A joint resolution relating to a rationing contingency plan.

This joint resolution failed the vote the record describes below. A measure that fails is not revived; the same text has to be introduced again as a new measure.

The record's latest action, on July 30, 1980: Motion to discharge the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce rejected in House, roll call #444 (205-209).

A joint resolution travels the same road as a bill: both chambers pass it and the President signs it, and it then has the same force as any other law. The label is largely a matter of custom, often used for narrow or time-limited measures.

One exception matters. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution is not sent to the President at all. It goes to the states, and three quarters of them have to ratify it.

No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.

A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.

CLARENCE BROWN (R-OH) introduced it on June 19, 1980, and 24 members have since signed on as cosponsors.

They come from both major parties: 3 Democrats, 21 Republicans.

Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.