolution may be laid on the 

table without carrying the bill or resolution with it. 

The motion to postpone indefinitely is the next in order, but it is rarely used to dispose of 

bills except in the case of companion bills, i.e., the Senate passes a House-passed bill and 

indefinitely postpones a companion Senate bill which has been reported and placed on 

the calendar. It is a way of effecting a final disposition of a measure. The motion to 

postpone to a day certain is also used by the Senate. These motions are debatable and 

amendable and take precedence over a motion to refer or commit. A motion to take up 

another bill while unfinished business is pending has precedence over a motion to 

postpone the unfinished business to a day certain. 

 

A motion to recommit a bill to committee with instructions to report the bill back 

forthwith with an amendment, if agreed to, requires that the committee report the bill 

back to the Senate immediately with that proposed amendment which is then before the 

Senate for consideration. 

 

The last of this series of motions which shall be received under Rule XXII, "when a 

question is pending," and in the order listed above, is "to amend." Any bill, or 

amendment thereto, before the Senate is open to amendment. 

Quorums 

"If, at any time during the daily sessions of the Senate, a question shall be raised by any 

Senator as to the presence of a quorum, the Presiding Officer shall forthwith direct the 

Secretary to call the roll and shall announce the result, and these proceedings shall be 
without debate." "Whenever upon such roll call it shall be ascertained that a quorum is 

not present, a majority of the Senators present may direct the Sergeant at Arms to request, 

and, when necessary, to compel the attendance of the absent Senators, which order shall 

be determined without debate; and pending its execution, and until a quorum shall be 

present, no debate nor motion, except to adjourn, shall be in order." 

The Senate proceeds under the assumption that a quorum is present unless the question is 

raised; in that case, the bells are rung to inform the "absentee" Senators and the Presiding 

Officer directs a call of the roll. All decisions incident thereto are made without debate, 

and if a quorum is not present by the time the results from the roll call are announced, a 

majority of the Senators present may direct the Sergeant at Arms to request or compel the 

attendance of the absent Senators. Senators may be forced to attend, unless granted a 

"leave of absence" or by authority of the Senate, even if a quorum is present. Senators 

who do not reach the chamber when the roll is being called in time to answer to their 

names may gain recognition after the call and have their presence or vote recorded, 

provided the results have not been announced. 

 

Under the practice of the Senate, anyone, once recognized, can request a quorum call, but 

a Senator who has the floor cannot be forced to yield to another for that purpose. The 

chair is not permitted to count in order to ascertain the presence of a quorum; it must be 

determined by roll call. 

 

There is no limit to the number of requests for quorum calls that may be made during the 

course of a day; a request is generally held dilatory if no business has transpired since the 

last one, and it is not in order immediately after a roll call vote showing that a quorum is 

present. The reception of a message from the House has not been ruled as the transaction 

of business sufficient to justify a quorum call. The following have been ruled to be 

business: the ordering of engrossment and third reading of a joint resolution, presentation 

and reference of a communication, granting of permission to insert an article in the 

Record, objection to a bill under call of the calendar under Rule VIII, the making of a 

motion or ordering of the yeas and nays, voting on motions to recess, adjourn, and lay on 

table and on an appeal from the decision of the chair, the offering of an amendment, 

agreeing to a motion for an executive session, and submitting a report out of order. 

 

A motion may be made to request attendance of those absent, and instructions to compel 

their attendance may be added. Such a motion is not debatable. A quorum call on various 

occasions has been withdrawn by unanimous consent while the roll was being called; but 

when an announcement of no quorum has been made, it is not in order to vacate the call 

even by unanimous consent. In the absence of a quorum, neither debate nor the 

transaction of business, including motions (except the motion to adjourn), is in order; it is 

not even in order to move to recess. 

Voting 

Rule XII, relating to voting, provides: 

 
1. When the yeas and nays are ordered, the names of Senators shall be called 

alphabetically; and each Senator shall, without debate, declare his assent or dissent to the 

question, unless excused by the Senate, and no Senator shall be permitted to vote after the 

decision shall have been announced by the Presiding Officer, but may for sufficient 

reasons, with unanimous consent, change or withdraw his vote. No motion to suspend 

this rule shall be in order, nor shall the Presiding Officer entertain any request to suspend 

it by unanimous consent. 

 

2. When a Senator declines to vote on call of his name, he shall be required to assign his 

reasons therefor, and having assigned them, the Presiding Officer shall submit the 

question to the Senate: "Shall the Senator, for the reasons assigned by him, be excused 

from voting?" which shall be decided without debate; and these proceedings shall be had 

after the roll call and before the result is announced; and any further proceedings in 

reference thereto shall be after such announcement. 

 

Any one of the several methods of voting utilized by the Senate may be resorted to for 

final disposition of any amendment or bill or question. The methods are: voice vote, 

division, and yea and nay. The yeas and nays may be ordered when the request is 

seconded by 1/5 of a presumptive quorum, but frequently the Presiding Officer does not 

bother to count; he merely takes a glance at the "showing" of hands and orders the call; 

simultaneously the bells ring in both the Senate wing of the Capitol and the Senate office 

buildings. The names of the Senators are called in their alphabetical order. Voting and 

changes of votes are in order until the decision has been announced by the chair. 

 

A Senator can change his vote at any time before the result is announced. In the case of a 

veto, a yea and nay vote is required by the Constitution. Otherwise, the Senators may 

utilize any of the methods. After the result of a vote has been announced, a request for a 

division or yea and nay vote comes too late; the announcement that the "ayes (or nays) 

seem to have it" is not a final result. The yeas and nays may be demanded prior to 

announcement of the results of a division vote. 

Where less than a quorum votes and the number of pairs announced are not sufficient to 

make a quorum, it is the duty of the chair to order a quorum call; the vote is valid if a 

quorum was present, even if a quorum did not vote, provided that a number of those not 

voting, sufficient to make a quorum, announced they were present but paired. 

"Pairing" is the practice that has been developed in both houses to enable Representatives 

and Senators to register their opinion on any particular issue or issues when they are 

unavoidably absent from the chamber on public or private business. By the use of "pairs" 

a Senator (or Representative) favoring a particular issue, and who is absent when a rollcall vote is taken on it, may make his opinion effective by contracting (pairing) with a 

colleague opposing the issue that neither of the Senators will vote. "Pairs" are not 

counted as yeas or nays in the official tabulation of the roll call for the purpose of 

determining the adoption or rejection of the issue being voted on. 

