Discharge petition
Encyclopedia
A discharge petition is a means of bringing a bill
out of committee
and to the floor for consideration without a report from a Committee and usually without cooperation of the leadership. Discharge petitions are most often associated with the U.S. House of Representatives
, though many state legislatures have similar procedures. They are used when the chair of a committee refuses to place a bill or resolution on the Committee's agenda; by never reporting a bill, the matter will never leave the committee and the full House will not be able to consider it. A successful petition "discharges" the committee from further consideration of a bill or resolution and brings it directly to the floor. The discharge petition, and the threat of one, gives more power to individual members of the House and usurps a small amount of power from the leadership and committee chairs. The modern discharge petition requires the signature of an absolute majority of House members (218 members).
An early form of the discharge petition was introduced into House rules in 1910 as part of a series of measures intended to check the power of the disliked Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon
. The modern version, however, was adopted in 1931 by the 71st House
. In 1935, the rules were changed so the number of signatures required to force a vote went from one-third of the chamber (145 votes) to an absolute majority (218 votes).
Originally, signatories to a discharge petition were secret. Only once the petition acquired a majority would the clerk announce who signed. In 1993, the procedure was changed to make it public at every step of the process, with signers published in the Congressional Record
. This change was spearheaded by Jim Inhofe
(R-OK).
There are three basic forms of discharge petition:
Once the House acts on a discharge motion, any further discharge petitions on the same subject are precluded for the remainder of the session of Congress (until the calendar year's close, normally). This is only relevant if the petition succeeds but the bill is rejected anyway, despite a majority of the House apparently wishing to bypass the Committee. If the motion is budget-related, then the Committee of the Whole
is convened to amend it.
A discharge petition may only be brought after a measure has sat in committee for at least 30 legislative days without being reported; if the matter is considered as a special rule to the Rules Committee
, then the period is 7 days instead. Once the requisite number of signatures is reached, the petition is placed on the Discharge Calendar, which is privileged business on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. This layover is waived during the last six days of a session before sine die adjournment
. At the end of each session of Congress, any discharge petitions remaining unresolved or lacking the required number of signatures are removed from consideration.
563 discharge petitions were filed between 1931 and 2003, of which only 47 obtained the required majority of signatures. The House voted for discharge 26 times and passed 19 of the measures, but only two have become law. However, the threat of a discharge petition has caused the leadership to relent several times; such petitions are dropped only because the leadership allowed the bill to move forward, rendering the petition moot. Overall, either the petition was completed or else the measure made it to the floor by other means in 16 percent of cases.
and their own leaders look bad. (Naturally, the minority party will often support discharge petitions precisely to embarrass the leadership.) Furthermore, since the signers of a petition are not private, majority party members are pressured not to sign, and open themselves up to retribution from the leadership should they disobey.
When signing of a petition was secret – or, more specifically, confirmation that it was signed was secret, as a Representative could claim whatever they liked – petitions were generally only used for serious discontent in the majority. The secrecy also meant that members could claim to be for a piece of legislation while at the same time taking no action to force a vote on such legislation. With this secrecy removed, it became more difficult to dissemble in such a way; it also opened signers to more direct retribution from the leadership. Under the old system, if a petition was unsuccessful, the leadership would never know if a particular Representative signed the petition. If it was successful, all the "defectors" would at least be in the same boat. With open signing, the leadership can exert maximum pressure on stopping the last few signatures. Those who make the last few signatures open themselves to especially severe payback, as early signers could argue privately that they were only posturing, and didn't think the petition would ever pass. A strong counter-campaign from the leadership helped stop the proposal of William Zeliff (R-NH) and Rob Andrews
(D-NJ) of "A-Z spending cuts," for example; the proposal received 204 signatures, but could not muster the last 14.
The removal of secrecy also encourages discharge petitions that exist merely to take a public stand on an issue. Since secrecy was removed in the U.S. House, thirty petitions have attained 60 signatures or fewer.
A notable situation where the threat of a discharge petition is extremely relevant is if the majority party in the House loses its majority for some reason, such as due to defections or deaths. If the old majority leadership refused to stand aside, the new majority could file a discharge petition to elect a new Speaker. This situation has not yet occurred.
, known as McCain-Feingold in the Senate and Shays
-Meehan
in the House. Starting in 1997, several attempts were made to bring it to the floor via the discharge petition. It finally passed in 2002, and the Senate passed it 60–40, narrowly avoiding a filibuster
.
