Order Code 98-308 GOV
Updated January 7, 2004
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Senate Legislative Procedures:
Published Sources of Information
Christopher M. Davis
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
The Senate publishes its rules, precedents, and other related information so that
Senators and their staff have convenient access to the Senate’s legislative procedures and
can gauge how those procedures are likely to apply in various situations.1 Information
about the Senate’s legislative procedures is published in four official documents.
The Senate publishes its standing rules periodically as a Senate document. The most
recent edition is the Standing Rules of the Senate, S.Doc. 106-15. This 71-page
document is compiled by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and
contains only the text of the Senate’s 43 standing rules. It is also available online at
[http://rules.senate.gov/senaterules/standingrules.txt].
These standing rules also appear in a much larger volume, the Senate Manual, most
recently published in 2002 as S.Doc. 107-1. This Manual also is compiled by the
Committee
on
Rules
and
Administration
and
is
available
online
at
[http://www.gpoaccess.gov/smanual/].
In addition to the standing rules, the Manual contains other documents, some of
which are relevant to the Senate’s legislative proceedings. Among these documents are
! standing orders of the Senate and resolutions adopted by the Senate that
remain in force;
! rules adopted by the Committee on Rules and Administration to govern
the Senate wing of the Capitol; and
! the text of general and permanent laws relating to the Senate, excerpted
from the United States Code and comprising almost 500 pages.
1 This report was written by Stanley Bach, formerly a Senior Specialist in the Legislative Process
at CRS. Dr. Bach has retired, but the other listed author updated the report and is available to
answer questions concerning its contents.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Finally, the Manual includes various historical documents, including the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution, as well as useful statistical and tabular data, such as
the names and dates of service of all Senators, listed chronologically and arranged by state
and class. A table of the electoral votes cast for President and Vice President and lists of
Supreme Court justices and Cabinet secretaries, including their dates of service.
The Senate’s precedents, especially those of the last 100 years, are compiled in a
single volume, Riddick’s Senate Procedure, written by Floyd M. Riddick and Alan S.
Frumin, and published in 1992 as S.Doc. 101-28.
It is available online at
[http://www.gpoaccess.gov/riddick/]. This book of more than 1,600 pages is named in
honor of the late Dr. Riddick, once the parliamentarian of the Senate, who had been
instrumental in the preparation of earlier editions that were entitled Senate Procedure.
Riddick’s Senate Procedure is organized alphabetically by topic, beginning with
rules and precedents relating to “Adjournment” and continuing through those concerning
“Voting” on the Senate floor. The treatment of each topic begins with a summary
prepared by the Senate parliamentarian and his colleagues, and continues with the text of
the relevant Senate rule or rules. There follows statements that summarize the related
precedents that the Senate has established, with footnote citations to the decisions and the
events surrounding them, as reported in the Congressional Record or the Senate’s
Journal.
The appendix provides the language that Senators and the Senate’s presiding officer
usually use for various purposes, such as putting a question to a vote or appealing a ruling
of the Chair. This appendix is very useful for Senators who are about to take some action
on the floor and who want to verify the proper or usual language for doing so.
In addition to these documents, the Committee on Rules and Administration also
prepares a compilation of materials on the authority and rules of the Senate’s committees.
This compilation is published every Congress as a Senate document, most recently as
Authority and Rules of Senate Committees, 2003-2004 (S.Doc. 108-6). For each
committee, this document presents its jurisdiction, deriving from Senate rules or other
sources, and the rules the committee has adopted to govern its own proceedings. Also
included is comparable information on joint committees and several other Senate and
bicameral bodies, as well as the texts of statutes, resolutions, and Senate rules affecting
committee procedures.
For example, this last section includes provisions of law
concerning the enforcement of Senate committee subpoenas and grants of immunity for
witnesses appearing before Senate committees.
New editions of the Standing Rules of the Senate and the Senate Manual are
distributed to the offices of Senators and Senate committees. Contact the Senate
Document Room regarding the availability of additional copies. Newly elected Senators
also receive copies of Riddick’s Senate Procedure. The compilation of committee
authorities and rules, if available, can be obtained from the Senate Document Room.
Copies of all these publications can be examined at the Senate Library (Room B-15,
Russell Senate Office Building) and the CRS Senate Research Center (Room B-07,
Russell Senate Office Building).
For additional information on all these documents, see CRS Report RL30788,
Parliamentary Reference Sources: Senate.

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