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The most common form of adjournment ends the day, following a motion to do so. Adjournments for three days or less also require the adoption of a motion to adjourn. These are limited to each chamber; the House may adjourn while the Senate remains in session or vice-versa. Adjournments for a period longer than three days require the consent of the other chamber and the adoption of a concurrent resolution in both bodies.
Finally, legislators may adjourn "sine die" to end a session of Congress , which requires the consent of both chambers and follows the adoption of a concurrent resolution in both chambers. Throughout each year, Congress, without fully adjourning takes several recesses, temporary interruptions in legislative proceedings.
While some recesses last no longer than overnight, others last far longer, such as the breaks taken during holiday periods. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. A period measured in days of session, by contrast, cannot elapse except on days when the respective chamber is in session, and so cannot end except on such a day.
The two chambers, however, seldom follow exactly the same schedule of daily sessions. As a result, if periods for action pursuant to an expedited procedure are measured in session days, then even if they begin on the same calendar day in both chambers, they are likely to end on different calendar days in each.
In the second session of the th Congress, for example, if an action period of 60 days of session began on the day the annual session convened, it would have started in both chambers on January 3, , but the 60 th day of session would have occurred in the House on April 21, and in the Senate not until May As just noted, if a period during which an expedited procedure is available is measured in calendar days, it may expire during a sine die adjournment, in which case the effective opportunity for Congress to make use of the procedure becomes truncated.
In addition, some expedited procedure statutes explicitly provide that if the final adjournment sine die of a Congress occurs before the end of the period during which the expedited procedure is available, the period terminates with the sine die adjournment. Also, as already noted, on the other hand, a period measured in days of session cannot expire during a sine die adjournment.
In this case, any portion of the period remaining at the sine die adjournment could remain available for action under the expedited procedure in the following annual session.
If the following session is the first of a new Congress, however, the remaining portion of the period may be too short to afford the incoming Congress a realistic opportunity to complete action, especially because the full lawmaking process under the expedited procedure would have to be accomplished de novo , beginning with the introduction of a new measure.
Some statutes are framed in such a way that if a measure specified in the statute is reintroduced in the Congress following the one in which the President submitted the corresponding proposal to be disapproved or approved, it is not eligible for expedited consideration.
Some other expedited procedures deal with these possibilities by providing that if the final sine die adjournment of one Congress occurs before a prescribed period for action expires, a full new period for action becomes available from the start of the succeeding Congress. Some provide also that at that point, the proposal by the executive is deemed resubmitted. Some of these statutes extend these arrangements also to the beginning of a second or subsequent session of the same Congress, even though, in such cases, any measure subject to the expedited procedure that was previously introduced and remains without final action would still be available for action in the new session.
Similarly, when action periods measured in days of continuous session are broken by a sine die adjournment, a new Congress might commence with only a brief remainder of that action period remaining.
To forestall this situation, many statutes that count action periods in this way stipulate that the expedited procedure is available during the "first period of [the stipulated number of] days of continuous session of Congress beginning after" 84 the designated initiating event, and also provide that "continuity of session of Congress is broken … by an adjournment sine die" or, sometimes, only by a final adjournment sine die of the Congress. It appears, nevertheless, that Congress has sometimes interpreted such provisions as applying only when the executive branch resubmits the underlying proposal.
The President "pocket vetoes" a measure by leaving it unsigned when Congress has adjourned and so cannot override his disapproval. See " Presidential Action on Legislation " in this report for a discussion of this issue. A recess appointment is a temporary appointment by the President to fill a vacancy when the Senate is out of session. See " Recess Appointments " in this report for a discussion of this issue.
Johnson, and John V. Riddick, Parliamentarian Emeritus, and Alan S. Frumin, Parliamentarian, rev. Frumin, st Cong. In some contexts, the period between the adjournment of one annual session and the convening of the next also may be referred to as a "recess," as discussed under " Adjournment Sine Die ," "Recess of the Session ," and " Recess Appointments.
This account draws in part on observations offered by [author name scrubbed], specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process in the Government and Finance Division of the Congressional Research Service.
In both the House and Senate, this motion is not subject to debate, amendment, or a motion to lay on the table. With only narrow exceptions, the motion is in order at any point in the proceedings. House Practice , pp. It is normally offered by a member or designee of the leadership of the majority party, which is accorded the responsibility for arranging the schedule of the chamber, and is usually adopted by voice vote. This statement requires modification for the House of Representatives, as discussed in the following section on " Recess of the Daily Session.
House Practice , chap. Riddick's Senate Procedure "Unfinished Business" , pp. H28 H. The mace is a symbol of parliamentary authority and is displayed while the House is meeting in daily session.
The motion for a recess in the Senate is not debatable, and may not be laid on the table, but it is amendable. Riddick's Senate Procedure "Recess" , pp. Privileged measures and actions are those that may interrupt the regular order of business. House Rule XVI clause 4. This motion is neither debatable nor amendable. In addition, if emergency conditions arise during a recess or adjournment, the Speaker may alter the time for the House to reconvene from that previously ordered.
House Rule I clause 12 c. See House Practice , chap. For corresponding Senate practices, see note 8 and text at that point. The Committee of the Whole is a parliamentary device that affords the House broad opportunities for considering amendments. House Practice , chap 1 "Adjournment" , p. In current practice, the Senate usually adjourns its daily session after first giving unanimous consent that, on the following day, "morning hour" proceedings be dispensed with.
See especially the second paragraph of the Parliamentarian's commentary. Both chambers sometimes interpret references in the Rules simply to "days," without qualification, as meaning legislative days rather than calendar days or "days of session". Hinds, Asher C. Riddick's Senate Procedure "Day" , pp. According to the practice of the House, and apparently of the Senate as well, the three days must include either the day on which the recess begins or the day on which it ends, but Sunday is excluded from the count.
