Order Code RS22299
October 14, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Routes to the Senate Floor: Rule XIV and
Unanimous Consent
Michael L. Koempel
Senior Specialist in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Summary
Most bills and joint resolutions introduced in the Senate, and many House-
numbered bills and joint resolutions received by the Senate after House passage, are
referred to committee. Some provisions of Senate Rule XIV and some unanimous
consent requests, however, allow the Senate to completely or partially bypass a
measure’s potential consideration by a Senate committee. This report examines the
framework and use of these alternatives. (Concurrent and simple resolutions are not
covered by this report.) This report will not be updated unless Senate procedures change.
When a Senator introduces a bill or joint resolution, the measure is often referred to
committee, pursuant to provisions of Senate Rules XIV, XVII, and XXV. When the
House informs the Senate that it has passed a bill or joint resolution that was introduced
in that chamber, the measure is also often similarly referred to a Senate committee.1
Senate Rule XIV, para. 2 requires that bills and resolutions have three readings
before passage, and that they be read twice before being referred to committee.2 Although
a Senator may demand that the readings occur on three different legislative days under
paragraph 2, bills and joint resolutions may be read twice on the same day “for reference”
(referral) if there is no objection (Rule XIV, para. 3). Most bills and resolutions are read
twice (understood in practice to occur by unanimous consent) and referred to committee
on the same day that they are introduced by a Senator or received from the House.3
1 Senate rules contain procedures for the processing of concurrent and simple resolutions, which
are not covered in this report. See especially Senate Rule XIV, para. 6.
2 The “third reading” occurs after Senate consideration of a measure and before the vote on final
passage. See U.S. Congress, Senate, Riddick’s Senate Procedure, S.Doc. 101-28, 101st Cong., 2nd
sess. (Washington: GPO, 1992), pp. 1290-1291 (hereafter Riddick’s Senate Procedure).
3 For example, on Sept. 30, 2005, Senate bills S. 1804 - S. 1808 were introduced. The
Congressional Record entry stated: “The following bills and joint resolutions were introduced,
read the first and second times by unanimous consent, and referred as indicated:”; the bill
numbers, official titles, and committees to which they were referred were then listed.
(continued...)
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Senate Rule XVII, para. 1 states that a measure should be referred to the committee
“which has jurisdiction over the subject matter which predominates....” Rule XXV
contains the jurisdictions of the Senate’s standing committees. There also exist
agreements between committees that might govern the referral of bills and joint
resolutions concerning certain subject matter. Under Rule XVII, para. 1, the presiding
officer formally refers bills and joint resolutions; practically, the parliamentarian refers
measures in behalf of the presiding officer.4 The introduction and referral of bills and
joint resolutions, and the referral of House-passed bills and joint resolutions, occurs as
“morning business,” pursuant to Senate Rule VII, para. 1.5
The Senate may, however, use provisions of Senate Rule XIV or certain unanimous
consent requests to completely or partially bypass potential consideration of a bill or joint
resolution by a Senate committee. The purpose of doing so could be to have a measure
placed directly on the Senate Calendar6 or to immediately consider a measure. This report
examines the framework and use of Rule XIV and unanimous consent for such purposes.
Using Rule XIV to Bypass a Senate Committee
Senate Rule XIV, para. 4, states: “... 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
.” (Emphasis
added.)

Therefore, through objection, a bill or joint resolution after two readings is prevented
from being referred to committee and is placed directly on the Calendar. It is usually the
3 (...continued)
“Introduction of Bills and Joint Resolutions,” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151,
Sept. 30, 2005, p. S10796.
Also on Sept. 30, the Senate received a message from the House that the House had passed
H.R. 3824, “in which it requests the concurrence of the Senate(.)” A subsequent Congressional
Record
entry stated: “The following bill was read the first and second times by unanimous
consent, and referred as indicated:”; H.R. 3824, with its official title, was listed, followed by the
name of the Senate committee to which it was referred. “Message from the House” and
“Measures Referred,” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, Sept. 30, 2005, p. S10796.
4 Rule XVII, para. 3 allows a measure to be referred to more than one committee, jointly or
sequentially, by motion of the majority and minority leaders; this procedure has not been used.
Joint and sequential referrals, however, have been made by unanimous consent.
5 This rule (para. 6) also allows the introduction of bills and joint resolutions by delivery to the
presiding officer’s desk, “in the absence of objection.” In addition, in a unanimous consent
request (similar to ones in previous Congresses), the Senate permitted, “That for the duration of
the 109th Congress, Senators may be allowed to bring to the desk bills, joint resolutions,
concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions, for referral to appropriate committees.” Senator
Bill Frist, remarks in the Senate, “Unanimous Consent Requests,” Congressional Record, daily
edition, vol. 151, Jan. 4, 2005, p. S7.
6 Formally, the Calendar of Business, published daily when the Senate is in session. The
Calendar’s General Orders section lists measures eligible for Senate floor consideration.

