[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 116th Congress]
[116th Congress]
[House Document 115-177]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 289-302]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         sec. xlvi--conferences




Sec. 530. Parliamentary law as to asking 
conferences.

  It is on the  occasion of amendments between the Houses that 
conferences are usually asked; but they may be asked in all cases of 
difference of opinion between the two Houses on matters depending 
between them. The request of a conference, however, must always be by 
the House which is possessed of the papers. 3 Hats., 31; 1 Grey, 425.



[[Page 290]]

  The House follows the principles set forth in this paragraph of the 
parliamentary law. A conference may be asked on only a portion of the 
amendments in disagreement, leaving the differences as to the remainder 
to be settled by the action of the two Houses themselves (V, 6401). In 
very rare instances conferences have been asked by one House after the 
other has absolutely rejected a main proposition (IV, 3442; V, 6258). A 
difference over an amendment to a proposed constitutional amendment may 
be committed to a conference (V, 7037).



Sec. 531. Conferences over matters other 
than differences as to amendments.

  Although conferences  between the two Houses of Congress 
are usually held over differences as to amendments to bills, 
occasionally differences arise as to the respective prerogatives of the 
Houses (II, 1485-1495) or as to matters of procedures (V, 6401), as in 
impeachment proceedings (III, 2304), which are referred to conference. 
In early and exceptional instances conferences have been asked as to 
legislative matters when no propositions relating thereto were pending 
(V, 6255-6257).




Sec. 532. Conferences by means of select 
committees.

  In very  rare cases, also, the Houses interchange views and come to 
conclusions by means of select committees appointed on the part of each 
House (I, 3). Thus, in 1821, a joint committee was chosen to consider 
and report to the two Houses whether or not it was expedient to provide 
for the admission of Missouri into the Union (IV, 4471), and in 1877 
similar committees were appointed to devise a method for counting the 
electoral vote (III, 1953).




Sec. 533. Requests for conferences.

  The  parliamentary law 
provides that the request for a conference must always be by the House 
that is in possession of the papers (V, 8254). It was formerly the more 
regular practice for the House disagreeing to amendments of the other to 
leave the asking of a conference to that other House if it should decide 
to insist (V, 6278-6285, 6324); but it is so usual in the later practice 
for the House disagreeing to an amendment of the other to ask a 
conference that an omission to do so has even raised a question (V, 
6273). Yet it cannot be said that the practice requires a request for a 
conference to be made by the House disagreeing to the amendments of the 
other (V, 6274-6277). One House having asked a conference at one 
session, the other House may agree to the conference at the next session 
of the same Congress (V, 6286).




Sec. 534. Requests for conferences declined or 
neglected.

  In rare  instances one House has declined the request of the other 
for a conference (V, 6313-6315; Mar. 20, 1951, p. 2683; Oct. 1, 2013, p. 
14862; Mar. 3, 2015, p. _), sometimes accompanying it by adherence (V, 
6313, 6315). In one instance, in which the Senate declined a conference, 
it transmitted, by message, its reasons for so doing (V, 6313). 
Sometimes, also, one House disregards the request of the other for a 
conference and recedes from its disagreement, thereby rendering a 
conference unnecessary (V, 6316-6318). And in one case, in which one 
House has asked a conference to which the other has assented, the asking 
House receded before the conference took place (V, 6319). Also, a bill 
returned to the House with a request for a conference has been postponed 
indefinitely (V, 6199).



[[Page 291]]

are considered as preferential (V, 6269, 6270). Where a motion to 
request a conference at this stage has been rejected, its repetition at 
the same stage of the proceedings, no other motion to dispose of the 
matter in disagreement having been considered, has not been permitted 
(V, 6325). Where a conference results in disagreement, a motion to 
request a new conference is privileged (V, 6586). Sometimes 
disagreements are voted on by the House and conferences asked through 
the medium of special orders of business (IV, 3242-3249).


Sec. 535. Motions to request conferences.

