    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
    [104th Congress]
    [House Document 103-342]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 517-525]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                   Rule XIII.

                      CALENDARS AND REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

    Sec. 742. Calendar for reports of committees.

      1.  There shall
    be three calendars to which all business reported from committees shall
    be referred, viz.:

      First. A Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of
    the Union, to which shall be referred bills raising revenue, general
    appropriation bills, and bills of a public character directly or
    indirectly appropriating money or property.

    [[Page 518]]

      Second. A House Calendar, to which shall be referred all bills of a
    public character not raising revenue nor directly or indirectly
    appropriating money or property.

      Third. A Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House, to which shall
    be referred all bills of a private character.

      This clause was adopted in 1880 and amended in 1911 (VI, 742); but as
    early as 1820 a rule was adopted creating calendars for the Committees
    of the Whole. Bills not requiring consideration in Committee of the
    Whole were considered when reported, but in 1880 the House Calendar was
    created to remedy the delays in making reports caused by such
    consideration (IV, 3115). Reference of bills to calendars is governed by
    text of bills as referred to committees and amendments reported by
    committees are not considered (VIII, 2392).

      A motion to correct an error in referring a bill to the proper
    calendar presents a question of privilege (III, 2614, 2615); but a mere
    clerical error in the calendar does not give rise to such question (III,
    2616). A bill improperly reported is not entitled to a place on the
    calendar (IV, 3117).

      A bill on the wrong calendar may be transferred to the proper calendar
    as of date of original reference by direction of the Speaker (VI, 744-
    748; VII, 859, 2406; Dec. 7, 1950, p. 16307; Apr. 26, 1984, p. 10242;
    Sept. 10, 1990, p. ----). But the Speaker has no authority to change
    calendar reference made by the House (VI, 749; VII, 859). Reports from
    the Court of Claims do not remain on the calendar from Congress to
    Congress, even when a law seems so to provide (IV, 3298-3302). In
    determining whether a bill should be placed on the House or Union
    Calendar, clause 3 of rule XXIII should be consulted. The Speaker may
    correct the erroneous referral of a bill as private by referring it to
    the appropriate (Union) calendar as a public bill when reported (June 1,
    1988, p. 13184).

      Although the Speaker has no general authority to remove a reported
    bill from the Union Calendar (other than to correct the erroneous
    reference of a reported bill between Calendars), he may discharge a bill
    therefrom for reference to another committee when required (1) by
    section 401(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, mandating 15-day
    referral to the Committee on Appropriations of reported bills providing
    new entitlement authority in excess of that allocated to the reporting
    committee in connection with the most recently agreed to concurrent
    resolution on the budget (Speaker O'Neill, Sept. 8, 1977, p. 28153), or
    (2) by clause 5 of rule X, authorizing and directing the Speaker to
    assure that each committee has responsibility to consider legislation
    within its jurisdiction by fashioning sequential referrals where
    appropriate (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 27, 1978, p. 11742; June 19, 1986, p.
    14741).

    [[Page 519]]
    for printing and reference to the proper calendar under the direction
    of the Speaker, in accordance with the foregoing clause, and the titles
    or subject thereof shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the
    Record: Provided, That bills reported <> adversely shall be laid on the table, unless the committee
    reporting a bill, at the time, or any Member within three days
    thereafter, shall request its reference to the calendar, when it shall
    be referred, as provided in clause 1 of this rule.

    Sec. 743. Nonprivileged reports filed with the Clerk.

      2.  All
    reports of committees, except as provided in clause 4(a) of rule XI,
    together with the views of the minority, shall be delivered to the Clerk

      A technical amendment changing the reference herein to clause 4(a) of
    rule XI (relating to privileged reports), was effected by the 93d
    Congress (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470).

      A resolution of inquiry is referred to the House Calendar even when
    reported adversely (VI, 411).

      Under the provisions of clause 2(l)(6) of rule XI, a measure or matter
    may not be called up for consideration until the third calendar day
    (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) on which the report
    thereon has been available to the Members of the House. Clause 7 of rule
    XXI places a similar restriction on the consideration of general
    appropriation bills and adds the requirement that printed hearings on
    those bills must be available for the same time period. Expense
    resolutions reported from the Committee on House Oversight have a one-
    day layover under clause 5(a) of rule XI; and reports from the Committee
    on Rules may be called up when filed subject to the two-thirds vote
    requirement of clause 4(b) of rule XI, except that under clause 2(l)(6)
    of rule XI reports from the Committee on Rules merely waiving the three
    day availability requirement may be immediately considered and do not
    require a two-thirds vote.

      Unless filed with the report, minority, supplemental or additional
    views may be presented only with the consent of the House (IV, 4600;
    VIII, 2231, 2248). See clause 2(l)(5) of rule XI for the procedure by
    which such views may be filed as part of the committee report.