 
After all amendments to an original amendment to a bill have been disposed of, the 

question recurs on the adoption of the amendment as amended, if amended. After all 

amendments to a bill have been acted on, the question recurs on third reading and passage 

of the bill. After the Senate acts on an amendment or on a bill, or almost any question on 

which the Senate has voted, any Senator voting on the side that prevailed may offer a 

motion to reconsider the vote by which that action was taken. A Senator voting in the 

minority cannot move to reconsider a yea and nay vote; if he did not vote he may. 

Senate Officials on the Floor 

Various officials are present on the floor of the Senate when it convenes, including the 

Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the 

Senate, the Sergeant at Arms, the Legislative Clerk, the Journal Clerk, the 

Parliamentarian of the Senate, the Secretaries for the Majority and the Minority, the 

Official Reporters of Debate, and the Pages. 

The Secretary of the Senate is the elected official of the Senate responsible for 

management of many legislative and administrative services. The Secretary is the 

disbursing officer for the Senate. The official seal of the Senate is in the custody of, and 

its use is prescribed by, the Secretary. In the absence of the Vice President, and pending 

the election of a President pro tempore, the Secretary performs the duties of the chair. 

The Assistant Secretary is the chief assistant to the Secretary of the Senate. The 

Assistant Secretary performs the functions of the Secretary in the latter's absence, and in 

the event of the death or resignation of the Secretary would act as Secretary in all matters 

except those duties as disbursing officer of the Senate. 

 

On the day after the first organization of the Senate, a Doorkeeper was chosen whose title 

was eventually changed to Sergeant at Arms. His duties are to execute the Senate's 

orders as to decorum on the floor and in the galleries. He is responsible for the 

enforcement of all rules made for the regulation of the Senate wing of the Capitol. He 

also is the custodian of all properties under the dominion of the Senate and supervises the 

messengers, pages and other workers who serve the Senate. If the Senate decides to issue 

warrants of arrest for its absent Members, it is the duty of the Sergeant of Arms to bring 

those Senators into custody. 

 

Article 1, section 5, paragraph 3 of the Constitution provides that "Each House shall keep 

a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts 

as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of 

either House and any question shall, at the Desire of one-fifth of those Present be entered 

on the Journal." The Journal Clerk is charged with maintaining the Senate Journal under 

the direction of the Secretary of the Senate. 

 

The Legislative Clerk is responsible for reporting all bills, messages from the House, 

conference reports, and amendments to the Senate. All record votes are taken by the 

Legislative Clerk and his assistants. 
An appointed official of the Senate, the Parliamentarian functions under the direction of 

the Secretary of the Senate. The Parliamentarian's chief duty and responsibility is to 

advise the Presiding Officer on parliamentary aspects of Senate activity. The 

Parliamentarian advises Senators and senatorial committee staffs, and is called upon by 

other branches of Government, the press, and the public for information regarding 

procedural aspects of Senate activity. 

 

The Official Reporters of Debates prepare the material concerning business of the 

Senate for inclusion in the Congressional Record. All proceedings in the Senate Chamber 

are reported verbatim by a staff of Official Reporters, who are under the supervision of 

the Editor in Chief. The Editor in Chief is the editor of all matter contained in the Senate 

proceedings. In addition to the verbatim proceedings in the Senate Chamber, the office of 

the Official Reporters processes for inclusion in the Congressional Record a description 

of the morning business conducted by the Senate (measures introduced, messages from 

the President and the House of Representatives, co-sponsors, communications received, 

and notices of hearings), and additional or unspoken statements of Senators. The Official 

Reporters of Debates are appointed by the Secretary of the Senate. 

 

The Secretary for the Majority is an elected officer of the Senate who is responsible for 

providing many support services to the majority party leaders and members of the Senate. 

The floor-related duties of the Secretary include supervising the cloakroom, briefing 

Senators on votes and issues that are under consideration on the floor, obtaining pairs for 

Senators, and polling Senators when the Leadership so desires. Additionally, the 

Secretary is responsible for assigning Senate Chamber seats to the majority party 

Members; maintaining a file of committee assignment requests; staffing the committee 

which arranges majority party committee assignments; recommending to the Leadership 

majority party candidates for appointment to boards, commissions, and international 

conferences; maintaining records of such appointments; providing a repository for 

official minutes of majority party conferences and meetings of the Policy Committee, 

Steering Committee, and committee chairmen; monitoring the nominations on the 

Executive Calendar; and other duties as directed by the Leadership. 

 

The Secretary for the Minority also is an elected officer of the Senate, and performs 

corresponding duties for the minority party leaders and other Senators. 

 

The Republican Legislative Scheduling Office provides floor assistance to Republican 

Senators. The staff serves as a liaison between Republican Senators and the Republican 

leadership in dealing with Senators' legislative interests, unanimous consent requests, 

time agreements, and the scheduling of the Senate's proceedings. When the Republicans 

are in the majority, the Republican Legislative Scheduling Office also schedules 

Republican Senators to preside over the Senate. 

 

Floor assistance for Democratic Senators is provided by the staff of the Democratic 

Policy Committee. This staff is available to provide information regarding the 

scheduling of legislation and to act as liaison between the legislative committees and the 

Democratic leadership. Assistance is given in the arrangement of unanimous consent 
requests on time agreements, amendments, and procedural issues on legislation being 

debated by the Senate. In addition, the staff provides advice on general parliamentary 

situations. 

 

The Democratic Policy Committee provides other services to Democratic Senators, 

including detailed voting records for each Democratic Senator, an annual report on the 

major achievements of the session; an extensive index of record votes on legislation, both 

chronologically and by subject matter, and briefings on major bills and amendments. 

 

Its counterpart, the Senate Republican Policy Committee, provides similar services for 

Republican Senators: maintenance of a research library; publication of legislative notices 

summarizing bills and resolutions on the Senate Calendar and proposed amendments 

thereto; publication of detailed analysis of all Senate record votes plus indexes, annual 

abstracts, and lists of voice votes; publication of the weekly Republican Counsel's 

Report; publication of policy papers on major issues; development of Republican 

legislative initiatives; research, legislative analysis, and speech writing for Republican 

Senators upon request; personnel placement and counselling; briefing officials from State 

and local governments on national issues; assisting new Senators with staff orientation; 

producing the information on the special television channel containing in-house updates 

on the Senate schedule; and assistance to the party leader in preparation of the End-ofYear Report. 

