The two differing versions of H.R. 10 passed by the House and Senate are now placed on the Speaker's table. In some cases, the chairman of the committee that had jurisdiction over the House version of H.R. 10 may ask unanimous consent to take the legislation up and concur in (i.e., agree to) the Senate's version. If there is objection to this request, the legislation usually must first be considered in the Committee of the Whole and then approved by the House.
In the alternative, the committee chairman may request unanimous consent to take the legislation with the Senate amendments from the Speaker's table, disagree to the amendments, and request a conference with the Senate to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of H.R. 10. If there is objection to this request, it is usually necessary for the House Rules Committee to report a rule requesting a conference.
It would also have been possible for the Senate to initiate the request for a conference on H.R. 10 if the request was made before the engrossed legislation was sent to the House. Only the chamber possessing the two engrossed items can request a conference. Which chamber requests a conference can become an important procedural determinant later in the legislative process.
Either the House or the Senate may vote to instruct its conferees. An instruction is usually used to tell the conferees that they must not drop a particular provision of that house's version of the legislation.
Once the House has requested a conference, the Speaker appoints the House conferees, a majority of who must be supporters of the House version of the legislation. The Speaker usually appoints those who are recommended by the chairman of the committee that reported out the legislation. The chairman, in turn, consults the ranking minority member of the committee for recommendations of minority party House conferees. The number of House conferees varies, depending on the legislation and the committee(s) involved. In addition, seniority often (but not always) dictates which members of a committee are chosen as conferees.
If the Senate agrees to the request for a conference, the Presiding Officer appoints conferees by unanimous consent using a procedure that is similar to that of the House. The number of Senate conferees does not have to equal the number of House conferees. House and Senate conferees meet together as a conference committee, but each set of conferees is a separate unit. Thus, a majority of the House conferees determines the House position on an amendment in conference, and vice versa.
The conferees can only consider matters that are in disagreement between the two versions of the legislation. Thus, for example, they cannot change or strike a provision of the House version of H.R. 10 that was not changed by the Senate. If an item in disagreement involves monetary figures, the House and Senate figures form the upper and lower limits of the figure on which the conferees must agree. In general, House rules prohibit its conferees from making or agreeing to non-germane changes to the legislation. Thus, if the Senate version of H.R. 10 contained a non-germane amendment, it is unlikely that the House conferees will agree to the amendment. However, the chairman of the House committee can request a rule waiving this germaneness requirement.
Either the House or the Senate may recede from some or all of the provisions of its version of the legislation which are in disagreement, and either may agree to some or all of the provisions in disagreement adopted by the other body. In the alternative, the conferees may fashion a compromise between differing provisions.
When the conferees have resolved all differences, they issue a conference report that includes the language of their agreement and an explanation of the differing House and Senate provisions. When the conference report comes before the House and Senate for approval, it is not subject to amendment (although it may be filibustered in the Senate).
Occasionally, the conferees are not able to reach agreement on all issues. In such a case, either the conference committee will fail to issue a report, or it will issue a report which includes those items on which it was in agreement and those where there was disagreement. If the conference committee fails to issue a report, the legislation is usually killed (although new conferees can be appointed to make another effort). If the conference committee reports some items in disagreement, those items are subject to separate votes when the conference report comes before the House and Senate. If the results of those separate votes perpetuate the disagreement, the conferees can meet again to try to resolve the differences.
A conference report must be signed by a majority of the conferees of each house. There is no opportunity for the inclusion of minority views in the conference report.
Next Chapter - Zone 6
