    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
    [105th Congress]
    [House Document 104-272]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 287-289]
    [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 288]]

      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 289]]

    Sec. 574. Practice of the two Houses of Congress
    as to enrollment 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.