When the House and the Senate pass different versions of a bill These versions are to be reconciled by which type of committee?
Step 1: The bill is draftedAny member of Congress – either from the Senate or the House or Representatives – who has an idea for a law can draft a bill. These ideas come from the Congress members themselves or from everyday citizens and advocacy groups. The primary Congress member supporting the bill is called the "sponsor". The other members who support the bill are called "co-sponsors". Show
Step 2: The bill is introducedOnce the bill is drafted, it must be introduced. If a Representative is the sponsor, the bill is introduced in the House. If a Senator is the sponsor, the bill is introduced in the Senate. Once a bill is introduced, it can be found on Congress.gov, which is the official government website that tracks federal legislation. Step 3: The bill goes to committeeAs soon as a bill is introduced, it is referred to a committee. Both the House and Senate have various committees composed of groups of Congress members who are particularly interested in different topics such as health or international affairs. When a bill is in the hands of the committee, it is carefully examined and its chances of passage by the entire Congress are determined. The committee may even choose to hold hearings to better understand the implications of the bill. Hearings allow the views of the executive branch, experts, other public officials and supporters, and opponents of the legislation to be put on the record. If the committee does not act on a bill, the bill is considered to be "dead". Step 4: Subcommittee review of the billSubcommittees are organized under committees and have further specialization on a certain topic. Often, committees refer bills to a subcommittee for study and their own hearings. The subcommittee may make changes to the bill and must vote to refer a bill back to the full committee. Step 5: Committee mark up of the billWhen the hearings and subcommittee review are completed, the committee will meet to "mark up" the bill. They make changes and amendments prior to recommending the bill to the "floor". If a committee votes not to report legislation to the full chamber of Congress, the bill dies. If the committee votes in favor of the bill, it is reported to the floor. This procedure is called "ordering a bill reported". Step 6: Voting by the full chamber on the billOnce the bill reaches the floor, there is additional debate and members of the full chamber vote to approve any amendments. The bill is then passed or defeated by the members voting. Step 7: Referral of the bill to the other chamberWhen the House or Senate passes a bill, it is referred to the other chamber, where it usually follows the same route through committees and finally to the floor. This chamber may approve the bill as received, reject it, ignore it or change it. Congress may form a conference committee to resolve or reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. If the conference committee is unable to reach an agreement, the bill dies. If an agreement is reached, the committee members prepare a conference report with recommendations for the final bill. Both the House and Senate must vote to approve the conference report. Step 8: The bill goes to the presidentAfter both the House and Senate have approved a bill in identical form, the bill is sent to the President. If the President approves of the legislation, it is signed and becomes law. If the President takes no action for ten days while Congress is in session, the bill automatically becomes law. If the President opposes the bill, they may veto the bill. In addition, if no action is taken for 10 days and Congress has already adjourned, there is a "pocket veto" . Step 9: Overriding a vetoIf the President vetoes a bill, Congress may attempt to override the veto. If both the Senate and the House pass the bill by a two-thirds majority, the President's veto is overruled, and the bill becomes a law. Many terms above are adapted from Congress.gov. See the full list of legislative terms. A conference committee is a joint committee of the United States Congress appointed by the House of Representatives and Senate to resolve disagreements on a particular bill. A conference committee is usually composed of senior members of the standing committees of each house that originally considered the legislation. The use of the conference committee process has steadily declined in recent decades. 67 conference reports were produced as recently as the 104th Congress (1995–96), falling to just three in the 113th Congress (2013–14). Going to conference[edit]Conference committees operate after the House and the Senate have passed different versions of a bill. Conference committees exist to draft a compromise bill that both houses can accept. Both houses of Congress must pass identical legislation in order for a bill to be presented to the President.[1] The two houses can reach that point through the process of amendments between Houses, where the House passes the Senate bill with a House amendment, or vice versa, but this process can be cumbersome. Thus, some bills pass both Houses through the use of a conference committee.[2] After one house passes a bill, the second house often passes the same bill, with an amendment representing the second house's work product. The second house then sends a message to the first house, asking the first house to concur with the second house's amendment. If the first house does not like the second house's amendment, then the first house can disagree with the amendment of the second house, request a conference, appoint conferees, and send a message to that effect to the second house. The second house then insists on its amendment, agrees to a conference, and appoints conferees. Each house determines the number of conferees from its house. The number of conferees need not be equal. To conclude its business, a majority of both House and Senate delegations to the conference must indicate their approval by signing the conference report. The authority to appoint conferees lies in the entire House, and the entire Senate appoints conferees by adopting a debatable motion to do so.