Ramseyer Rule
House rule that requires a committee report to show changes the reported measure would make in current law.

Ranking Minority Member
The highest ranking (and usually longest serving) minority member of a committee or subcommittee. Senators may not serve as ranking minority member on more than one standing committee.
 

Reading of Bills
Traditional parliamentary procedure required bills to be read three times before they were passed. This custom is of little modern significance. Normally a bill is considered to have its first reading when it is introduced and printed, by title, in the Congressional Record. In the House, its second reading comes when floor consideration begins. (This is the most likely point at which there is an actual reading of the bill, if there is any.) The second reading in the Senate is supposed to occur on the legislative day after the measure is introduced but before it is referred to committee. The third reading (again, usually by title) takes place when floor action has been completed on amendments.

       back to top of R  glossary

Recede
Motion by one chamber to withdraw from a position and agree with the other chamber's position.

Recede and Concur
Motion to withdraw from a position and agree with the other chamber's position.

Recede and Concur with an Amendment
Motion to withdraw from a position and agree, but with a further amendment.

Receipts
Collections from the public and from payments by participants in certain social insurance and other Federal programs. These collections consist primarily of tax revenues and social insurance premiums, but also include receipts from court fines, certain fees, and deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve System. Total receipts are compared with total outlays in calculating the budget surplus or deficit.

    back to top of R  glossary

Recess
A temporary interruption of the Senate's (or a committee's) business. Generally, the Senate often recesses (rather than adjourns) at the end of each calendar day. Distinguished from adjournment, a recess does not interrupt unfinished business. The rules in each house set forth certain matters to be taken up and disposed of at the beginning of each legislative day. The House usually adjourns from day to day. The Senate often recesses, thus meeting on the same legislative day for several calendar days or even weeks at a time.

    back to top of R  glossary

Recognition
The power of recognition of a member is lodged in the Speaker of the House, or the chairman of the Committee of the Whole, and the presiding officer of the Senate. The presiding officer names the member who will speak first when two or more members simultaneously request recognition.

Recommit to Committee
A motion, made on the floor after a bill has been debated, to return it to the committee that reported it. If approved, recommital usually is considered a deathblow to the bill. In the House, a motion to recommit can be made only by a member opposed to the bill, and in recognizing a member to make the motion, the Speaker gives preference to members of the minority party over majority party members. The House limits only one motion to recommit per measure. There is no such limit in the Senate.

A motion to recommit may include instructions to the committee to report the bill again with specific amendments or by a certain date. Or, the instructions may direct that a particular study be made, with no definite deadline for further action. If the recommital motion includes instructions to "report the bill back forthwith" and the motion is adopted, floor action on the bill continues; the committee does not actually reconsider the legislation.

    back to top of R  glossary

Reconciliation
The 1974 budget act provides for a "reconciliation" procedure for bringing existing tax and spending laws into conformity with ceilings enacted in the congressional budget resolutions. Under the procedure, Congress instructs designated legislative committees to approve measures adjusting revenues and expenditures by a certain amount. The committees have a deadline by which they must report the legislation, but they have the discretion of deciding what changes are to be made. The recommendations of the various committees are consolidated without change by the budget committees into an omnibus reconciliation bill, which the must be considered and approved by both houses of Congress. The orders to congressional committees to report recommendations for reconciliation bills are called reconciliation instructions, and they are contained in the budget resolution.

Reconciliation Bill
A bill containing changes in law recommended pursuant to reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution. If the instructions pertain to only one committee in a chamber, that committee reports the reconciliation bill. If the instructions pertain to more than one committee, the Budget Committee reports an omnibus reconciliation bill, but it may not make substantive changes in the recommendations of the other committees.

    back to top of R  glossary
 

Reconciliation Instruction
A provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to report (or submit to the Budget Committee) legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, revenues, or the debt-limit into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted.

Reconciliation Process
A process established in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by which Congress changes existing laws to conform tax and spending levels to the levels set in a budget resolution. Changes recommended by committees pursuant to a reconciliation instruction are incorporated into a reconciliation measure.

    back to top of R  glossary

Reconsider a Vote
A motion to reconsider the vote by which an action was taken has, until it is disposed of, the effect of putting the action in abeyance. In the Senate, the motion can be made only by a member who voted on the prevailing side of the original question or by a member who did not vote at all. In the House, it can be made only by a member on the prevailing side and cannot be made in the Committee of the Whole.

A common practice in the Senate after close votes on an issue is a motion to reconsider, followed by a motion to table the motion to reconsider. On this motion to table, senators vote as they voted on the original question, which allows the motion to table to prevail, assuming there are no switches. The matter then is finally closed and further motions to reconsider are not entertained. In the House, as a routine precaution, a motion to reconsider usually is made every time a measure is passed. Such a motion almost always is tabled immediately, thus shutting off the possibility of future reconsideration, except by unanimous consent.

Motions to reconsider must be entered in the Senate within the next two days of actual session after the original vote has been taken. In the House they must be entered either on the same day or on the next succeeding day the House is in session.

    back to top of R  glossary

Recorded Vote
A vote upon which each member's stand is individually made known. In the Senate, this is accomplished through a roll call of the entire membership, to which each senator on the floor must answer "yea," "nay" or, if he/she does not wish to vote, "present." Since January 1973, the House has used an electronic voting system for recorded votes, including yea-and -nay votes formerly taken by roll calls. 