1993 saw the Discharge Petition Disclosure Bill passed. The bill, which made the rule change requiring public disclosure of signers, was itself filed with a discharge petition. The Balanced Budget Amendment
received 218 signatures twice, in 1992 and 1993; however, it did not pass the Senate.
Prior to 1993, one must go back to 1985 to find another successful discharge petition in which the process was carried to its conclusion, rather than the bill dying or the leadership allowing the bill out of committee (since as noted above, some bills with pending petitions the leadership has simply relented on). This was the Firearm Owners Protection Act
, known as McClure
-Volkmer. The Act was a scaling back of gun control
legislation that made it easier for gun show
s to operate without government interference. The Senate passed the bill, but House Judiciary chair Peter W. Rodino, Jr. (D-NJ) declared it "dead on arrival." In response, the National Rifle Association
launched a strong campaign to pass the bill in the House via discharge petition. Rather than let the Senate version of the bill out of committee, Rodino instead proffered a compromise piece of legislation with William J. Hughes
(D-NJ). However, the discharge petition succeeded and the Senate version was passed after minor amendments were added.
has similar rules to the House; a simple majority is required to succeed, though a motion or a petition are both acceptable. The Kansas Legislature
requires 56 percent approval (70 members). Pennsylvania
allowed only 30% of its members to recall a measure from committee for a time. This was changed in 1925 to a majority of the Legislature, drastically curtailing the number of recalls; still, only 25 (about 10 percent) petition-signers are required to force a motion to be voted on by the floor. Though technically a vote on whether the bill can proceed, the bill's supporters usually claimed that the vote was a vote on the bill itself, providing opportunities to the minority party to, at the least, force the majority party to be put on record as opposing a popular bill.
Both the House and the Senate have created an expedited process for Congressional review of executive branch regulations (often used against "midnight regulations
"), providing an especially quick timetable for consideration of a joint resolution to overturn a particular regulation. As part of this process, Senators may use a "discharge petition" to discharge a Senate committee from consideration of the disapproval resolution. While using the same term as the House process, its use in the United States Senate
has few similarities to the House process described above and is limited only to disapproval resolutions created under the conditions of this congressional review process. There also exists a "discharge resolution" in which non-controversial measures do not have to go through committee and are submitted to a voice vote
. Discharge resolutions, however, must be unanimous and are related loosely at best to discharge petitions.
Analogs to the discharge petition in parliamentary system
s are rare. In such systems the Prime Minister often has even more control over the agenda than the Speaker of the House does in the United States. The closest may be a "conscience vote
" (sometimes referred to as a "free vote"), in which members are released from party ties and allowed to vote as they wish on especially controversial issues.
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....
out of committee
United States Congressional committee
A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty . Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction...
and to the floor for consideration without a report from a Committee and usually without cooperation of the leadership. Discharge petitions are most often associated with the U.S. 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...
, though many state legislatures have similar procedures. They are used when the chair of a committee refuses to place a bill or resolution on the Committee's agenda; by never reporting a bill, the matter will never leave the committee and the full House will not be able to consider it. A successful petition "discharges" the committee from further consideration of a bill or resolution and brings it directly to the floor. The discharge petition, and the threat of one, gives more power to individual members of the House and usurps a small amount of power from the leadership and committee chairs. The modern discharge petition requires the signature of an absolute majority of House members (218 members).
History and process
Joseph Gurney Cannon
Joseph Gurney Cannon was a United States politician from Illinois and leader of the Republican Party. Cannon served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911, and historians generally consider him to be the most dominant Speaker in United States history, with such...
. The modern version, however, was adopted in 1931 by the 71st House
71st United States Congress
The Seventy-first United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1929 to March 4, 1931, during the first two years...
. In 1935, the rules were changed so the number of signatures required to force a vote went from one-third of the chamber (145 votes) to an absolute majority (218 votes).
Originally, signatories to a discharge petition were secret. Only once the petition acquired a majority would the clerk announce who signed. In 1993, the procedure was changed to make it public at every step of the process, with signers published 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...
. This change was spearheaded by Jim Inhofe
Jim Inhofe
James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe is the senior Senator from Oklahoma and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1994, he is the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and was its chairman from 2003 to 2007. Inhofe served eight...
(R-OK).
There are three basic forms of discharge petition:
- Directly on an unreported measure. This makes it difficult to amend, which may be considered a benefit or a drawback. The committee to be discharged can circumvent this to a degree by reporting the measure.
- To make a special rule providing that the unreported measure be recalled from committee and considered. This is the most common variety in modern times; as of the 107th Congress107th United States CongressThe One Hundred Seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2001 to January 3, 2003, during the final...
