From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms
Floor Manager


A member who has the task of steering legislation through floor debate and the amendment process to a final vote in the House or the Senate. Floor managers usually are the chairmen or ranking members of the committee that reported the legislation under debate. Managers are responsible for apportioning the debate time divided between the parties (for general debate in the House Committee of the Whole) or allocated between supporters and opponents of the bill or amendments to it (under a Senate time agreement). The ranking minority member of the committee normally apportions time among minority party members participating in debate.
Dominick Dunne on being a floor manager for “Howdy Doody”
Also see
- Ranking Minority Member / Ranking Member (CongressionalGlossary.com)
- § 5.70, Senate Leadership, and § 5.90 Committee Leadership, in Congressional Deskbook
- Chapter 2.J. Submitting Legislation; Chapter 5.F. Consideration on the Senate Floor; Chapter 6.C. Amendments Between the Chambers; in Congressional Procedure
More
- Congressional Leadership and Committees
- “How Unanimous Consent Agreements Regulate Senate Floor Action,” CRS Report RS20594 (7-page PDF
)
- “Unanimous Consent Agreements Establishing a 60-Vote Threshold for Passage of Legislation in the Senate,” CRS Report RL34491 (7-page PDF
)
- “Conference Committee and Related Procedures: An Introduction,” CRS Report 96-708 (15-page PDF
)
- “House Committee Markups: Manual of Procedures and Procedural Strategies,” CRS Report R41083 (220-page PDF
)
- “Resolving Legislative Differences in the Congress: Conference Committees and Amendments Between the Houses,” CRS Report 98-696 (40-page PDF
)
- “House Committee Chairs: Considerations, Decisions, and Actions as One Congress Ends and a New Congress Begin,” CRS Report RL34679 (35-page PDF
)
- “The First Day of a New Congress: A Guide to Proceedings on the House Floor,” CRS Report RL30725 (20-page PDF
)
Courses
- Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
- Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
- Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing
- Custom Training
- Drafting Effective Federal Legislation and Amendments in a Nutshell, Audio Course on CD
- Congress, the Legislative Process, and the Fundamentals of Lawmaking Series, a Nine-Course series on CD
Publications
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