  After the  stage of 
disagreement has been reached, a motion to ask a conference is 
considered as distinct from motions to agree or disagree to amendments 
of the other House (V, 6268) and the motions to agree, recede, or insist


  Before the stage of disagreement, any motion with respect to 
amendments between the two Houses is without privilege, except for 
motions with respect to the limited number of amendments that qualify 
under clause 2 of rule XXII or motions under clause 1 of rule XXII, to 
disagree to Senate amendments (or insist on House amendments) and to 
request or agree to an initial conference if the motion is authorized by 
the primary committee and all reporting committees of initial referral 
and if the Speaker chooses to recognize for that purpose. Under clause 
2(a)(3) of rule XI, a committee may adopt a rule providing that the 
chair be directed to offer a motion under clause 1 of rule XXII. A 
motion under the latter clause may be repeated, if again authorized by 
the relevant committees, and if the Speaker again agrees to recognize 
for that purpose, even though the House has once rejected a motion to 
send the same matter to conference (Speaker Albert, Oct. 3, 1972, p. 
33502).


[[Page 292]]

Albert, Nov. 30, 1971, p. 43422). In appointing conferees on the general 
appropriation bill for fiscal year 1951, Speaker Rayburn appointed a set 
of managers for each chapter of the bill and four Members to sit on all 
chapters (Aug. 7, 1950, p. 11894). Although the appointment of 
conferees, both as to their number and composition, is within the 
discretion of the Chair (Speaker Garner, June 24, 1932, p. 13876; 
Speaker Martin, July 8, 1947, p. 8469), and although a point of order 
will not lie against the exercise of this discretion (VIII, 2193, 3221), 
the Speaker normally takes into consideration the attitude of the 
majority and minority of the House on the disagreements in issue (V, 
6336-6338; VIII, 3223), the varying views of the Members of the House 
(V, 6339, 6340), and does not necessarily confine the appointments to 
members of the committee in charge of the bill (V, 6370). In one case, 
in which the prerogatives of the House were involved, all of the 
managers were appointed to represent the majority opinion (V, 6338). See 
also Sec. 637, infra.


Sec. 536. Managers of conferences.

  Although usual,  it is not 
essential that one House, in asking a conference, transmit the names of 
its managers at the same time, and the Senate has moved to agree to a 
conference asked by the House before the appointment of House managers 
(V, 6405; Feb. 27, 2015, p. _). The managers, properly so called (V, 
6335), constitute practically two distinct committees, each of which 
acts by a majority (V, 6334). The Speaker appoints the managers on the 
part of the House (clause 11 of rule I) and has discretion as to the 
number to serve on a given bill (V, 6336; VIII, 2193) but must appoint 
(1) a majority of Members who generally support the House position, as 
determined by the Speaker; (2) Members who are primarily responsible for 
the legislation; and (3) to the fullest extent feasible the principal 
proponents of the major provisions of the bill as it passed the House 
(clause 11 of rule I). Although the practice used to be to appoint three 
managers from each house (V, 6336), in the absence of joint rules each 
House may appoint whatever number it sees fit (V, 6328-6330). The two 
Houses have frequently appointed a disparate number of managers (V, 
6331-6333; VIII, 3221); and where the Senate appointed nine and the 
House but three, a motion to instruct the Speaker to appoint a greater 
number of managers on the part of the House was held out of order (VII, 
2193). In appointing managers the Speaker usually consults the Member in 
charge of the bill (V, 6336); and where an amendment in disagreement 
falls within the jurisdiction of two committees of the House, the 
Speaker has named Members from both committees and specified the 
respective areas on which they were to confer (Speaker




Sec. 537. Reappointment of, at second and 
subsequent conferences.

  Where there  were several conferences on a bill, it was the 
early practice to change the managers at each conference (V, 6288-6291, 
6324), and so fixed was this practice that their reappointment had a 
special significance, indicating an unyielding temper (V, 6352-6368); 
but in the later practice it is the rule to reappoint managers (V, 6341-
6344) unless a change be necessary to enable the sentiment of the House 
to be represented (V, 6369).





Sec. 538. Vacancies, etc., in managers of 
conferences.