, all discharge petitions have been of this variety. - To make a special rule providing that a reported measure that was never called for floor consideration be considered.
Once the House acts on a discharge motion, any further discharge petitions on the same subject are precluded for the remainder of the session of Congress (until the calendar year's close, normally). This is only relevant if the petition succeeds but the bill is rejected anyway, despite a majority of the House apparently wishing to bypass the Committee. If the motion is budget-related, then the Committee of the Whole
Committee of the Whole (United States House of Representatives)
In the United States House of Representatives, the Committee of the Whole, short for Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, is a parliamentary device in which the House of Representatives is considered one large congressional committee...
is convened to amend it.
A discharge petition may only be brought after a measure has sat in committee for at least 30 legislative days without being reported; if the matter is considered as a special rule to the Rules Committee
United States House Committee on Rules
The Committee on Rules, or Rules Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. Rather than being responsible for a specific area of policy, as most other committees are, it is in charge of determining under what rule other bills will come to the floor...
, then the period is 7 days instead. Once the requisite number of signatures is reached, the petition is placed on the Discharge Calendar, which is privileged business on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. This layover is waived during the last six days of a session before sine die adjournment
Adjournment sine die
Adjournment sine die means "without assigning a day for a further meeting or hearing". To adjourn an assembly sine die is to adjourn it for an indefinite period...
. At the end of each session of Congress, any discharge petitions remaining unresolved or lacking the required number of signatures are removed from consideration.
563 discharge petitions were filed between 1931 and 2003, of which only 47 obtained the required majority of signatures. The House voted for discharge 26 times and passed 19 of the measures, but only two have become law. However, the threat of a discharge petition has caused the leadership to relent several times; such petitions are dropped only because the leadership allowed the bill to move forward, rendering the petition moot. Overall, either the petition was completed or else the measure made it to the floor by other means in 16 percent of cases.
Usage
Discharge petitions are rare. A successful discharge petition embarrasses the leadership; as such, members of the majority party are hesitant to support something that would make the SpeakerSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
and their own leaders look bad. (Naturally, the minority party will often support discharge petitions precisely to embarrass the leadership.) Furthermore, since the signers of a petition are not private, majority party members are pressured not to sign, and open themselves up to retribution from the leadership should they disobey.
When signing of a petition was secret – or, more specifically, confirmation that it was signed was secret, as a Representative could claim whatever they liked – petitions were generally only used for serious discontent in the majority. The secrecy also meant that members could claim to be for a piece of legislation while at the same time taking no action to force a vote on such legislation. With this secrecy removed, it became more difficult to dissemble in such a way; it also opened signers to more direct retribution from the leadership. Under the old system, if a petition was unsuccessful, the leadership would never know if a particular Representative signed the petition. If it was successful, all the "defectors" would at least be in the same boat. With open signing, the leadership can exert maximum pressure on stopping the last few signatures. Those who make the last few signatures open themselves to especially severe payback, as early signers could argue privately that they were only posturing, and didn't think the petition would ever pass. A strong counter-campaign from the leadership helped stop the proposal of William Zeliff (R-NH) and Rob Andrews
Rob Andrews
Robert Ernest "Rob" Andrews is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1990. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County....
(D-NJ) of "A-Z spending cuts," for example; the proposal received 204 signatures, but could not muster the last 14.
The removal of secrecy also encourages discharge petitions that exist merely to take a public stand on an issue. Since secrecy was removed in the U.S. House, thirty petitions have attained 60 signatures or fewer.
A notable situation where the threat of a discharge petition is extremely relevant is if the majority party in the House loses its majority for some reason, such as due to defections or deaths. If the old majority leadership refused to stand aside, the new majority could file a discharge petition to elect a new Speaker. This situation has not yet occurred.
Uses since 1985
The most recent successful discharge petition was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform ActBipartisan Campaign Reform Act
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns. Its chief sponsors were Senators Russell Feingold and John McCain...
, known as McCain-Feingold in the Senate and Shays
Christopher Shays
Christopher H. Shays is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and represented the 4th District of Connecticut....
-Meehan
Marty Meehan
Martin Thomas "Marty" Meehan is an American attorney and politician from the state of Massachusetts. He is the current Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a position he assumed on July 1, 2007...
in the House. Starting in 1997, several attempts were made to bring it to the floor via the discharge petition. It finally passed in 2002, and the Senate passed it 60–40, narrowly avoiding a filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
.
