From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms
Substitute / Substitute Amendment / Queen-of-the-Hill Rule
Substitute: A motion, amendment or entire bill introduced in place of the pending legislative business. Passage of a substitute measure kills the original measure by supplanting it. The substitute also may be amended.
Substitute Amendment: This type of amendment, representing a full-text alternative, can be offered only at the outset of the amendment process, after the first section of the measure is read. (A full-text amendment can also be offered at the end of the markup process, but that practice is rare.) An advantage of an amendment in the nature of a substitute is that a motion can be made after any debate on the amendment to cut off further debate and amendments. This motion is called the previous question.
Queen-of-the-Hill Rule / King-of-the-Hill Rule: A special rule that permits votes on a series of amendments, usually complete substitutes for a measure, but directs that the amendment receiving the greatest number of votes is the winning amendment. See “Queen-of-the-Hill Rules in the House of Representatives,” CRS Report RS20313 (7-page PDF
).
Sen. Tom Coburn On His Substitute Amendment to Pay For the AGOA-CAFTA-DR-Burma Sanctions Trade Bill (pt. 2)
Also see
- Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (CongressionalGlossary.com)
- Amendment Tree (CongressionalGlossary.com)
- Markup (CongressionalGlossary.com)
- § 6.50 Committee Markup, § 6.90 Rules Committee and Special Rules, § 6.120 Committee of the Whole: Amendment Process, § 6.122 Basic House Amendment Tree, § 6.220 Senate Amendment Procedure, in Congressional Deskbook
- in Congressional Procedure
More
- “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)
- “Introduction to the Legislative Process in the U.S. Congress,” CRS Report R42843 (18-page PDF)
- “Senate Committee Rules in the 115th Congress: Key Provisions,” CRS Report R44901 (36-page PDF)
- “Senate Unanimous Consent Agreements: Potential Effects on the Amendment Process,” CRS Report 98-310 (9-page PDF)
- “Constitutional Points of Order in the Senate,” CRS Report R40948 (11-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
CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net
For more than 40 years, TheCapitol.Net and its predecessor, Congressional Quarterly Executive Conferences, have been teaching professionals from government, military, business, and NGOs about the dynamics and operations of the legislative and executive branches and how to work with them.
Our custom on-site and online training, publications, and audio courses include congressional operations, legislative and budget process, communication and advocacy, media and public relations, testifying before Congress, research skills, legislative drafting, critical thinking and writing, and more.
TheCapitol.Net is on the GSA Schedule, MAS, for custom on-site and online training. GSA Contract GS02F0192X
TheCapitol.Net is a non-partisan small business.
Teaching how Washington and Congress work ™
