[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 285-287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

                          SEC. XLVIII.--ASSENT.




Sec. 572. Parliamentary law as to presenting a bill for 
the King's assent.

  The  House which has received a bill and passed it may 
present it for the King's assent, and ought to do it, though they have 
not by message notified to the other their passage of it. Yet the 
notifying by message is a form which ought to be observed between the 
two Houses from motives of respect and good understanding. 2 Hats., 242. 
Were the bill to be withheld from being presented to the King, it would 
be an infringement of the rules of Parliament. Ib.




[[Page 286]]

  In the House of Representatives it was held that where there had been 
no unreasonable delay in transmitting an enrolled bill to the President, 
a resolution relating thereto did not present a question of privilege 
(III, 2601).




Sec. 573. Parliamentary law as to enrollment of bills.

  When a  bill has passed both Houses of Congress, the House last acting on it 
notifies its passage to the other, and delivers the bill to the Joint 
Committee on Enrollment, who sees that it is truly enrolled in 
parchment. When the bill is enrolled it is not to be written in 
paragraphs, but solidly, and all of a piece, that the blanks between the 
paragraphs may not give room for forgery. 9 Grey, 143. * * *




[[Page 287]]



Sec. 574. Practice of the two Houses of Congress 
as to enrollments of bills.

  Formerly the  enrollment in the House of Representatives 
and the Senate was in writing (IV, 3436, 3437); but in 1893 the two 
Houses, by concurrent resolution, provided that bills should be enrolled 
on parchment by printing instead of by writing, and also that the 
engrossment of bills prior to sending them to the other House for action 
should be in printing (IV, 3433), and in 1895 this concurrent resolution 
was approved by statute (IV, 3435; 1 U.S.C. 106). In the last six days 
of a session of Congress the two Houses, by concurrent resolution, may 
permit the enrolling and engrossing to be done by hand (IV, 3435, 3438; 
H. Con. Res. 436, Dec. 20, 1982, p. 32875; H. Con. Res. 375, Oct. 11, 
1984, p. 32149), and such a concurrent resolution is privileged for 
consideration in the House during the last six days of the session (see 
1 U.S.C. 106 for authority to waive ordinary printing requirements at 
the end of a session), but prior to the last six days, a joint 
resolution changing the law to permit hand enrollments is required and 
may be considered in the House by unanimous consent (Dec. 10, 1985, p. 
35741). The two Houses have by joint resolution authorized not only a 
``hand enrollment'' of a time-sensitive bill but also a parchment 
enrollment of the same measure, to be prepared at a later time for 
deposit in the National Archives with the original (P.L. 100-199, Dec. 
21, 1987; P.L. 100-454, Sept. 29, 1988). Only in a very exceptional case 
have the two Houses waived the requirement that bills shall be enrolled 
(IV, 3442). The enrolling clerk should make no change, however 
unimportant, in the text of a bill to which the House has agreed (III, 
2598); but the two Houses may by concurrent resolution authorize the 
correction of an error when enrollment is made (IV, 3446-3450), and this 
seems a better practice than earlier methods by authority of the 
Committee on Enrolled Bills (IV, 3444, 3445).





Sec. 575. Signing of enrolled bills for 
presentation to the President.

  * * * It is  then put into the hands of the Clerk 
of the House of Representatives to have it signed by the Speaker. The 
Clerk then brings it by way of message to the Senate to be signed by 
their President. The Secretary of the Senate returns it to the Committee 
of Enrollment, who present it to the President of the United States. * * 
*


  The practice of the two Houses of Congress for the signing of enrolled 
bills was formerly governed by joint rules, and has continued since 
those rules were abrogated in 1876 (IV, 3430). The bills are signed 
first by the Speaker, then by the President of the Senate (IV, 3429). By 
unanimous consent where errors are found in enrolled bills that have 
been signed, the two Houses by concurrent action may authorize the 
cancellation of the signatures and a reenrollment (IV, 3453-3459), and 
in the same way the signatures may be cancelled on a bill prematurely 
enrolled (IV, 3454).



Sec. 576. Authority of pro tempore presiding 
officers to sign enrolled bills.

  A Speaker pro  tempore elected by the House (II, 
1401), or whose designation has received the approval of the House (II, 
1404; VI, 277), signs enrolled bills (see clause 7 of rule I); but a 
Member merely called to the chair during the day (II, 1399, 1400; VI, 
276), or designated in writing by the Speaker, does not exercise this 
function (II, 1401).


  The Senate, by rule, has empowered a presiding officer by written 
designation to sign enrolled bills (II, 1403).








Sec. 577. Presentation of enrolled bills to the 
President.

  In early  days a joint committee took enrolled bills to the President 
(IV, 3432); but in the later practice the chairman of the committee in 
each House having responsibility for the enrollment of bills also has 
the responsibility of presenting the bills from that House, and submits 
from his committee daily a report of the bills presented for entry in 
the journal (IV, 3431). Enrolled bills pending at the close of a session 
have, at the next session of the same Congress, been ordered to be 
treated as if no adjournment had taken place (IV, 3487-3488). And 
enrolled bills signed by the presiding officers at one session have been 
sent to the President and approved at the next session of the same 
Congress (IV, 3486). At the close of the 97th Congress, some enrollments 
were presented to the President, and were signed by him, after the 
convening of the 98th Congress.