1993 saw the Discharge Petition Disclosure Bill passed. The bill, which made the rule change requiring public disclosure of signers, was itself filed with a discharge petition. The Balanced Budget Amendment
Balanced Budget Amendment
A balanced-budget amendment is a constitutional rule requiring that the state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government....
received 218 signatures twice, in 1992 and 1993; however, it did not pass the Senate.
Prior to 1993, one must go back to 1985 to find another successful discharge petition in which the process was carried to its conclusion, rather than the bill dying or the leadership allowing the bill out of committee (since as noted above, some bills with pending petitions the leadership has simply relented on). This was the Firearm Owners Protection Act
Firearm Owners Protection Act
The Firearm Owners' Protection Act , , codified at et seq., is a United States federal law that revised many statutes in the Gun Control Act of 1968.-Federal Firearms License regulatory reform:...
, known as McClure
James A. McClure
James Albertus "Jim" McClure was an American politician from the state of Idaho, most notably serving as a Republican in the U.S. Senate....
-Volkmer. The Act was a scaling back of gun control
Gun politics in the United States
Gun politics in the United States refers to an ongoing political and social debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States. It has long been among the most controversial and intractable issues in American politics...
legislation that made it easier for gun show
Gun show
A gun show is a temporary exhibition or gathering in the United States where firearms, firearm accessories, ammunition, literature, knives, jerky, militaria, and miscellaneous collectibles are displayed, bought, sold, traded, and discussed. Gun shows also often include exhibitions related to...
s to operate without government interference. The Senate passed the bill, but House Judiciary chair Peter W. Rodino, Jr. (D-NJ) declared it "dead on arrival." In response, the National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
launched a strong campaign to pass the bill in the House via discharge petition. Rather than let the Senate version of the bill out of committee, Rodino instead proffered a compromise piece of legislation with William J. Hughes
William J. Hughes
William John "Bill" Hughes served as a Democratic Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995, representing New Jersey’s Second Congressional District which includes major portions of the Jersey Shore and Pine Barrens, the cities of Vineland and Atlantic City, and the counties...
(D-NJ). However, the discharge petition succeeded and the Senate version was passed after minor amendments were added.
Versions other than the U.S. House
Versions of the discharge petition vary widely in state legislatures. Some use petitions like the House, though others allow a motion to be made to discharge the committee, forcing legislators to vote. The threshold for discharge also varies. For instance, WisconsinWisconsin Legislature
The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Wisconsin Senate and the lower Wisconsin Assembly...
has similar rules to the House; a simple majority is required to succeed, though a motion or a petition are both acceptable. The Kansas Legislature
Kansas Legislature
The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, composed of 125 Representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 Senators...
requires 56 percent approval (70 members). Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...
allowed only 30% of its members to recall a measure from committee for a time. This was changed in 1925 to a majority of the Legislature, drastically curtailing the number of recalls; still, only 25 (about 10 percent) petition-signers are required to force a motion to be voted on by the floor. Though technically a vote on whether the bill can proceed, the bill's supporters usually claimed that the vote was a vote on the bill itself, providing opportunities to the minority party to, at the least, force the majority party to be put on record as opposing a popular bill.
Both the House and the Senate have created an expedited process for Congressional review of executive branch regulations (often used against "midnight regulations
Midnight regulations
Midnight regulations is a term for United States federal government regulations created by executive branch agencies in the lame duck period of an outgoing President’s administration.-Process of creating new regulations:...
"), providing an especially quick timetable for consideration of a joint resolution to overturn a particular regulation. As part of this process, Senators may use a "discharge petition" to discharge a Senate committee from consideration of the disapproval resolution. While using the same term as the House process, its use in the United States 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...
has few similarities to the House process described above and is limited only to disapproval resolutions created under the conditions of this congressional review process. There also exists a "discharge resolution" in which non-controversial measures do not have to go through committee and are submitted to a voice vote
Voice vote
A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....
. Discharge resolutions, however, must be unanimous and are related loosely at best to discharge petitions.
Analogs to the discharge petition in parliamentary system
Parliamentary system
A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....
s are rare. In such systems the Prime Minister often has even more control over the agenda than the Speaker of the House does in the United States. The closest may be a "conscience vote
Conscience vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party....
" (sometimes referred to as a "free vote"), in which members are released from party ties and allowed to vote as they wish on especially controversial issues.
External links
- Official House Rules on Discharge Petition
- The Discharge Rule in the House: Principal Features and Uses, an official Congerssional Research Service paper (dated 2003) and overview
- The Discharge Rule in the House: Recent Use in Historical Context, a more detailed analysis of recent discharge petitions
- Discharge Petition Bargaining in the House, 1995–2000, a paper on discharge petitions and information cascades