    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 119th Congress]
    [119th Congress]
    [House Document 118-187]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 315-317]
    [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.

      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 316]]

    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. 18571; 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 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.

    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. * * *

    [[Page 317]]

      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).

    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 enrolled 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).