For example, in the th Congress, the first session began on January 6 and ended on December 26, ; the second session began on January 5 and ended on December 29, The Vice President is the President of the Senate. The President pro tempore presides in the Vice President's absence.
Senate Rule I paragraph 1, in U. Fado, staff director, Committee on Rules and Administration, th Cong. Under contemporary conditions, Congress normally adjourns its annual sessions subject to contingent authority granted to some group of leaders of the two chambers to reconvene them "whenever the public interest shall warrant it" or equivalent language. Some considerations generated by this mode of proceeding are discussed in the sections on " Presidential Action on Legislation " and on "Lame Duck Sessions ," below.
On at least one occasion , the two houses each consented to the sine die adjournment of the other by adopting simple resolutions separately in each house. Riddick 's Senate Procedure "Adjournment" , p. This proceeding was common before the ratification of the 20 th Amendment in During that era, the regular sessions of Congress convened on the first Tuesday in December, but the term of a new Congress began on March 4 of odd-numbered years.
As a result, the last regular session of each Congress almost always continued until the point at which the constitutional term of the old Congress expired. See proceedings at the end of the th Congress, 1 st session: Senator Ron Wyden, "Orders for Tuesday, December 20, Through Monday, January 23, ," unanimous consent agreement in the Senate, Congressional Record daily edition , vol.
S; "Senate," Congressional Record daily edition , vol. H; "Senate," Congressional Record daily ed. These conclusions follow from the counting conventions described in note 27, including the exclusion of Sundays from the count. In earlier times, Congress has used pro forma sessions in ways that may indicate that the avoidance of "recesses of the session," is not an essential requisite of such sessions. In the fall of both and , for example, both houses met in pro forma sessions during a period spanning the election, thereby avoiding the need to provide for a "recess of the session.
By this means, Congress may have intended to ensure its availability to act if circumstances should so require, whether or not the President might choose to exercise his constitutional power to convene Congress in extraordinary session. In modern times this approach might be found unnecessary, for the contingent reconvening authority usual in contemporary adjournment resolutions tends to render periodic pro forma sessions unnecessary for this purpose.
The question is sometimes raised whether pro forma sessions during which no business occurs count as meeting the requirements of the Adjournments Clause. This clause, however, sets no conditions about the occurrence of business, but only about the occurrence of the session itself. Instead, the reason for holding pro forma sessions at all is precisely that they are intended to satisfy the formal requirement for meetings of a chamber in the absence of an adjournment resolution.
For further information, see the section on "Lame Duck Sessions. If a session is being held principally to fulfill this requirement, however, there may usually be little reason for transacting business during its course, which suggests that these connotations of the term might be derivative from its primary meaning. The adjournment from Thursday to Monday counts as three days because Sunday is not counted.
See footnote For a general overview of these issues, see U. Costello, [author name scrubbed], co-editors Washington: GPO, See Wright v.
United States , U. Sampson , F. For further information on the form of election breaks and lame duck sessions, see CRS Report RL, Lame Duck Sessions of Congress, 74thth Congresses , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]. Comprehensive consideration of the intent of the Recess Appointments Clause and practice thereunder is beyond the scope of this report. The Adjournments Clause provides: "Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days.
Executive Power—Recess Appointments, 33 Op. Att'y Gen. Clinton , F. Such intersession appointments have occurred regardless of whether the concurrent resolution to adjourn to a date certain provided contingent authority to reconvene prior to that date OLC opinion, p.
At the moment when the first session of the 58 th Congress ended at noon on December 7, , and the second session immediately began thereafter, President Theodore Roosevelt announced the recess appointment of over officials. Clinton, F. Sometimes this has occurred due to the wishes of the House. The opinion further asserts that "even absent a Senate pronouncement that it will not conduct business, there may be circumstances in which the President could properly conclude that the body is not available to provide advice and consent for a sufficient period to support the use of his recess appointment power.
Noel Canning , S. The decision, however, appears to leave open the possibility that the president could make emergency recess appointments in a recess of four to nine days. The Court stated: "We add the word 'presumptively' to leave open the possibility that some very unusual circumstances—a national catastrophe, for instance, that renders the Senate unavailable but calls for an urgent response—could demand the exercise of the recess-appointment power during a shorter break.
See, for example, reconciliation in the Congressional Budget Act P. For this reason, pursuant to Article 1 Section 5 of the Constitution, which gives each chamber the power to determine the rules of its proceedings, the House and Senate may unilaterally modify, suspend, or waive these procedures without the concurrence of the other chamber or the President.
For a further discussion of the potential advantages of expedited procedures, see archived CRS Report , "Fast-Track" or Expedited Procedures: Their Purposes, Elements, and Implications , by [author name scrubbed].
For example, the Trade Act of , Section P. Different statutes carry different versions of this definition. Topic Areas About Donate. Sessions, Adjournments, and Recesses of Congress February 27, — July 19, R The House and Senate use the terms session, adjournment, and recess in both informal and more formal ways, but the concepts apply in parallel ways to both the daily and the annual activities of Congress.
Download PDF. Download EPUB. Summary The House and Senate use the terms session , adjournment , and recess in both informal and more formal ways, but the concepts apply in parallel ways to both the daily and the annual activities of Congress. Introduction Congress regulates the timing of its activities, both from day to day and over the two-year term for which it is elected, by rules governing how its sessions begin, continue, and end.
A period when a chamber is formally assembled as a body and can, in principle, engage in business. The means through which a session is ended. A temporary suspension of a session; a break within a session. Daily Session. A period on a calendar day during which a chamber is in session.
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