[United States Senate Manual, 112th Congress]
[S. Doc. 112-1]
[Cleaves Manual of Conferences and Conference Reports]
[Pages 225-236]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 225]]

            ------------------------------------------------------------
 
                CLEAVES' MANUAL OF THE LAW AND PRACTICE IN REGARD TO 
                        CONFERENCES AND CONFERENCE REPORTS\1\

            ------------------------------------------------------------

                [Note.--The figures in parentheses at the end of rules 
            refer to sections of Hinds' Parliamentary Precedents (H.R. 
            Doc. 576, 55-2), where decisions and proceedings may be 
            found. The notes and references inserted are additional to 
            those in the work, and not found therein.]
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                \1\Collated and prepared by Thomas P. Cleaves, Clerk to 
            the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, and 
            reported to the Senate by Mr. Allison, First Session, Fifty-
            seventh Congress, under the following resolution of June 6, 
            1900:
                ``Resolved, That the Committee on Appropriations cause 
            to be prepared for the use of the Senate a manual of the law 
            and practice in regard to conferences and conference 
            reports.''
                This manual is included for historical purposes and has 
            not been updated to reflect current law and practice in 
            regard to conferences. For current practice, see the 
            ``Conferences and Conference Reports'' section of Riddick 
            and Frumin, Riddick's Senate Procedure: Precedents and 
            Practices.
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                                     CONFERENCES

       200      1. Parliamentary law relating to conferences as stated 
            in Jefferson's Manual, Section XLVI:
     200.1      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.)
     200.2      Conferences may either be simple or free. At a 
            conference simply,\2\ 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 
            them not satisfactory and ask a conference on the subject of 
            the last conference, where they read and deliver, in like 
            manner, written answers to those reasons. (3 Grey, 183.) 
            They are meant chiefly to record the justification of each 
            House to the nation

[[Page 226]]

            at large and to posterity, and in proof that the miscarriage 
            of a necessary measure is not imputable to them. (3 Grey, 
            225.) At free conferences the managers discuss, vivi voce 
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                \2\So in original.
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            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. And each party 
            reports 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.)

     200.3      A conference may be asked before the House asking if 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 
            be 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.) So the Commons say, ``an 
            adherence is never delivered at a free conference, which 
            implies debate.'' (10 Grey, 137.) And on another occasion 
            the 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., 369), 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, 296, 
            299, 319, 322, 355); of adhering (269, 270, 283, 300), and 
            even of a second or final adherence. (3 Hats., 270.) And in 
            all cases of conference asked after a vote of disagreement, 
            etc., 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.)
     200.4      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.)
     200.5      After a conference denied a free conference may be asked 
            (1 Grey, 45.)

[[Page 227]]


     200.6      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., 204.) 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 Parliament 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. But this is not the 
            modern practice.  (1366.)

             [Senate Manual, 1902, p. 137; House Manual, 56th Cong., 2d 
                                                         sess., p. 207.]

                              CHARACTER OF CONFERENCES

       201      2. Conferences may either be simple or free.

                                        [Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XLVI.]

                Note.--This rule and the definition and description of 
            the two kinds of conferences are found in the foregoing 
            section. Vice President Hamlin, in ruling upon a question of 
            order in the Senate in the Thirty-eighth Congress, stated 
            the rule and the distinction between free and simple 
            conferences as follows:
                ``Conferences are of two characters, free and simple. 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 vote, 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.'' 
            (38th Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Globe, pt. I, p. 900.)
                Speaker Reed, in his Manual of General Parliamentary 
            Law, chapter XV, section 242, states that ``A free 
            conference is one where the conferees meet and present not 
            only the reasons of each House, but such arguments and 
            reasons and persuasions as seem suitable to each member of 
            the committee. Instead of being confined to reasons adopted 
            by either House, each member may present his own. A 
            conference may therefore be a free conference though each 
            House may have instructed its members and limited them to 
            the terms of the agreement. This method of conference is the 
            only one known to our parliamentary law; at least, it is the 
            only one now in practice. When two legislative bodies in 
            this country have a conference, it is a free conference * * 
            *''

[[Page 228]]

                               REQUEST FOR CONFERENCE

       202      3. The request for a conference must always be made by 
            the House in possession of the papers.  (1366.)

