Validity of Conference Reports in House and Senate

When limited conferees are present, the House and Senate determine whether a conference report carries a sufficient number of signatures in different ways. In the Senate, a valid conference report must carry the signatures of a majority of the Members from each chamber who were appointed as conferees, without regard to whether or not any of those Members were appointed as conferees only for limited purposes. For each portion of the matters in disagreement, it will be necessary to count how many Representatives were appointed to consider that portion, and then to determine whether a majority of that number signed the report. In the Senate, the conference report would not be valid unless a majority of all the conferees from each chamber signed it. All the other House conferees were appointed for limited purposes, some much more limited than others. Republicans constituted a majority of each panel of House conferees.
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.
This report will be updated if procedural changes warrant.