COMMITTEE ON RULES -

How Congress Works

Resolving Differences with the Senate

Basic Procedural Differences Between the House of Representatives and the Senate

Summary of Differences The procedures for consideration of legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives have always differed. While the differences are numerous, the three most significant are:

the role of the Committee on Rules in the House versus the vote of the full Senate in bringing legislation to the floor; the strict germaneness rule in the House, and the lack of such a strict rule in the Senate;
the use of the previous question to cut off debate in the House, versus the ability to filibuster and hold in the Senate.

The underlying result is that in the House, a majority can generally move its legislative agenda through the process, while in the Senate a supermajority is often needed to enact major legislation. Constitutional Authority and Origin of the Rules The differences between the rules of the two chambers have their roots in the Constitution of the United States. Article I, Section 5 states that, "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings..." The right of both chambers to make such rules as they see fit, as long as these rules comply with the rest of the Constitution, has been upheld on numerous occasions by the courts. During his term as Vice President from 1797 to 1801, Thomas Jefferson prepared a guide to parliamentary procedure for his own use in presiding over the Senate. This guide was later published as Jefferson's Manual and has been the basis of parliamentary law in America, in Congress and elsewhere, ever since. Interestingly, although it had been written for the Senate, it has never been adopted by the Senate in any formal manner. However, the House of Representatives adopted a rule in 1837, which exists today as clause 1 of rule XXVIII, that makes the Manual the basis for its proceedings except under those circumstances that conflict with the current rules and standing orders of the House. The Manual provides a highly detailed structure for parliamentary procedure, which makes the House more formal and organized in its deliberations than the Senate. Bringing Bills to the Floor In the House of Representatives, most major legislation is brought to the floor by the House's adoption of a special rule, which takes the form of a resolution reported by the Committee on Rules. Special rules set guidelines for floor consideration of measures, measures in violation of standing House rules, or measures requiring a special debate or amendment structure. Special rules allow the House leadership to establish legislative priorities. If such special rules were not used, the House would have to consider bills in the order that they were reported from committee Special rules are requested by a letter from the Chairman of the reporting committee to the Chairman of the Rules Committee. The House must adopt, by simple majority, a special rule which specifies how the bill will be considered before it can actually consider the underlying bill. Once adopted, the rule may govern the amount of general debate time, amendments permitted to the underlying bill, or waive points of order against the bill or amendments to that bill. In the Senate, there is no Rules Committee to perform this function. Legislation reported from a committee is placed on the Senate Calendar as a "General Order", which the Senate must then agree to take up. The motion to take up a measure is debatable after the first two hours of any legislative day. As a result, controversial legislation is often subject to a filibuster before it is even considered (see below). Consequently, in order to prevent such an occurrence, the Majority and Minority Leaders, in consultation with their party caucuses, will attempt to work out a unanimous consent agreement, prescribing a definite time for debate and voting on a bill. Germaneness Clause 7 of Rule XVI of the rules of the House requires that all amendments be germane, or related to, the matter they seek to amend. This prevents the addition of unrelated matters to bills on the floor of the House or in its committees. In the Senate, the only bills that carry a germaneness requirement are appropriations and budget measures, matters on which cloture has been invoked (see below), and a few other specific matters prescribed by statute. For any other bill, amendments may be offered which have no relevance to the subject matter of the bill. In many instances, Senators will introduce their legislation as an amendment to a bill currently on the floor. This method avoids the committee review and scheduling process. This power makes it much more difficult for the Senate to predict the outcome of floor debates on bills. Often, more debate time is consumed by a non-germane amendment than the bill itself. Bringing an End to Debate: Previous Question, Filibuster and Cloture In the House, debate is brought to a close by the ordering of the previous question. This has the effect of stopping all debate and bringing the bill (and any pending amendments) to an immediate vote. The motion is usually made once the planned period of debate has ended in order to bring a bill to a vote on final passage. Special rules (see above) sometimes prescribe that the previous question is automatically ordered after certain actions are completed. The previous question allows a majority to cut off debate and, if it so desires, prevent additional amendments. Theoretically, debate in the Senate on most questions is unlimited. As a result, Senators who are opposed to a measure on the Senate floor may attempt to slow down the process by speaking continuously on the floor and therefore tying up the Senate. This process is known as a "filibuster". The threat of a filibuster is the main reason behind the attempts by the leadership of both parties to work out a unanimous consent agreement on major legislation. However, this cannot always be done. The threat of a filibuster is also one reason for the Senate custom of "holds", whereby a Senator can request that his leader not allow a matter to be scheduled for floor consideration. Such requests are traditionally honored.

The Senate's rules provide for one method to break a filibuster, known as invoking cloture. The motion to invoke cloture is brought up by a petition of 16 Senators and is itself nondebatable. If cloture is invoked, a number of requirements are imposed. Further debate is limited to 30 hours, is confined to the subject of the bill and all further amendments must be germane. After the 30 hours have expired, the Senate must vote on the pending legislation. However, the rules require that at least three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 Senators, vote in favor of the motion in order to invoke cloture. Consequently, invoking cloture usually requires some bipartisan support.