                                        [Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XLVI.]

       203      4. The motion to ask for a conference comes properly 
            after the motion to disagree, insist, or adhere.  (1367.)
       204      5. A conference may be asked before there has been a 
            disagreement.  (1366.)

                    [48th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 628, 642-643; 
                                         Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XLVI.]

       205      6. After one House has adhered the other may recede or 
            ask a conference, which may be granted by the other House.  
            (1358-1361.)

            [23d Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 112; S. Jour., vol. 2, 
            pp. 70, 71; S. Jour., vol. 5, pp. 657, 661; Jefferson's 
            Manual, Sec. XLVI.]

       206      7. The House may agree to a conference without 
            reconsidering its vote to adhere.  (1362.)
       207      8. Instances have occurred where one House has adhered 
            at once and has even refused a conference.  (1363.)

                Note.--In section XLV, Jefferson's Manual, it is stated 
            that ``Either House is free to pass over the term of 
            insisting, and to adhere in the first instance, but it is 
            not respectful to the other. In the ordinary parliamentary 
            course there are two free conferences, at least, before an 
            adherence.''

       208      9. Where one House has voted at once to adhere, the 
            other may insist and ask a conference; but the motion to 
            recede has precedence.  (1364.)
       209      10. One House may disagree to the amendment of the 
            other, leaving it for the latter House to ask for the 
            conference as soon as the vote of disagreement is passed. 
            (1368.)
       210      11. The amending House may insist at once upon its 
            amendments, and ask for a conference.  (1370-1371.)

                   [48th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 628, 642, 643; 
                                   Congressional Record, pp. 3974-4098.]

       211      12. The request of the other House for a conference may 
            be referred to a committee.

            [19th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 302; 49th Cong., 1st 
            sess., H. Jour., pp. 2292, 2293; Congressional Record, p. 
            7332.]

       212      13. Where a conference committee is unable to agree, or 
            where a report is disagreed to, another conference is 
            usually asked for and agreed to.  (1384-1388.)
       213      14. Before the stage of disagreement has been reached, 
            the request of the other House for a conference gives the 
            bill no privilege over the other business of the House.  
            (1374, 1375.)

[[Page 229]]


       214      15. The conference on a disagreement as to Senate 
            amendments to a House bill having failed, the Senate 
            reconsidered its action in amending and passing the bill, 
            passed it with a new amendment, and asked a new conference.

             [55th Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, pp. 317, 439, 
                                      628, 631, 2303, 2360, 2362, 2770.]

       215      16. The motion to insist and ask a conference has 
            precedence of the motion to instruct conferees.  (1376-
            1379.)

          
                                      CONFEREES

                              APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES

       216      17. Statement of principles governing the selection of 
            conferees on the part of the House (1383), namely:

                Note.--These principles and provisions are also 
            applicable to the Senate and in harmony with its practice.
     216.1      The House members of conference committees, called the 
            managers on the part of the House, are appointed by the 
            Speaker.

                Note.--The Senate members of conference committees, 
            called the managers on the part of the Senate, are appointed 
            by the Presiding Officer, by unanimous consent, under the 
            custom of the Senate. Rule XXIV provides that chairman and 
            other members of committees of the Senate shall be appointed 
            by resolution unless otherwise ordered.
     216.2      They are usually three in number, but on important 
            measures the number is sometimes increased. In the selection 
            of the managers the two large political parties are usually 
            represented, and, also, care is taken that there shall be a 
            representation of the two opinions which almost always exist 
            on subjects of importance. Of course the majority party and 
            the prevailing opinion have the majority of the managers. * 
            * *
     216.3      It is also almost the invariable practice to select 
            managers from the members of the committee which considered 
            the bill. * * * But sometimes in order to give 
            representation to a strong or prevailing sentiment in the 
            House the Speaker goes outside the ranks of the committee. * 
            * *
     216.4      The managers of the two Houses while in conference vote 
            separately, the majority determining the attitude to be 
            taken toward the propositions of the other House. When the 
            report is made the signatures of a majority of each board of 
            managers are sufficient. The minority managers frequently 
            refrain from signing the report, and it is not unprecedented 
            for a minority manager to indorse his protest on the report.