  Managers of  a conference are excused from service either by authority 
of the House (V, 6373-6376; VIII, 3224, 3227) or, since the 103d 
Congress, by removal by the Speaker (clause 11 of rule I). The absence 
of a manager may cause a vacancy, which the Speaker fills by appointment 
(V, 6372; VIII, 3228). If one House makes a change in its managers, it 
informs the other House, by message (V, 6377, 6378). According to the 
later practice the powers of managers who have not reported do not 
expire at the termination of a session, unless it be the last session 
(V, 6260-6262).



[[Page 293]]

ject of the last conference, where they read and deliver, in like 
manner, written answer to those reasons. 3 Grey, 183. They are meant 
chiefly to record the justification of each House to the nation at large 
and to posterity and in proof that the miscarriage of a necessary 
measure is not imputable to them. 3 Grey, 255. At free conferences the 
managers discuss, viva voce and freely, and interchange propositions for 
such modifications as may be made in a parliamentary way, and may bring 
the sense of the two Houses together. * * *



Sec. 539. Parliamentary law as to free and simple 
conferences.

  Conferences  may be either simple or free. At a conference simply, 
written reasons are prepared by the House asking it, and they are read 
and delivered, without debate, to the managers of the other House at the 
conference, but are not then to be answered. 4 Grey, 144. The other 
House then, if satisfied, vote the reasons satisfactory, or say nothing; 
if not satisfied they resolve then not satisfactory and ask a conference 
on the sub




Sec. 540. Free and simple conferences in modern 
practice.

  This provision  of the parliamentary law bears little relation to the modern 
practice of the two Houses of Congress, and that practice has evolved a 
new definition: ``A free conference is that which leaves the committee 
of conference entirely free to pass upon any subject where the two 
branches have disagreed in their votes, not, however, including any 
action upon any subject where there has been a concurrent vote of both 
branches. A simple conference--perhaps it should more properly be termed 
a strict or a specific conference, though the parliamentary term is 
`simple'--is that which confines the committee of conference to the 
specific instructions of the body appointing it'' (V, 6403). And where 
the House had asked a free conference it was held not in order to 
instruct the managers (V, 6384). But it is very rare for the House in 
asking a conference to specify whether it shall be free or simple.



[[Page 294]]

propriety of doing so at a first conference has been questioned (V, 
6388, footnote). And in rare instances in which a free conference is 
asked instruction is not in order (V, 6384). At a new conference the 
instructions of a former conference are not in force (V, 6383; VIII, 
3240). And instructions may not direct the managers to do that which 
they might not otherwise do (V, 6386, 6387; VIII, 3235, 3244), as to 
effect a change in part of a bill not in disagreement (V, 6391-6394) or 
change the text to which both Houses have agreed (V, 6388). Although 
managers may disregard instructions, their report may not for that 
reason be ruled out of order (V, 6395; VIII, 3246; June 8, 1972, p. 
20282), and when a conference report is recommitted with instructions 
the managers are not confined to the instructions alone (VIII, 3247).


Sec. 541. Instruction of managers of a 
conference.

  In their practices  as to the instruction of managers of a conference, the 
House and the Senate do not agree. Only in rare instances has the Senate 
instructed (V, 6398), and these instances are at variance with its 
declaration, made after full consideration, that managers may not be 
instructed (V, 6397). And where the House has instructed its managers, 
the Senate sometimes has declined to participate and asked a free 
conference (V, 6402-6404). In the later practice the House does not 
inform the Senate when it instructs its managers (V, 6399), the Senate 
having objected to the transmittal of instructions by message (V, 6400, 
6401). In one instance in which the Senate learned indirectly that the 
House had instructed its managers, it declared that the conference 
should be full and free, and instructed its own managers to withdraw if 
they should find the freedom of the conference impaired (V, 6406). But 
the House holds to the opinion that the House may instruct its managers 
(V, 6379-6382), although the


