Conference Committees -- Next Step for Key Science Bills

Congress is entering the final stretch on key funding bills for DOE, NSF, NASA, NIST, and DOD. All thirteen appropriations bills must be signed into law by the president by October 1, the start of fiscal year 1995. Between now and then, conference committees will be appointed to resolve important differences between the House and Senate versions of each appropriations bill.

Conference committees are one of the least visible, but most important steps in the long process of passing legislation. The conferees determine the final wording of a bill and the accompanying report language. This step is usually the last opportunity to affect legislation (besides a presidential veto.)

Before a bill is sent to the president, conflicting language in the House and Senate versions must be resolved so that the final wording is identical. It is the task of committee conferees to find common ground that they, as well as a majority of the members of the House and Senate, can agree upon. Conferees are appointed by the Speaker of the House and the presiding officer of the Senate. In reality, the chairmen and Ranking Republican Members of the relevant congressional committees select themselves and other high-ranking members to be conferees. Conference committees last only as long as is necessary to hammer out the final version of a bill. Conference committees can range in size from less than ten to, in one instance in 1981, 250 members, and can formally meet for as little as a few minutes to several weeks.

The parameters of the final version of the legislation are supposed to be within the boundaries of the two original versions of the bill. Many bills are, however, substantially rewritten. It is common for funding levels in appropriations bills to be in the middle range of House and Senate figures.

Conference action is completed when a majority of House conferees and Senate conferees approve the report. They are supposed to represent the views of their chambers, which is not always the case. Last fall, the House energy bill conferees agreed to include construction funding for the SSC, contrary to an earlier House vote to terminate the collider.

In almost all cases the final vote in each chamber on a conference report is limited to a yes or no. If a provision in the conference report is unacceptable, members must vote down the entire report. This is rarely done, a notable exception being last year’s House vote on the energy appropriations report. The House rejected the conference report and then refused to compromise, forcing the conference report to be rewritten to include SSC termination language.

Conference committees for the FY 1995 appropriations bills for the above cited departments and agencies have not yet been appointed or scheduled. There is a chance that the Commerce, Justice, State bill containing NIST funding may be acted upon before the August recess. When the conference committees are appointed, they will do much of their work in behind-the-scenes negotiations, and act quickly to wrap-up this final step in the FY 1995 appropriations process.