Office of the Clerk

Legislative Activities - House Documents

Rules of The House of Representatives of The United States

RULE XXII: HOUSE AND SENATE RELATIONS

Senate amendments
1. A motion to disagree to Senate amendments to a House proposition and to request or agree to a conference with the Senate, or a motion to insist on House amendments to a Senate proposition and to request or agree to a conference with the Senate, shall be privileged in the discretion of the Speaker if offered by direction of the primary committee and of all reporting committees that had initial referral of the proposition.

2. A motion to dispose of House bills with Senate amendments not requiring consideration in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union shall be privileged.

3. Except as permitted by clause 1, before the stage of disagreement, a Senate amendment to a House bill or resolution shall be subject to the point of order that it must first be considered in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union if, originating in the House, it would be subject to such a point under clause 3 of rule XVIII.

4. When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged.

5. (a) Managers on the part of the House may not agree to a Senate amendment described in paragraph (b) unless specific authority to agree to the amendment first is given by the House by a separate vote with respect thereto. If specific authority is not granted, the Senate amendment shall be reported in disagreement by the conference committee back to the two Houses for disposition by separate motion.

(b) The managers on the part of the House may not agree to a Senate amendment described in paragraph (a) that- (1) would violate clause 2(a)(1) or (c) of rule XXI if originating in the House; or (2) proposes an appropriation on a bill other than a general appropriation bill.

6. A Senate amendment carrying a tax or tariff measure in violation of clause 5(a) of rule XXI may not be agreed to.

Conference reports; amendments reported in disagreement
7. (a) The presentation of a conference report shall be in order at any time except during a reading of the Journal or the conduct of a record vote, a vote by division, or a quorum call.

(b)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2) the time allotted for debate on a motion to instruct managers on the part of the House shall be equally divided between the majority and minority parties.

(2) If the proponent of a motion to instruct managers on the part of the House and the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner of the other party identified under subparagraph (1) both support the motion, one-third of the time for debate thereon shall be allotted to a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who opposes the motion on demand of that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.

(c)(1) A motion to instruct managers on the part of the House, or a motion to discharge all managers on the part of the House and to appoint new conferees, shall be privileged after a conference committee has been appointed for 20 calendar days and 10 legislative days without making a report, but only on the day after the calendar day on which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner offering the motion announces to the House his intention to do so and the form of the motion.

(2) The Speaker may designate a time in the legislative schedule on that legislative day for consideration of a motion described in subparagraph (1).

(3) During the last six days of a session of Congress, a motion under subparagraph (1) shall be privileged after a conference committee has been appointed for 36 hours without making a report and the motion meets the notice requirement in subparagraph (1).

(d) Instructions to conferees in a motion to instruct or in a motion to recommit to conference may not include argument.

(e) Each conference report to the House shall be printed as a report of the House. Each such report shall be accompanied by a joint explanatory statement prepared jointly by the managers on the part of the House and the managers on the part of the Senate. The joint explanatory statement shall be sufficiently detailed and explicit to inform the House of the effects of the report on the matters committed to conference.

8. (a)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in order to consider a conference report until- (A) the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which the conference report and the accompanying joint explanatory statement have been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner in the Congressional Record; and (B) copies of the conference report and the accompanying joint explanatory statement have been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner for at least two hours. (2) Subparagraph (1)(A) does not apply during the last six days of a session of Congress.

(b)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in order to consider a motion to dispose of a Senate amendment reported in disagreement by a conference committee until- (A) the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which the report in disagreement and any accompanying statement have been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner in the Congressional Record; and (B) copies of the report in disagreement and any accompanying statement, together with the text of the Senate amendment, have been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner for at least two hours.

(2) Subparagraph (1)(A) does not apply during the last six days of a session of Congress.

(3) During consideration of a Senate amendment reported in disagreement by a conference committee on a general appropriation bill, a motion to insist on disagreement to the Senate amendment shall be preferential to any other motion to dispose of that amendment if the original motion offered by the floor manager proposes to change existing law and the motion to insist is offered before debate on the original motion by the chairman of the committee having jurisdiction of the subject matter of the amendment or a designee. Such a preferential motion shall be separately debatable for one hour equally divided between its proponent and the proponent of the original motion. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the preferential motion to its adoption without intervening motion.

(c) A conference report or a Senate amendment reported in disagreement by a conference committee that has been available as provided in paragraph (a) or (b) shall be considered as read when called up.

(d)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2), the time allotted for debate on a conference report or on a motion to dispose of a Senate amendment reported in disagreement by a conference committee shall be equally divided between the majority and minority parties. (2) If the floor manager for the majority and the floor manager for the minority both support the conference report or motion, one-third of the time for debate thereon shall be allotted to a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who opposes the conference report or motion on demand of that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.

(e) Under clause 6(a)(2) of rule XIII, a resolution proposing only to waive a requirement of this clause concerning the availability of reports to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner may be considered by the House on the same day it is reported by the Committee on Rules.

9. Whenever a disagreement to an amendment has been committed to a conference committee, the managers on the part of the House may propose a substitute that is a germane modification of the matter in disagreement. The introduction of any language presenting specific additional matter not committed to the conference committee by either House does not constitute a germane modification of the matter in disagreement. Moreover, a conference report may not include matter not committed to the conference committee by either House and may not include a modification of specific matter committed to the conference committee by either or both Houses if that modification is beyond the scope of that specific matter as committed to the conference committee.