  The motion to instruct managers should be offered after the vote to 
ask for or agree to a conference and before the managers are appointed 
(V, 6379-6382; VIII, 3233, 3240, 3256). The motion to instruct may be 
amended unless the previous question is ordered (V, 6525; VIII, 3231, 
3240); thus a motion to instruct House conferees to agree to a numbered 
Senate amendment with an amendment may be amended, upon rejection of the 
previous question, to instruct the conferees to agree to the Senate 
amendment (June 9, 1982, pp. 13027, 13028, 13039, 13049). A Member may 
not be recognized for a unanimous-consent request to modify a pending 
motion to instruct unless yielded to for that purpose by the proponent 
(Mar. 29, 2006, p. 4377). The motion to instruct may be laid on the 
table without carrying the bill to the table (VIII, 2658). The motion is 
debatable (see clause 7(b) of rule XXII) unless the previous question is 
ordered (VIII, 2675, 3240), which the proponent may not move until those 
allotted time under clause 7(b) have yielded back (Oct. 3, 1989, p. 
22842). After a motion to ask or agree to a conference is agreed to, 
only one valid motion to instruct is in order (VIII, 3236; Speaker 
Wright, Precedents (Wickham), ch. 3, Sec. 11.1); and the ruling out of 
such a motion does not preclude the offering of a proper motion (VIII, 
3235; Dec. 7, 2005, p. 27706); but one motion having been considered and 
disposed of, further motions are not in order (VIII, 3236). The 
restriction on further motions does not apply to a motion to instruct 
under clause 7(c) of rule XXII (Aug. 22, 1935, pp. 14162-64).



[[Page 295]]


  A member of the minority is first entitled to recognition for a motion 
to instruct conferees (Speaker Bankhead, Oct. 31, 1939, pp. 1103-05; 
Speaker Albert, Oct. 19, 1971, pp. 36832-35), and if two minority 
members of the reporting committee seek recognition to offer a motion to 
instruct conferees before their appointment, the Chair will recognize 
the senior minority member of the committee (Oct. 10, 1986, p. 30181; 
Speaker Wright, Feb. 17, 1988, p. 1583).




Sec. 542. Parliamentary law as to reports of 
managers of a conference.

  * * * And each  party report in writing to their respective 
Houses the substance of what is said on both sides, and it is entered in 
their journals. 9 Grey, 220; 3 Hats; 280. This report can not be amended 
or altered, as that of a committee may be. Journal Senate, May 24, 1796.




Sec. 543. Forms of conference reports.

  In the two  Houses of 
Congress conference reports were originally merely suggestions for 
action and were neither identical in the two Houses nor acted on as a 
whole (V, 6468-6471). In the House clause 7(a) of rule XXII provides 
that conference reports may be received at any time, except when the 
Journal is being read, while the roll is being called, or the House is 
dividing. They are privileged on or after the third calendar day 
(excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays) after they have been 
filed and printed in the Record, together with the accompanying 
statement (clause 8 of rule XXII). The early reports were not signed by 
the managers (IV, 3905); but in the later practice the signatures of the 
majority of the managers of each House is required (V, 6497-6502; VIII, 
3295). Sometimes a manager indorses the report with a conditional 
approval or dissent (V, 6489-6496, 6538; Nov. 18, 1991, p. 32575). 
Traditionally, however, signatures with conditions are not counted 
toward a majority (cf. VIII, 3302) and in the modern practice are not 
printed in the report. Supplemental reports or minority views may not be 
filed in connection with conference reports (VIII, 3302). The name of an 
absent manager may not be affixed, but the two Houses by concurrent 
action may authorize the manager to sign the report after it has been 
acted on (V, 6488). The minority portion of the managers of a conference 
have no authority to make either a written or verbal report concerning 
the conference (V, 6406). In the later practice reports of managers are 
identical, and made in duplicate for the two Houses, the House managers 
signing first the report for their House and the Senate managers signing 
the other report first (V, 6323, 6426, 6499, 6500, 6504). Under certain 
circumstances managers may report an entirely new bill on a subject in 
disagreement, but this bill is acted on as part of the report (V, 6465-
6467; see also clause 9 of rule XXII). A quorum among the managers on 
the part of the House at a committee of conference is established by 
their signatures on the conference report and joint explanatory 
statement (Oct. 4, 1994, p. 27662).



