United States Congress Joint Committee On Enrolled Bills - Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

The Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills was established with the responsibility for the enrollment of engrossed bills. The enacting resolution which created the committee stated:

After a bill shall have passed both Houses, it shall be duly enrolled on Parchment by the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate, as the bill may have originated in one or the other House, before it shall be presented to the President of the United States. . . . When bills are enrolled they shall be examined by a joint committee for that purpose, who shall carefully compare the enrollment with the engrossed bills as passed in the two Houses, and, correcting any errors that may be discovered in the enrolled bills, make their report forthwith to their respective Houses.

An enrolled bill or resolution is the form of a measure finally agreed to by both chambers of Congress. This is different than an engrossed measure, which refers to the form a bill takes when it first passes its chamber of origin, including any amendments, before being referred to the second chamber for concurrence. Today, enrollment occurs in the chamber where the measure originated and is carried out by enrolling clerks under the supervision of the House Clerk and the Secretary of the Senate. Enrolled bills and joint resolutions are signed by the presiding officers of each chamber (or their designees), as required by 1 U.S.C. § 106, and are presented to the President by the House Clerk or Secretary of the Senate, depending on the chamber of origination.