    [[Page 520]]

      A supplemental report to correct a technical error in a committee
    report may be filed without the consent of the House (clause 2(l)(5) of
    rule XI). It has been held that the fact that a report was not printed
    by the Public Printer as originally made to the House does not prevent
    the consideration of the matter reported (VIII, 2307). A committee may
    not file its report on a bill after the House has passed the bill (Sept.
    30, 1985, p. 25270).

    Sec. 745. ``Ramseyer Rule.''

      3.  Whenever a committee reports
    a bill or a joint resolution repealing or amending any statute or part
    thereof it shall include in its report or in an accompanying document--

          (1) The text of the statute or part thereof which is proposed to
    be repealed; and

          (2) A comparative print of that part of the bill or joint
    resolution making the amendment and of the statute or part thereof
    proposed to be amended, showing by stricken-through type and italics,
    parallel columns, or other appropriate typographical devices the
    omissions and insertions proposed to be made: Provided, however, That if
    a committee reports such a bill or joint resolution with amendments or
    an amendment in the nature of a substitute for the entire bill, such
    report shall include a comparative print showing any changes in existing
    law proposed by the amendments or substitute instead of as in the bill
    as introduced.

      The first part of this paragraph was adopted January 28, 1929 (VIII,
    2234), was redesignated as subsection (3) January 3, 1953 (p. 24), and
    the proviso was added September 22, 1961 (p. 20823).

    [[Page 521]]
    them (VIII, 2237, 2245, 2250). A bill having been recommitted for
    failure to conform to the rule, further proceedings are de novo and the
    bill must again be considered and reported by the committee as if no
    previous report had been made (VIII, 2249). Special orders providing for
    consideration of bills, unless specifically waiving points of order, do
    not preclude the point of order that reports on such bills fail to
    indicate proposed changes in existing law (VIII, 2245). The rule applies
    to appropriation bills where such bills include legislative provisions
    (VIII, 2241) and reports on appropriation bills are also subject to the
    requirements of clause 3 of rule XXI, requiring a concise statement of
    the effect of any direct or indirect changes in the application of
    existing law. In order to fall within the purview of the rule the bill
    must seek to repeal or amend specifically an existing law (VIII, 2235,
    2239, 2240). Where the comparative print contained certain errors in
    punctuation and capitalization and utilized abbreviations not appearing
    in existing provisions of law, the Speaker held that the committee
    report was in substantial compliance with the rule and overruled a point
    of order against the report (July 25, 1966, p. 16842; July 30, 1968, pp.
    24252-54). The point of order that a report fails to comply with the
    rule is properly made when the bill is called up in the House and comes
    too late after the House has resolved into the Committee of the Whole
    for its consideration (VIII, 2243-2245).

      Failure of a committee report to comply with the rule may be remedied
    by a supplemental report (VIII, 2247); and while the filing of such a
    corrective report formerly required the consent of the House (VIII,
    2248), it may now be filed with the Clerk pursuant to clause 2(l)(5) of
    rule XI. Although a bill proposes but one minor and obvious change in
    existing law, the failure of the report to indicate the change is in
    violation of the rule (VIII, 2236). The statute proposed to be amended
    must be quoted in the report and it is not sufficient that it is
    incorporated in the bill (VIII, 2238). Under the rule the committee
    report on a bill amending existing law by the addition of a proviso
    should quote in full the section immediately preceding the proposed
    amendment (VIII, 2237). Bills held to be in violation of the rule are
    automatically recommitted to the respective committees reporting

    Sec. 745a. Corrections Calendar.

      4.  (a) After a bill has
    been favorably reported and placed on either the Union or House
    Calendar, the Speaker may, after consultation with the Minority Leader,
    file with the Clerk a notice requesting that such bill also be placed
    upon a special calendar to be known as the ``Corrections Calendar''. On
    the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, after the Pledge of
    Allegiance, the Speaker may direct the Clerk to call the bills in
    numerical order which have been on the Corrections Calendar for three
    legislative days.

    [[Page 522]]
    ommended by the primary committee of jurisdiction or those offered by
    the chairman of the primary committee, and the previous question shall
    be considered as ordered on the bill and any amendment thereto to final
    passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or
    without instructions.
      (b) A bill so called shall be considered in the House, debatable for
    one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking
    minority member of the primary committee of jurisdiction reporting the
    bill, shall not be subject to amendment except those amendments rec

      (c) A three-fifths vote of the members voting shall be required to
    pass any bill called from the Corrections Calendar but the rejection of
    any such bill, or the sustaining of any point of order against it or its
    consideration, shall not cause it to be removed from the Calendar to
    which it was originally referred.

    Sec. 746. Former Consent Calendar.

