In the
United States Congress, a concurrent resolution is a resolution passed by both the
House of Representatives and the
Senate but is not presented to the
President for signature and does not have the force of law. In contrast,
joint resolutions and
bills are presented to the President and, once signed or
approved over a veto, are
enacted and have the force of law. Concurrent resolutions originating in the Senate are abbreviated
S.Con.Res. and those originating in the House are abbreviated
H.Con.Res. Concurrent resolutions are generally used to express the sentiments or opinions or 'sense' of a body or a chamber of legislators acting together; by vote, individual members can authorise the house as a whole to issue the terms of the resolution -- proclaiming or sending it out to the world at large, or to a particular person, state, nation, or institution. They are also used to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses. Examples of concurrent resolutions include: • providing for a recess or adjournment of more than three days during the session of Congress. (This is required by
Article I, Section 5 of the
United States Constitution, "Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.") • permitting the use of the
Capitol rotunda, which is under the control of both houses. • providing for a
joint session of Congress, normally to hear a message from the President, such as the
State of the Union address. • correcting the
enrollment of a bill that has already passed both houses. • asking the President to return a bill that has been presented to him, before he has signed or
vetoed the bill. • launching the
budget process. • creating a temporary
joint committee. Before the
Supreme Court of the United States ended the practice in its decision in
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha 462 U.S. 919 (1983), concurrent resolutions were sometimes used to override executive actions via a mechanism known as the
legislative veto. If
both houses of Congress were to
censure a President (which has never happened, though both the House and Senate have done so individually) the action would likely, according to
parliamentary procedure, be in the form of a concurrent resolution, as a joint resolution would require the President's signature or veto before becoming effective (having the power of law). A concurrent resolution does not have the power of law, nor does it require an approval action by the executive to become effective. == State legislatures ==