Which body is responsible for reconciling differences between House and Senate versions of a bill?

• A. Finance Committee
• B. Homeland Security Committee
• C. Rules Committee
• D. Conference committee

Answer: (D)

When the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, a conference committee is formed. This temporary joint committee, made up of members from both chambers, meets to negotiate and resolve the discrepancies between the two versions. The result is a conference report that both chambers must approve, producing a single unified bill to send to the president. The other options don’t perform this reconciliation role: the Finance Committee handles tax and revenue matters, the Homeland Security Committee oversees security policy, and the House Rules Committee sets how the bill will be debated on the floor. The conference committee is the mechanism that creates agreement between the two chambers.