Conference committee

A conference committee is an ad hoc joint committee of a bicameral legislature, which is appointed by, and consists of, members of both chambers to resolve disagreements on a particular bill. While such committees are common in the United States Congress and other U.S. legislatures, they are no longer in use in the Parliament of the United Kingdom or most other bicameral Westminster system parliaments. In the U.S. Congress, the conference committee is usually composed of the senior members of the standing committees of each House that originally considered the legislation. A Conference Committee is a temporary panel of House and Senate negotiators. A conference committee is created to resolve differences between versions of similar House and Senate bills.

See:

• United States congressional conference committee
• Joint committee.
• Permanent committee, to represent the chamber in the time between sessions.
• Special committees, to research a comparatively limited subject.

References

• C-SPAN- http://www.c-span.org/guide/congress/glossary/confcomm.htm