Fortunately, I have a handy reference list since there are currently 61 members on this conference committee. Members are appointed by the Senate Majority Leader and the House Speaker in conjunction with their minority counterparts. It is assumed that the leadership consults with the committee chairman and ranking member before assigning conferees. Congressman Dingell is a House Commerce Committee conferee. Unfortunately, Commerce does not have jurisdiction over the major funding issues.
Most negotiations take place at the staff level.
When an issue cannot be settled at the staff level, it is brought to the attention of the members to discuss. At each session of a conference committee, the staff recommendations for that session are reported and voted upon. After all issues are resolved, the staff creates a committee report that outlines the work which has been done and the final resolution of each outstanding issue. This report is presented to both houses of Congress for approval. Both houses must approve the report in order to send a final bill to President Clinton's desk.