 

Senate pages, male and female, when appointed, must be juniors in high school. They 

may not be appointed or serve after attaining the age of 17, except that if they are serving 

and enrolled in the Page School, they may continue their service through the session of 

the Senate in which the Page School terminates. 

Riding Page Service is provided by a separate service, through the Senate Post Office, 

several times a day for delivery of Senators' letters to major Federal agencies in the 

District of Columbia only. 

Senate Committee Consideration 

Senate committees are appointed by resolution at the beginning of each Congress, with 

power to continue and act until their successors are appointed. All Senate committees are 

created by the Senate. At present, Senate committees include 16 standing committees, 3 

select committees, and 1 special committee. Standing committees are charged to report 

by bill or otherwise on matters within a defined jurisdiction and generally to study and 

review, on a comprehensive basis, certain matters relating thereto. Select and special 

committees have varying powers and obligations, and increasingly have been given 

legislative jurisdiction. In current practice, the committee chairman is a member of the 

majority party. He or she is chosen by order of the Senate, and is usually, but not always, 

the senior Member in point of service of the majority Members of the committee. 

 

Senate Members may also serve, along with House Members, on joint committees, whose 

duties and responsibilities are set forth in the respective resolutions or laws creating them. 

There are currently 4 joint committees of the Congress. Conference committees, 
appointed when there is disagreement to a measure after passage by both Houses, are 

composed of Members of both the Senate and House, like joint committees, but votes in a 

conference committee are not as a body, but as two delegations. 

Committee Rules 

Rule XXVI on committee procedure provides that each committee shall adopt rules (not 

inconsistent with the Standing Rules of the Senate) governing the procedure of such 

committee. It provides also that the rules of each committee shall be published in the 

Congressional Record not later than March 1 of each year, except that if any such 

committee is established on or after February 1 of a year, the rules of that committee 

during the year of establishment shall be published in the Record within 60 days. An 

amendment to a committee's rules shall be published in the Record not later than 30 days 

after the adoption of the amendment. 

Committees as a rule have regular meeting days, but they may meet at the call of their 

chairmen or upon the request of a majority at other times. At these meetings matters on 

the committee calendar are usually the order of business, but any matter within the 

committee's jurisdiction may be considered--for example, an investigation of an agency 

of the Government over which the committee has jurisdiction, or a hearing at which an 

official discusses policies and operations of his agency. 

 

Once a bill has been introduced and has been referred by the Presiding Officer with the 

advice of the Parliamentarian, the clerk of the committee enters it upon the committee's 

Calendar of Business. Any committee may refer its pending bills to its subcommittees for 

study and reports thereon. Most of the committees have standing subcommittees, and 

frequently ad hoc subcommittees are appointed to study and report on particular pieces of 

legislation or to make a study of a certain subject. 

 

Committees or subcommittees generally hold hearings on all major or controversial 

legislation before drafting the proposal into a final form for reporting to the Senate. The 

length of hearings and the number of witnesses testifying vary, depending upon the time 

available, the number of witnesses wanting to be heard, the desires of the committee to 

hear witnesses, etc. Recommendations of the Administration, in conjunction with the 

Office of Management and Budget, are sought by the committees on nearly all major 

legislation, but they are in no way obligated to accept such recommendations. 

 

For example, the Department of Agriculture's Office of Governmental and Public Affairs, 

providing liaison between the department and the Congress, would be addressed on a bill 

relating to inspection of livestock, meat, and agricultural products, and the Office of 

Congressional Affairs of the General Services Administration would be asked to 

comment on proposed legislation affecting small business, disadvantaged business, and 

related subcontracting programs. The responses are often used in support of or against 

matters pending before the Senate by being quoted on the floor or being inserted in the 

Record by Senators during debate. 

 
A subcommittee makes reports to its full committee, and the latter may adopt such 

reports without change, amend them in any way it desires, reject them, or adopt an 

entirely different report. 

 

At a committee's "mark up" session, usually held just prior to reporting a bill or 

resolution back to the full Senate, the committee makes its final decisions about the 

content and form of the measure. The full committee then may report it to the Senate 

favorably with or without amendments, submit an adverse report thereon, or vote not to 

report on anything. 

 

The measure can be reported with committee amendments which may (a) insert, (b) 

strike, (c) strike part of the bill and insert other language, or (d) strike the entire text and 

insert a complete substitute, thereby rejecting in toto the language of the measure as it 

was referred to, considered by, and reported by the Senate committee. The desired 

changes in the measure are indicated in the reprinted measure by use of italic type for 

additions and line-type for strike-outs, in contrast to the original introduced form of the 

measure which is printed in roman type. 

Included may be additions, corrections, or modifications to the preamble of a resolution--

the part(s) of a measure prefaced by the word "Whereas," which precedes the resolving 

clause. These are voted on after passage or adoption of the measure. Such clauses, which 

are introductory statements declaring the reasons for and the intent of the legislation, if 

amended, would reflect changes or modifications contained in the text of the measure. 

Also, the title may be amended. 

Committees need not act on all bills referred to them. Under the Senate's rules, a Senator 

may enter a motion to discharge a committee from the further consideration of any bill, 

but this is rarely done. By unanimous consent, some bills are discharged from one 

committee and sent to another. If a motion to discharge is agreed to, the bill is thereby 

taken out of the jurisdiction of that committee and placed on the Senate Calendar of 

Business. It may subsequently be referred to another committee. 

Committee Reports 

The chairman, or some other member of the committee designated for that purpose, 

reports bills to the Senate, and when reported they are placed on the Senate Calendar of 

Business, unless unanimous consent is given for immediate consideration. 

 

The action taken by the committee appears on the copy of the bill reported, and a written 

report, which is numbered ad seriatim, nearly always accompanies the bill. The reports, 

like the bills, are printed by the Government Printing Office for distribution. 

