hundred. The previous question cannot be ordered in the committee and debate proceeds under the five-minute rule until it is exhausted or until a motion to close debate upon a particular section is passed. Decisions are not taken by a roll call so that members may avoid going on record.

Committee of

What constructive legislation the House accomplishes is done [Work of the in these committees. The bill is read by sections for amend- the Whole] ments, and each section is scrutinized by the minority. Frequent pro forma amendments to "strike out the last word" are offered for the purpose of eliciting information. The debate is of the rough-and-ready variety with little attempt at oratory but generally directly to the point. Often in the consideration of appropriation bills the result is not fortunate. Bills which have been fully prepared after long consultation and frequent hearings with heads of departments may be overturned. Appropriations may be increased, decreased, or stricken out, and a new appropriation may be added, if it is held to fall within the rulings of the chairman of the Committee of the Whole. It sometimes happens that the most economically minded committee chairman may find his bill swollen out of all proportion by the generosity or the easy method of the House which leads members to vote for one another's requests.

the House

When the Committee of the Whole rises for the day it either (6) Report to reports to the House that it has been considering a bill, or it reports the bill as amended. The chairman of the committee then moves that the bill be read a third time and passed. The House may demand a separate vote upon each amendment or upon a series of amendments, and sometimes, although rarely, additional amendments may be offered. At this stage, moreover, it is in order to offer a motion to recommit the bill to the committee having it in charge with instructions. By a ruling of Speaker Clark these instructions must have been in order as an amendment when the bill was considered by the Committee of the Whole.1 Usually as an added precaution a motion to reconsider the vote by which the bill is passed is laid upon the table by another motion. The bill is then engrossed, signed by the Speaker, and sent to the Senate.

1 House Manual, p. 334.

(7) Consideration by the Senate

(8) Confer

ence

[Procedure and work of conference

All bills and joint resolutions passed by the House are referred to the appropriate committees of the Senate. With some slight technical changes due to the rules of the Senate the process substantially is the same as in the House. Opportunity is thus given for the friends of a measure to correct the errors and omissions and to restore the measure to its original form. Frequently, however, the Senate amends most fundamentally the legislation of the House, and in matters of appropriation bills the Senate is apt to be even more generous than the House. At times disputes between the Houses have occurred over the right of the Senate to add new material to a bill for raising revenue,1 but generally the Senate is allowed to amend or recast revenue bills with no more protest than attends other bills.

If the Senate passes the bill in identically the same form in which it passed the House, the bill is sent to the president and becomes a law upon receiving his signature. If on the other hand one House amends the work of the other, the bill is returned to the House originally passing it. Here one of two courses may be followed. The first one, very seldom adopted, is to agree to the amendments which have been made. In this case the amended bill is passed and sent to the president. The more common method, however, is to disagree to all amendments and to request a conference.

Managers, usually three from each House, are appointed by the Speaker in the House and the presiding officer in the Sencommittees] ate.2 In every case the party in control of each House has a majority from each House. The conference may be either free or with instructions. The Senate has attempted to insist upon free conferences and has protested when informed that the House has given instructions; hence formal instructions are seldom given. The conferees meet in secret and attempt to reach some compromise. In the case of appropriation bills it is common to recommend a figure between the two extremes, or in the case of amendments, for each House to recede from a certain number of amendments in return for the adherence of

1 See pp. 285-286.

2 T. P. Cleaves," Manual in Conferences and Conference Reports" in Rules and Manual of the United States Senate, pp. 433 et seq.

the other House to a similar number. In the case of legislative provisions the process is not so simple. Technically the managers cannot add any new material to the bill or omit anything which has passed both Houses; but in the endeavor to find common ground sometimes practically new legislation emerges. In fact, in recent years, provisions are adopted by both Houses which are confessedly imperfect, on the understanding that they will be corrected or altered in conference.

conference

In case the conferees cannot agree they report the fact to [Result of their respective Houses. Then action may be taken instructing committees] the managers to recede or continue their adherence to certain provisions. Finally, one House or the other gives way and a compromise is reached which is accepted by both Houses and sent to the president. The report of the conference committee is in order at any time in both Houses, being a question of highest privilege.

The fact that the conferees work in secret and frequently recommend provisions not acceptable to either House has led to charges of undue influence and even corruption. There is little evidence of the latter, but influence is undoubtedly brought to bear upon the conferees especially by the administration. For example, in 1909 President Taft refrained from interfering or exerting his influence during the passage of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Bill, but held frequent meetings with some of the members of the conference committee; and it was reported that in 1917 President Wilson utilized his whole influence, which had failed in the Senate, to compel the conferees to abandon the idea of a food commission in favor of a food controller. Without some such device it is difficult to see how two jealously independent bodies could be brought to an agreement, but the fact that it has worked so well has made both Houses somewhat careless in the original consideration of the measure. Thus, in 1917 the Democratic leader openly stated in the House that the war revenue bill was defective, but it was passed with the hope that the Senate's revision and alteration would correct some of the glaring errors. During the discussion of the Food Bill in the Senate various provisions were allowed to be incorporated with the knowledge that they would be eliminated in conference.

[Criticism of

conference committees]

(9) Presiden

When the identical bill has been passed by both Houses and tial approval enrolled and signed by the presiding officers it is sent to the president. He may sign the bill, or allow it to become a law without his signature, or return it to the House in which it originated, without his approval, stating his reasons therefor. This last, the veto message, is a highly privileged matter, and a motion to refer it to a committee or to discharge a committee from consideration of it is always in order. If two thirds of the members present in each House approve the bill, it becomes a law, in spite of the president's objections.

CHAPTER XIV

CONGRESS AND THE CONSTITUTION

THE POWERS OF CONGRESS

The constitutional grant of authority to Congress is found chiefly in Article I, Sect. viii. Here are eighteen clauses giving certain definite powers. From these clauses as interpreted by Congress and the courts is derived the authority for all the laws of the United States. Although the functions performed by the government will be discussed in detail in subsequent chapters it is necessary to obtain a comprehensive view in order to appreciate not only the actual work of the government but the potential and latent powers granted to it as well. This survey can best be secured by a classification and a brief description of the powers granted to Congress.

and mone

tary powers

Congress is given ample power in financial and monetary Financial matters. The power of taxation and borrowing without limit as to amount is freely granted. This remedied one of the greatest defects of the Articles of Confederation and gave Congress the power to provide for debts, past or future, and thus to give value to bonds; and to provide for the common welfare of the nation. by taxation. It is worth noting that while the legislative power is limited to subjects granted by the Constitution, the taxing power is not. Thus Congress may not legislate for the common welfare, but may levy taxes and appropriate money for the com- Taxes mon welfare. The limitations upon the taxing power are few and are chiefly in the interest of uniformity. Two limitations, however, must be noted here. Congress may not tax any article exported by a state, thus making export duties impossible. Again, all direct taxes, which is interpreted to mean poll taxes Direct taxes and taxes on real estate and personal property, must be apportioned according to the population. As interpreted by the Supreme Court in 1895, taxes upon incomes were direct taxes,