Congress works through four kinds of measures: bills and three types of resolutions. The types of congressional resolutions are joint, concurrent, and simple, and they differ in one thing that matters above all others — whether they can become law. Joint resolutions can. Concurrent and simple resolutions cannot. Everything else about how each one is used flows from that single distinction.
Joint Resolutions
A joint resolution is labeled H.J.Res. when it starts in the House and S.J.Res. when it starts in the Senate. It travels the same road as an ordinary bill: passage by both chambers in identical form, then presentment to the President for signature or veto. Once signed, it has the full force of law. The Senate’s own guidance says plainly that “there is no real difference between a joint resolution and a bill.”1United States Senate. Types of Legislation
So why use one at all? Custom, mostly. A few specific tasks have become the traditional territory of the joint resolution.
Continuing Resolutions and Military Force
When Congress has not finished its regular spending bills by October 1, it keeps the government open through a continuing resolution, a joint resolution that funds federal agencies at existing levels for a set period. The stopgap may run a few weeks or a full fiscal year.
Joint resolutions also authorize the use of military force. The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed as S.J.Res. 23, granted the President broad authority to use force against those responsible for the September 11 attacks and remains legally operative more than two decades later.2Congress.gov. Public Law 107-40 Authorization for Use of Military Force
Overriding Federal Agency Rules
The Congressional Review Act gives Congress a fast-track way to strike down regulations. Before a new rule takes effect, the issuing agency must submit it to both chambers and to the Comptroller General. Congress then has 60 legislative days to pass a joint resolution of disapproval. If the President signs it, the rule is voided, and the agency cannot reissue it in substantially the same form unless a new law specifically authorizes doing so.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 801 – Congressional Review Senate debate is capped, amendments are barred, and a stalled committee can be bypassed by discharge petition.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 802 – Congressional Disapproval Procedure The tool sees heavy use early in a new administration, when a President wants to unwind a predecessor’s rules quickly.
Proposing Constitutional Amendments
One kind of joint resolution never goes to the President: a proposed constitutional amendment. Article V requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber, counted from members present rather than full membership.5Constitution Annotated. Article V – Overview of Article V, Amending the Constitution The Supreme Court settled the President’s absence from this process very early. In Hollingsworth v. Virginia (1798), Justice Chase wrote that the President “has nothing to do with the proposition, or adoption, of amendments to the Constitution.”6Legal Information Institute. Hollingsworth v Virginia From there the amendment goes to the states, and ratification by three-fourths of them makes it part of the Constitution.
Concurrent Resolutions
A concurrent resolution, labeled H.Con.Res. or S.Con.Res., needs approval from both chambers but is never sent to the President. Because it skips the presentment step required by Article I, Section 7, it carries no force of law and imposes no obligation on anyone outside Congress.7Legal Information Institute. Constitution Annotated – Article I, Section 7, Clause 1-3 – Presentation of Resolutions Its reach ends at matters where the two chambers need to act jointly on their own business.
A common use comes straight from the Constitution. Article I, Section 5 forbids either chamber from adjourning for more than three days without the other chamber’s consent, so a longer recess requires a concurrent resolution setting the dates.8Legal Information Institute. Constitution Annotated – Article I, Section 5, Clause 4 – Adjournment of Congress Concurrent resolutions also create joint committees and handle shared logistics like use of the Capitol Rotunda for ceremonies.
The most consequential one is the annual budget resolution.
The Budget Resolution and Reconciliation
Federal law directs Congress to complete a concurrent resolution on the budget by April 15 each year, setting spending and revenue targets for the coming fiscal year.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 2 USC 632 – Annual Adoption of Concurrent Resolution on the Budget The resolution appropriates nothing and changes no tax rate. It is a planning document that guides the committees writing the actual spending and tax legislation, and the deadline is routinely missed without penalty.
What makes it powerful is what it can unlock: reconciliation. A budget resolution may direct specific committees to produce legislation changing spending, revenue, or the debt limit by set amounts.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 2 USC 641 – Reconciliation The resulting reconciliation bill gets expedited treatment in the Senate: limited debate, no filibuster, passage by simple majority instead of the 60 votes usually needed to end debate. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Affordable Care Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act all traveled this path.
The tradeoff is the Byrd Rule, which limits what reconciliation legislation can contain. Provisions that produce no change in spending or revenue can be stripped on a point of order, along with provisions that increase the deficit beyond the budget window, fall outside the reporting committee’s jurisdiction, or change Social Security.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 2 USC 644 – Extraneous Matter in Reconciliation Legislation Overturning the parliamentarian’s advice on a Byrd challenge takes 60 votes. This is why reconciliation bills sometimes carry oddly specific sunset dates or drop policy provisions late in the process.
