[United States Senate Manual, 107th Congress]
[S. Doc. 107-1]
[Standing Rules of the Senate]
[Pages 50-52]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                                     RULE XXVIII

        28          CONFERENCE COMMITTEES; REPORTS; OPEN MEETINGS

      28.1      1.\23\ The presentation of reports of committees of 
            conference shall always be in order when available on each 
            Senator's desk except when the Journal is being read or a 
            question of order or a motion to adjourn is pending, or 
            while the Senate is voting or ascertaining the presence of a 
            quorum; and when received the question of proceeding to the 
            consideration of the report, if raised, shall be immediately 
            put, and shall be determined without debate.
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                \23\ As amended by S. Res. 28, 99-2, Feb. 27, 1986.

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      28.2      2. Conferees shall not insert in their report matter not 
            committed to them by either House, nor shall they strike 
            from the bill matter agreed to by both Houses. If new matter 
            is inserted in the report, or if matter which was agreed to 
            by both Houses is stricken from the bill, a point of order 
            may be made against the report, and if the point of order is 
            sustained, the report is rejected or shall be recommitted to 
            the committee of conference if the House of Representatives 
            has not already acted thereon.
     28.3a      3. (a) In any case in which a disagreement to an 
            amendment in the nature of a substitute has been referred to 
            conferees, it shall be in order for the conferees to report 
            a substitute on the same subject matter; but they may not 
            include in the report matter not committed to them by either 
            House. They may, however, include in their report in any 
            such case matter which is a germane modification of subjects 
            in disagreement.
     28.3b      (b) In any case in which the conferees violate 
            subparagraph (a), the conference report shall be subject to 
            a point of order.
      28.4      4. Each report made by a committee of conference to the 
            Senate shall be printed as a report of the Senate. As so 
            printed, such report shall be accompanied by an explanatory 
            statement prepared jointly by the conferees on the part of 
            the House and the conferees on the part of the Senate. Such 
            statement shall be sufficiently detailed and explicit to 
            inform the Senate as to the effect which the amendments or 
            propositions contained in such report will have upon the 
            measure to which those amendments or propositions relate.
      28.5      5. If time for debate in the consideration of any report 
            of a committee of conference upon the floor of the Senate is 
            limited, the time allotted for debate shall be equally 
            divided between the majority party and the minority party.
      28.6      6. Each conference committee between the Senate and the 
            House of Representatives shall be open to the public except 
            when managers of either the Senate or the House of 
            Representatives in open session determine by a rollcall vote 
            of a majority of those managers present, that all or part of 
            the remainder of the meeting on the day of the vote shall be 
            closed to the public.


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