Page "Discharge petition" Paragraph 19

Both the House and the Senate have created an expedited process for Congressional review of executive branch regulations ( often used against " midnight regulations "), providing an especially quick timetable for consideration of a joint resolution to overturn a particular regulation.

As part of this process, Senators may use a " discharge petition " to discharge a Senate committee from consideration of the disapproval resolution.

While using the same term as the House process, its use in the United States Senate has few similarities to the House process described above and is limited only to disapproval resolutions created under the conditions of this congressional review process.

There also exists a " discharge resolution " in which non-controversial measures do not have to go through committee and are submitted to a voice vote.

Discharge resolutions, however, must be unanimous and are related loosely at best to discharge petitions.