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the House adopted the report, and, by unanimous consent, insisted on its 
disagreement to the putatively reported amendment and agreed to a 
concurrent resolution that deemed the conference report to have 
``resolved all disagreements'' (Oct. 10, 2002, p. 20333).


Sec. 544. Partial conference reports.

  Managers may  report an 
agreement as to a portion of the numbered amendments in disagreement, 
leaving the remainder to be disposed of by subsequent action (V, 6460-
6464). Where a Senate amendment to the title of a House bill was in 
conference, but inadvertently omitted from the conference report,




Sec. 545. Reports of inability to agree.

  Where managers  of a 
conference are unable to agree, or where a report is disagreed to in 
either House, another conference is usually asked (V, 6288-6291). When 
managers report that they have been unable to agree, the report is not 
acted on by the House (V, 6562; VIII, 3329; Aug. 23, 1957, p. 15816). 
Although under the earlier practice, when conferees reported in complete 
disagreement, the amendments in disagreement were considered available 
for immediate disposition (VIII, 3299, 3332), the current practice (as a 
result of the amendments to clause 8(a) of rule XXII in the 93d and 
116th Congresses) is to require the matter to lay over for 72 hours 
after the report in disagreement is filed and printed in the Record. In 
the earlier practice reports of inability to agree were made verbally or 
by unsigned written reports (V, 6563-6567); but in later practice they 
are written, in identical form, and signed by the managers of the two 
Houses (V, 6568, 6569).




Sec. 546. Managers restricted to the 
disagreements of the two Houses.

  The managers  of a conference must confine 
themselves to the differences committed to them (V, 6417, 6418; VIII, 
3252, 3255, 3282), and may not include subjects not within the 
disagreements (V, 6407, 6408; VIII, 3253-3255, 3260, 3282, 3284), even 
though germane to a question in issue (V, 6419; VIII, 3256; Speaker 
Albert, Dec. 20, 1974, p. 41849). But they may perfect amendments 
committed to them if they do not in so doing go beyond the differences 
(V, 6409, 6413). Thus, where an amendment providing an appropriation to 
construct a road had been disagreed to, it was held in order to report a 
provision to provide for a survey for the road (V, 6425). Managers may 
not change the text to which both Houses have agreed (V, 6417, 6418, 
6420, 6433-6436). But if the amendment in issue strikes all of the bill 
after the enacting clause and substitutes a new text, the managers have 
the whole subject before them and may exercise a broad discretion as to 
details (V, 6424; VIII, 3266), and may even report an entirely new bill 
on the subject (V, 6421, 6423; VIII, 3248, 3263, 3265, 3276; Sec. 1088, 
infra). If the amendment in disagreement proposes a substitute differing 
greatly from the House provision they may eliminate the entire subject 
matter (Speaker Gillett, Sept. 14, 1922, p. 12598).



[[Page 297]]

comes too late after the report has been agreed to (V, 6442); and in 
case the statement is read in lieu of the report the point of order must 
be made or reserved before the statement is read (VIII, 3256, 3265, 
3285, 3288, 3289). Where clause 8(c) of rule XXII applies, points of 
order must be made before debate begins on the report (Nov. 14, 2002, p. 
22408).


Sec. 547. Remedy where managers exceed their 
authority.

  In the  House the Speaker may rule out a conference report if it be 
shown that the managers have exceeded their authority (V, 6409-6416; 
VIII, 3256; Oct. 4, 1962, p. 22332; Nov. 14, 2002, pp. 22408, 22409). In 
the House points of order against reports are made or reserved after the 
report is read and before the reading of the statement (V, 6424, 6441; 
VIII, 3282, 3284, 3285, 3287), or consideration begins (V, 6903-6905; 
VIII, 3286), and


  A conference report held to violate clause 9 of rule XXII was 
vitiated, after which a privileged motion to recede and concur in a 
Senate amendment with an amendment incorporating by reference the text 
of an introduced House bill was offered (Nov. 14, 2002, p. 22409).

