Vietnam Veterans of America, June 22, 2022

H.R. 3967, the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act, was read a third time and passed in the Senate on June 16th by a vote of 84-14, as amended. Because the Senate did not agree to the original bill passed in the House, the bill will not become law until the differences have been agreed upon by the conference committee, which is the committee with authority over the bill. The House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

The House Rules Committee will be holding a hearing on June 21, at 2:00pm on the Senate amendments to H.R. 3967 and pieces of legislation.Meeting Announcement for H.R. 7666, H.R. 5585, H.R. 4176, and the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3967 | House of Representatives Committee on Rules

What is a conference committee?

A conference committee is a temporary committee formed in relation to a specific bill; its task is to negotiate a proposal that can be agreed to by both chambers. Each conference committee is made up of members of the House and members of the Senate – called conferees – who are drawn primarily from the committees with jurisdiction over the bill. Through a combination of informal negotiations and formal meetings, the conferees try to hammer out a compromise, drawing on elements of the competing proposals that were adopted by each chamber. If a proposal can garner the support of a majority of the House conferees, and also separately, a majority of the Senate conferees, then the negotiated proposal is embodied in a conference report. This conference report can then be considered in one chamber, and, if agreed to, then considered in the other chamber. Regardless of which chamber goes first, the conference report is considered under sets of procedures used for other business. For example, note that reaching a vote on a conference report in the Senate may require a cloture process. For the bill to move to the next step in becoming law requires both chambers to agree to the conference report without changes.

Source: The Legislative Process: Resolving Differences (Video) | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the only national Vietnam veterans organization congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.