Post-Committee Adjustment in the Modern House: The Use of Rules Committee Prints

Summary

Floor proceedings in the U.S. House of Representatives often begin on the basis of legislation reported from committee. In some instances, adjustments to committee recommendations are made and a new legislative text is presented for chamber consideration. These “post-committee adjustments” are not new to the House, but the frequency of their use and the mechanics of executing them have changed in recent years. It is now common for legislative adjustments to be reflected in a “Rules Committee print” that is established as the base text at the outset of floor consideration (in lieu of a committee-reported version) by way of a “special rule” reported by the Rules Committee and adopted by the House. Many Rules prints contain the same language found in committee-reported bills, while others may include slight or significant revisions to the reported text.

This report examines the use of Rules prints as a way of executing post-committee adjustments to measures reported from committee. It begins with a discussion of how legislation gets considered on the House floor, the important role of the Rules Committee in organizing the chamber’s business, and the mechanics of how special rules can modify legislation following the committee stage of proceedings. The report then explains the language the Rules Committee uses to communicate to Members and staff the magnitude and policy significance of textual changes contained in a Rules print, and it assesses the degree to which post-committee adjustments have been made in this context.

House leadership and the Rules Committee have made increasing use of Rules prints in recent years as the textual basis for floor debate and amendment. The first identified use of a Rules print for the purpose of post-committee adjustment occurred in July 1999, but this practice did not become routine until the 112th Congress (2011-2012). Early Rules prints appear to have modified bills to about the same degree as in recent Congresses, but a noticeable drop in post-committee adjustment during the 113th Congress (2013-2014) suggests a continued evolution in the use of Rules prints for this purpose. Overall, of the 82 Rules prints examined here, 44 of them contained some kind of modification to a committee-reported bill.

To be sure, Rules prints can accomplish any number of purposes that may or may not require textual adjustments to committee-reported bills. For instance, when policy or jurisdictional disputes arise between or among committees, a Rules print may include language that reflects the outcome of negotiations involving committee chairs and the majority leadership. Rules prints can also expand the scope of subject matter Members consider on the floor by combining two or more committee-reported bills in a single print. Prints can expedite House business by presenting legislative text for debate and amendment at an earlier stage in the legislative process than would otherwise be possible, and they can lend certainty to floor proceedings by reducing the time it takes after a committee reports a measure for its text to become available to Members and the general public. A Rules print may also modify reported text in order to broaden support for the proposal among Members.

Making in order a Rules print as the legislative baseline for House floor consideration can be understood as a procedural tool to manage uncertainty on the House floor and enhance majority leadership control over the substance of policy the House considers. The use of Rules prints is a logical extension of past procedural innovations and should not be viewed as constituting a significant departure in the way the House conducts its business. Differences in how this current practice has evolved from previous methods of setting a base text for House floor consideration are highlighted throughout the report.