Joint Meetings, Joint Sessions, and Inaugurations

Scope of Congress

Background Information¹

The parliamentary difference between a joint session and a joint meeting has evolved over time. In recent years the distinctions have become clearer: a joint session is more formal, and occurs upon the adoption of a concurrent resolution; a joint meeting occurs when each body adopts a unanimous consent agreement to recess to meet with the other legislative body.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives usually presides over joint sessions and joint meetings; however, the President of the Senate does preside over counts of the electoral votes, as required by the Constitution.

In the earliest years of the Republic, 1789 and 1790, when the national legislature met in New York City, joint gatherings were held in the Senate Chamber in Federal Hall. In Philadelphia, when the legislature met in Congress Hall, such meetings were held in the Senate Chamber, 1790-1793, and in the Hall of the House of Representatives, 1794-1799. Once the Congress moved to the Capitol in Washington in 1800, the Senate Chamber again was used for joint gatherings through 1805. Since 1809, with few exceptions, joint sessions and joint meetings have occurred in the Hall of the House.

Presidential messages on the state of the Union were once known as "Annual Messages," but since the 80th Congress have been called "State of the Union Addresses." After President Adams' Annual Message on November 22, 1800, these addresses were read by clerks to the individual bodies until President Wilson resumed the practice of delivering them to joint sessions on December 2, 1913.

In some instances more than one joint gathering has occurred on the same day. For example, on January 6, 1941, Congress met in joint session to count electoral votes for President and Vice President, and then met again in joint session to receive President Roosevelt's Annual Message.

Congress has hosted inaugurations since the first occasion in 1789. They always have been formal joint gatherings, and sometimes they also were joint sessions. Inaugurations were joint sessions when both houses of Congress were in session, and they proceeded to the ceremony as part of the business of the day. In many cases, however, one or both houses were not in session or were in recess at the time of the ceremony.

¹ From France’s Marquis de Lafayette’s address in 1824 through Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo in 1977, the House of Representatives often invited foreign dignitaries to address the chamber in what was known as a House Reception. In the modern era, the practice of using one-chamber receptions largely disappeared. For more information, please visit, Foreign Leaders and Dignitaries Who Have Addressed Congress.