Reported Bills

Contents, Filing, Availability of Reports and Hearings

If the committee votes to report the bill to the House, the committee staff writes a committee 1….. The report describes the purpose and scope of the bill and the reasons for its recommended approval. Generally, a section-by-section analysis is set …2…

explaining precisely what each section is intended to …3... All changes in existing law must be indicated in the report and the text of laws being repealed must be set …4.. This requirement is known as the "Ramseyer" …5.. A similar rule in the Senate is known as the "Cordon" rule. Committee …6… also must be set out at the beginning of the report and explanations of them are included. Executive …7… regarding the bill may be referenced in the report.

If at the time of …8… of a bill by a committee, except for the Committee on Rules, a member of the committee gives …9… of an intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views, that member is …10… to not less than two additional calendar days after the day of such notice (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays …11… the House is in session on those days) in which to file those views with the clerk of the committee. Those views that are timely …12… must be included in the report on the bill. Committee reports must be filed while the House is in …13… unless unanimous consent is obtained from the House to file at a later time or the committee is awaiting additional views.

The report is assigned a report number …14… its filing and is sent to the Government Printing Office for printing. House reports are given a prefix-designator that …15… the number of the Congress. For example, the first House report in the 108th Congress was numbered 108-1.

In the printed report, committee amendments are indicated by showing new …16… in italics and deleted matter in line- through type. The report number is printed on the bill and the calendar number is shown on both the first and back pages of the …17… . However, in the case of a bill that was referred to two or more …18… for consideration in sequence, the calendar number is printed only on the bill as reported by the last committee to consider it.

Committee reports are perhaps the most valuable single element of the legislative history of a law. They are used by the courts, executive …19…, and the public as a source of information regarding the purpose and meaning of the …20… .

TASK VI Answer the following questions:

1. Where are bills placed in the House?

2. Whose signature must appear on the bill before it is accepted for the introduction?

3. What do the words “by request” on the bill mean?

4. Who receives bills in the Senate?

5. What is the procedure of the first reading in the Senate and in the House?

6. What is the most important phase of the legislative process?

7. What is the jurisdiction of the committee on the Judiciary?

8. May a bill be referred to multiple committees for consideration?

9. How is the proportion of major political parties determined in the committees?

TASK VII Issues to discuss

1. The introduction of a bill

2. The work of the committees.

TASK VIII Agree or disagree with the following quotations:

For years politicians have promised the moon – I am the first to be able to deliver it.

Richard Nixon, 1913-1994,

37^th President of the USA

Text 5 SENATE ACTION