What is a conference committee?
A conference committee is a temporary joint committee formed by the United States House of Representatives and Senate to reconcile differences between the two chambers' distinct versions of a bill, producing a single compromise text that both chambers must then approve before it can be sent to the president.
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Core tenets
- Formed to reconcile differing bill versions
- A conference committee is created specifically when the House and Senate have each passed a version of the same bill with differing text.
- Joint membership from both chambers
- Members, called conferees, are appointed from both the House and Senate, typically drawn from the relevant committees that originally considered the bill.
- Produces a single compromise report
- The conference committee negotiates a single final text, the conference report, which each chamber must then approve without further amendment before the bill can proceed to the president.
How it works in practice
Conference committees have become less common in recent decades, with many bicameral differences instead resolved through informal negotiation and an amendment exchange process between the chambers.
- Formal conference committee
- Appointed conferees meet, often over multiple sessions, to negotiate a single compromise text covering all disputed provisions.
- Amendment exchange
- An alternative, increasingly common method in which the chambers exchange amendments back and forth without forming a formal conference committee, reaching agreement more informally.
What it is often confused with
A conference committee is a distinct, temporary body formed for a specific bill, not to be confused with a standing committee, which has ongoing jurisdiction over a general subject area across the life of a Congress.
Criticisms and debates
Debate over conference committees, and the shift away from them toward informal negotiation, centers on transparency and accountability in resolving bicameral differences.
Transparency critique
Argues that the shift away from formal conference committees toward informal negotiation among a small number of leaders has reduced opportunities for broader member and public scrutiny of how final bill language is actually negotiated.
Response: Defenders of informal negotiation argue it is often faster and more flexible than the formal conference process, allowing bills to reach final passage under tighter deadlines.
Formal-process defense
Some argue that formal conference committees, with their more open, defined membership and process, provide more legitimate and accountable reconciliation of bicameral differences than informal negotiation among a small number of leaders.
Response: Proponents of informal negotiation respond that the final product, in either case, must still pass both chambers by the normal vote requirements, providing accountability at that stage regardless of how the compromise text was developed.
Historical examples
- Tax Cuts and Jobs Act conference committee, 2017
- A formal conference committee reconciled differing House and Senate versions of major tax legislation before final passage.
Sources
- 1.Congressional Research Service. Resolving Legislative Differences in Congress: Conference Committees and Amendments Between the Houses.
- 2.Encyclopaedia Britannica. Conference committee.
- 3.Encyclopaedia Britannica. United States Congress.