Rider (CongressionalGlossary.com)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Rider

photo credit: carterse

An amendment, usually not germane, that its sponsor hopes to get through more easily by including it in other legislation. Riders become law if the bills embodying them are enacted. Amendments providing legislative directives in appropriations bills are outstanding examples of riders, though technically legislation is banned from appropriations bills. The House, unlike the Senate, has a strict germaneness rule; thus, riders usually are Senate devices to get legislation enacted quickly or to bypass lengthy House consideration, and possibly opposition.

Rider is a colloquialism for an amendment unrelated to the subject matter of the measure to which it was attached. Usually associated with policy provisions attached to appropriations measures.

Also see

• Appropriation Act
• “Christmas Tree” Bill
• Germane / Germaneness
• § 6.122, Basic House Amendment Tree, and § 6.220, Senate Amendment Procedure, in Congressional Deskbook
• Chapter 5.J. Amendment on the Senate Floor and in Committee; in Congressional Procedure

More

• The Amending Process in the Senate, CRS Report 98-853 (40-page PDF)
• The Budget Reconciliation Process: Stages of Consideration, CRS Report R44058 (16-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
• Congressional Operations Poster, with Federal Budget Process Flowchart
• Federal Budgeting, a Five-Course series on CD
• Congress, the Legislative Process, and the Fundamentals of Lawmaking Series, a Nine-Course series on CD

Publications

The Federal Budget Process 2E

Pocket Constitution

Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates

Congressional Procedure

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net