  Under the former practice of the Senate, the Chair did not rule out 
conference reports, but the Senate itself expressed its opinion on the 
vote to agree to the report (V, 6426-6432). However, on March 8, 1918, 
the Senate adopted a ``scope'' rule providing for a point of order 
against conferees inserting matter not committed to them or changing the 
text agreed to by both Houses. This rule of the Senate was strictly 
construed (VIII, 3273, 3275) until the 104th Congress when the Senate 
overturned on appeal a ruling of its presiding officer that the 
inclusion of a special labor-law provision in a conference report 
exceeded the scope of conference (Oct. 3, 1996, pp. 27147-51). The Chair 
interpreted that action as tantamount to a change in the Senate rules 
until the 107th Congress. Public Law 106-553 provided that at the 
beginning of the 107th Congress the Presiding Officer of the Senate 
would apply precedents under Senate rule XXVIII as in effect at the end 
of the 103d Congress. Public Law 110-81 amended it to provide a new 
procedure (see, e.g., Nov. 7, 2007, pp. 30270, 30271, 30282).


[[Page 298]]



Sec. 548. Meeting and action of managers.

  The  managers of a 
conference may not report before the other House is notified of their 
appointment and a meeting is held (V, 6458). Conferences are generally 
held in the Capitol, and formerly with closed doors, although in rare 
instances Members and others were admitted to make arguments (V, 6254, 
footnote, 6263). Clause 12 of rule XXII now provides for at least one 
open conference meeting except if the House determines by the yeas and 
nays that all or part of the meeting may be closed to the public. The 
same rule now provides for a point of order in the House against the 
report and for an automatic request for a new conference if the House 
managers fail to meet in open session following appointment of the 
Senate conferees (Dec. 20, 1982, p. 32896). For a discussion of open 
conference meetings, see Sec. 1093, infra. Rarely, also, papers in the 
nature of petitions have been referred to managers (V, 6263). The 
managers of the two Houses vote separately (V, 6336). Clause 12(a)(3) of 
rule XXII provides additional statements on the meetings, discussions, 
and signatures of House managers. Clause 13 of rule XXII provides a 
point of order against consideration of a conference report that differs 
in a non-clerical manner from the version placed before the House 
managers for signature.




Sec. 549. Action on a conference report in the 
two Houses.

  The report of  the managers of a conference goes first to one House and 
then to the other, neither House acting until it is in possession of the 
papers, which means the original bill and amendments, as well as the 
report (V, 6322, 6518-6522, 6586; VIII, 3301). The report must be acted 
on as a whole, being agreed to or disagreed to as an entirety (V, 6472-
6480, 6530-6533; VIII, 3304, 3305; Speaker Bankhead, Aug. 22, 1940, p. 
10763; Speaker Albert, Nov. 10, 1971, p. 40481); and until the report 
has been acted on no motion to deal with the individual amendments is in 
order (V, 6323, 6389, 6390; Speaker Rayburn, Mar. 16, 1942, pp. 2502-
04). Under a special order of business recommended by the Committee on 
Rules, the House has considered a single, indivisible motion to adopt 
not only a conference report but also sundry motions to dispose of 
amendments reported from conference in disagreement (June 18, 1992, p. 
15453). Although ordinarily reports are agreed to by majority vote, a 
two-thirds vote is required on a report relating to a constitutional 
amendment (V, 7036). Conference reports must be acted on in both Houses 
and, in a case in which the Senate had adopted a report recommending 
that it recede from its amendments to a House bill, the House rejected 
the report and then agreed to the Senate amendments (Mar. 21, 1956, p. 
5278). A conference report being made up but not acted on at the 
expiration of a Congress, the bill is lost (V, 6309). One House has, by 
message, reminded the other of its neglect to act on a conference 
report; but this was an occasion of criticism (V, 6309).




Sec. 550. Motions in order during action on a 
conference report.

