Ramseyer Rule
Definition
The Ramseyer Rule requires House committee reports to show, side by side, exactly how a bill would change existing law, using brackets for text it deletes and italics for text it adds. The Senate has an equivalent, the Cordon Rule.
Why it matters
Without this comparative print, bills that amend law by cross-reference (such as "strike subsection (b) and insert") would be nearly unreadable to anyone outside the drafting committee. It is one of the few procedural rules that exists purely to make legislative text legible to outsiders, so its absence or sloppy application is a real transparency red flag.
Seen in the wild
Modern House committee reports routinely include a "Changes in Existing Law" section formatted under Ramseyer Rule requirements, letting outside groups like the Congressional Research Service and advocacy organizations quickly identify exactly which statutory language a bill would strike or add.1