conference report during its reading in the Senate, stated that the report having been adopted by one House and being now submitted for discussion and decision in the form of concurrence or disagreement, it is not in the province of the Chair during the progress of its presentation to decide that matter has been inserted which is new or not relevant, but that such questions should go before the Senate when it comes to vote on the adoption or rejection of the report. (55th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Jour., pp. 171, 172; Cong. Rec., pp. 2780-2787.) See also Cong. Rec., p. 2827, 56th Cong., 2d sess., when the Presiding Officer (Mr. Lodge in the chair) referred with approval to the foregoing decision of Vice-President Hobart, and stated that when a point of order is made on a conference report on the ground that new matter has been inserted, the Chair should submit the question to the Senate instead of deciding it himself, as has been the custom in the House. No formal ruling was made in this case, however, as the conference report, after debate, was, by unanimous consent, rejected. (56th Cong., 2d sess., Cong. Rec., pp. 2826–2883.)]

30. Conferees may not strike out in conference anything in a bill agreed to and passed by both Houses. (1321.)

[Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XIV. 31. Conferees may include in their report matters which are germane modifications of subjects in disagreement between the Houses and committed to the conference. (1418-1419.)

32. A disagreement to a: 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., Sen. 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.

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 XXVII, 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., Sen. Jour., p. 334; Cong. Rec., p. 5511).]

37. Conference reports are in order in the House under Rule XXIX, 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. This detailed statement is not required by the rules of the Senate, but the result of the conference is usually stated orally by the chairman of the Senate conferees.]

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

39. Whether or not the detailed statement accompanying a conference report is sufficient to comply with the rule (XXIX) 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 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 for the previous question. [55th Cong., 3d sess., Cong. Rec., p. 867.

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

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

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

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

45. A conference report has precedence of the question 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 interrupted by the arrival of the hour previously fixed for a recess. (1396.)

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

[55th Cong., 3d sess., Cong. Rec., p. 2927

REJECTION OF CONFERENCE REPORTS, EFFECT OF, ETC.

48. A bill and amendments having been once sent to 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.)

49. The rejection of a conference report leaves the matter in the position it occupied before the conference was asked. (1390.)

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., Sen. 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., Sen. Jour., pp. 372, 373, Ho. Jour., p. 610; Cong. Rec., p. 1990; 44th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Jour., pp. 581, 708, Ho. Jour., pp. 1087, 1252; 48th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. 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., Cong. Rec., 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., Sen. Jour., pp. 313,

554-557; 43d Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Jour., p. 865; 44th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Jour., p. 211; 49th Cong., 2d sess., Sen. Jour., p. 151; 55th Cong., 3d sess., Cong. Rec., 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.

(1407

56. The House has formally discarded the old practice of allowing conference reports to be laid on the table. 1409.)

[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 laid on the table. [43d Cong., 2d sess., Sen. Jour., p. 433; Cong. Rec., 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 conference report may be laid on the table in the Senate without carrying the report.

[44th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Jour., p. 234; Cong. Rec., 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 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., Sen. Jour., p. 420.)]