[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 112th Congress]
[112nd Congress]
[House Document 111-157]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 201-203]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

                     sec. xxi--resolutions



Sec. 395. Orders and resolutions of the House.

  When  the 
House commands, it is by an ``order.'' But fact, principles, and their 
own opinions and purposes, are expressed in the form of resolutions.




[[Page 202]]




President, on account of doubt in his mind, according to clause 5 
of rule XXII) the decision was overruled. Jour., Senate, June 1, 1796. I 
presume the doubt was, whether an allowance of money could be made 
otherwise than by bill.

  A resolution for an allowance of money to the clerks being moved, it 
was objected to as not in order, and so ruled by the Chair; but on 
appeal to the Senate (i.e., a call for their sense by the 



Sec. 396. Concurrent resolutions of the two Houses.

  In   the 
modern practice concurrent resolutions have been developed as a means of 
expressing fact, principles, opinions, and purposes of the two Houses 
(II, 1566, 1567). Joint committees are authorized by resolutions of this 
form (III, 1998,  1999), and they are used in authorizing correction of 
bills agreed to by both Houses (VII, 1042), amendment of enrolled bills 
(VII, 1041), amendment of conference reports (VIII, 3308), requests for 
return of bills sent to the President (VII, 1090, 1091), authorizing the 
printing of certain enrolled bills by hand in the remaining days of a 
session (Dec. 20, 1982, p. 32875), providing for joint session to 
receive message from the President (VIII, 3335, 3336), authorizing the 
printing of congressional documents (July 1, 1969, p. 17948); and fixing 
time for final adjournment (VIII, 3365). The Congressional Budget Act of 
1974 (P.L. 93-344) provides for the adoption by both Houses of 
concurrent resolutions on the budget that become binding on both Houses 
with respect to congressional budget procedures (see Sec. 1127, infra). 
A concurrent resolution is binding on neither House until agreed to by 
both (IV, 3379), and, because not legislative in nature, is not sent to 
the President for approval (IV, 3483). A concurrent resolution is not a 
bill or joint resolution within the meaning of clause 5 of rule XXI 
(requiring a three-fifths vote for approval of such a measure if 
carrying an increase in a rate of tax on income) (Speaker Gingrich, May 
18, 1995, p. 13499). In the 106th Congress the Senate neglected to adopt 
a House concurrent resolution vacating signatures of the Presiding 
Officers on an enrolled bill and laying that bill on the table as 
overtaken by another enactment (H. Con. Res. 234, adopted by the House 
on Nov. 18, 1999, p. 30719). The Congress subsequently enacted section 
1401 of the Miscellaneous Appropriations Act of 2001, which adopted that 
concurrent resolution (as enacted by P.L. 106-554).



[[Page 203]]




(IV, 3519; VII, 1092), 
enlargement of scope of inquiries provided by law (VII, 1040), election 
of managers for National Soldiers' Homes (V, 7336), special 
appropriations for minor and incidental purposes (V, 7319), continuing 
appropriations (H.J. Res. 790, P.L. 91-33); establishing the date for 
convening of Congress (H.J. Res. 1041, P.L. 91-182); extending the 
submission date under law for transmittal of a report to Congress by the 
President (H.J. Res. 635, P.L. 97-469); and extending the termination 
date for a law (H.J. Res. 864, P.L. 91-59). At one time they were used 
for purposes of general legislation; but the two Houses finally 
concluded that a bill was the proper instrumentality for this purpose 
(IV, 3370-3373). A joint resolution has been changed to a bill by 
amendment (IV, 3374), but in the later practice it has become 
impracticable to do so.


Sec. 397. Joint resolutions.

  Another  development of the 
modern practice is the joint resolution, which is a bill so far as the 
processes of the Congress in relation to it are concerned (IV, 3375; 
VII, 1036). With the exception of joint resolutions proposing amendments 
to the Constitution (V, 7029), all these resolutions are sent to the 
President for approval and have the full force of law. They are used for 
what may be called the incidental, unusual, or inferior purposes of 
legislating (IV, 3372), as extending the national thanks to individuals 
(IV, 3370), the invitation to Lafayette to visit America (V, 7082, 
footnote), notice to a foreign government of the abrogation of a treaty 
(V, 6270), declaration of intervention in Cuba (V, 6321), correction of 
an error in an existing act of legislation 



  Where a choice between a concurrent resolution and a joint resolution 
is not dictated by law, the House by its vote on consideration of a 
measure decides which is the appropriate vehicle (and a point of order 
does not lie that a concurrent rather than a joint resolution would be 
more appropriate to express the sense of the Congress on an issue) (Mar. 
16, 1983, p. 5669).
* * * * *