      This clause was amended in the 104th Congress to abolish the Consent
    Calendar and establish in its place a Corrections Calendar (H. Res. 168,
    June 20, 1995, p. ----). The original clause, providing for the former
    Consent Calendar, was adopted March 15, 1909, amended January 18, 1924;
    December 7, 1925; December 8, 1931; and April 23, 1932 (VII,
    972).  Bills must have been
    on the printed calendar three legislative working days in order to be
    eligible for consideration (VII, 992, 994). When a House bill was on the
    Consent Calendar, by unanimous consent the House committee could have
    been discharged from the consideration of a Senate bill on the same
    subject, and the Senate bill considered in lieu of the House bill (VII,
    1004). The status of bills on the Consent Calendar was not affected by
    their consideration from another calendar and such bills could have been
    called up for consideration from the Consent Calendar while pending as
    unfinished business in the House or Committee of the Whole (VII, 1006).

    [[Page 523]]
    report before directing the call of the Consent Calendar (May 4, 1970,
    pp. 13991-95).

      The former rule did not preclude the Speaker from recognizing Members
    to suspend the rules before completion of the Consent Calendar (decided
    by House, VIII, 3405; also held by Speaker Clark, Oct. 5, 1914, p.
    16182, and by Speaker Gillett, Sept. 4, 1919, p. 5128). Recognition to
    suspend the rules did not preclude the continuation of the call of the
    calendar later in the day (VII, 991). The call of the Consent Calendar
    on days devoted to its consideration took precedence of the motion to go
    into the Committee of the Whole to consider revenue or appropriation
    bills (VII, 986), and a contested-election case could not supplant the
    call of the Calendar (VII, 988), but the Speaker could recognize a
    Member to call up a conference

    Sec. 747. Motion to discharge.

      5.  There shall also be a
    Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees, as provided in clause 3 of
    rule XXVII.

    <>   6. Calendars shall be printed
    daily.

      The discharge rule was redesignated as clause 3 of rule XXVII in the
    102d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). A conforming change in
    this clause was adopted in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993,
    p. ----).

      This clause was adopted in the 62d Congress, April 5, 1911 (VI, 743),
    and amended December 8, 1931, pp. 10, 83.

    Sec. 748b. Estimate of cost.

      7.  (a) The report accompanying
    each bill or joint resolution of a public character reported by any
    committee shall contain--

          (1) an estimate, made by such committee, of the costs which would
    be incurred in carrying out such bill or joint resolution in the fiscal
    year in which it is reported and in each of the five fiscal years
    following such fiscal year (or for the authorized duration of any
    program authorized by such bill or joint resolution, if less than five
    years);

          (2) a comparison of the estimate of costs described in
    subparagraph (1) of this paragraph made by such committee with any
    estimate of such costs made by any Government agency and submitted to
    such committee; and

    [[Page 524]]

          (3) when practicable, a comparison of the total estimated funding
    level for the relevant program (or programs) with the appropriate levels
    under current law.

      (b) It shall not be in order to consider any such bill or joint
    resolution in the House if the report of the committee which reported
    that bill or joint resolution does not comply with paragraph (a) of this
    clause.

      (c) For the purposes of subparagraph (2) of paragraph (a) of this
    clause, a Government agency includes any department, agency,
    establishment, wholly owned Government corporation, or instrumentality
    of the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia.

      (d) The preceding provisions of this clause do not apply to the
    Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on House Oversight, the
    Committee on Rules, and the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct,
    and do not apply where a cost estimate and comparison prepared by the
    Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 403 of the
    Congressional Budget Act of 1974 has been timely submitted prior to the
    filing of the report and included in the report pursuant to clause
    2(l)(3)(C) of rule XI.

    [[Page 525]]
    the new name of the Committee on House Oversight (sec. 202(b), H. Res.
    6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

      This clause was adopted in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971,
    p. 144) as part of the implementation of section 252(b) of the
    Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and was amended
    in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70) to remove
    references to the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. Paragraph (d) was
    amended in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113) to
    render committee cost estimates optional where an estimate by the
    Congressional Budget Office is included in the report. Paragraph (a) was
    amended by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-508, Nov. 5,
    1990) to require 5-year estimates of revenue changes in legislative
    reports. In the 104th Congress paragraph (a) was amended to require
    estimates of new budget authority, when practicable, to compare the
    total estimated funding for the program to the appropriate level under
    current law (sec. 102(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). At the same
    time paragraph (d) was amended to reflect

    Sec. 748c. Unfunded mandates.

      The  Unfunded Mandates Reform
    Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to
    title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g)
    that, effective on January 1, 1996, or 90 days after appropriations are
    made available to the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to the 1995
    Act (whichever is earlier), imposes several requirements on the Director
    of the Congressional Budget Office and on committees of the House with
    respect to measures effecting ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2
    U.S.C. 659b-c) and establishes points of order to enforce those
    requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d). See Sec. 1007, infra, and
    Sec. 713h, supra.