The budget resolution is structurally incapable of becoming law because it is a concurrent resolution. Congress designed it that way so the two chambers can agree on fiscal targets without handing the President a veto over the legislative branch’s own planning. The binding legal changes come later, through appropriations bills and reconciliation legislation that do go through the full constitutional process.
Simple Resolutions
A simple resolution never leaves the chamber that passes it. Labeled H.Res. in the House or S.Res. in the Senate, it does not go to the other chamber or to the President and has no force of law.1United States Senate. Types of Legislation Its purpose is entirely internal.
The most routine use is setting the rules of debate and procedure. At the start of each new Congress, the House adopts a simple resolution establishing its standing rules. The Senate, treating itself as a continuing body, typically modifies rather than re-adopts its rules. Simple resolutions also handle administrative housekeeping like appointing committee members, electing chamber officers, and creating special investigative panels.
Impeachment and Contempt of Congress
Two of the most dramatic actions in American politics begin as simple resolutions. The House starts an impeachment by adopting a resolution of impeachment with the accompanying articles, and that resolution is “highly privileged,” meaning it can jump ahead of other pending business.12GovInfo. House Practice – Chapter 28, Impeachment A resolution calling directly for impeachment goes to the Judiciary Committee; one calling for an investigation looking toward impeachment goes to Rules.
Contempt of Congress works similarly. When a witness defies a subpoena, the committee votes to seek a contempt citation and reports the matter to the full chamber, which then considers a resolution directing the Speaker to certify the refusal to a U.S. Attorney for possible grand jury prosecution.13GovInfo. House Practice – Chapter 18, Contempt The resolution is privileged because the institutional prerogatives of the chamber are at stake.
Sense of the Chamber Resolutions
Congress often uses a simple resolution to express the “sense of the House” or “sense of the Senate” on a policy issue, an international event, or a matter of public concern. These are symbolic. They let lawmakers go on record with a collective opinion without changing any law or directing any action. Even when “sense of” language appears inside a bill the President signs, the provision remains nonbinding. Its value is political rather than legal.
Why the Distinction Matters
The Constitution draws a bright line between measures that carry the force of law and those that do not. Article I, Section 7, Clause 3 requires that any “order, resolution, or vote” intended to have legal effect must pass both chambers and be presented to the President.7Legal Information Institute. Constitution Annotated – Article I, Section 7, Clause 1-3 – Presentation of Resolutions The exceptions are narrow: impeachment, Senate confirmation of nominees and treaties, proposals for constitutional amendments, and each chamber’s authority over its own internal affairs.
The Supreme Court enforced this line in INS v. Chadha (1983), striking down the “legislative veto.” Congress had inserted provisions into dozens of statutes letting one or both chambers override executive actions through resolutions that never went to the President. The Court held this unconstitutional. Because the vetoed actions altered the legal rights of people outside Congress, they were legislative in character and required bicameral passage and presentment.14Justia. Immigration and Naturalization Service v Chadha The Court described the Framers’ design as a “single, finely wrought and exhaustively considered procedure” that could not be shortcut for convenience.
Chadha is why the resolution categories matter as much as they do. Joint resolutions satisfy bicameralism and presentment, so they can change the law. Concurrent and simple resolutions skip presentment by design, which limits them to the internal world of Congress. Anytime Congress wants to affect rights or obligations of people outside the Capitol, it must use a bill or a joint resolution.
What Happens After Passage
Once a resolution clears its final legislative hurdle, it is enrolled: the text is printed on parchment or paper of suitable quality as determined by the Joint Committee on Printing.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 1 USC 107 – Parchment or Paper for Printing Enrolled Bills or Resolutions The presiding officer of each chamber signs the document to confirm it as the version members approved.
What follows depends on the type. Joint resolutions other than constitutional amendments go to the White House, where the President has ten days (excluding Sundays) to sign or veto.16Legal Information Institute. Constitution Annotated – Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 – Overview of Presidential Approval or Veto of Bills If the President does nothing while Congress remains in session, the measure becomes law without a signature. If Congress adjourns before the ten days run out and the President has not signed, the resolution dies through a pocket veto.17GovInfo. House Practice – Chapter 57, Veto of Bills Concurrent and simple resolutions never see the White House. After authentication, they are filed with the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate and published in the Congressional Record.