Conference committee
Definition
A conference committee is a temporary panel of House and Senate members, called conferees, formed to negotiate a single compromise version of a bill after the two chambers pass different versions. Their agreement, the conference report, then goes back to both chambers for an up-or-down vote.
Why it matters
Conference reports cannot be amended on the floor, only accepted or rejected, so the small group of conferees, often just committee leaders, effectively writes the final text behind closed doors. This concentrates enormous drafting power in a handful of members and their staff at the exact moment public attention has moved on.
Seen in the wild
Conference committees have become less common in recent Congresses, with leadership often negotiating final text informally between chamber leaders instead of appointing formal conferees, a shift CRS has documented as reducing the visibility of how final bill language gets settled.1