[[Page 230]]



       217      18. When conferees have disagreed or a conference report 
            has been rejected, the usual practice is to reappoint the 
            managers, although it seems to have been otherwise in former 
            years.  (1383.)
       218      19. Conferees having been appointed, it is too late to 
            reconsider the vote whereby the House has disagreed to a 
            Senate amendment.  (1205.)

          
                               DISCHARGE OF CONFEREES

       219      20. While a conference asked by the House was in 
            progress on the House's disagreement to Senate amendments, 
            by a special order the House discharged its conferees, 
            receded from its disagreement, and agreed to the amendments.  
            (1373.)

                Note.--Similar action was taken by the Senate under like 
            circumstances in the Forty-second Congress (42d Cong., 2d 
            sess., S. Jour., p. 1028).

                              INSTRUCTIONS TO CONFEREES

       220      21. It is in order to instruct conferees, and the 
            resolution of instruction should be offered after the House 
            has voted to insist and ask a conference and before the 
            conferees have been appointed.  (1376-1379.)

            [38th Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 268; 39th Cong., 1st 
            sess., S. Jour., p. 782, 784; 40th Cong., 2d sess., S. 
            Jour., p. 119.]

       221      22. It is not the practice to instruct conferees before 
            they have met and disagreed.  (1380.)
       222      23. It is not in order to give such instructions to 
            conferees as would require changes in the text to which both 
            Houses have agreed.  (1380.)
       223      24. The House having asked for a free conference, it is 
            not in order to instruct the conferees.  (1381.)
       224      25. The motion to instruct conferees is amendable.   
            (1390.)

            [40th Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 119.]

       225      26. A conference report may be received although it may 
            be in violation of instructions given to the conferees.  
            (1382.)
                  
                          CONFERENCE COMMITTEES AND REPORTS

                         AUTHORITY OF CONFERENCE COMMITTEES

       226      27. A conference committee is practically two distinct 
            committees, each of which acts by a majority.  (1401.)
       227      28. Conference reports must be signed by a majority of 
            the managers on the part of each House. They are made in 
            duplicate for the managers to present to their respective

[[Page 231]]

            Houses, the signatures of the managers of each House 
            appearing first on the report that is to be presented to the 
            House they represent.

                Note.--See form of conference report appended.
       228      29. Conferees may not include in their report matters 
            not committed to them by either House.  (1414-1417.)

            [50th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 1064, 1065; 54th 
            Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., pp. 90, 91, 96.]

     228.1      In the House, in case such matter is included, the 
            conference report may be ruled out on a point of order.  
            (See Rule 50, below.)
     228.2      In the Senate, in case such matter is included, the 
            custom is to submit the question of order to the Senate.

                Note.--In the Fifty-fifth Congress, first session, Vice-
            President Hobart, in overruling a point of order made on 
            this ground against a conference report during its reading 
            in the Senate, stated that the report having been adopted by 
            one House and being now submitted for discussion and 
            decision in the form of concurrence or disagreement, it is 
            not in the province of the Chair during the progress of its 
            presentation to decide that matter has been inserted which 
            is new or not relevant, but that such questions should go 
            before the Senate when it comes to vote on the adoption or 
            rejection of the report. (55th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., 
            pp. 171, 172; Congressional Record, pp. 2780-2787.) See also 
            Congressional Record, p. 2827, 56th Cong., 2d sess., when 
            the Presiding Officer (Mr. Lodge in the Chair) referred with 
            approval to the foregoing decision of Vice-President Hobart, 
            and stated that when a point of order is made on a 
            conference report on the ground that new matter has been 
            inserted, the Chair should submit the question to the Senate 
            instead of deciding it himself, as has been the custom in 
            the House. No formal ruling was made in this case, however, 
            as the conference report, after debate, was, by unanimous 
            consent, rejected. (56th Cong., 2d sess., Congressional 
            Record, pp. 2826-2883.)
       229      30. Conferees may not strike out in conference anything 
            in a bill agreed to and passed by both Houses.  (1321.)

                                         [Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XLV.]

       230      31. Conferees may include in their report matters which 
            are germane modifications of subjects in disagreement 
            between the Houses and committed to the conference.  (1418-
            1419.)
       231      32. A disagreement to an amendment in the nature of a 
            substitute having been referred to conferees, it was held to 
            be in order for them to report a new bill on the same 
            subject.  (1420.)
       232      33. A conference committee may report agreement as to 
            some of the matters of difference, but inability to agree as 
            to others.  (1392.)

            [29th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 523-524.]

[[Page 232]]



       233      34. In drafting a conference report care should be taken 
            in stating the action of the conferees on amendments to 
            observe the parliamentary rule that neither House can recede 
            from or insist on its own amendment with an amendment; and 
            in case pages and lines of the bill or amendments are 
            referred to in the report, the engrossed bill and amendments 
            only should be used.

          
                  PRESENTATION AND PRIVILEGE OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

       234      35. A conference report is made first to the House 
            agreeing to the conference.

                Note.--This rule seems to follow from the principle laid 
            down by Jefferson (Manual, Sec. XLVI), that ``in all cases 
            of conference asked after a vote of disagreement, etc., the 
            conferees of the House asking it are to leave the papers 
            with the conferees of the other,'' thus putting the agreeing 
            House in possession of the papers, and has been the usual 
            practice in Congress.

       235      36. Conference reports are in order in the Senate under 
            Rule XXVIII, as follows:
                The presentation of reports of committees of conference 
            shall always be in order, except when the Journal is being 
            read or a question of order or motion to adjourn is pending, 
            or while the Senate is dividing; 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.

                Note.--It has been held in the Senate that the 
            presentation of a conference report includes its reading, 
            unless by unanimous consent the reading is dispensed with 
            (54th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 334; Congressional 
            Record, p. 5511).

       236      37. Conference reports are in order in the House under 
            Rule XXVIII, as follows:
                The presentation of reports of committees of conference 
            shall always be in order except when the journal is being 
            read, while the roll is being called, or the House is 
            dividing on any proposition. And there shall accompany any 
            such report a detailed statement sufficiently explicit to 
            inform the House what effect such amendments or propositions 
            shall have upon the measures to which they relate.

                Note.--Paragraph 4 of rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules 
            of the Senate requires a conference report to be accompanied 
            by an explanatory statement prepared jointly by the 
            conferees on the part of the House and the Senate. (See 
            Senate Manual Section 28.4.)

       237      38. A conference report may not be received by the House 
            if no statement accompanies it.  (1404-1405.)

[[Page 233]]


       238      39. Whether or not the detailed statement accompanying a 
            conference report is sufficient to comply with the rule 
            (XXVIII) is a question for the House, and not for the 
            Speaker, to determine.  (1402-1403.)
       239      40. A conference report may be presented after a motion 
            to adjourn has been made or when a Member is occupying the 
            floor for debate, but the report need not be disposed of 
            before the motion to adjourn is put.  (1393-1395.)
       240      41. A conference report is in order pending a demand for 
            the previous question.

            [55th Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, p. 867.]

                Note.--In the Senate the previous question is not in 
            use.
       241      42. A conference report has been given precedence over a 
            question of privilege.  (1397.)
       242      43. A conference report may be presented during the time 
            set apart for a special order for the consideration of 
            another measure.  (1400.)
       243      44. A conference report may be presented after a vote by 
            tellers and pending the question on ordering the yeas and 
            nays.  (1399.)
       244      45. A conference report has precedence of the question 
            on the reference of a bill, even though the yeas and nays 
            have been ordered.  (1398.)
       245      46. The consideration of a conference report may be 
            interrupted by the arrival of the hour previously fixed for 
            a recess.  (1396.)
       246      47. The question on the adoption of a final conference 
            report has precedence of a motion to recede and concur in 
            amendments of the other House.

                  [55th Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, p. 2927.]

                  REJECTION OF CONFERENCE REPORTS, EFFECTS OF, ETC.

       247      48. A bill and amendments having been once sent to 
            conference, do not, upon the rejection of the conference 
            report, return to their former state so that the amendments 
            may be sent to the Committee of the Whole.  (1389.)
       248      49. The rejection of a conference report leaves the 
            matter in the position it occupied before the conference was 
            asked.  (1390.)
       249      50. When a conference report is ruled out on a point of 
            order in the House it is equivalent to a negative vote on 
            the report, and the Senate is informed by message that the 
            House has ``disagreed'' to the report.  (1417.)


[[Page 234]]


          
                           AMENDMENT OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

       250      51. It is not in order to amend a conference report, and 
            it must be accepted or rejected as an entirety.  (1366.)

               [Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XLVI; 4th Cong., 1st sess., S. 
                                                         Jour., p. 270.]

                Note.--Various instances are found where conference 
            reports agreed to by both Houses were amended and corrected 
            by concurrent resolution or order. (43d Cong., 2d sess., S. 
            Jour., pp. 372, 373, H. Jour., p. 610; Congressional Record, 
            p. 1990; 44th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., pp. 581, 708, H. 
            Jour., pp. 1087, 1252; 48th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 
            859.)

                  REFERENCE AND RECOMMITMENT OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

       251      52. A conference report may not be referred to a 
            standing committee.  (1413.)
       252      53. A conference report may not be referred to the 
            Committee of the Whole, although in the earlier history of 
            the House this was sometimes done.  (1410, 1411.)
       253      54. It is not in order in the House to recommit a 
            conference report to the committee of conference.  (1412.)

                Note.--This rule is founded upon the decision of Speaker 
            Carlisle (49th Cong., 2d sess., Congressional Record, p. 
            880), which has been affirmed by subsequent Speakers, but 
            prior to that time many instances had occurred of 
            recommitting conference reports to the committee of 
            conference.

       254      55. It is in order in the Senate to recommit a 
            conference report to the committee of conference, but not 
            with instructions, according to the later decisions.

            [42d Cong., 3d sess., S. Jour., pp. 313, 554-557; 43d Cong., 
            1st sess., S. Jour., p. 865; 44th Cong., 1st sess., S. 
            Jour., p. 211; 49th Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 151; 55th 
            Cong., 3d sess., Congressional Record, pp. 2823, 2842-3.]

                Note.--Inasmuch as concurrent action is necessary for 
            the recommittal of a conference report, the foregoing rule 
            of the House has necessitated a change in the practice, and 
            no effort has been made by the Senate in late years to 
            recommit a conference report. The purpose of a recommittal 
            can be attained, however, by a rejection of the report, when 
            another conference would be ordered, and in accordance with 
            usage the same conferees would be appointed.

                            TABLING OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

       255      56. The House has formally discarded the old practice of 
            allowing conference reports to be laid on the table.  (1407-
            1409.)

                Note.--The effect of the motion to lay on the table in 
            the House defeats the proposition. It is never taken up 
            again. Hence a conference report can not be laid on the 
            table; otherwise a conference report might be put beyond the 
            reach of either House. (Reed's Parliamentary Rules, Chap. 
            VIII, sec. 115.)

[[Page 235]]


       256      57. The Senate practice allows conference reports to be 
            laid on the table.

                  [43d Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 433; Congressional 
                                                 Record, pp. 2205-2206.]

