Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee

Each session the House sets deadlines for committees to report bills, for Third Reading (the final vote in the House), and for action on motions and conference committee reports. A bill that misses one is automatically re-referred to the Rules Committee, unless the Speaker suspended or revised the deadline, or the Rules Committee issued a written exception for that bill beforehand (House Rule 19(a)).

The Rules Committee has five members — three appointed by the Speaker and two by the Minority Leader (Rule 15) — and can send a bill it holds back to a committee or to the floor (Rules 15 and 18). A bill can also be brought out by a motion signed by at least three-fifths of the members of both the majority and the minority caucus, each signer a sponsor of the bill (Rule 18(g)).

It is not always the end: some bills sent back this way move again, and some become law.