Messages, Petitions, Communications, and Memorials to Congress

https://crsreports.congress.gov

December 18, 2024

Messages, Petitions, Communications, and Memorials to Congress

The Constitution and the rules of the House of Representatives and Senate identify various means that citizens, other levels of government, and coordinate branches of the national government may use to communicate formally with either or both houses of Congress. The House and Senate use written messages to communicate with each other.

Messages

The Constitution authorizes the President to recommend to Congress “such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Presidents communicate formally with Congress by written message. For many years, the President’s State of the Union message was sent to Congress in writing only; in 1913, Woodrow Wilson resumed Thomas Jefferson’s practice of giving this message both in person and in writing.

Presidential messages are printed in full in both the Congressional Record and the Journal of each House, although any accompanying supplemental materials are not. The Speaker of the House and the presiding officer of the Senate may refer such messages to the appropriate committees. For example, the House refers the State of the Union message to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union; a veto message is not referred to a committee if the House or Senate votes immediately on overriding it.

The two houses also formally communicate with each other by written message. The Senate may receive a message from the President or the House anytime, unless the Senate is voting, determining the presence of a quorum, having the Journal read, or acting on a question of order or a motion to adjourn. In the House, messages from the President and from the Senate, except those regarding Senate action on certain bills, are referred to the appropriate committees. If the Senate has passed a bill that the House, under its rules, will not consider in the Committee of the Whole, the House may act immediately on a message about that bill.

Petitions

The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Individuals, groups, or organizations can petition Congress requesting it to act or not to act on a specific subject.

Petitions may be addressed to Congress, the House or Senate, or to individual Members of the House or Senators. In the House, Members forward petitions they receive to the Clerk of the House, and under House Rule XII, cl. 3, “may

specify the reference or disposition to be made thereof.” House precedents indicate that petitions may be presented to the House by the Speaker or by any other Member. Under current practice, after they are received by the Clerk, petitions are presented to the Speaker for referral to committee. A summary of the petition, the name of the first signer, their general place of residence, and the committees to which the petition is referred are printed in the Journal and published in the Congressional Record. In the Senate, petitions are presented from the floor or delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and are referred to the appropriate committee; Senate rules provide a rarely used procedure in which the Senate may vote without debate on the question of receiving a particular petition or memorial.

Communications

Narrowly defined, a communication is a written submission from a federal government department, agency, or other entity. Most are sent to Congress to comply with statutes, to comply with a specific request from either or both chambers, to suggest legislation to appropriate congressional committees, or to comment on measures already introduced. In both chambers, executive communications are numbered sequentially throughout each Congress for identification and are referred to the appropriate committee for possible further action.

Memorials

A memorial is a request, usually from a state legislature, that Congress take some action, or refrain from taking certain action. Memorials may be addressed to the House or Senate as a whole, to the Speaker or presiding officer of the Senate, or to individual Senators or Representatives. The Senate prints the full text of memorials received from state legislatures in its section of the Congressional Record, but does not appear to print items sent by municipal governments. The House appears to recognize as memorials only those documents sent by state legislatures (items submitted by municipal governments appear to be accepted by the House as petitions), and only prints the title of a memorial in the Congressional Record.

In the 18th and 19th centuries when state legislatures elected Senators, many of them sent memorials to their Senators “instructing” them how to vote on certain pending controversial measures. Some Senators viewed instructions as binding, but many did not. Since the popular election of Senators in 1913, state legislatures have ceased issuing instructions. Today, they use memorials or less formal means of communication to urge congressional action rather than demanding it.

Messages, Petitions, Communications, and Memorials to Congress

https://crsreports.congress.gov

The House and Senate sections of the Congressional Record and congress.gov note each chamber’s receipt and disposition of messages, petitions and memorials, and other formal communications. Committees rarely take any formal action on any of these items referred to them.

R. Eric Petersen, Specialist in American National Government

IF12854

Messages, Petitions, Communications, and Memorials to Congress

https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF12854 · VERSION 1 · NEW

Disclaimer

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