Parliamentary Outreach Program

Floor Procedures for Considering
Appropriation Bills in the House of Representatives

Executive Summary

Each fiscal year the Congress must pass and have signed into law thirteen appropriation bills which fund those programs, projects and activities that operate within the discretionary sector of the Federal budget. The Budget Act and rules of the House contain numerous provisions which govern the floor consideration of appropriation measures in the House of Representatives.

While appropriation bills are privileged matters in the House, they have increasingly been brought to the floor pursuant to a special rule granted by the Rules Committee. Most often appropriation bills are given open rules which provide waivers of certain points of order thereby allowing the measure to be considered on the House floor. Absent these waivers certain points of order may lie against consideration of the bill in its entirety or against individual provisions contained within the bill.

Appropriation bills are considered in the Committee of the Whole and after one hour of general debate are read for amendment by paragraph under the five-minute rule. Within the standing rules of the House, the Budget Act and the provisions of a governing special rule, various types of amendments may be offered to a pending appropriation measure. These types of amendments include amendments to increase or decrease spending for a program, project or activity, en bloc amendments which both increase and decrease spending and limitation amendments. After completion of the consideration of the bill for amendment, the Committee of the Whole rises and reports the measure back to the House with any amendments agreed to in the Committee of the Whole. Finally, it is in order for the minority to offer one motion to recommit, immediately before a final passage vote on the bill.

This comprehensive primer details the floor process for appropriation measures with a special emphasis on the rules specifically applicable to the appropriations process, the consideration of an appropriation measure in the Committee of the Whole and the offering of amendments to such a bill. It also describes the common procedural tools granted to the House by special rules governing consideration of appropriation bills.


Floor Procedures for Considering Appropriation Bills in the House of Representatives

A Comprehensive Primer

Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution provides that "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations[.]" Pursuant to this constitutional directive, the House of Representatives has established a comprehensive system of rules and procedures to fulfill this responsibility.

Timing of Consideration of Appropriation Bills. Section 300 and 303 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 provide that the House of Representatives may begin to consider its annual appropriation bills on the House floor as early as May 15 ("or earlier if the budget resolution is agreed to by both the House and Senate earlier than that") Equipped with the budget allocation granted to the committee in the conference report on the budget resolution, the Appropriations Committee suballocates this allocation into 13 smaller allocations for each of its subcommittees. Section 307 of the Budget Act provides that the Appropriations Committee should have completed all of its committee action, that is reported all of its appropriations bills, by or before June 10th. However, in recent Congresses this deadline has been more of a goal than a strict rule. Finally, section 309 of the Budget Act prohibits the consideration of a resolution in the House providing for an adjournment period of more than three days in the month of July until the House has approved all 13 of the annual appropriation bills. This prohibition has also often been waived by unanimous consent or a special rule in recent Congresses. Delays in meeting these deadlines are often the result of a delay in agreeing to a conference report on a budget resolution.

Privileged Consideration of Appropriation Bills. The Appropriations Committee is one of five House committees that have "leave to report at any time" on certain matters specified in clause 5 of House Rule XIII ("Privileged reports, generally"). The ability to report at any time means that these committees can file their reports as privileged matters for consideration (even on measures not previously introduced and referred to the committee, and to call the measures up without the need for a special rule to give them privileged status (subject to the report layover limits specified in House rules)).

Under clause 5(a)(1) of House rule XIII, the privileged reporting status of the Appropriations Committee applies to "general appropriations bills" (meaning any of the 13 regular appropriations bills as well as any supplemental appropriations bills which are other than single purpose bills), and "joint resolutions continuing appropriations for a fiscal year after September 15 in the preceding fiscal year."

Such privileged reports must be filed from the floor of the House as opposed to non-privileged reports which are simply dropped in the hopper, while the House is in session (or by special leave or operation of a unanimous consent request to file the report when the House is not in session).

Reserving and Making Points of Order Against Provisions of a Bill. Clause 2 of House rule XXI outlines those matters which specifically give rise to points of order against provisions in reported appropriation measures. Clause 2(a)(1) of House rule XXI provides that "An appropriation may not be reported in a general appropriation bill, and may not be in order as an amendment thereto, for an expenditure not previously authorized by law, except to continue appropriations for public works and objects that are already in progress."