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majority leader, or his designee, acting on his own or at the request of any other Senator,
who objects to “further proceeding” — committee referral — on the measure.7
For example, this procedure was used to place directly on the Calendar S. 1718, a
Hurricane Katrina-related bill. On September 19, 2005, while the Senate was conducting
morning business, the presiding office recognized the majority leader for this colloquy:
Mr. FRIST. I understand there is at bill at the desk. I ask for its first reading.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
(The legislative clerk then read the bill, S. 1718, by title, as provided in Rule XIV.)
Mr. FRIST. Now I ask for its second reading and in order to place the bill on the
calendar under rule XIV, I object to my own request.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.8
S. 1718 had now been read once. In the Senate Calendar dated September 20, 2005, this
action was recorded in the section Bills and Joint Resolutions Read the First Time. The
measure was held at the desk.
Since objection was heard to the second reading on the same day as the first reading,
the presiding officer recognized Senator Robert Bennett, the majority leader’s designee,
the next legislative day, September 20, during the Senate’s conduct of morning business:
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for
a second reading.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the title of the bill for the second
time.
(The assistant legislative clerk then read the bill, S. 1718, by title.)
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the
provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceeding.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on
the calendar.9
S. 1718 had now received its second reading, but there was objection to further
proceeding on it. The presiding officer, under Rule XIV, ordered that the bill be placed
on the calendar. In the Senate Calendar beginning September 21, 2005, S. 1718 appeared
in the section General Orders, with other measures available for floor consideration.
This same procedure is followed to have House-passed bills and joint resolutions
placed directly on the Senate Calendar.10
7 See also Riddick’s Senate Procedure, pp. 225-226, 240-248.
8 Senator Bill Frist, remarks in the Senate, “Measure Read the First Time — S. 1718,”
Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, Sept. 19, 2005, p. S10200.
9 Senator Robert Bennett, remarks in the Senate, “Measure Placed on the Calendar — S. 1718,”
Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, Sept. 20, 2005, p. S10246.
10 See, for example, the legislative history on the Legislative Information System of H.R. 1797
(109th Cong.), a bill providing compensation to a tribe of Indians for the use of tribal land.

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Broadly, the two purposes of preventing the referral of a bill or joint resolution to a
committee and placing it directly on the Calendar are: (1) to facilitate the full Senate’s
opportunity to consider the measure; or (2) to bypass a committee’s potential inaction or,
to the sponsor, potential hostile action.11 While placing a bill or joint resolution directly
on the Calendar does not guarantee that the full Senate will ever consider it, the measure
is available for floor consideration and certain procedural steps, like committee reporting
or floor approval of amendments to the measure desired by the sponsor, and procedural
requirements, like the two-day availability of a committee report, may be obviated.
In the 109th Congress, through September 30, 2005, 49 bills and joint resolutions
were placed directly on the Calendar using the Rule XIV procedure.12 A measure such
as S. 397, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, was an important legislative
initiative. A reason that it might have been placed on the calendar was that the full Senate
considered but defeated a related bill in the 108th Congress. Eleven Senate bills dealing
with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were also placed directly on the Calendar, thereby
allowing the majority leader to expeditiously call them up for consideration by the Senate.
House-passed bills and joint resolutions might also be placed directly on the
Calender using the Rule XIV procedure when a Senate measure is already on the
Calendar, an amendment to the House measure is already in discussion among interested
Senators, support for the House-passed measure is stronger in the full Senate than in the
committee to which it would be referred, or for another reason. House-passed measures
placed on the Calendar in this way in the first nine months of the 109th Congress included
H.R. 8, Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005; H.R. 810, Stem Cell Research
Enhancement Act of 2005; and H.R. 2745, United Nations Reform Act of 2005.
The procedure under Rule XIV is also used by the minority party, or a Senator with
a viewpoint different on an issue from that of most Senators, to give added visibility to
specific bills and joint resolutions and to avoid potential inaction or hostility in a Senate
committee. Democratic Senators in the 109th Congress used this procedure to put bills
such as S. 851, Fiscal Responsibility for a Sound Future Act, and S. 1062, Fair Minimum
Wage Act of 2005, directly on the Calendar.
Measures Placed on Calendar by Unanimous Consent
Bills and joint resolutions may also be read the first and second times by unanimous
consent and placed on the Calendar. This procedure was used in the first nine months of
the 109th Congress for House-passed bills such as H.R. 3, the highway and transit bill.
The Senate’s transportation bill was reported from Senate committee shortly after the
Senate received the House-passed measure.
11 On occasion, a Senator introduces a bill or joint resolution, which is referred to committee, and
later introduces an identical or similar measure and has it placed directly on the Calendar, under
Rule XIV. The Senator might do this to bypass committee hostility to the first measure.
Alternately, a Senator can avoid the Calendar completely by seeking to offer the measure as an
amendment to another measure. See CRS Report 98-707, Senate Amendment Process: General
Conditions and Principles,
by Walter Oleszek.
12 These 49 measures were identified by a search of the Congressional Record in the Legislative
Information System. Such a search of the 108th Congress identified 114 measures.

