Sufficiency of Signatures on Conference Reports

Richard S. Beth
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

Elizabeth Rybicki
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

The House and Senate both require that a conference report be signed by a majority of House conferees and a majority of Senate conferees. When some conferees are appointed only for limited purposes, the two chambers have different ways of counting to determine whether the conferees’ report carries sufficient signatures. The Senate asks whether the report is signed by a majority of all the conferees from each house, without regard to whether those conferees were appointed for all or for limited purposes. The House asks whether the report is signed by a majority of all the conferees from each house who were appointed to consider each of the matters that were submitted to the conference committee.


Date of Report: May 2, 2012
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number: RS21629
Price: $19.95

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