Clause 2(a)(2) of House rule XXI provides that, "A reappropriation of unexpended balances of appropriations may not be reported in a general appropriation bill, and may not be in order as an amendment thereto, except to continue appropriations for public works and objects that are already in progress."

Clause 2(b) of House rule XXI provides that, "A provision changing existing law may not be reported in a general appropriation bill, including a provision making the availability of funds contingent on the receipt or possession of information not required by existing law for the period of the appropriation, except germane provisions that retrench expenditures by the reduction of amounts of money covered by the bill...."

Finally, clause 2(e) of House rule XXI provides that, "A provision other than an appropriation designated an emergency under section 251(b)(2) or section 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, a rescission of budget authority, or a reduction in direct spending or an amount for a designated emergency may not be reported in an appropriation bill or joint resolution containing an emergency designation under section 251(b)(2) or section 252(e) of such Act and may not be in order as an amendment thereto."

Since each of these points of order lies against reporting (or receiving) a bill containing such unauthorized or legislative provisions, reappropriations, or non-emergency items in an emergency appropriations bill, the proper time for the point of order to be raised is when the committee files its report with the House. In other words, the point of order is raised against reporting the measure as opposed to being against its consideration.

However, clause 1 of House rule XXI reads that, "at the time a general appropriation bill is reported, all points of order against provisions therein shall be considered as reserved." Consequently, the right of any Member to raise a point of order for a violation of these clauses of rule XXI is protected and therefore may be raised at a later time when the paragraph or section containing such a violation is read for amendment during consideration of the bill for amendment under the five-minute rule in the Committee of the Whole.

The Chair first inquires whether any Member has a point of order against the pending paragraph or section before entertaining any amendments to that portion of the bill. The Chair makes the same inquiry when a bill is open to amendment to a certain point by unanimous consent. A point of order may only be raised against a portion of the paragraph or section, or against the entire paragraph or section. If the Chair sustains such a point of order, the entire paragraph or provision against which the point of order was raised is automatically stricken from the bill.

Points of Order Against Consideration of a Bill. Under the rules of the House, there are numerous requirements that, if violated, would give rise to a point of order against the consideration of an appropriation bill. Such a point of order must be made in the House before it resolves into the Committee of the Whole to consider the measure. In addition to the specific requirements in House rules outlined above for appropriation measures, there are other requirements which apply to all reported bills, most of which are contained in Rules XI and XIII. The following provisions of those rules are those that are most frequently utilized during the appropriation process.

Clause 3(a)(1) of rule XIII requires the inclusion in a committee report of any supplemental, minority or additional views (under clause 2(l) of rule XI) that have been submitted by the time of the filing of the committee report. Such views are usually placed at the end of the report and are required to be identified on the first page of the committee report.

Clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII requires the inclusion in a committee report of a statement on certain budget matters if the measure includes new budget, entitlement or credit authority or an increase or decrease in revenues. This statement is also required by Section 308(a) of the Budget Act. Clause 3(c)(2), however, further requires that "when practicable" the estimate of new budget authority include a comparison to the appropriate levels under current law. However, the term "when practicable" provides that if this comparison is not included in the report a point of order would not lie against consideration of the bill. Consequently, a point of order against consideration of the bill would only lie if the report did not contain the specific information required by Section 308(a) of the Budget Act.

Clause 3(f) of rule XIII requires the Appropriations Committee to include in any report accompanying legislation reported from that committee a list of all unauthorized appropriations, any rescissions or transfers of unexpended balances, and any provisions changing existing law. This required information assists in determining whether or not the appropriation measure contains provisions in violation of clause 2 of rule XXI.

Clause 4(a)(1) of rule XIII is the general prohibition against consideration of a reported measure until the committee report on that measure has been available for three calendar days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day).

Clause 4(c) of rule XIII is a further prohibition specifically against the consideration of an appropriation bill. This clause prohibits a bill’s consideration until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which the printed hearings on the subject matter of the appropriations bill are available.

Finally, there are several provisions in the Budget Act which can prohibit the consideration of appropriation measures. Section 302(c) prohibits the consideration of appropriation bills before the Appropriations Committee has filed its 302(b) suballocations with the House.

Section 302(f)(1) and (2) prohibit the consideration of appropriation bills that exceed the Appropriation Committee’s and its subcommittees’ section 302(a) and (b) allocations, respectively, under the most recent budget resolution.

