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Resolving Differences with the Senate
CONFERENCE REPORTS AND THE RULES COMMITTEE
When a conference agreement is reached, it comes back to the House in the form of a "conference report" which the full House must consider and approve. Unless the requirement is waived, House rules require that a conference report be available for at least three calendar days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) before it can be called up for consideration. After that time, it becomes privileged and can be called up at any time without a rule from the Rules Committee.
However, if a conference report is in violation of a rule of the House or some extraordinary procedure for consideration of the report is desired, the Rules Committee may report a rule waiving points of order against its consideration. Recently, this has been the usual case for conference reports on appropriation and other major pieces of legislation.
It should be noted that points of order against a conference report lie against its consideration not against individual provisions contained within the report. A conference report represents the collective agreement of the House with the Senate. Changing individual components of the agreement violates the sanctity of the agreement itself. Consequently, agreeing to a conference report is an all or nothing question. This is also the reason why, even as privileged matters conference reports are unamendable on the floor of the House.
