Both chambers have procedures for calling up measures that have not
been reported by a committee. In deference to each committee's right
to consider legislation, Representatives and Senators are generally
reluctant to employ these procedures.
Members of the House may offer a motion to discharge a committee from
considering a measure 30 days after the measure was referred to the
committee (7 days for resolutions before the Rules Committee). If 218
Members then sign a discharge petition, the discharge motion is
placed on the Discharge Calendar and can be called up on the second
or fourth Mondays of each month. If the motion is adopted, a motion
to call up the underlying measure for immediate consideration can
then be offered. Most discharge motions do not attract the required
218 signatures, and few have been adopted since the discharge rule's
(Rule XXVII, clause 3) inception. Nevertheless, the act of
introducing a discharge motion, or threatening to do so, is sometimes
used to prompt committee action on measures. The motion to suspend
the rules and pass a measure is another procedure for raising
unreported measures. As discussed earlier, the two-thirds vote
required for approving suspension motions means they are generally
employed to call up noncontroversial measures.
It is easier to circumvent committees in the Senate than in the
House, primarily because Senators generally have the right to offer
non-germane amendments (commonly known as "riders") to measures being
considered on the floor.(6) For example, a Senator could offer an
amendment containing the text of a bill blocked in committee. A
Senator also could use Rule XIV (discussed earlier) to bypass a
committee that has not reported a particular measure.
In this situation, the Senator would reintroduce the bill, demand two
readings, and then object to the second reading. Under Rule XIV, the
measure would be placed directly on the Calendar of Business. Other
Senate procedures for bypassing committees, such as the motion to
discharge a committee and the motion to suspend the rules, are
employed so infrequently they are not discussed here. Senate
committees are sometimes discharged by unanimous consent.