[3] But leadership have increasingly exercised authority in the appointment of conferees. The House and Senate may instruct conferees, but these instructions are not binding.[4] [edit]Conference committees can be extremely contentious, particularly if the houses are controlled by different parties. House rules require that one conference meeting be open to the public, unless the House, in open session, votes to close a meeting to the public. Apart from this one open meeting, conference committees usually meet in private, and are dominated by the chairs of the House and Senate committees.[citation needed] House and Senate rules forbid conferees from inserting in their report matter not committed to them by either House.[5][6] But conference committees sometimes do introduce new matter. In such a case, the rules of each House let a member object through a point of order, though each House has procedures that let other members vote to waive the point of order. The House provides a procedure for striking the offending provision from the bill. Formerly, the Senate required a Senator to object to the whole bill as reported by the conference committee. If the objection was well-founded, the Presiding Officer ruled, and a Senator could appeal the ruling of the Chair. If the appeal was sustained by a majority of the Senate, it had precedential effect, eroding the rule on the scope of conference committees. From fall 1996 through 2000, the Senate had no limit on the scope of conference reports, and some argued that the majority abused the power of conference committees.[7] In December 2000, the Senate reinstated the prohibition of inserting matters outside the scope of conference.[8] The rule changed again with the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, enacted in September 2007. Now any single Senator may raise a point of order against subject matter newly inserted by the conference committee without objecting to the rest of the bill. Proponents of the measure may move to waive the rule. The affirmative vote of 60 Senators is required to waive the rule. If the point of order is not waived and the Chair rules that the objection is well-founded, only the offending provision is stricken from the measure, and the Senate votes on sending the balance of the measure back to the House.[6] Conference report[edit]Most times, the conference committee produces a conference report melding the work of the House and Senate into a final version of the bill. A conference report proposes legislative language as an amendment to the bill committed to conference. The conference report also includes a joint explanatory statement of the conference committee. This statement provides one of the best sources of legislative history on the bill. Chief Justice William Rehnquist once observed that the joint conference report of both Houses of Congress is considered highly reliable legislative history when interpreting a statute.[9] Once a bill has been passed by a conference committee, it goes directly to the floor of both houses for a vote, and is not open to further amendment. In the first house to consider the conference report, a Member may move to recommit the bill to the conference committee. But once the first house has passed the conference report, the conference committee is dissolved, and the second house to act can no longer recommit the bill to conference.[10] Conference reports are privileged. In the Senate, a motion to proceed to a conference report is not debatable, although Senators can generally filibuster the conference report itself. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 limits debate on conference reports on budget resolutions and budget reconciliation bills to ten hours in the Senate, so Senators cannot filibuster those conference reports.[11] The conference report must be approved by both the House and the Senate before the final bill is sent to the President.[10] Declining use[edit]The use of the formal conference process has steadily declined in recent decades. The number of conference reports produced is shown below from the 104th Congress (1995–96) through the 115th Congress (2017–18) as of 1 January 2019:[12][13] 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 See also[edit]
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What happens if the House Senate versions of a bill are different?Finally, a conference committee made of House and Senate members works out any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval. The Government Printing Office prints the revised bill in a process called enrolling.
What happens in the conference committee?A conference committee is a temporary, ad hoc panel composed of House and Senate conferees formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major or controversial legislation.
When a bill passes the House and Senate in different versions quizlet?If the House and Senate pass bills that are not identical, the differences are often resolved in a conference committee, where members from both the House and Senate meet. If the conference committee can agree on all the changes, the final version is sent back to each of the two chambers for a majority vote.
When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill the differences are resolved by a quizlet?Conference committees resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill. * Bill has to make it's way through one committee in order to become a law.
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