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Other Uses of Unanimous Consent to Bypass Committees
The majority leader seeks unanimous consent to expeditiously process legislation.
The Senate uses a practice called “clearance” to notify Senators of pending
noncontroversial bills and joint resolutions to determine if any Senator would object to
passing a specific measure by unanimous consent, with little or no debate.13 The process
of passing noncontroversial measures may include bypassing a Senate committee or
truncating committee action, although a committee might well have played a key role in
the development of the noncontroversial measure sought to be passed or in its clearance.
Same-Day Consideration. The Senate may pass some noncontroversial bills and
joint resolutions the day they are introduced, for example, S. 1752, reauthorizing the
United States Grain Standards Act:
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the
immediate consideration of S. 1752, introduced earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1752) to amend the United States Grain Standards Act to reauthorize that
Act.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time
and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements
relating to the bill be printed in the RECORD.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 1752) was read the third time and passed, as follows:
(The text of the bill was printed in the Congressional Record.)14
The Senate may also pass some noncontroversial House-passed bills and joint
resolutions when they are received. For example, the Senate received a message from the
House July 19 regarding H.R. 3332, and passed the bill that day:
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the
immediate consideration of H.R. 3332 received from the House.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report
the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 3332) to provide an extension of highway, highway safety, motor carrier
safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund pending
enactment of a law reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be read the third time and
passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements be printed
in the RECORD.
13 Measures are usually taken up during the time for morning business (in a period dubbed the
“wrap-up period”), but also during the conduct of legislative business, when a unanimous consent
order temporarily suspends, in effect, the business under consideration by the Senate.
14 Senator Bill Frist, remarks in the Senate, “Amending the United States Grain Standards Act,”
Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, Sept. 22, 2005, p. S10392. A bill or joint
resolution might also be held at the desk by unanimous consent pending later action.

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The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (H.R. 3332) was read the third time and passed.15
The Senate might anticipate passage of a measure by the House, and agree by
unanimous consent to Senate passage based on that anticipation. For example, the Senate
anticipated House passage of H.R. 241, following the Indian Ocean tsunami:
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives from the
House H.R. 241, the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that the bill be
read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table without
intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.16
Truncating Committee Action. Noncontroversial Senate bills and resolutions
and House-passed measures are often referred to committee. A committee might later be
discharged from a measure’s consideration. For example, S. 1613, Livestock Mandatory
Reporting Act amendments, was introduced September 6, 2005, and referred to the
Agriculture Committee, which seven days later was discharged from its consideration:
Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture be discharged
from further consideration of S. 1613 and the Senate proceed to its immediate
consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report
the bill by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1613) to amend the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 to extend
the termination date for mandatory price reporting.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the
motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the measure
be printed in the RECORD.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 1613) was read the third time and passed, as follows:
(The text of the bill was printed in the Congressional Record.)17
Several House-passed bills naming postal facilities were referred to the Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee early in the 109th Congress, which the
committee ordered reported. The committee was subsequently discharged from further
consideration of the measures, ending committee action before the bills were reported.18
15 Senator Bill Frist, remarks in the Senate, “Providing Extension of Programs Funded out of the
Highway Trust Fund,” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, July 19, 2005, p. S8499.
16 Senator Mitch McConnell, remarks in the Senate, “Unanimous Consent Agreement — H.R.
241,” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, Jan. 6, 2005, p. S41. See also Riddick’s
Senate Procedure,
pp. 230-231.
17 Senator Bill Frist, remarks in the Senate, “Amending Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of
1999,” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol. 151, Sept. 13, 2005, p. S9995.
18 See, for example, the legislative history on the Legislative Information System of H.R. 120
(109th Cong.), a bill naming a U.S. Postal Service facility for former Rep. Dalip Singh Saund.