Section 303(a) prohibits the consideration of bills containing new budget authority before the budget resolution for that year has been finally adopted. However, for appropriation bills this prohibition only applies prior to May 15th. While the Budget Act requires that Congressional action on the annual budget resolution be completed by April 15th, this deadline has only been met a few times in the last twenty-five years.

Section 311(a) prohibits the consideration of a bill which exceeds the budget outlay ceiling contained in the most recently adopted budget resolution. However, this point of order does not apply if the Appropriations Committee is within its section 302(a) allocation for discretionary budget authority.

Consideration in the Committee of the Whole. Appropriation bills are referred to the Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, "to which shall be referred public bills and public resolutions raising revenue, involving a tax or charge on the people, directly or indirectly making appropriations of money or property or requiring such appropriations to be made, authorizing payments out of appropriations already made, releasing any liability to the United States for money or property, or referring a claim to the Court of Claims."

For privileged appropriation bills that are not governed by a special rule providing for debate time, unanimous consent is obtained before resolving into the Committee of the Whole to limit general debate to a specified period, usually one hour, to be equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee. Absent such a limitation on debate, any Member could seek recognition for up to one hour of debate before the House begins considering the bill for amendment under the five minute rule. When a special rule governs consideration of appropriation bills, the rule allocates time for general debate between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations.

When conducting business in the Committee of the Whole, the Member in the Chair is referred to as Mr. Chairman as opposed to Mr. Speaker.

Consideration of Amendments. Once general debate is concluded, the Clerk begins to read the bill by paragraph or numbered section for amendment under the five minute rule. Most often special rules are silent on the method of reading the bill for amendment. This means that the bill is open to amendment by paragraph. However, it should be noted that during the reading of the bill a floor manager may ask unanimous consent to open for amendment either a portion of the bill, such as a title, or the remainder of the bill not yet read for amendment.

An amendment may only be offered to a pending paragraph once the Clerk has read that paragraph or the paragraph is pending. If the Clerk has read beyond that paragraph, an amendment may not be offered to that paragraph absent a unanimous consent request to return to that paragraph.

The proponent and an opponent of the amendment speak first on an amendment debated under the five minute rule. Under this process, a Member may not reserve time but may yield any of the five minutes to another Member provided the Member who has yielded is standing.

Other Members may speak for five minutes by standing to seek recognition and stating, "Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word." This pro forma amendment is simply a device to get time without having to offer an actual amendment. Once a Member is finished speaking on a pro forma amendment, it is considered to have been automatically withdrawn and no vote is required on it. When speaking under the five-minute rule, a Member may be able to obtain additional time by simply stating: "I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to proceed for up to an additional 5 minutes." The Chair will usually respond by stating: "Without objection, it is so ordered." Any Member may object to this request although they rarely do so . Unlike the time during general debate, time under the five-minute rule is not allocated to any specific Member, unless specifically provided for in a special rule. Additional time may be obtained by unanimous consent or by asking another Member who has not consumed all of his five minutes to yield time. When all Members who wish to be heard are finished, the Chair puts the question to a vote.

En Bloc Amendments. Clause 2(f) of rule XXI permits the consideration of en bloc amendments "proposing only to transfer appropriations among objects in the bill without increasing the levels of budget authority or outlays in the bill." For example, an en bloc amendment is one that seeks to reduce spending for Program X in Title I and transfer or increase spending for Program Y in Title II. Such amendments may go to portions of the bill not yet read for amendment, but the Chair must first entertain points of order against provisions contained in such a portion not yet read before the amendment is debated. Such en bloc amendments are not subject to a demand for a division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. The key to offering an en bloc amendment is that it must be offered at the first point at which it seeks to amend the bill. Otherwise, the en bloc amendment would be attempting to amend portions of the bill either already amended or at the very least already read for amendment. An en bloc amendment must also be neutral in the provision of both budget authority and budget outlays.

Limitation Amendments. A limitation amendment places a restriction on the expenditure of funds provided in an appropriation bill, either by prohibiting the use of funds for a specified purpose or by establishing a spending ceiling. These amendments may apply to a single account, several accounts, or an entire title or bill.

As other amendments to appropriation measures, limitation amendments, under clause 2 of rule XXI, may also not change existing law or create new law. They also may only restrict the use of funds in the bill then under consideration by the House. These amendments may not limit the use of funds provided in other acts or extend beyond the fiscal year for which the appropriation is provided.

