BILLS.

1. Statutory provisions relating to.

2. Obsolete rules regarding, followed in practice.

3. Printing of.

4. Enrollment and signing of.

5. In Committee of the Whole.

6. Requesting speedy passage of.

7. A formal reading of a, may be dispensed with by unanimous consent, which holds good at a subsequent consideration of the bill on another day.

8. If, are read formally, they will not have to be read again for amendments. 9. Third reading of.

10. A, not open to debate during the first reading.

11. On introduction of, and must not duplicate.

12. Must lie over one day, if objected to.

13. One House adjourned, President declines to receive certain.

14. Minority may not bring in.

15. Canceling signatures to.

16. Motion to take up in the morning hour, requires unanimous consent. 17. Is in order to entertain a motion to take up a, on the calendar out of its regular order.

18. Motion to postpone previous orders and take up a, in order.

19. Motion to take up a, or joint resolution while a, is pending, in order.

20. Pending motion to consider, debate not in order.

21. A question of order may be made in the Senate after the, is reported from the Committee of the Whole.

22. On consideration of.

23. A, may not be divided, but division applies to amendments to.

24. When one House recedes is bill passed?

25. Motion to reconsider, laid on table, does not carry bill with it.

26. On reconsideration of a, returned to the Senate by the President without his approval, debate is in order.

27. Reconsideration of, in general.

28. Return of, asked for.

29. May be reported adversely with amendments.

30. A quorum is not necessary on vote to make a, a special order.

31. A, once carried can not be questioned again at the same session, but must stand as the judgment of the House.

32. A, may be made the unfinished business after 2 p. m. by a vote of the

Senate.

33. General observations.

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A bill, as the term is here used, is the basis of legislation. It is a form or draft of a proposed law. Regarding such, the Constitution, Article I, section 7, says:

"All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.

"Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approves, he shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House, respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within 10 days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a faw."

The rules of the Senate having directly to do with the subject of bills are the following:

Rule VII prescribes the order in which the Chair shall call for the introduction of bills and joint resolutions. After laying before the Senate any messages that may be upon his desk, from the President or one of the executive departments, and messages from the House of Representatives, the Presiding Officer calls for, in order: The presentation of petitions and memorials, reports of standing and select committees, the introduction of bills and joint resolutions and concurrent and other resolutions.

Clause 2 of the same rule reads: "Senators having petitions, memorials, pension bills, bills for the payment of private claims or for the correction of naval or military records to present after the morning hour may deliver them to the Secretary of the Senate, indorsing upon them their names and the reference or disposition to be made thereof, and said petitions, memorials, and bills shall, with the approval of the Presiding Officer, be entered on the Journal with the names of the Senators presenting them as having been read twice and referred to the appropriate committees, and the Secretary of the Senate shall furnish a transcript of such entries to the official reporter of debates for publication in the Record.

"It shall not be in order to interrupt a Senator having the floor, for the purpose of introducing any memorial, petition, report of a committee, resolution, or bill. It shall be the duty of the Chair to enforce this rule without any point of order hereunder being made by a Senator."

By clause 6 of the same rule it is provided that "the Presiding Officer may at any time lay, and it shall be in order at any time for a Senator to move to lay, before the Senate any bill or other matter sent to the Senate by the President or the House of Representatives, and any question pending at that time shall be suspended for this purpose. Any motion so made shall be determined without debate." (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XIV.)

Rule VIII provides that bills upon the calendar that are unobjected to shall be taken up for consideration in regular order, etc., and Rule IX, that covers the subject of bills to which objections. have been made, contains the same provision as to the order of consideration.

RULE XIV. "Whenever a bill or joint resolution shall be offered, its introduction shall, if objected to, be postponed for one day. (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XXIII.)

"Every bill and joint resolution shall receive three readings previous to its passage, which readings shall be on three different days, unless the Senate unanimously direct otherwise; and the Presiding Officer shall give notice at each reading whether it be the first, second, or third. (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XXII.)

"No bill or joint resolution shall be committed or amended until it shall have been twice read, after which it may be referred to a committee; bills and joint resolutions introduced on leave, and bills and joint resolutions from the House of Representatives, shall be read once, and may be read twice, on the same day, if not objected to, for reference, but shall not be considered on that day as in Committee of the Whole, nor debated, except for reference, unless by unanimous consent. (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XXV.)

"Every bill and joint resolution reported from a committee, not having previously been read, shall be read once, and twice, if not objected to, on the same day, and placed on the calendar in the order in which the same may be reported; and every bill and joint resolution introduced on leave, and every bill and joint resolution of the House of Representatives which shall have received a first and second reading without being referred to a committee, shall, if objection be made to further proceeding thereon, be placed on the calendar. (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XXV.)

"All resolutions shall lie over one day for consideration, unless by unanimous consent the Senate shall otherwise direct." (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XXV.)

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RULE XV. "All bills and joint resolutions which shall have received two readings shall first be considered by the Senate as in Committee of the Whole, after which they shall be reported to the Senate; and any amendments made in Committee of the Whole shall again be considered by the Senate, after which further amendments may be proposed. (Jefferson's Manual, Secs. XXVI, XXX.)