 

A reported bill passes through the same channels in the Secretary's Office as an 

introduced bill, for notation of the proper entries in the Senate's official records. The bill 

also is reprinted, showing the calendar and report numbers, the name of the Senator 

reporting it, the date, and whether the committee ordered it reported with or without 

amendment. Committee members may write their own minority, supplemental, and/or 
additional views on the bill, and these statements are printed as a part of the committee 

report on the measure. 

Considering Measures on the Senate Floor 

The Senate's Majority and Minority Leaders, as the spokesmen for their parties, and in 

consultation with their respective policy committees, implement and direct the legislative 

schedule and program. 

 

Most measures are passed either on the call of the Calendar or by unanimous consent 

procedure. The more significant and controversial matters are considered, when possible, 

under unanimous consent agreements limiting debate and controlling time on the 

measure, amendments thereto, and debatable motions relating to it. This is done because 

otherwise debate is unlimited. Measures may be brought up on motion by a simple 

majority vote if they have been on the Calendar one legislative day. Such a motion to 

proceed is usually made by the Majority Leader or his designee and is usually debatable. 

The motion to proceed to the consideration of a measure on the Calendar is usually only 

made if there has been objection to a unanimous consent request to proceed to its 

consideration. 

 

On highly controversial matters, the Senate frequently has to resort to cloture to work its 

will. Under Rule XXII, if three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn (60 if the 

Senate is at full membership of 100) vote in the affirmative, further debate on the 

question shall be limited to no more than one hour for each Senator, and the time for 

consideration of the matter shall be limited to 30 additional hours, unless increased by 

another three-fifths vote. On a measure or motion to amend the Senate Rules, it takes 

two-thirds of the Senators present and voting, a quorum being present, to invoke cloture. 

 

Under Rule VIII, which governs the consideration of bills on the call of the Senate 

Calendar, there is supposed to be a Calendar call each day at the end of the morning 

business. Under current practice, however, this very rarely occurs; instead, the Calendar 

is usually called, if at all, pursuant to a unanimous consent order. Rule VII makes a call 

of the Calendar mandatory on Monday if the Senate had adjourned after its prior sitting. 

This requirement may only be waived by unanimous consent, and it has become the 

regular practice of the leadership to request that the requirement be waived. 

The Amendment Process 

Once a bill or resolution is before the Senate, it is subject to the amendatory process, both 

by the committee reporting it and by individual Senators offering amendments from the 

floor. A committee amendment reported as a total substitute (striking all after the 

enacting clause and inserting new language for the entire bill) for the pending measure is 

always voted on last, inasmuch as once a total substitute is agreed to, further amendments 

are precluded. With this exception, however, committee amendments take priority and 

are considered in order as they appear in the printed copy of the measure before the 

Senate. The only amendments from the floor in order during the consideration of these 
committee amendments are amendments to the committee amendments or sometimes to 

the part of the bill the committee amendments would affect. 

 

Once the committee amendments have been disposed of, however, any Senator may 

propose amendments to any part of the bill not already amended, and while an 

amendment is pending, an amendment to the amendment is in order. By precedent, an 

amendment to an amendment to an amendment, being an amendment in the third degree, 

is not in order. However, the first amendment in the nature of a substitute for a bill, 

whether reported by a committee or offered by an individual Senator, is considered an 

original question and is amendable in two more degrees. 

 

There are certain special procedures in the Senate which limit the amendatory process. 

For example, during the consideration of general appropriation bills, amendments are 

subject to the strictures of Rule XVI under which it is not in order to offer non-germane 

amendments or amendments proposing new or general legislation or increasing the 

amount of an appropriation if that increase has not been previously authorized or 

estimated for in the President's budget. Likewise, when operating under a general 

unanimous consent agreement in the usual form on a bill or resolution, amendments must 

be germane. Germaneness of amendments is also required once the Senate has invoked 

cloture; in addition, any amendments considered under cloture must have been submitted 

in writing before the Senate's vote on cloture. 

Final Passage 

When all committee amendments and all Senators' floor amendments have been disposed 

of, the bill is ordered engrossed and read a third time, which step ends the amendatory 

process. The third reading is by title only. The question is then put upon passage of the 

bill, which requires a simple majority vote. If a resolution has a preamble, it may be 

agreed to, amended, or stricken out after the resolution has been adopted. The title to a 

bill is also acted upon after its passage; the title may be amended if amendments made to 

the bill necessitate such a change. At any time before its passage, a bill may be laid on the 

table or postponed indefinitely, either of which motions has the effect of killing the bill; 

Alternatively, a bill may be made a special order for a day certain, which requires a twothirds vote; laid aside temporarily; recommitted to the committee which reported the bill; 

referred to a different committee; or displaced by taking up another bill by a majority 

vote. 

 

Most bills are passed by a voice vote only, but where a doubt is raised in such a case, the 

Presiding Officer, or any Senator, before the result is announced, may request a division 

of the Senate to determine the question. Before the result of a voice or division vote has 

been announced, a roll-call vote may be had upon the demand of one-fifth of the Senators 

present, but at least 11--one fifth of the presumptive quorum of 51. 

 

In the case of a yea-and-nay vote, any Senator who voted with the prevailing side or who 

did not vote may, on the same calendar day or on either of the next two days the Senate is 

actually in session, make a motion to reconsider the question. On a voice vote or division 

vote, however, any Senator may make the motion. If made before other business 
intervenes, it may be proceeded with and is debatable. It may be laid on the table without 

prejudice to the main question and is a final disposition of the motion. A majority vote 

determines questions of reconsideration. If the motion is agreed to, another vote may be 

taken on the question reconsidered; if disagreed to, the first decision of the Senate is 

affirmed. The making of such a motion is privileged but may not be made while another 

matter is pending before the Senate. 

 

Only one motion to reconsider the same question is in order. Such a motion, under rule 

XXI, may be withdrawn by the mover by leave of the Senate, which may be granted by a 

majority vote or by unanimous consent. A bill cannot be transmitted to the House of 

Representatives while a motion to reconsider remains unacted upon. 

Engrossment and Transmittal to the House 

The printed bill used at the desk by the Senate during its consideration is the official desk 

copy, showing the amendments adopted, if any. Once it is endorsed as having passed, it is 

sent to the Secretary's Office and delivered to the Bill Clerk. After making the proper 

entries on his records and the data retrieval system, the Bill Clerk turns it over to the 

Enrolling Clerk who makes an appropriate entry on his records and sends it to the 

Government Printing Office to be printed on special white paper in the form in which it 

passed the Senate. This printed Act is attested by the Secretary as having passed the 

Senate as of the proper date, and is termed the official engrossed bill. 