Limitation amendments are considered after all other amendments to the bill have been considered under clause 2(c) of rule XXI.. Only the Majority Leader (or his designee) may prevent consideration of permissible limitation amendments by making a motion to rise and report, effectively ending consideration of the measure. If a majority votes for the motion, no more amendments may be considered. If the motion fails, the Majority Leader may offer the motion to rise and report again only after a subsequent limitation amendment has been voted on in the Committee of the Whole by the House. The adoption of a motion to rise can also preclude the offering of fetch-back or across the board cutting amendments.

Motions to Recommit. After the Committee of the Whole rises and reports an appropriation bill back to the House with amendments agreed to in the Committee of the Whole and immediately before final passage, it is in order for the minority to offer one motion to recommit.

A motion to recommit a bill to the Committee on Appropriations with instructions to report back the bill "forthwith" with an amendment is subject to the same points of order as any other amendment to an appropriation bill during its consideration in the Committee of the Whole.

Thus the amendment contained in the motion to recommit may not contain appropriations for unauthorized purposes or change existing law. It may not contain new rescissions since that is considered legislating on an appropriation bill in violation of clause 2(b) of rule XXI. It also cannot contain new budget authority in excess of the committee’s 302(b) allocation. Furthermore, the motion to recommit may not contain limitation amendments not previously considered in the Committee of the Whole since such amendments are only in order before the Committee of the Whole rises.

Final Passage. Record votes on the final passage of an appropriation bill or conference report thereon are automatic under the rules of the House. Clause 10 of rule XX ("Voting and quorum calls") provides that "The yeas and nays shall be considered as ordered when the Speaker puts the question on passage of a bill or joint resolution, or on the adoption of a conference report making general appropriations..."

Clause 6 of rule XVIII grants the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole the authority to reduce to 5 minutes the time for electronic voting on a postponed question, provided that the voting time on the first in any series of questions is not less than 15 minutes. This procedural tool is also in place for the Speaker. The Chair’s postponement and clustering authority allows for a greater predictability in scheduling and a more efficient consideration of floor amendments to bills such as appropriation measures.

Features of Special Rules Providing for Consideration of Appropriation Bills. While appropriation bills are privileged matters, most appropriation bills have been brought to the floor in recent Congresses pursuant to a special rule. These are generally granted at the request of the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

In most cases, appropriation bills are considered under open rules where any Member may offer any amendment that is consistent with the standing rules of the House. However, on occasion a special rule providing for consideration of an appropriation measure may require that all amendments be pre-printed in the Congressional Record, provide for an overall time cap on the amendment process or make in order only those amendments printed in the Rules Committee report accompanying the special rule.

Most often these special rules will provide waivers of certain points of order. The most common waiver is of clause 2 of rule XXI as most appropriation measures contain funding for unauthorized agencies or programs as well as legislative provisions which change existing law. Sometimes the waiver of a point of order (such as clause 2 of rule XXI) will apply to the whole bill except a certain paragraph or section. In this instance, during consideration of the bill for amendment in the Committee of the Whole when the Clerk reaches that portion of the bill not protected in the reading, any Member may rise and make the applicable point of order, which if sustained, would result in that section or paragraph being struck from the bill. Occasionally the Rules Committee will also grant waivers of these points of order to particular amendments to be offered on the floor.

As stated earlier, special rules also usually assign general debate time to the chairman and ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee. Generally an hour, this debate time is equally divided and controlled between the two Members and takes place in the Committee of the Whole.

Finally, there are other procedural tools that are increasingly being provided in special rules that allow for an amendment process. Special rules customarily grant the Chair discretion to give priority in recognition to Members who have pre-printed their amendment in the Congressional Record prior to the consideration of that amendment. The Chair will likely still recognize a Member of the reporting committee over a non-Member, even if the former Member’s amendment is not pre-printed. However, absent this provision, the Chair would follow the custom of giving preferential recognition to Members, based on seniority, who serve on the reporting committee, alternating between the parties. This procedural tool achieves two purposes. First, it provides greater visibility of a potential amendment to the overall membership of the House. Secondly, it enables the majority and minority managers of a bill to more efficiently organize the floor consideration of the measure within the standing rules of the House.

While these are only the most common features of special rules governing appropriation measures, when taken in tandem with the existing rules and precedents of the House they paint an accurate picture of the general practices followed by the House of Representatives in its floor consideration of appropriation measures.