  When a  conference report is presented, the question on 
agreeing is regarded as pending (V, 6517; VIII, 3300), and as the 
negative of it is equivalent to disagreement, the motion to disagree is 
not admitted (II, 1473; V, 6517; VIII, 3300). The reading of the 
amendments to which the report relates is not in order during its 
consideration (V, 5298). The report may not be amended on motion made in 
either House alone (V, 6534, 6535; VIII, 3306), but amendment is 
sometimes made by concurrent action of the two Houses (V, 6536, 6537; 
VIII, 3308). A motion to refer to a standing committee (V, 6558) or to 
lay on the table is not entertained in the House (V, 6538-6544); and a 
conference report may not be sent to Committee of the Whole on 
suggestion that it contains matter ordinarily requiring consideration in 
that committee (V, 6559-6561). It is in order on motion to recommit a 
conference report if the other body, by action on the report, have not 
discharged their managers (V, 6545-6553, 6609; VIII, 3310), and by 
concurrent resolution a report may be recommitted to conference after 
each House has acted thereon (VIII, 3316), but such a proposition would 
not be privileged in the House (V, 6554-6557; VIII, 3309).



[[Page 299]]

negotiation all issues committed to conference (Apr. 21, 1988, p. 8198). 
A motion to recommit a conference report may not instruct House managers 
to exceed the scope of conference (Sec. 1088, infra); and, under clause 
7(d) of rule XXII, a motion to instruct may not contain argument 
(Sec. 1079, infra).
  A bill being recommitted to the committee of conference, no further 
action is taken by the House until it is again reported by the managers 
(VIII, 3326, 3327), and when reported is subject to another motion to 
recommit (VIII, 3325). Because instructions included in a motion to 
recommit a conference report are not binding, adoption of such a motion 
opens to further




Sec. 551. Effect of disagreement to a conference 
report.

  When either  House disagrees to a conference report the matter is left in 
the position it was in before the conference was asked (V, 6525), and 
the amendments in disagreement come up for further action (II, 1473), 
but do not return to the state they were in before disagreement, so that 
they need not be considered in the Committee of the Whole (V, 6589). 
Motions for disposition of Senate amendments, sending to conference and 
instruction of conferees, are again in order (VIII, 3303). However, if a 
conference report is considered as rejected pursuant to the provisions 
of clause 10 of rule XXII because of the inclusion of nongermane matter, 
the pending question is as specified in that clause and, depending on 
the nature of the text in disagreement, may be to recede and concur with 
an amendment, to insist on the House position, or to insist on 
disagreement (see Sec. Sec. 1089, 1090, infra).





Sec. 552. Custody of papers when a conference is asked 
before disagreement.

  A  conference may be asked, before the House asking 
it has come to a resolution of disagreement, insisting or adhering. 3 
Hats., 269, 341. In which case the papers are not left with the other 
conferees, but are brought back to the foundation of the vote to be 
given. And this is the most reasonable and respectful proceeding; for, 
as was urged by the Lords on a particular occasion, ``it is held vain, 
and below the wisdom of Parliament, to reason or argue against fixed 
resolutions, and upon terms of impossibility to persuade.'' 3 Hats., 
226. * * *



  In the Houses of Congress conferences are sometimes asked before a 
disagreement, and while the rule as to retention of the papers 
undoubtedly holds good, neglect to observe it has not been questioned 
(V, 6585).


[[Page 300]]

Lords made it an objection that the Commons had asked a free conference 
after they had made resolutions of adhering. It was then affirmed, 
however, on the part of the Commons that nothing was more parliamentary 
than to proceed with free conferences after adhering, 3 Hats., 269, and 
we do in fact see instances of conference, or of free conference, asked 
after the resolution of disagreeing, 3 Hats., 251, 253, 260, 286, 291, 
316, 349; of insisting, ib., 280, 290, 299, 319, 322, 355; of adhering, 
269, 270, 283, 300; and even of a second or final adherence. 3 Hats., 
270. * * *



Sec. 553. Relations of adherence and conference 
under the parliamentary law.

  * * * So the  Commons say, ``an adherence is never 
delivered at a free conference, which implies debate.'' 10 Grey, 137. 
And on another occasion the





Sec. 554. Relations of adherence and conference 
under the practice of the two Houses of Congress.

