A third. more recent ruling also is instructive. On August 1. 1989. the House was considering a general appropriation bill providing funds for the Department of Commerce. A motion to recommit the bill proposed an amendment prohibiting the expenditure of funds in the bill for census data where it is made known to the Secretary that such data includes a count of illegal aliens. The motion to recommit was ruled out on the ground that it proposed a limitation not specifically contained in existing law. In light of the distinction illuminated by the precedents of 1908 and 1977. this 1989 ruling properly turned on the form of the amendment rather than on an assertion that it changed existing law.
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illegal aliens