[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 7, Chapters 22 - 25]
[Chapter 24. Bills, Resolutions, and Memorials]
[B. General Procedures Associated With Passage of Legislation]
[Â§ 13. Transmission of Legislative Messages Between House and Senate]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 4899-4901]
 
                               CHAPTER 24
 
              Bills, Resolutions, Petitions, and Memorials
 
      B. GENERAL PROCEDURES ASSOCIATED WITH PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION
 
Sec. 13. Transmission of Legislative Messages Between House and Senate

 Messages From House

Sec. 13.1 Customarily, sundry enrolled bills, signed by the Speaker, 
    are announced as a group (but seldom by individual title or with 
    reference to number or content) at the Senate door when they are 
    messaged from the House, although this procedure has provoked 
    discussion.

     On May 20, 1963,(16) Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper, of 
Iowa, raised a parliamentary inquiry:
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16. 109 Cong. Rec. 9006, 88th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. President, I wanted to make a parliamentary inquiry. For 
    the record, may I ask if H.R. 4997, which is the feed grain bill, 
    has been messaged over from the House to the Senate?
        The Presiding Officer: (17) That bill has come over 
    from the House and has been signed by the President pro tempore.
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17 Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.).
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        Mr. Hickenlooper: May I ask at what time it came over from the 
    House?
        The Presiding Officer: About 7 or 8 minutes after 12 
    o'clock.(18)
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18. Recorded in the Record at 109 Cong. Rec. 8978, 88th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. Hickenlooper: Was it presented through the so-called front 
    door of the Senate and was any public announcement made of the 
    message from the House at the time is was sent over?
        The Presiding Officer: It was not officially announced when it 
    was received.
        Mr. Hickenlooper: So there was no public announcement, at the 
    time the bill was coming from the House, of this having been signed 
    by the Speaker. Is that correct?
        The Presiding Officer: That is correct.
        Mr. Hickenlooper: Therefore, there was no opportunity or 
    knowledge on the part of anyone who might have wanted to raise 
    parliamentary issues with regard to that bill because there was no 
    opportunity as the result of any notice.
        The Presiding Officer: Apparently there was none.
        Mr. Hickenlooper: May I ask if that is the usual procedure, or 
    the unusual procedure, for a bill to be messaged over 
    surreptitiously and secretly from the House of Representatives, in 
    that manner?

[[Page 4900]]

        The Presiding Officer: The usual procedure is for a bill to be 
    announced at the door.
        Mr. Hickenlooper: It was not followed in this case.
        The Presiding Officer: That is correct.
        Mr. Hickenlooper: I thank the Chair for explaining this very 
    interesting and unusual procedure in connection with this 
    bill.(19)
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19. Parliamentarian's Note: H.R. 4997, the Feed Grain Act of 1963, was 
        signed by the Speaker shortly after noon on May 20. Since there 
        was some urgency about getting the bill to the White House as 
        quickly as possible, the messenger from the House took the bill 
        directly to the Senate where he was instructed, by the 
        Secretary of the Senate, to take the bill directly to the desk 
        for signature by the President pro tempore. The bill was then 
        taken immediately to the White House by a representative of the 
        Secretary of the Senate.
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Messages From Senate

Sec. 13.2 The Speaker lays before the House letters from the Clerk 
    advising him that pursuant to authority granted, the Clerk had, 
    during adjournment, received messages from the Senate relative to 
    the passage of House bills.

     On Apr. 12, 1965,(20) the Speaker (21) laid 
before the House the following communication from the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives: (22)
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20. 111 Cong. Rec. 7771, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
21. John W. McCormack (Mass.).
22. See also 111 Cong. Rec. 14845, 89th Cong. 1st Sess. June 28, 1965; 
        and 111 Cong. Rec. 9115, 89th Cong. 1st Sess. May 3, 1965.
            For a more extensive discussion of House-Senate messages 
        and House-Senate relations generally, see Ch. 32, infra.
                                    Office of the Clerk,
                                   House of Representatives,
                               Washington, D.C., April 10, 1965.
    The Honorable the Speaker,
    House of Representatives.

        Sir: Pursuant to authority granted on April 8, 1965, the Clerk 
    received from the Secretary of the Senate today the following 
    message:
        That the Senate passed H.R. 2362, entitled ``An act to 
    strengthen and improve educational quality and educational 
    opportunities in the Nation's elementary and secondary schools.''
        Respectfully yours,

                                           Ralph R. Roberts,
                             Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.

Revenue and Appropriation Measures

Sec. 13.3 The House has agreed to privileged resolutions providing for 
    the return to the Senate of joint resolutions passed by that body 
    and held to infringe on the revenue-raising powers of the House 
    under the Constitution.

    On Mar. 12, 1953,(1) the House considered and agreed to 
the fol
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 1. 99 Cong. Rec. 1897, 1898, 83d Cong. 1st Sess.
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[[Page 4901]]

lowing privileged resolution (H. Res. 176):

        Resolved, That Senate Joint Resolution 52, making an 
    appropriation out of the general fund of the District of Columbia, 
    in the opinion of the House, contravenes the first clause of the 
    seventh section of the first article of the Constitution and is an 
    infringement of the privileges of this House, and that the said 
    joint resolution be taken from the Speaker's table and be 
    respectfully returned to the Senate with a message communicating 
    this resolution.

     Again, on July 2, 1960,(2) the House considered and 
agreed to the following resolution (H. Res. 598):
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 2. 106 Cong. Rec. 15818, 15819, 86th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        That Senate Joint Resolution 217 [extending Sugar Act of 1948] 
    in the opinion of this House contravenes the first clause of the 
    seventh section of the first article of the Constitution of the 
    United States, and is an infringement of the privileges of this 
    House, and that the said resolution be respectfully returned to the 
    Senate with a message communicating this resolution.

     Similarly, on Oct. 10, 1962,(3) the House considered 
and agreed to the following resolution (H. Res. 831):
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 3. 108 Cong. Rec. 23014, 23015, 87th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Resolved, That Senate Joint Resolution 234, making 
    appropriations for the Department of Agriculture and the Farm 
    Credit Administration for the fiscal year 1963, in the opinion of 
    the House, contravenes the first clause of the seventh section of 
    the first article of the Constitution and is an infringement of the 
    privileges of this House, and that the said joint resolution be 
    taken from the Speaker's table and be respectfully returned to the 
    Senate with a message communicating this resolution.

     The jurisdiction and authority of the House over revenue bills is 
treated more extensively in the chapter on the general powers and 
prerogatives of the House. See chapter 13, supra.