[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 106th Congress]
[106th Congress]
[House Document 105-358]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 290-292]
[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 291]]


  In the House 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 292]]




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

  Formerly the  enrollment in the House 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) or by special 
order of business (H. Res. 580, Oct. 8, 1998, p. ----). 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 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 4 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.