How Legislation Is Brought to the House Floor: A Snapshot of Recent Parliamentary Practice
Date: March 9, 2011
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: The House of Representatives has several different parliamentary procedures through which it can bring legislation to the chamber floor. Which will be used in a given situation depends on many factors, including the type of measure being considered, its cost, the amount of political or policy controversy surrounding it, and the degree to which Members want to debate it and propose amendments. This report provides a statistical snapshot of the forms, origins, and party sponsorship of these measures, and of the parliamentary procedures used to bring them to the chamber floor during their initial consideration.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc33011/
Expedited or "Fast-Track" Legislative Procedures
Date: February 9, 2011
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: This report discusses expedited or "fast-track" legislative procedures, which are special procedures that Congress adopts to promote timely committee and floor action on a specifically defined type of bill or resolution.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc33081/
Expedited Procedures in the House: Variations Enacted Into Law
Date: May 11, 2011
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: Congress enacts expedited, or fast-track, procedures into law when it wants to increase the likelihood that one or both houses of Congress will vote in a timely way on a certain measure or kind of measure. These procedures are enacted as rulemaking provisions of law pursuant to the constitutional power of each house to adopt its own rules. The house to which a set of expedited procedures applies may act unilaterally to waive, suspend, amend, or repeal them.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc40178/
House Rules and Precedents Affecting Committee Markup Procedures
Date: November 19, 2010
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: Markup procedure in standing committee of the House of Representatives generally conform to guidelines the House follows when it conducts business on the floor under a set of procedures known as consideration by the "House as in Committee of the Whole." This report briefly discusses these procedures as they relate to legislative business conducted on the floor and in committee.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31307/
The Legislative Process on the House Floor: An Introduction
Date: December 1, 2010
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: This report provides an introduction to the legislative process on the House floor, including limitations on debate, calendars and the order of business, modes of floor consideration, senate amendments and conference reports, voting and quorum procedures, and information about a typical day on the House floor.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31304/
Federal Employees' Retirement System: Benefits and Financing
Date: May 20, 2011
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: One or both houses of Congress may formally express opinions about subjects of current national interest through freestanding simple or concurrent resolutions (called generically "sense of the House," "sense of the Senate," or "sense of the Congress" resolutions). These opinions may also be added to pending legislative measures by amendments expressing the views of one or both chambers. This report identifies the various forms these expressions may take and the procedures governing such actions.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83863/
House Resolutions of Inquiry
Date: June 17, 2009
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: The resolution of inquiry is a simple House resolution that seeks factual information from the executive branch. This report explains the history, procedure, specific uses of resolutions of inquiry, and notes recent increases in their usage. The examples in this report demonstrate that, historically, even when a resolution of inquiry is reported adversely from a committee and tabled on the floor, it has frequently led to the release of a substantial amount of information from the Administration.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc26207/
How Measures Are Brought to the House Floor: A Brief Introduction
Date: May 14, 2012
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: This report presents a brief description of the five methods used to bring proposed legislation to the House floor for consideration. These methods allow for consideration as a privileged matter, under the limited privilege of a special calendar or day, under suspension of the rules, under the terms of a special rule, or by unanimous consent.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc85479/
Resolutions of Inquiry: An Analysis of Their Use in the House, 1947-2011
Date: March 16, 2011
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: This report examines the use of resolutions of inquiry in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 2011. A resolution of inquiry is a measure that formally calls on the executive branch to provide specified factual information to Congress.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc99012/
House Committee Hearings: Witness Testimony
Date: November 19, 2010
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Description: This report briefly discusses the witness testimony process in House of Representatives committee hearings.
Contributing Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
Permallink:digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31314/