 

After the passage of a bill by one body, it technically becomes an Act (not yet effective as 

a law), but it nevertheless continues to generally referred to as a bill. 

 

Engrossed bills are transmitted, or "messaged", to the House of Representatives by one of 

the clerks in the Secretary's Office, who is announced by one of the House's officials. 

Upon being recognized by the Speaker, the clerk announces that the Senate has passed a 

bill (giving its number and title) in which the concurrence of the House is requested. 

 

Upon receipt of such a message from the Senate, the Speaker refers the measures 

contained therein to appropriate committees. If, however, a substantially similar House 

bill already has been favorably reported by a committee, the Senate bill, unless it creates 

a charge upon the Treasury, may remain on the Speaker's table instead of being referred 

to committee. It may subsequently be taken up or its text may be substituted for that of 

the House bill when consideration of the latter occurs. 

House Committee Consideration 

Senate bills and resolutions when messaged to the House may be referred by the Speaker 

to the appropriate House committee, just as he refers all bills and resolutions introduced 

in the House. If referred, they are processed in much the same fashion as in the Senate--

that is, endorsed for reference, recorded in the Journal, listed in the Congressional 

Record, and printed by the Government Printing Office for distribution. House 

committees, like Senate committees, have committee calendars of business and regular 
meeting days (but may also meet on the call of their chairman) for the consideration of 

business pending before them. 

 

The procedure of House committees in considering and reporting bills also is much the 

same as that of the Senate committees; for example, they too have standing 

subcommittees and ad hoc subcommittees. In contrast to the Senate, however, House 

rules allow the Speaker, under some circumstances, to refer a bill to two or more 

committees in sequence, or to refer parts of the same bill to different committees, when 

more than one committee has jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in the bill. 

 

After all House committees having jurisdiction have concluded consideration of a bill, it 

may be reported to the House with or without amendments. A written report accompanies 

each reported measure. When reported from committee, a bill is placed on the Union or 

House Calendar, if a public bill, or on the Private Calendar. The House also has a 

Corrections Calendar, on which are placed bills that are expected to enjoy considerably 

more than majority support on the floor, and a calendar of motions to discharge 

committees from further consideration of bills referred to them. 

House Floor Action 

The House rules designate special legislative days which have been established to 

expedite certain types of unprivileged business. The special legislative days are: Calendar 

Wednesday (every Wednesday), District of Columbia (the second and fourth Mondays), 

suspension of the rules (every Monday and Tuesday), and the Corrections Calendar (the 

first and third Mondays). Private Calendar business, if any, is considered on the first and 

third Tuesdays of each month, and discharge motions on the second and fourth Mondays. 

 

Generally speaking, after the regular routine business each morning, including the 

approval of the Journal, the House proceeds to the consideration of whatever bills or 

resolutions are to be acted on that day. The order varies somewhat, as follows: (1) On 

days set aside for certain procedures, such as suspension motions on Mondays and 

Tuesdays, bills and resolutions are called up in pursuance of the procedure, as defined by 

House rules in each instance; (2) under unanimous consent, bills are called up in 

pursuance of such requests made and granted by the House, regardless of the regular 

rules of procedure; and (3) privileged matters, such as general appropriation bills and 

conference reports, may be called up by the Members in charge of them at almost any 

time after they have lain over for three days, providing the Representative in charge is 

recognized by the Speaker. 

 

The House also can determine the order of its business and decide what bill to take up by 

adopting a special rule (simple House resolution) reported by the Rules Committee. The 

procedure for consideration of such measures is defined in each instance in the special 

rule. A special rule to call up a bill may be debated for an hour before it is voted on. Bills 

called up under special rules are usually major or controversial pieces of legislation. 

Bills which are first considered in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the 

Union are considered for amendment under the 5-minute rule, after which the Committee 
of the Whole reports them back to the House for action on any amendments that may 

have been adopted, and then for the vote on final passage. 

 

In the House, as in the Senate, bills are read three times before they are passed. After a 

Senate bill is passed by the House, with or without amendment, it is returned to the 

Senate; if there are amendments, the amendments are engrossed before being messaged 

to the Senate. All House engrossments are printed on blue paper. 

Messages and Amendments Between the Houses 

Senate Action on House Amendments 

Senate bills returned with House amendments are held at the desk and almost always are 

subsequently laid before the Senate by the Presiding Officer upon request or motion of a 

Senator (usually the Majority Leader or the manager of the bill). The Presiding Officer 

may also do this upon his own initiative, but this is rarely done. After the House message 

has been laid down, the House's amendments may be considered individually or, by 

unanimous consent, en bloc. Any one off the following motions relating to the 

amendment or amendments may then be offered, taking precedence in the order named : 

(1) a motion to refer the amendments to a standing committee of the Senate, (2) a motion 

to amend the amendments; (3) a motion to agree to the amendments; and (4) a motion to 

disagree to the amendments and ask a conference with the House. Usually number (4) 

includes authority for the Presiding Officer to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, 

although the power to name conferees is in the Senate, not in the Chair. The number of 

conferees named varies widely. The usual range is 7 to 11, but occasionally a larger 

number is appointed, especially in the case of general appropriation bills or omnibus bills 

such as reconcilation measures. 

 

In the case of motion number (2), the amendments made by the Senate to the House 

amendments are transmitted to the House, with a request for its concurrence therein. If 

the House concurs or agrees in all the amendments (the words being used 

synonymously), the legislative steps in the passage of the bill are completed. The House, 

however, may amend the Senate amendments to the House amendments, this being the 

second, and therefore the last, degree in which amendments between the Houses may be 

made. The House amendments, if any, are transmitted to the Senate, usually with a 

request for concurrence therein. As in the case of the original House amendments, the 

Senate may agree to some, disagree to others, or ask for a conference with the House 

thereon. 

A conference may be requested at any stage of the consideration of these amendments 

between the houses. If, instead, the Senate agrees to all the House amendments to the 

Senate bill or to the Senate's amendments to House amendments, such action brings the 

two Houses into complete agreement, and likewise completes the legislative steps. 

