11

We are currently in the 115th U.S. Congress that started in January of 2017.

How is it that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is assigned #1 in its bill name (H.R. 1) when it wasn't introduced until 9 months after this congress began?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine)

Every two years, at the start of odd-numbered years, the United States Congress recommences numbering from 1, though for bills the House has an order reserving the first 20 bill numbers and the Senate has similar measures for the first 10 bills.

So this bill was given a special number for the purposes of recording.

Per the Congressional website

In recent Congresses, the resolution specifying House internal rules of procedure includes reserving bill numbers for assignment by the Speaker. In the 112th Congress (2011-2012) the practice was extended to reserve additional bill numbers for assignment by the Minority Leader.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks. Unfortunately I couldn't track down the original source [6] of the statement. But I'm assuming it is correct.
    – Adam Johns
    Dec 20, 2017 at 21:35
  • 1
    @AdamJohns Here's an official source
    – Machavity
    Dec 21, 2017 at 15:12

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .