HOUSE FLOOR CONSIDERATION OF A CONFERENCE REPORT

Conference reports are generally debated for one hour, the time divided between the Majority and the Minority, unless the Majority party manager and the Minority party manager both support the conference report. In that case, one--third of the debate time will be given to an opponent of the conference report who makes such a demand.

Before adoption of the conference report, a motion may be in order to recommit the conference report to the committee on conference, either with instructions (that must be within the authority of the conferees) or without instructions, although no separate debate time is allowed on the motion. Such a motion is only in order in the House if the Senate has not yet acted on the conference report thereby discharging the conferees, and the instructions in the motion to recommit are not binding because the House cannot bind Senate conferees. A Member qualifies to offer the motion if he opposes the bill and states that fact.

If the House is first to act and the motion to recommit is adopted, the conference must meet again and a new conference report must be filed. The conference report may not immediately be reconsidered. Following debate on the conference report and in the absence of a motion to recommit or upon the defeat of such a motion, a vote then occurs on adoption of the conference report. (It is important to remember that a conference report may not be amended on the House floor).

It is also important to note that when dealing with appropriations conference reports, there may be times when conferees cannot reach agreement on all the amendments in disagreement or there may be times when conferees report provisions outside the conference report (i.e., they exceed the scope of the conference or they violate clause 2 of Rule XXI -- legislating on an appropriation bill or appropriating unauthorized funds). In those cases, the conferees will present a conference report to the House and Senate that includes all amendments on which agreement has been reached but excludes the amendments that remain in real or technical disagreement. In this case, the conference report is considered first and then, assuming adoption of the conference report, the amendments in disagreement are considered and disposed of individually.