How does conference committee work

The conference committee is usually composed of the senior members of the respective House and Senate standing committees that originally considered the legislation. Each Congressional chamber determines its number of conferees; there is no requirement that the number of conferees from the two chambers is equal.

Sending a bill to a conference committee involves four steps, three of the steps are required, the fourth is not. Both houses are required to complete the first three steps. After deliberation, the conferees may make one or more recommendations. For example, the committee may recommend 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 is unable to agree in all or in part.

Usually, however, there is a compromise. In order to conclude its business, a majority of both House and Senate delegations to the conference must sign the conference report. The conference report proposes new legislative language which is presented as an amendment to the original bill passed by each chamber. The conference report also includes a joint explanatory statement, which documents, among other things, the legislative history of the bill.

The conference report proceeds directly to the floor of each chamber for a vote; it cannot be amended. The Congressional Budget Act of limits Senate debate on conference reports on budget reconciliation bills to 10 hours. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Bills in the House can only be released from committee without a proper committee vote by a discharge petition signed by a majority of the House membership members. House: Bills are placed on one of four House Calendars.

The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader decide what will reach the floor and when. Legislation can also be brought to the floor by a discharge petition. Senate: Legislation is placed on the Legislative Calendar. There is also an Executive calendar to deal with treaties and nominations. Scheduling of legislation is the job of the Majority Leader. Bills can be brought to the floor whenever a majority of the Senate chooses.

House: Debate is limited by the rules formulated in the Rules Committee. The Committee of the Whole debates and amends the bill but cannot technically pass it. Debate is guided by the Sponsoring Committee and time is divided equally between proponents and opponents. The Committee decides how much time to allot to each person. Amendments must be germane to the subject of a bill - no riders are allowed. The bill is reported back to the House to itself and is voted on. A quorum call is a vote to make sure that there are enough members present to have a final vote.

If there is not a quorum, the House will adjourn or will send the Sergeant at Arms out to round up missing members. Senate: debate is unlimited unless cloture is invoked. Members can speak as long as they want and amendments need not be germane - riders are often offered.

Entire bills can therefore be offered as amendments to other bills. Unless cloture is invoked, Senators can use a filibuster to defeat a measure by "talking it to death. The Bill Becomes A Law Once a bill is signed by the President or his veto is overridden by both houses it becomes a law and is assigned an official number. The Union Calendar - A list of all bills that address money and may be considered by the House of Representatives.

Generally, bills contained in the Union Calendar can be categorized as appropriations bills or bills raising revenue. The House Calendar - A list of all the public bills that do not address money and maybe considered by the House of Representatives. The Corrections Calendar - A list of bills selected by the Speaker of the House in consultation with the Minority leader that will be considered in the House and debated for one hour.

Generally, bills are selected because they focus on changing laws, rules and regulations that are judged to be outdated or unnecessary. The Private Calendar - A list of all the private bills that are to be considered by the House.

It is called on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Bills - A legislative proposal that if passed by both the House and the Senate and approved by the President becomes law. Each bill is assigned a bill number. HR denotes bills that originate in the House and S denotes bills that originate in the Senate.

Private Bill - A bill that is introduced on behalf of a specific individual that if it is enacted into law only affects the specific person or organization the bill concerns. Often, private bills address immigration or naturalization issues.

Simple Resolution - A type of legislation designated by H Res or S Res that is used primarily to express the sense of the chamber where it is introduced or passed.

It only has the force of the chamber passing the resolution. A simple resolution is not signed by the President and cannot become Public Law. Concurrent Resolutions - A type of legislation designated by H Con Res or S Con Res that is often used to express the sense of both chambers, to set annual budget or to fix adjournment dates.

Concurrent resolutions are not signed by the President and therefore do not hold the weight of law. The process to resolve those differences to create one identical bill before it can pass in both the Senate and House is called a Conference Committee.

The Constitution requires that both the House and Senate agree to identical legislative text before it is sent to the president for a signature. Therefore, a conference committee is a temporary, bicameral House and Senate committee established to resolve differences between two versions of a bill.

During this process, Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate appointed by the majority leadership of both chambers work through differences and then send a final product back to each chamber.

Once the conference report comes back to the House and Senate for approval, it cannot be amended. The process for standing committees is different from the process for conference committees.

Standing committees usually hold public hearings to receive testimony from experts and other affected parties to figure out how best to craft a policy. Conference committees, however, move directly into working out differences between the House and Senate-passed versions of the legislation after appointing members of the conference committees called conferees.

While conference committee meetings are also supposed to be open, the committee can vote to hold meetings behind closed doors, and often does. Standing committees will hold markups , a process in which permanent committee members make changes to a proposed bill. During this process and floor consideration if permitted , the committee still determines the scope of the legislation. But conference committees are composed of both House and Senate members temporarily appointed to resolve differences between two pieces of legislation within an existing scope of policies.

When a bill is introduced in either chamber of Congress House or Senate , it is referred to different committees depending on what the bill proposes to do. These are called committees of jurisdiction. Conferees are generally members of the committee s of jurisdiction for the bill under consideration.