 

If the Senate refers the House amendments to a standing committee, the committee, after 

consideration, may recommend action indicated in motions (2), (3), or (4), and may make 

such a motion accordingly on the Senate floor. 
Bills Originating in the House 

If a bill or resolution originates in the House, it follows the same steps as set forth above, 

except in reverse, i.e.; a House committee considers it first; it is passed by the House; it is 

messaged to the Senate and referred to a Senate committee; the committee reports it to 

the Senate and it is then acted on by that body. If amended, it is returned to the House for 

its concurrence in the Senate amendments. 

Conference Committees and Reports 

When the Senate requests a conference or agrees to the House's request for a conference 

and names its conferees, it informs the House of its action by message. After the second 

House agrees to the conference, appoints conferees, and apprises the first House of its 

action by message, all the papers relating to the measure sent to conference (referred to as 

the "official papers") are transmitted to the conference. This includes the original 

engrossed bill, engrossed amendments, and the various messages of transmittal between 

the Houses. 

 

Since the conferees of each House vote as a unit, the House, like the Senate, may appoint 

as many conferees as it chooses to meet with the Senate conferees to reconcile the 

differences between the two Houses--the sole purpose of a conference. Thus, having a 

larger number of conferees than the other House does not provide an advantage. 

After deliberation, the conferees may make one or more recommendations; for example, 

(1) that the House recede from all or certain of its amendments; (2) that the Senate recede 

from its disagreement to all or certain of the House amendments and agree to the same; or 

(3) that the conference committee report an inability to agree in all or in part. Usually, 

however, there is compromise. 

Conferees dealing with an amendment or a series of amendments are more limited in 

their options than conferees dealing with a bill passed by the second House with an 

amendment in the nature of a substitute. They can only deal with the matters in 

disagreement. They cannot insert new matter or leave out matter agreed to by both 

Houses, and if they exceed their authority, a point of order will lie against the conference 

report. Each House may instruct its conferees, but this is rarely done. Such instructions 

are not binding since conferences are presumed to be full and free--one House cannot 

restrict the other House's conferees. 

Where one House passes a bill of the other House with an amendment in the nature of a 

substitute and the measure then goes to conference, the conferees have wider latitude 

since the entire matter is in conference. They may report a third version on the same 

subject matter; all of its provisions, however, must be germane modifications of either the 

House or Senate version, or it will be subject to a point of order. 

Senate and House Action on Conference Reports 

The recommendations of the conferees are incorporated in a written report and a joint 

statement of managers, made in duplicate, both of which must be signed by a majority of 
the conferees of each House. If there are amendments upon which they were unable to 

agree, a statement to this effect is included in the report. These are referred to as 

amendments is disagreement. The conferees cannot report parts of amendments in 

disagreement. For example, conferees must report in full agreement or disagreement 

when a bill had gone to conference after one House had amended it with a complete 

substitute for the other House's text. 

One report, together with the papers if the House is to act on it first, is taken by the House 

conferees, or managers, as they are termed in that body, and subsequently presented by 

them to the House, with an accompanying explanatory statement as to its effect upon the 

matters involved. The report must lie over three days in the House before it may be 

considered, except during the last six days of a session. The Senate conferees take the 

other copy which is presented for printing under the requirements of the Legislative 

Reorganization Act, as amended in 1970. To save time and expense, this requirement is 

frequently waived in the Senate by unanimous consent. 

Normally, the House agreeing to a conference on a bill acts first on conference report, but 

either House can act first if it has the official papers. Conference reports are privileged in 

both the Senate and the House. They cannot be amended, but must be voted upon in their 

entirety. If amendments in disagreement were reported by the conferees, they are acted 

on after the conference report is adopted and may be subject to amendment. After 

adoption by the first House, the conference report is transmitted with the official papers 

to the other House with a message announcing its action. 

 

Assuming action by the House first, the Senate conferees could then present their report 

and ask for its immediate consideration. It does not have to lie over for three days in the 

Senate, as it does in the House, and the motion to proceed to its consideration is not 

debatable; thus the Senate may act immediately. A motion to recommit a conference 

report may not be made in the second House acting on the report since the conferees of 

the first House were discharged when their body agreed to the report. 

 

If conferees reach a complete agreement on all of the House amendments to a Senate bill, 

and the House adopts that report, the adoption of the report by the Senate completes the 

legislative action on the bill. If, however, there were amendments upon which an 

agreement had not been reached by the conferees, the adoption of the report by both 

Houses leaves the parliamentary status of these particular amendments in disagreement 

the same as if no conference had been held. 

 

If the amendments on which an agreement could not be reached were House 

amendments, and the House acted first on the report, it could then recede from its 

amendments, eliminating the amendments in disagreement; then, if the Senate were to 

adopt the report, the bill would be cleared for the President's signature. If they were 

Senate amendments and the House acted first, the House could concur in the Senate 

amendments or concur in them with amendments. If the Senate amendments were 

concurred in by the House, that would clear the amendments in disagreement, and when 

the Senate agreed to the conference report, the bill would be cleared for the President's 
signature. If the House should concur in the Senate amendments reported in disagreement 

with its own House amendments, after the Senate agreed to the report, it could concur in 

the House amendments to the Senate amendments which would clear the bill for the 

President's signature. 

 

If the amendments reported in disagreement are not so disposed of, a further conference 

on these amendments could be requested by one House and agreed to by the other. When 

this happens, the two Houses usually appoint the same conferees. Until all the 

amendments in disagreement are reconciled by the two Houses, the bill cannot be 

presented to the President. 

 

If a conference report is rejected by one of the Houses, it so notifies the other body by 

message and usually requests another conference; however, it may merely notify the 

second body of its action without requesting a further conference, leaving further steps to 

be taken by the other House. Endorsements showing these various legislative steps, and 

when taken, are made on the engrossed bill. 

When the two Houses reach a complete agreement on all the amendments, the papers are 

delivered to the Enrolling Clerk of the House where the bill originated. The Enrolling 

Clerk prepares a copy of the bill in the form as finally agreed upon by the two Houses 

and sends it to the Government Printing Office for "enrollment," which means 

historically "written on parchment." The original papers on the bill are retained in the 

files of the originating House until the end of a Congress, when they are sent to the 

National Archives. 