                Note.--The effect of the motion to lay on the table in 
            the Senate, unlike that in the House, is simply to suspend 
            the consideration of a question during the pleasure of the 
            Senate, which can be again taken up on motion.
       257      58. A motion to reconsider the vote on agreeing to a 
            conference report may be laid on the table in the Senate 
            without carrying the report.

            [44th Cong., 1st sess., S. Jour., p. 234; Congressional 
            Record, pp. 1253, 1254; Senate Manual (1901), Rule XIII, 
            clause 1, p. 13.]

                          WITHDRAWAL OF CONFERENCE REPORTS

       258      59. A conference report may be withdrawn in the Senate 
            on leave, and in the House by unanimous consent.

                Note.--In the 32d Congress, a conference report having 
            been agreed to in the Senate, the vote was reconsidered, the 
            bill returned from the House on request of the Senate, and 
            the committee of conference had leave to withdraw its 
            report. (32d Cong., 2d sess., S. Jour., p. 420.)

                              FORM OF CONFERENCE REPORT

       259
                ------ Congress, ------ Session. H.R. [or S., as may be] 
            No. ------

                                  CONFERENCE REPORT

                The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of 
            the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate [or House, as 
            may be] to the Bill [or Resolution, as may be] (H.R. [or S., 
            as may be] ------), [title here] having met, after full and 
            free conference have agreed to recommend and do recommend to 
            their respective Houses as follows:
                That the Senate [or House, as may be] recede from its 
            amendments numbered * * *.
                That the House [or Senate, as may be] recede from its 
            disagreements to the amendments of the Senate [or House, as 
            may be] numbered * * * and agree to the same.
                Amendment numbered ------:
                That the House [or Senate, as may be] recede from its 
            disagreement to the amendment of the Senate [or House, as 
            may be] numbered ------, and agree to the same with an 
            amendment, as follows: * * *; and the Senate [or House, as 
            may be] agree to the same.
                Amendment numbered ------:

[[Page 236]]

                That the Senate [or House, as may be] recede from its 
            disagreement to the amendment of the House [or Senate, as 
            may be] to the amendment of the Senate [or House, as may be] 
            numbered ------, and agree to the same.
                Amendment numbered ------:
                That the Senate [or House, as may be] recede from its 
            disagreement to the amendment of the House [or Senate, as 
            may be] to the amendment of the Senate [or House, as may be] 
            numbered ------, and agree to the same, with an amendment, 
            as follows: * * *; and the House [or Senate, as may be] 
            agree to the same.
                Amendments numbered ------:
                On the amendments of the Senate [or House, as may be] 
            numbered ------, the committee of conference have been 
            unable to agree.
                   (Signatures here)             (Signatures here)

                  -------- --------,            -------- --------,

                  -------- --------,            -------- --------,

                  -------- --------,            -------- --------,

                Managers on the             Managers on the
                  part of the ------.           part of the ------.

       260   JOINT EXPLANATORY STATEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE 
                                         \1\

                The managers on the part of the House and the Senate at 
            the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on 
            the amendment/amendments of the House/Senate to the bill/
            joint resolution (          ) submit the following joint 
            statement to the House and the Senate in explanation of the 
            effect of the action agreed upon by the managers and 
            recommended in the accompanying conference report:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                \1\This statement form replaces that formerly carried in 
            Cleaves' Manual. Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the 
            Senate and Rule XXVIII of the Rules of the House of 
            Representatives provide that ``an explanatory statement 
            prepared jointly by the conferees on the part of the House 
            and the conferees on the part of the Senate'' shall 
            accompany each conference report.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                    * * * * * * *

                   (Signatures here)             (Signatures here)

                  -------- --------,            -------- --------,

                  -------- --------,            -------- --------,

                  -------- --------,            -------- --------,

                Managers on the             Managers on the
                  part of the ------.           part of the ------.
            [261]_______________________________________________________

                     index to conferences and conference reports

                                Senate Manual Section