Principles of Federal Appropriations Law - US Government ...

Chapter 2
The Legal Framework
legislative history document that can be said to reflect the will of both
houses.Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Acker, 361 U.S. 87, 94 (1959)
(Frankfurter, J., dissenting).
Next in sequence are the reports of the legislative committees that
considered the bill and reported it out to their respective houses. The
Supreme Court has consistently been willing to rely on committee reports
when otherwise appropriate. E.g., Demore v. Hyung Joon Kim,
538 U.S. 510, 123 S. Ct. 1708, 1714–1716 (2003); Lorillard Tobacco Co. v.
Reilly, 533 U.S. 525, 543–544 (2001); Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering,
254 U.S. 443, 474 (1921); United States v. St. Paul, Minneapolis &
Manitoba Railway Co., 247 U.S. 310, 318 (1918); Lapina v. Williams,
232 U.S. 78, 90 (1914).
However, material in committee reports, even a conference report, will
ordinarily not be used to controvert clear statutory language. Squillacote,
739 F.2d at 1218; Hart v. United States, 585 F.2d 1025 (Ct. Cl. 1978);
B-278121, Nov. 7, 1997; B-33911, B-62187, July 15, 1948.
The following excerpt from a colloquy between Senators Armstrong and
Dole demonstrates why committee reports must be used with caution:
“Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. President, did members of the
Finance Committee vote on the committee report?
“Mr. DOLE. No.
“Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. President, the reason I raise the
issue is not perhaps apparent on the surface… . The report
itself is not considered by the Committee on Finance. It was
not subject to amendment by the Committee on Finance. It
is not subject to amendment now by the Senate.
…
“I only wish the record to reflect that this is not statutory
language. It is not before us. If there were matter within this
report which was disagreed to by the Senator from
Colorado or even by a majority of all Senators, there would
be no way for us to change the report. I could not offer an
amendment tonight to amend the committee report.
Page 2-99 GAO-04-261SP Appropriations Law—Vol. I