[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
[105th Congress]
[House Document 104-272]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 543-552]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                               Rule XIII.


                  calendars and reports of committees.


[[Page 544]]



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.

  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. 23677). 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).


[[Page 545]]

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).

  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 




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 
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.


  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).


[[Page 546]]

Committee on Rules merely waiving the three 
day availability requirement may be immediately considered and do not 
require a two-thirds vote.
  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 

  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.


  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.


[[Page 547]]

  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).


  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 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).


[[Page 548]]

Speaker may direct the Clerk to call any bill 
that has been on the Corrections Calendar for three legislative days.


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.'' At 
any time on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, after the 
Pledge of Allegiance, the 


  (b) A bill so called shall be considered in the House, shall be 
debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman 
and ranking minority member of the primary committee of jurisdiction 
reporting the bill, and shall not be subject to amendment except those 
amendments recommended by the primary committee of jurisdiction or those 
offered by the chairman of the primary committee or a designee. 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.


  (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.


[[Page 548]]

  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. ----). Later in the 104th Congress several technical 
changes were effected, and paragraph (b) was amended to admit amendments 
by a designee of the chairman of the primary committee (H. Res. 254, 
Nov. 30, 1995, p. ----). In the 105th Congress paragraph (a) was amended 
to permit bills to be called from the Calendar at any time on a 
Corrections day and in any order (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). The 
Speaker may discharge a bill from the Corrections Calendar at any time 
(June 24, 1996, p. ----). In the 105th Congress the House established a 
Corrections Calendar Office to assist the Speaker in management of the 
Calendar (H. Res. 7, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----).



Sec. 
746. Former Consent Calendar.

  The original form of this 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).



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




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. 39). 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.


[[Page 550]]



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

      (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.


[[Page 551]]

of Official Conduct, 
and do not apply where a cost estimate and comparison prepared by the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 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.
  (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 

  (e)(1) A report from the Committee on Ways and Means on a bill or 
joint resolution designated by the Majority Leader (after consultation 
with the Minority Leader) as major tax legislation may include a dynamic 
estimate of the changes in Federal revenues expected to result from 
enactment of the legislation. The Joint Committee on Taxation shall 
render a dynamic estimate of such legislation only in response to a 
timely request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means 
(after consultation with the ranking minority member of the committee). 
A dynamic estimate pursuant to this paragraph may be used only for 
informational purposes.


  (2) In this paragraph, ``dynamic estimate'' means a projection based 
in any part on assumptions concerning probable effects of macroeconomic 
feedback. A dynamic estimate shall include a statement identifying all 
such assumptions.


[[Page 552]]

Office is included in the report. Paragraph (a) was 
amended by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 900 note) 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 the new name of the Committee on House 
Oversight (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). In the 105th 
Congress paragraph (d) was amended to effect a technical change (Budget 
Enforcement Act of 1997 (sec. 10116, P.L. 105-33). Paragraph (e) was 
added in the 105th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). A 
committee cost estimate identifying certain spending authority as 
recurring annually and indefinitely was held necessarily to address the 
five-year period required by section 308 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974 (Nov. 20, 1993, 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 






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 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.