  The two Houses  not observing the 
parliamentary distinctions as to free and other conferences, their 
practice in case of adherence is also different. Conferences are not 
asked after an adherence by both Houses, but have often been asked and 
granted where only one House has adhered (V, 6241-6244). A vote to 
adhere may not be accompanied by a request for a conference (V, 6303; 
VIII, 3208), because the House that votes to adhere does not ask a 
conference (V, 6304-6308). The request for a conference in such a case 
is properly accompanied by a motion to insist (V, 6308). And the House 
that has adhered may insist on its adherence when it agrees to the 
conference (V, 6251). But it is not considered necessary either to 
recede or insist before agreeing to the conference (V, 6242, 6244, 6310, 
6311).





Sec. 555. Custody of the papers after an 
effective conference.

  * * * And in  all cases of conference asked after a vote of 
disagreement, &c., the conferees of the House asking it are to leave the 
papers with the conferees of the other; and in one case where they 
refused to receive them they were left on the table in the conference 
chamber. Ib., 271, 317, 323, 354; 10 Grey, 146.



[[Page 301]]

1981, p. 18884). If conferees of House agreeing to conference surrender 
papers to House asking conference, the report can be received first by 
House asking the conference (VIII, 3330). In the 101st Congress, where a 
report following a successful conference was filed in both Houses, an 
objection to a unanimous-consent request in the Senate prevented the 
release of papers held at the Senate desk to the House, where the Senate 
in the normal course of events was scheduled to act first on the report 
(June 28, 1990, p. 16249).
  This principle of the parliamentary law is recognized in both Houses, 
and is customarily followed in cases wherein the managers of the 
conference come to an agreement on which a report may be based (July 31,




Sec. 556. Custody of papers when managers of a 
conference fail to agree.

  Where a  conference breaks up without reaching any 
agreement the managers for the House that requested the conference, who 
have the papers by right, are justified in retaining them and carrying 
them back to the House (IV, 3905, footnote; V, 6246, 6254, 6571-6584; 
VIII, 3332). And in one case wherein under such circumstances the papers 
were taken back to the Senate, which was the body agreeing to the 
conference, the Senate after consideration sent them to the House, 
because it seemed proper for the asking House to take the first action 
(V, 6573). But sometimes managers have brought the papers to the 
agreeing House without question (V, 6239, footnote; July 14, 1988, p. 
18411).




Sec. 557. Free or instructed conferences.

  After a  free 
conference the usage is to proceed with free conferences and not to 
return again to a conference. 3 Hats., 270; 9 Grey, 229.



  After a conference denied a free conference may be asked. 1 Grey, 45.


  The House instructs its managers whenever it sees fit, without regard 
to whether or not the preceding conference has been free or instructed.


[[Page 302]]

liament are thought by the one House to have been departed from by the 
other a conference is asked to come to a right understanding thereon. 10 
Grey, 148. So when an unparliamentary message has been sent, instead of 
answering it they ask a conference. 3 Grey, 155. Formerly an address or 
articles of impeachment or a bill, with amendments, or a vote of the 
House, or concurrence in a vote, or a message from the King were 
sometimes communicated by way of conference. 6 Grey, 128, 300, 387; 7 
Grey, 80; 8 Grey, 210, 255; 1 Torbuck's Deb., 278; 10 Grey, 293; 1 
Chandler, 49, 287. But this is not the modern practice. 8 Grey, 255.


Sec. 558. Parliamentary law as to purposes for which 
conferences may be held.

  When a  conference is asked, the subject of it must 
be expressed or the conference not agreed to. Ord. H. Com., 89; 1 Grey, 
425; 7 Grey, 31. They are sometimes asked to inquire concerning an 
offense or default of a member of the other House. 6 Grey, 181; 1 
Chand., 304. Or the failure of the other House to present to the King a 
bill passed by both Houses. 8 Grey, 302. Or on information received and 
relating to the safety of the nation. 10 Grey, 171. Or when the methods 
of Par





Sec. 559. Obsolete provision as to conference on first 
reading.

    A conference has been asked after the first reading of a 
bill. 1 Grey, 194. This is a singular instance.





  The House has no procedure conforming to this provision.