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32. A disagreement to an amendment in the nature of a substitute having been referred to conferees, it was held to be in order for them to report a new bill on the same subject. (1420.)

33. A conference committee may report agreement as to some of the matters of difference, but inability to agree as to others. (1392.)

[29th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 523-524.

34. In drafting a conference report care should be taken in stating the action of the conferees on amendments to observe the parliamentary rule that neither House can recede from or insist on its own amendment with an amendment; and in case pages and lines of the bill or amendments are referred to in the report, the engrossed bill and amendments only should be used.

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PRESENTATION AND PRIVILEGE OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

35. A conference report is made first to the House agreeing to the conference.

NOTE.-This rule seems to follow from the principle laid down by Jefferson (Manual, Sec. XLVI), that "in all cases of conference asked after a vote of disagreement, etc., the conferees of the House asking it are to leave the papers with the conferees of the other," thus putting the agreeing House in possession of the papers, and has been the usual practice in Congress.

36. Conference reports are in order in the Senate under Rule XXVIII, as follows:

The presentation of reports of committees of conference shall always be in order, except when the Journal is being read or a question of order or motion to adjourn is pending, or while the Senate is dividing; and when received, the question of proceeding to the consideration of the report, if raised, shall be immediately put, and shall be determined without debate.

NOTE. It has been held in the Senate that the presentation of a conference report includes its reading, unless by unanimous consent the reading is dispensed with (54th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 334; Congressional Record, p. 5511).

37. Conference reports are in order in the House under Rule XXVIII, as follows:

The presentation of reports of committees of conference shall always be in order except when the journal is being read, while the roll is being called, or the House is dividing on any proposition. And there shall accompany any

such report a detailed statement sufficiently explicit to inform the House what effect such amendments or propositions shall have upon the measures to which they relate.

NOTE.-Paragraph 4 of rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate requires a conference report to be accompanied by an explanatory statement prepared jointly by the conferees on the part of the House and the Senate. (See Senate Manual section No. 28.4.)

38. A conference report may not be received by the 164 House if no statement accompanies it. (1404-1405.)

39. Whether or not the detailed statement accompany- 165 ing a conference report is sufficient to comply with the rule (XXVIII) is a question for the House, and not for the Speaker, to determine. (1402-1403.)

40. A conference report may be presented after a motion 166 to adjourn has been made or when a Member is occupying the floor for debate, but the report need not be disposed of before the motion to adjourn is put. (1393-1395.)

41. A conference report is in order pending a demand 167 for the previous question.

[55th Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, p. 867.

NOTE. In the Senate the previous question is not in use.

42. A conference report has been given precedence over 168 a question of privilege. (1397.)

43. A conference report may be presented during the 169 time set apart for a special order for the consideration of another measure. (1400.)

44. A conference report may be presented after a vote 170 by tellers and pending the question on ordering the yeas and nays. (1399.)

45. A conference report has precedence of the question 171 on the reference of a bill, even though the yeas and nays have been ordered. (1398.)

46. The consideration of a conference report may be 172 interrupted by the arrival of the hour previously fixed for a recess. (1396.)

47. The question on the adoption of a final conference 173 report has precedence of a motion to recede and concur in amendments of the other House.

[55th Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, p. 2927.

REJECTION OF CONFERENCE REPORTS, EFFECTS OF, ETC.

48. A bill and amendments having been once sent to 174 conference, do not, upon the rejection of the conference

report, return to their former state so that the amendments may be sent to the Committee of the Whole. (1389.) 175 49. The rejection of a conference report leaves the matter in the position it occupied before the conference was asked. (1390.)

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50. When a conference report is ruled out on a point of order in the House it is equivalent to a negative vote on the report, and the Senate is informed by message that the House has "disagreed" to the report. (1417.)

AMENDMENT OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

51. It is not in order to amend a conference report, and it must be accepted or rejected as an entirety. (1366.)

[Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XLVI; 4th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 270.

NOTE. Various instances are found where conference reports agreed to by both Houses were amended and corrected by concurrent resolution or order. (43d Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., pp. 372, 373, H. Jour., p. 610; Congressional Record, p. 1990; 44th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 581, 708, H. Jour., pp. 1087, 1252; 48th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 859.)