10. (a)(1) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may raise a point of order against nongermane matter, as specified in subparagraph (2), before the commencement of debate on- (A) a conference report; (B) a motion that the House recede from its disagreement to a Senate amendment reported in disagreement by a conference committee and concur therein, with or without amendment; or (C) a motion that the House recede from its disagreement to a Senate amendment on which the stage of disagreement has been reached and concur therein, with or without amendment.

(2) A point of order against nongermane matter is one asserting that a proposition described in subparagraph (1) contains specified matter that would violate clause 7 of rule XVI if it were offered in the House as an amendment to the underlying measure in the form it was passed by the House.

(b) If a point of order under paragraph (a) is sustained, a motion that the House reject the nongermane matter identified by the point of order shall be privileged. Such a motion is debatable for 40 minutes, one-half in favor of the motion and one-half in opposition thereto.

(c) After disposition of a point of order under paragraph (a) or a motion to reject under paragraph (b), any further points of order under paragraph (a) not covered by a previous point of order, and any consequent motions to reject under paragraph (b), shall be likewise disposed of.

(d)(1) If a motion to reject under paragraph (b) is adopted, then after disposition of all points of order under paragraph (a) and any consequent motions to reject under paragraph (b), the conference report or motion, as the case may be, shall be considered as rejected and the matter remaining in disagreement shall be disposed of under subparagraph (2) or (3), as the case may be.

(2) After the House has adopted one or more motions to reject nongermane matter contained in a conference report under the preceding provisions of this clause- (A) if the conference report accompanied a House measure amended by the Senate, the pending question shall be whether the House shall recede and concur in the Senate amendment with an amendment consisting of so much of the conference report as was not rejected; and (B) if the conference report accompanied a Senate measure amended by the House, the pending question shall be whether the House shall insist further on the House amendment.

(3) After the House has adopted one or more motions to reject nongermane matter contained in a motion that the House recede and concur in a Senate amendment, with or without amendment, the following motions shall be privileged and shall have precedence in the order stated:

(A) A motion that the House recede and concur in the Senate amendment with an amendment in writing then available on the floor. (B) A motion that the House insist on its disagreement to the Senate amendment and request a further conference with the Senate. (C) A motion that the House insist on its disagreement to the Senate amendment.

(e) If, on a division of the question on a motion described in paragraph (a)(1)(B) or (C), the House agrees to recede, then a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may raise a point of order against nongermane matter, as specified in paragraph (a)(2), before the commencement of debate on concurring in the Senate amendment, with or without amendment. A point of order under this paragraph shall be disposed of according to the preceding provisions of this clause in the same manner as a point of order under paragraph (a). 11. It shall not be in order to consider a conference report to accompany a bill or joint resolution that proposes to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 unless—

(a) the joint explanatory statement of the managers includes a tax complexity analysis prepared by the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation in accordance with section 4022
(b) of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998; or (b) the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means causes such a tax complexity analysis to be printed in the Congressional Record before consideration of the conference report.

12. (a)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2), a meeting of each conference committee shall be open to the public.

(b) A point of order that a conference committee failed to comply with paragraph (a) may be raised immediately after the conference report is read or considered as read. If such a point of order is sustained, the conference report shall be considered as rejected, the House shall be considered to have insisted on its amendments or on disagreement to the Senate amendments, as the case may be, and to have requested a further conference with the Senate, and the Speaker may appoint new conferees without intervening motion.

(2) In open session of the House, a motion that managers on the part of the House be permitted to close to the public a meeting or meetings of their conference committee shall be privileged, shall be decided without debate, and shall be decided by the yeas and nays.

(3) In conducting conferences with the Senate, managers on the part of the House should endeavor to ensure- (A) that meetings for the resolution of differences between the two Houses occur only under circumstances in which every manager on the part of the House has notice of the meeting and a reasonable opportunity to attend; (B) that all provisions on which the two Houses disagree are considered as open to discussion at any meeting of a conference committee; and (C) that papers reflecting a conference agreement are held inviolate to change without renewal of the opportunity of all managers on the part of the House to reconsider their decisions to sign or not to sign the agreement.

(4) Managers on the part of the House shall be provided a unitary time and place with access to at least one complete copy of the final conference agreement for the purpose of recording their approval (or not) of the final conference agreement by placing their signatures (or not) on the sheets prepared to accompany the conference report and joint explanatory statement of the managers.

(b) A point of order that a conference committee failed to comply with paragraph (a) may be raised immediately after the conference report is read or considered as read. If such a point of order is sustained, the conference report shall be considered as rejected, the House shall be considered to have insisted on its amendments or on disagreement to the Senate amendments, as the case may be, and to have requested a further conference with the Senate, and the Speaker may appoint new conferees without intervening motion.

13. It shall not be in order to consider a conference report the text of which differs in any way, other than clerical, from the text that reflects the action of the conferees on all of the differences between the two Houses, as recorded by their placement of their signatures (or not) on the sheets prepared to accompany the conference report and joint explanatory statement of the managers.