Signatures of Speaker and Vice President 

Upon receipt of an enrolled bill from the Government Printing Office, either the 

Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House endorses it, certifying where the bill 

originated. If, after examination by the Enrolling Clerk of that House, the bill is found to 

be in the form agreed upon by both Houses, a slip is attached thereto stating that the bill, 

identified by number and title, has been examined and found truly enrolled. It is then 

presented to the Speaker of the House for his signature, which is announced in open 

session. Usually, enrolled bills are signed first by the Speaker. The bill is then transmitted 

by messenger to the Senate, where it is signed by the Vice President. 

Under the rules of the House, the Committee on House Oversight is charged, when an 

enrolled bill has been duly signed by the Speaker and the Vice President, to present the 

same, when the bill has originated in the House, to the President of the United States for 

his signature "and report the fact and date of such presentation to the House." If it is a 

Senate bill, this responsibility of presenting the bill to the President falls on the Secretary 

of the Senate. 

 

An error discovered in a bill after the legislative steps in its passage have been completed 

may be corrected by authority of a concurrent resolution, provided the bill has not yet 

been approved by the President. If the bill has not been enrolled, the error may be 

corrected in the enrollment; if it has been enrolled and signed by the Presiding Officers of 
the two Houses, or by the Speaker, such action may be rescinded by a concurrent 

resolution agreed to by the two Houses, and the bill correctly re-enrolled. If it has been 

presented to the President, but not acted upon by him, he may be requested by a 

concurrent resolution to return it to the Senate or the House for correction. If, however, 

the President has approved the bill, and it has thereby become a law, any amendment 

thereof can only be made by the passage of another bill, which must take the same course 

as the original. 

Presidential Action--Approval or Veto 

The President, under the Constitution, has 10 days (Sundays excepted) after the bill has 

been presented to him in which to act upon it. If the subject matter of the bill is within the 

jurisdiction of a department of the Government, or affects its interests in any way, he may 

in the meantime, at his discretion, refer the bill to the head of that department for 

investigation and a report thereon. The report of such official may serve as an aid to the 

President in reaching a decision about whether or not to approve the bill. If the President 

does approve it, he signs the bill, giving the date, and transmits this information by 

messenger to the Senate or the House, as the case might be. In the case of revenue and 

tariff bills, the hour of approval is usually indicated. The enrolled bill is delivered to the 

Archivist of the United States, who designates it as a public or private law, depending 

upon its purpose, and gives it a number. Public and private laws are numbered separately 

and serially. An official copy is sent to Government Printing Office to be used in making 

the so-called slip law print. 

 

In the event the President does not desire to approve a bill, but is unwilling to veto it, he 

may, by not returning it within the 10-day period after it is presented to him, permit it to 

become a law without his approval. The Archivist makes an endorsement on the bill that, 

having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval and not 

having been returned to the House of Congress in which it originated within the time 

prescribed by the Constitution, it has become a law without his approval. 

 

Where the 10-day period extends beyond the date of the final adjournment of Congress, 

the President may, within that time approve and sign the bill, which thereby becomes a 

law. If, however, in such a case, the President does not approve and sign the bill before 

the expiration of the ten-day period, it fails to become a law. This is what is known as a 

pocket veto. The United States Court of Appeals, in the case of KENNEDY v. 

SAMPSON, 511 F.2d 430 (D.C. Cir., 1974), held that a Senate bill could not be pocketvetoed by the President during an "intrasession" adjournment of Congress to a day certain 

for more than three days, where the Secretary of the Senate had been authorized to 

receive Presidential messages during such adjournment. In the case of BARNES v. 

KLINE, 759 F.2d 51 (D.C. Cir., 1985), the Court held the same with regard to an 

intersession adjournment. 

 

If the President does not favor a bill and vetoes it, he returns it to the House of origin 

without his approval, together with his objections thereto (referred to as the "veto 

message"). It should be noted that after the final adjournment of the 94th Congress, 1st 
session, the President returned two bills, giving Congress the opportunity to reconsider 

and "override" the vetoes. 

The constitutional provision for reconsideration by the Senate is met, under the 

precedents, by the reading of the veto message, spreading it on the Journal, and adopting 

a motion (1) to act on it immediately, (2) to refer it, with the accompanying papers, to a 

standing committee: (3) to order that it lie on the table, to be subsequently considered, or 

(4) to order its consideration postponed to a definite day. The House's procedures are 

much the same. 

If, upon reconsideration by either House, the House of origin acting first, the bill does not 

receive a two-thirds vote, the President's veto is sustained and the bill fails to become a 

law. 

If a bill which has been vetoed is passed upon reconsideration by the first House by the 

required two-thirds vote, an endorsement to this effect is made on the back of the bill, and 

it is then transmitted, together with the accompanying message, to the second House for 

its action thereon. If likewise reconsidered and passed by that body, a similar 

endorsement is made thereon. The bill, which has thereby been enacted into law, is not 

again presented to the President, but is delivered to the Administrator of the General 

Services Administration for deposit in the Archives, and is printed, together with the 

attestations of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of its passage over 

the President's veto. 

The Congressional Budget Process 

The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act was enacted in 1974 as a 

means for Congress to establish national budget priorities and the appropriate level of 

total revenues, expenditures, and debt for each year. Moreover, it provided for strict time 

limits in dealing with Presidential attempts to impound funds already appropriated either 

through deferrals or rescissions. 

The Act has been amended so as to curb the practice of imposing unfunded Federal 

mandates on States and local governments, as well as to give the President line item veto 

authority with respect to appropriations, new direct spending, and limited tax benefits. 

There has also been added to the statutes a provision allowing the two Houses of 

Congress to vote in an expeditious manner to reject rules issued by executive agencies. 

 

Congress acts on a concurrent resolution on the budget in the spring of each year. This 

resolution sets levels of new budget authority and spending, revenue, and debt levels. 

However, Congress may adopt a later budget resolution that revises or reaffirms the most 

recently adopted budget resolution. 

One of the mechanisms Congress uses to enforce projected budget authority and 

spending, revenue, and debt levels is called the reconciliation process. Under 

reconciliation, Congress in a budget resolution directs one or more legislative committees 

to report bills or recommend changes in laws that will achieve the levels of spending and 

revenues set by the budget resolution. The directions to the committees specify the total 
amounts that must be changed but leave to the discretion of the committees decisions 

about the changes that must be made to achieve the required levels. 