REFERENCE AND RECOMMITMENT OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

52. A conference report may not be referred to a standing committee. (1413.)

53. A conference report may not be referred to the Committee of the Whole, although in the earlier history of the House this was sometimes done. (1410, 1411.)

54. It is not in order in the House to recommit a conference report to the committee of conference. (1412.)

NOTE. This rule is founded upon the decision of Speaker Carlisle (49th Cong., 2d sess., Congressional Record, p. 880), which has been affirmed by subsequent Speakers, but prior to that time many instances had occurred of recommitting conference reports to the committee of conference.

55. It is in order in the Senate to recommit a conference report to the committee of conference, but not with instructions, according to the later decisions.

[42d Cong., 3d sess., S. Jour., pp. 313, 554-557; 43d Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 865; 44th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 211; 49th Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 151; 55th Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, pp. 2823, 2842-3.

NOTE.-Inasmuch as concurrent action is necessary for the recommittal of a conference report, the foregoing rule of the House has necessitated a change in the practice, and no effort has been made by the Senate in late years to recommit a conference report. The purpose of a recommittal can be attained, however, by a rejection of the report, when another conference would be ordered, and in accordance with usage the same conferees would be appointed.

TABLING OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

56. The House has formally discarded the old practice of 182 allowing conference reports to be laid on the table. (14071409.)

NOTE.-The effect of the motion to lay on the table in the House defeats the proposition. It is never taken up again. Hence a conference report can not be laid on the table; otherwise a conference report might be put beyond the reach of either House. (Reed's Parliamentary Rules, Chap. VIII, sec. 115.)

57. The Senate practice allows conference reports to be 183 laid on the table.

[43d Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 433; Congressional Record, pp. 2205–2206.

NOTE.-The effect of the motion to lay on the table in the Senate, unlike that in the House, is simply to suspend the consideration of a question during the pleasure of the Senate, which can be again taken up on motion.

58. A motion to reconsider the vote on agreeing to a 184 conference report may be laid on the table in the Senate without carrying the report.

[44th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 234; Congressional Record, p. 1253, 1254; Senate Manual (1901), Rule XIII, clause 1, p. 13.]

WITHDRAWAL OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

59. A conference report may be withdrawn in the 185 Senate on leave, and in the House by unanimous consent.

NOTE. In the 32d Congress, a conference report having been agreed to in the Senate, the vote was reconsidered, the bill returned from the House on request of the Senate, and the committee of conference had leave to withdraw its report. (32d Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 420.)

Congress,

FORM OF CONFERENCE REPORT

Session. H.R. [or S., as may be] No.

CONFERENCE REPORT

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate [or House, as may be] to the Bill [or Resolution, as may be] (H.R. [or S., as may be] ---), [title here] having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows: That the Senate [or House, as may be] recede from its amendments numbered

*

186

That the House [or Senate, as may be] recede from its disagreements to the amendments of the Senate [or House, as may be] numbered * * and agree to the same.

Amendment numbered

That the House [or Senate, as may be] recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the Senate [or House, as may be] numbered and agree to the same with an amendment, as follows: ***; and the Senate [or House, as may be] agree to the same.

Amendment numbered

That the Senate [or House, as may be] recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the House [or Senate, as may be] to the amendment of the Senate [or House, as may be] numbered and agree to the same.

Amendment numbered

That the Senate [or House, as may be] recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the House [or Senate, as may be] to the amendment of the Senate [or House, as may be] numbered and agree to the same, with an amendment, as follows: ** *; and the House [or Senate, as may be] agree to the same.

Amendments numbered

On the amendments of the Senate [or House, as may be] numbered the committee of conference have been

unable to agree.

The managers on the part of the House and the Senate at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment/amendments of the House/ Senate to the bill/joint resolution ( ) submit the

following joint statement to the House and the Senate in

This statement form replaces that formerly carried in Cleaves' Manual. Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate and Rule XXVIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives provide that "an explanatory statement prepared jointly by the conferees on the part of the House and the conferees on the part of the Senate" shall accompany each conference report.