[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 113th Congress]
[113rd Congress]
[House Document 112-161]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 300-303]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                           sec. xlviii--assent


[[Page 301]]

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.



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



  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), 
but a resolution seeking such a determination may be privileged (Oct. 8, 
1991, p. 25761).




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 302]]

with the original (P.L. 100-199, Dec. 21, 1987; P.L. 100-454, Sept. 29, 
1988). Where an enrolled bill enacts another numbered bill by reference, 
that same law may require the Archivist to include as an appendix to 
that law the text of the referenced bill (see, e.g., P.L. 106-554). 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. 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 
before 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; Dec. 20, 
1982, p. 32875; 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 (Jan. 1, 2013, p. _; see 1 U.S.C. 106 for 
authority to waive ordinary printing requirements at the end of a 
session), but before the last six days, a joint resolution waiving 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 (Oct. 8, 1998, p. 24735). 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





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). 
The two Houses by concurrent action may authorize the cancellation of 
signatures and reenrollment in case of error (see Sec. 625, infra) or 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; clause 8 of rule I), 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).


[[Page 303]]

rolled bills was transferred from the Committee on House Administration 
to the Clerk (sec. 2(b), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. 25). 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). 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). Enrollments presented at the 
close of one Congress have been signed by the President after the 
convening of the next Congress (see Sec. 111, supra).





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 chair of the committee in each 
House that had responsibility for the enrollment of bills also had the 
responsibility of presenting the bills from that House, and submitted 
from his committee daily a report of the bills presented for entry in 
the Journal (IV, 3431). In the 107th Congress the responsibility in the 
House for en