 

If only one committee has been directed to recommend changes, that committee reports 

its reconciliation legislation directly to the floor for consideration. If, however, more than 

one committee has been directed to make changes, the committees report the 

recommended changes to the Committee on the Budget. That committee then reports an 

omnibus reconciliation bill to the floor for consideration by the whole Senate or House. 

Executive Business and Executive Sessions 

Executive Matters Generally 

The executive business of the Senate consists of nominations and treaties submitted to the 

Senate by the President of the United States for its "advice and consent." This business of 

the Senate is handled separately from its legislative business. 

Treaties are referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Nominations are referred to 

one of the various committees of the Senate; usually this is the committee that handled 

the legislation creating the position. When committees report treaties or nominations to 

the Senate, they are placed on the Executive Calendar, as distinct from the Calendar of 

Business, on which legislation is placed. These two calendars are printed separately. 

 

When the Senate considers nominations and treaties, it goes into executive session, as 

distinct from legislative session, and a separate Journal is kept of the proceedings 

thereon. 

Nominations 

The scope of the Senate's authority to confirm Presidential nominations is vast. It 

includes officers of the Government--specifically, ambassadors, other public ministers 

and counsels, justices of the Supreme Court, all other officers of the United States as set 

forth in the Constitution, and such officers as Congress by law may designate. 

 

A Presidential nomination requiring advice and consent must be approved by a majority 

vote of the Senate. After a nomination is received and referred to the appropriate 

committee, hearings may be held, and after the committee votes, the nomination may be 

reported back to the Senate. If the nomination is confirmed, a Resolution of Confirmation 

is transmitted to the White House and the appointment is then signed by the President. 

 

Presidential nominations may be made during recesses of the Senate. The Constitution 

authorizes the President to "fill up" vacancies that may happen during such recesses "by 

granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session." Recess 

appointments to the Supreme Court, however, troubled the Senate enough that it agreed 

to a sense of the Senate resolution on August 29, 1960, stating that such appointments 

"may not be wholly consistent with the best interests of the Supreme Court, the nominee 

who may be involved, the litigants before the Court, nor indeed the people of the United 
States." It further stated "that such appointments, therefore, should not be made except 

under unusual circumstances and for the purpose of preventing or ending a demonstrable 

breakdown in the administration of the Court’s business." 

Treaties 

All confidential communications made by the President shall be kept secret, and all 

treaties which may be laid before the Senate, and all remarks, votes and proceedings 

thereon, shall also be kept secret until the Senate shall, by their resolution, take off the 

injunction of secrecy. When the Senate is proceeding on treaty ratification, the treaty 

shall be read a first time. Only a motion to refer it to committee, to print it in confidence 

for the use of the Senate, or to remove the injunction of secrecy shall be in order. 

The rules for the consideration for executive business are different from the rules for the 

consideration and disposition of legislative business. Rule XXX provides that a treaty 

shall lie over for one day before the Senate proceeds to consider it in executive session; 

then it may be read a second time, after which amendments may be proposed. At any 

stage of these proceedings the Senate may remove the injunction of secrecy from the 

treaty. When there is no further debate or amendment to be proposed to the treaty, the 

Senate proceeds to consider a resolution of ratification. 

 

After the resolution of ratification has been proposed, no amendment to the treaty is in 

order except by unanimous consent. On the other hand, reservations, etc., are in order 

only during consideration of the resolution of ratification, not while the treaty itself is 

being considered for amendment. After the Senate completes considering both the treaty 

and the resolution of ratification, it gives its final consent to the resolution by a two-thirds 

vote of the Senators present. The vote on a motion to postpone indefinitely requires the 

same two-thirds majority; all other motions and questions arising in relation to a treaty 

are decided by a majority vote. 

Amendments, Reservations, and Other Statements 

The Senate may stipulate conditions to a treaty in the form of amendments, reservations, 

understandings, declarations, statements, interpretations, and statements in committee 

reports. An "amendment" makes actual changes in the language of the treaty. 

 

The term "reservation" in treaty-making, according to general international usage, means 

a formal declaration by a state, when signing, ratifying, of adhering to a treaty, which 

modifies or limits the substantive effect of one or more of the treaty's provisions as 

between the reserving state and other states party to the treaty. In addition, the Senate 

may attach to resolutions of ratification various "understandings," "interpretations," 

"declarations," and so on. The term "understanding" is often used to designate a statement 

that is not intended to modify or limit any of the provisions of the treaty in its 

international operation, but instead is intended merely to clarify or explain the meaning of 

the treaty or to deal with some matter incidental to the operation of the treaty without 

constituting a substantive reservation. Any such additions to the resolution are part of the 

instrument of ratification no matter what they are called, and even if their effect is solely 

of an internal domestic nature. 
Ratification of Treaties 

The word "ratification" when used in connection with treaties refers to the formal act by 

which a nation affirms its willingness to be bound by a specific international agreement. 

The basic purpose of ratification of a treaty is to confirm that an agreement which two or 

more countries have negotiated and signed is accepted and recognized as binding by 

those countries. 

 

The procedure by which nations ratify treaties is a concern of domestic rather than 

international law. The Constitution does not use the word ratification in regard to treaties. 

It says only that the President shall have the power, by and with the advice and consent of 

the Senate, to make treaties. The Constitution does not divide up the process into various 

component parts which can be identified today, such as initiation, negotiation, signing, 

Senatorial advice and consent, ratification, deposit or exchange of the instruments of 

ratification, and promulgation. From the beginning, however, the formal act of 

ratification has been performed by the President acting "by and with the advice and 

consent of the Senate." The President ratifies the treaty, but only upon the authorization 

of the Senate. 

 

The Senate gives its advice and consent by agreeing to the resolution of ratification. After 

it does so, the President is not obligated to proceed with the process of ratification. With 

the President's approval, however, the ratification occurs with the exchange of the 

instruments of ratification between the parties to the treaty. 

 

Treaties, unlike any other business considered by the Senate, stay before that body once 

the President submits them until the Senate acts on them or unless the President requests, 

and/or the Senate adopts an order or resolution authorizing, their return to the President 

or the Secretary of State. In 1937, 1947, and 1952, the Senate returned numerous treaties, 

including some dating back as early as 1910, to the Secretary of State or the President.