The Motion to Recommit in the House: The Minorityâs Motion (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Feb. 2, 2007 |
| Report Number |
RL33860 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Betsy Palmer, Government and Finance Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Recommittal motions can take one of two forms: a simple (or "straight") motion to recommit or a motion to recommit with instructions. Bills and conference reports can be recommitted, but the motion to recommit does not have the same effect on measures at both stages of the legislative process.
A simple motion to recommit a bill gives the minority party a final opportunity to "kill" a measure before the House votes on whether to pass it. When the House adopts a simple motion, the underlying bill goes back to committee and is considered to have been rejected by the House. A simple motion to recommit a conference report proposes to return the report to conference, but does not necessarily "kill" the bill in question.
A motion to recommit a bill with instructions provides the minority a last chance to amend a bill before the House votes on its passage. When the House recommits a bill with instructions, the measure goes back to committee, but typically with binding directions that the committee report the bill back to the House instantaneously with an amendment that is included in the instructions. The recommittal of a conference report with instructions returns the report to conference with non-binding directions to the House conferees only (e.g., to insist on disagreeing to a specific Senate amendment). Most motions to recommit bills and conference reports contain instructions.
The motion to recommit is in order in the House, but not in the Committee of the Whole. The motion must be offered after the previous question has been ordered, but before the vote on passing a bill or agreeing to a conference report. Debate is allowed only on motions to recommit with instructions that are offered to bills and joint resolutions. Debate is not permitted on simple motions or on any motions to recommit conference reports, except by unanimous consent. The House must approve the motion by a simple majority vote. From the 101st Congress through the 109th Congress, the House adopted 7.6% of all motions to recommit.
In modern House practice, the right to offer the motion to recommit is the prerogative of a minority party Representative who is opposed to the underlying measure. Until the 104th Congress, however, House precedents only guaranteed the minority's right to offer a simple motion to recommit. The House Rules Committee was allowed to report "special rules" that limited or prohibited instructions in motions to recommit.
Since the beginning of the 104th Congress, the Rules Committee has been prohibited from reporting any special rules that restrict or preclude instructions in motions to recommit offered to bills and joint resolutions, provided the motion is "offered by the minority leader or his designee."
This report will be updated at the end of each Congress.
