Undated – A side-by-side comparison

of the following versions of

the Refugee Act of 1979 Bill:​

S. 643 as passed by the Senate,

H.R. 2816 as introduced ​​ (Executive Branch request),

and Amendment-in-the-nature

of a substitute to H.R. 2816 adopted by

the House Judiciary Committee   

 

​

Negotiation and compromise are often needed in life to ensure a successful outcome, and the legislative process is no exception.  When the House and Senate cannot agree on the final language of a bill, a conference committee is formed to reconcile the differences.  The conference committee members, who are from both the House and Senate and are known as “conferees,” meet to negotiate a compromise text. The resulting final version of the bill recommended by the conference committee is known as a “conference report,” and it must be adopted by a majority vote in both chambers before it can be sent to the President for signing into law.  The House requires all conference meetings to be open to the public and press unless an issue of national security or defense is involved.  The Senate, on the other hand, allows its conferees the option of meeting in open or closed session.

 

In preparation for a conference committee meeting, staff prepare working papers that include a side-by-side comparison of all House and Senate versions of a bill in order to show the differences and similarities between them.  For example, at p. 16 of the side-by-side comparison displayed here, there are three different proposed versions for section 243(h) of the Act, which deals with deportation powers of the Attorney General.  The first version, presented by the Senate, prohibits deportation where a refugee’s life or freedom would be threatened, unless such deportation would be permitted under the terms of the United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.  The second version, preferred by the Executive Branch, gives the Attorney General discretion to decide matters of deportation. The third version, presented by the House Judiciary Committee, is similar to the Senate’s version but does not mention the United Nations Protocol; rather, it specifically enumerates the reasons for which deportation can occur.

 

Because it results in the final text of a bill, the conference stage is often the most significant phase of the legislative process, and conference committees are influential in determining exactly how the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be protected in a specific piece of legislation.  For example, looking again at section 243(h) of the Act, the committee recommended in their report (H.R. Rep. No. 96-781) that Congress adopt the language dealing with deportation of refugees as proposed by the House Judiciary Committee version, and this is in fact the language contained in the Act today. Following conference committee negotiations, the final version of the Refugee Act bill was adopted by both the House and the Senate, and was signed by President Carter on March 17, 1980. (P.L. 96-212).

 

Sources:

​

University of North Carolina. "Federal Website Links." Web. Accessed March 30, 2013. <http://www.northcarolina.edu/frc/faq/legprocess/legprocess.htm>

 

H.R. Rep No. 96-781, 96^th Cong., 2d Sess. 72 (1980).

 

​Library of Congress. “Bill Summary and Status—96th Congress (1979–1980)—S. 643—All Information.” Web. Accessed April 2, 2013. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d096:SN00643:@@@D&summ2=4&|/home/LegislativeData.php?n=BSS;c=96|>

 

United States Public Law 96-212, 94 Stat. 102, March 17, 1980.