When not required by the Constitution, a recorded vote can be obtained on question in the House on the demand of one-fifth (44 members) of a quorum, or one-fourth (25 members) of a quorum in the Committee of the Whole. (See also Yeas and Nays.)

Refer/Referral
After a bill or resolution is introduced, it is normally referred to the committee having jurisdiction over the subject of the bill. In the Senate, referrals are generally made to the committee with jurisdiction over the predominant subject matter in the bill or resolution, but measures may be referred to more than one committee by unanimous consent.

    back to top of R  glossary
 

Regular Meeting Day
Senate Rule XXVI requires that all committees designate at least one day a month on which it will meet to transact business. Additional meetings may be called by the chairman or by demand of a majority of a committee's members.

Relevant
Many unanimous consent agreements require amendments to a specific bill or other measure to be relevant to the measure.

    back to top of R  glossary

Report/Reported
Both a verb and a noun as a congressional term. A committee that has been examining a bill referred to it by the parent chamber "reports" its findings and recommendations to the chamber when it completes consideration and returns the measure. The process is called "reporting" a bill.

A "report" is the document setting forth the committee's explanation of its action. Senate and House reports are numbered separately and are designated S Rept. or H Rept. In the House, reports are required, while in the Senate they are not. When a committee report is not unanimous, the dissenting committee members may file a statement of their views, called minority views and referred to as a minority report. Members in disagreement with some provisions of a bill may file additional or supplemental views. Sometimes a bill is reported without a committee recommendation.

Legislative committees occasionally submit adverse reports. However, when a committee is opposed to a bill, it usually fails to report the bill at all. Some laws require that committee reports - favorable or adverse - be made.

    back to top of R  glossary

Reprogram
Shifting funds from one program to another in the same appropriation account. (Contrast to Transfer.)

Rescission
An item in an appropriations bill rescinding or canceling budget authority previously appropriated but not spent. Also, the repeal of a previous appropriation by Congress at the request of the president. Under the 1974 budget act, however, unless Congress approves a rescission requested by the president within 45 days of continuous session after receipt of the proposal, the funds must be made available for obligation. (See also Concurrent Resolution and Joint Resolution, Rules.)

Resolution/Simple Resolution
Sentiment of one chamber on an issue, or a measure to carry out the administrative or procedural business of the chamber. Does not become law. Designated as H. Res. or S. Res.

    back to top of R  glossary

Resolution of Inquiry
A simple resolution calling on the president or the head of an executive agency to provide specific information or papers to one or both chambers. 

Resolution of Ratification
Senate vehicle for consideration of a treaty.

Resolving Clause
First section of a joint resolution that gives legal force to the measure when enacted: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled..."

Revenues
Taxes, fees, gifts, and other income received by the federal government. 

Riddick's Senate Procedure
Named after Senate Parliamentarian Emeritus Floyd M. Riddick, this Senate document contains the contemporary precedents and practices of the Senate. It is updated periodically by the Senate Parliamentarian.

    back to top of R  glossary
 

Rider
An amendment, usually not germane, that its sponsor hopes to get through more easily by including it in other legislation. Riders become law if the bills embodying them are enacted. Amendments providing legislative directives in appropriations bills are outstanding examples of riders, though technically legislation is banned from appropriations bills. The House, unlike the Senate, has a strict germaneness rule; thus, riders usually are Senate devices to get legislation enacted quickly or to bypass lengthy House consideration, and possibly opposition.

Rise
In order only in the Committee of the Whole during the amendment stage, it has the effect of terminating or suspending debate on the pending matter.

Rise and Report
Term to refer to the culmination of proceedings in the Committee of the Whole. The Committee of the Whole sends the measure it has been considering back to the House for final disposition.

Roll Call (Record) Vote
A vote in which each senator votes "yea" or "nay" as his or her name is called by the Clerk, so that the names of Senators voting on each side are recorded. Under the Constitution, a roll call vote must be held if demanded by one-fifth of a quorum of senators present, a minimum of 11.

    back to top of R  glossary
 

Rules
The term has two specific congressional meanings. A rule may be a standing order governing the conduct of House or Senate business that is listed among the permanent rules of either chamber. The rules deal with duties of officers, the order of business, admission to the floor, parliamentary procedures on handling amendments and voting, jurisdictions of committees, etc.

In the House, a rule also may be a resolution reported by its Rules Committee to govern the handling of a particular bill on the floor. The committee may report a "rule", also called a "special order", in the form of a simple resolution. If the resolution is adopted by the House, the temporary rule becomes as valid as any standing rule and lapses only after action has been completed on the measure to which it pertains. A rule sets the time limit on general debate. It also may waive points of order against provisions of the bill in question, such as non-germane language, or against certain amendments intended to be proposed to the bill from the floor. It may even forbid all amendments or all amendments except those proposed by the legislative committee that handled the bill. In this instance, it is known as a "closed" or "gag" rule as opposed to an "open" rule, which puts no limitation on floor amendments, thus leaving the bill completely open to alteration by the adoption of germane amendments.

    back to top of R  glossary

URL:  TheCapitol.Net/glossary/r.htm
 

Related Resources

Live Courses

Congress in a Nutshell: Understanding Congress

Capitol Hill Workshop

Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process

Audio Courses

Publications