How do the Senate and House proceed with a motion to instruct?
As explained in the CRS report, “Going to Conference in the Senate”, after the first three steps of creating a conference committee are established, each house may instruct the conferees to take a certain position in conference. These instructions to the conferees are not binding. House- In the House, one valid motion to instruct may be made after the House and Senate agree to creating a conference committee (step two), but before any conference members are named. Senate- In the Senate, a senator may move to instruct Senate conferees after the Senate takes all three required actions, but before the presiding officer announces the list of Senate conferees. The Senate does not limit the number of motions to instruct. All motions to instruct must be read before the Senate begins to debate the motion, unless it is agreed by unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. When debating the motion to instruct, unless the time for debating the motion is controlled by unanimous consent, any se
