Amendments and Riders

An amendment is a proposal to change the text of a bill, by striking, inserting, or replacing language, and it must be adopted by a majority vote. Both chambers allow first-degree amendments to a bill and second-degree amendments to those amendments, but no further, so the possible amendments at any moment form a structure called the amendment tree. Since its first rules in 1789, the House has required amendments to be germane, or relevant, to the bill, while the Senate generally has no such requirement except after cloture, under budget rules, and on appropriations bills.

A rider is a provision added to a bill that is unrelated to its main purpose or that would not pass on its own, typically attached to legislation that must pass, such as appropriations bills, the annual defense authorization, or debt limit measures. House rules bar general legislation on appropriations bills, but they allow limitation riders that prohibit spending funds for a particular purpose. Well-known examples include the Hyde Amendment, first enacted in 1976 and renewed every year since, which bars most federal funding for abortion, and riders limiting agency enforcement of specific rules.

In the House, the Rules Committee now decides which amendments may be offered to most major bills, and in the Senate the majority leader can block amendments by filling the amendment tree, so the amending process is far more restricted than it once was. Riders let Congress shape policy through its power of the purse, and presidents often must accept them or veto an entire spending bill. Supporters say riders are a legitimate tool for Congress to direct the executive branch, while critics say they let controversial policy pass without real debate or a separate vote.