Policy Library

6 documents

Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing: The 18 U.S.C. 924(c) Tack-On in Cases Involving Drugs or Violence
Congressional Research Service · 2015-09-16 · Reports · 16,600 words
Section 924(c) requires the imposition of one of a series of mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment upon conviction for misconduct involving the firearm and the commission of a federal crime of viole...
Expedited Procedures in the House: Variations Enacted into Law
Congressional Research Service · 2015-09-16 · Reports · 8,505 words
Congress enacts expedited, or fast-track, procedures into law when it wants to increase the likelihood that one or both houses of Congress will vote in a timely way on a certain measure or kind of mea...
The President Pro Tempore of the Senate: History and Authority of the Office
Congressional Research Service · 2015-09-16 · Reports · 12,808 words
The U.S. Constitution establishes the office of the President pro tempore of the Senate to preside over the Senate in the Vice President’s absence. Since 1947, the President pro tempore has stood thir...
Flow of Business: A Typical Day on the Senate Floor
Congressional Research Service · 2015-09-16 · Reports · 1,247 words
Several authorities govern the daily work in the Senate chamber: its standing rules, standing orders, unanimous consent agreements, precedent, and tradition. Because these authorities have different i...
The Amending Process in the House of Representatives
Congressional Research Service · 2015-09-16 · Reports · 24,979 words
Most amendments that Representatives propose to legislation on the House floor are offered in the Committee of the Whole. Measures considered under suspension of the rules are not subject to floor ame...
The Amending Process in the Senate
Congressional Research Service · 2015-09-16 · Reports · 13,719 words
A bill is subject to amendment as soon as the Senate begins to consider it. Committee amendments are considered first; then Senators can offer amendments to any part of the bill, generally, in any ord...