<P> Procedures of the United States Congress are established ways of doing legislative business . Congress has two - year terms with one session each year . There are rules and procedures, often complex, which guide how it converts ideas for legislation into laws . </P> <P> A term of Congress is divided into two "sessions", one for each year; Congress has occasionally also been called into an extra, (or special) session (the Constitution requires Congress to meet at least once each year). A new session commences on January 3 (or another date, if Congress so chooses) each year . Before the Twentieth Amendment, Congress met from the first Monday in December to April or May in the first session of their term (the "long session"); and from December to March 4 in the second "short session". (The new Congress would then meet for some days, for the inauguration, swearing in new members, and organization .) </P> <P> The Constitution forbids either house from meeting any place outside the Capital, or from adjourning for more than three days, without the consent of the other house . The provision was intended to prevent one house from thwarting legislative business simply by refusing to meet . To avoid obtaining consent during long recesses, the House or Senate may sometimes hold pro forma meetings, sometimes only minutes long, every three days . The consent of both bodies is required for Congress's final adjournment, or adjournment sine die, at the end of each congressional session . If the two houses cannot agree on a date, the Constitution permits the President to settle the dispute . </P> <P> Joint Sessions of the United States Congress occur on special occasions that require a concurrent resolution from both House and Senate . These sessions include the counting of electoral votes following a Presidential election and the President's State of the Union address . Other meetings of both House and Senate are called Joint Meetings of Congress, held after unanimous consent agreements to recess and meet . Meetings of Congress for Presidential Inaugurations may also be Joint Sessions, if both House and Senate are in session at the time, otherwise they are formal joint gatherings . </P>

Who votes on bills first house or senate