In the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

, a conference report refers to the final version of a bill

Bill (proposed law)

A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....

 that is negotiated between the House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 and the Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 via conference committee

Conference committee

A conference committee is a joint committee of a bicameral legislature, which is appointed by, and consists of, members of both chambers to resolve disagreements on a particular bill...

. It is printed and submitted to each chamber

Chambers of parliament

Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers : an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. This style of two houses is called bicameral...

 for its consideration, such as approval or disapproval. It contains the "statement of managers

Statement of managers

In the United States Congress, a Statement of Managers must accompany a conference report on legislation as negotiated by the House and the Senate.-References:*...

," a section-by-section explanation of the agreement.

Publication procedure

An amendment to Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the United States Senate

Standing Rules of the United States Senate

The Standing Rules of the Senate are the rules of order adopted by the United States Senate that govern its procedure. The Senate's power to establish rules derives from Article One, Section 5 of the United States Constitution: "Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings..."There are...

 states:

9(a)(1) It shall not be in order to vote on the adoption of a report of a committee of conference unless such report has been available to Members and to the general public for at least 48 hours before such vote. If a point of order is sustained under this paragraph, then the conference report shall be set aside.

Normally, conference reports are printed and made available online in the Congressional Record

Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...

 the day after they have been filed. In those cases when the Government Printing Office

United States Government Printing Office

The United States Government Printing Office is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. The office prints documents produced by and for the federal government, including the Supreme Court, the Congress, the Executive Office of the President, executive...

(GPO) is unable to print a conference report the next day, the GPO will scan the manuscript and post the searchable PDF of the manuscript on this web page. Otherwise, links to the conference reports as they appear in the Congressional Record will be posted on this web page.

Links to each conference report will be date and time stamped to establish when the conference report was first made available online to the public. If a conference report is scanned in manuscript form, that version will be superseded when the printed conference report is made available in the Congressional Record. Links to a conference report in the Congressional Record will be superseded when the conference report is made available in the congressional reports database.

Although the PDF of the scanned manuscript of a conference report will be searchable, handwritten notes or other illegible text may or may not be completely searchable. Regardless, the image of the handwritten notes, will be captured in the PDF of the scanned manuscript.