"When a bill or resolution shall have been ordered to be read a third time, it shall not be in order to propose amendments, unless by unanimous consent, but it shall be in order at any time before the passage of any bill or resolution to move its commitment; and when the bill or resolution shall again be reported from the committee it shall be placed on the calendar, and when again considered by the Senate it shall be as in Committee of the Whole. (Jefferson's Manual, Secs. XXVI, XXX.)

"Whenever a private bill is under consideration, it shall be in order to move, as a substitute for it, a resolution of the Senate referring the case to the Court of Claims, under the provisions of the act approved March 3, 1883."

RULE XXII. "When a bill or resolution is accompanied by a preamble, the question shall first be put on the bill or resolution and then on the preamble, which may be withdrawn by a mover before an amendment of the same, or ordering of the yeas and nays; or it may be laid on the table without prejudice to the bill or resolution and shall be a final disposition of such preamble." (Jefferson's Manual, Sec. XXVI.)

A joint resolution is a bill within the meaning of the rules, and, with very few exceptions in the earlier Congresses, has been treated in exactly the same manner. (See Senate Report No. 1335, 54th Cong., 2d sess.)

1. STATUTORY PROVISIONS RELATING TO.

The Statutes have the following provisions regarding the style in which acts shall be passed, and, of course, bills should be drawn in the same style:

SEC. 7. The enacting clause of all acts of Congress hereafter enacted shall be in the following form: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

SEC. 8. The resolving clause of all joint resolutions shall be in the following form: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

SEC. 9. No enacting or resolving words shall be used in any section of an act or resolution of Congress except in the first.

SEC. 10. Each section shall be numbered, and shall contain, as nearly as may be, a single proposition of enactment.

The Supplement to the Revised Statutes, volume 2, page 349 (28 Stat. L., sec. 55, p. 609), reads: “The term 'private bill' shall be construed to mean all bills for the relief of private parties, bills granting pensions, and bills removing political disabilities."

2. OBSOLETE RULES REGARDING, FOLLOWED IN PRACTICE.

The two Houses of Congress had joint rules until December, 1876, when the Senate declared them to be no longer in effect, and certain of these had directly to do with proceedings upon bills. While these rules are no longer in existence, the practice of the Houses has been in accord with their directions. The rules pertaining to bills, with the dates of their adoption, are as follows:

"While bills are on their passage between the two Houses they shall be on paper, and under the signature of the Secretary or Clerk of each House, respectively. (Aug. 6, 1789.)

"After the bill shall have passed both Houses it shall be duly enrolled on parchment by the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate, as the bill may have originated in the one or the other House, before it shall be presented to the President of the United States. (Aug. 6, 1789.)

"When bills are enrolled they shall be examined by a joint committee of two from the Senate, and two from the House of Representatives, appointed as a standing committee for that purpose, who shall carefully compare the enrollment with the engrossed bills as passed in the two Houses, and, correcting any errors that may be discovered in the enrolled bills, make their report forthwith to their respective Houses. (Aug. 6, 1789-Feb. 1, 1827.)

"After examination and report each bill shall be signed in the respective Houses, first by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, then by the President of the Senate. (Aug. 6, 1789.)

"After a bill shall have been thus signed in each House it shall be presented by the said committee to the President of the United States for his approbation (it being first indorsed on the back of the roll, certifying in which House the same originated; which indorsement shall be signed by the Secretary or Clerk, as the case may be, of the House in which the same did originate), and shall be entered on the Journal of each House. The said committee shall report the day of presentation to the President. (Aug. 6, 1789.)

"Each House shall transmit to the other all papers on which any bill or resolution shall be founded. (June 10, 1790.)

3. PRINTING OF.

Clause 3 of Rule XXIX reads as follows:

"Every bill and joint resolution introduced on leave or reported from a committee, and all bills and joint resolutions received from the House of Representatives, and all reports of committees, shall be printed, unless, for the dispatch of the business of the Senate, such printing may be dispensed with."

The statutes give specific directions as to the number of bills to be printed, the ordering of the same, and their distribution. Section 55 of an act "providing for the public printing and binding," etc., approved January 12, 1895, reads:

"There shall be printed of each Senate and House public bill and joint resolution six hundred and twenty-five copies, which shall be distributed as follows: To the Senate document room, two hundred and twenty-five copies; office of Secretary of Senate, fifteen copies; House document room, three hundred and eighty-five copies. There shall be printed of each Senate private bill, when introduced, when reported, and when passed, three hundred copies, which shall be distributed as follows: To the Senate document room, one hundred and seventy copies; to the Secretary of the Senate, fifteen copies; to the House document room, one hundred copies; to the superintendent of documents, ten copies. There shall be printed of each House private bill, when introduced, when reported, and when passed, two hundred and sixty copies, which shall be distributed as follows: To the Senate document room, one hundred and thirty-five copies; to the Secretary of the Senate, fifteen copies; to the House document room, one hundred copies; to the superintendent of documents, ten