2026年4月4日 美国东部时间下午6:44 / 福克斯新闻
随着议员们未能解决资金僵局，这场本应平淡无奇的程序性会议吸引了大批记者到场
作者：查德·珀格拉姆 福克斯新闻
福克斯新闻首席国会通讯员查德·珀格拉姆在《特别报道》节目中报道了参议院未能推进众议院终结停摆的法案后，美国政府部分停摆的情况。
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及时行乐。如果你一直好奇本周整个华盛顿为何都在热议参众两院的“例行形式会议”，本文将为你揭晓答案。
来吧，时光不等人。机不可失。希望你读完本文后，能够彻底弄懂参众两院例行形式会议的来龙去脉。
我们先从“pro forma”的含义以及它在国会中的应用说起。
参议员迈克·李敦促特朗普动用罕见宪法权力，迫使国会结束春季休会
在拉丁语中，“pro forma”意为“形式上的事项”。换句话说，某件事看起来煞有介事，但实际上只是走过场。数十年来，参众两院一直利用“例行形式会议”这一议会策略，遵守宪法规定的每三天召开一次会议的要求。
美国宪法第一条第五款规定：“两院均不得在国会会期内，未经另一院同意而休会超过三天，亦不得移至两院常会地点以外的其他地方开会。”这意味着参众两院必须每三天召开一次会议——除非两院同时通过相同的“休会决议”，允许双方离开华盛顿进行更长时间的休会。换言之，参众两院必须投票并达成一致，才能同时离开华盛顿。如果未能就休会决议达成共识，参众两院理论上必须每三天“召开一次会议”。
参众两院经常无法就休会决议达成一致，因为反对总统的政党希望阻止总统通过“休会任命”方式任命内阁官员或其他人士，从而绕过参议院的确认程序。这使得批准休会决议变得困难。但那是另一个话题了。
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回到例行形式会议。
如果没有休会决议，参众两院只需每三天敲槌开会再敲槌散会。（通常情况下）不会进行任何立法事务。这就是例行形式会议。参众两院“形式上”召开会议，但不会达成任何成果。通常现场只有一名议员——主持会议的人。众议院的例行形式会议通常持续两三分钟。参议院的会议则更简短——通常仅持续25到35秒。
什么才算国会会议？仅仅这几秒钟的会议时间就足够了。
几年前，参议员们还曾举办过一场非正式比赛，竞相快速完成例行形式会议，看谁能以最快速度主持完会议。最快的一次例行形式会议仅用了惊人的21秒。
以下是上周参众两院的议会态势：
参议院于3月28日周五凌晨休会。众议院也于当晚午夜前紧随其后休会。如果没有休会决议，双方将在接下来的周二再次开会。也就是说，如果没有休会决议，参众两院只需在周二再次开会即可。
共和党抨击“狗屁三明治”协议，所有人目光转向众议院以终结国土安全部停摆
没有任何条文禁止参众两院在例行形式会议期间开展立法事务。换言之，任何一院只需开展一些立法事务，就能将例行形式会议转变为实际意义上的会议。这就是为何在国土安全部停摆持续之际，外界普遍认为参议院周二的例行形式会议具备开展行动的条件。
一些众议院共和党人要求参议院与众议院周五晚间通过的法案保持一致：该法案为国土安全部所有部门提供为期两个月的资金。
参议院于美国东部时间周二上午10:33左右正式开会（稍晚了片刻）。参议员约翰·霍文（北达科他州共和党人）主持会议。但仅过了31秒，霍文便在未开展任何事务的情况下宣布参议院休会。霍文本人——或任何一名参议员——本可以利用在场的极少议员尝试通过众议院的法案。参议员克里斯·库恩斯（特拉华州民主党人）是参议院会议厅内唯一的其他议员。库恩斯或其他任何人本可以请求发言。但这一切都没有发生。
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随后参议院再次休会，按三天间隔将于周四上午7点再次召开例行形式会议。
例行形式会议通常是国会最乏味的活动之一。现场只有极少的地板工作人员。被要求主持会议的议员要么是因某种原因需要在休会期间留在华盛顿的人，要么是不常回家的议员。根据多数党所属党派，来自马里兰州、弗吉尼亚州或西弗吉尼亚州的议员经常主持会议——仅仅因为他们住得近。到场记者数量有限。他们都渴望能抢到一句引语或原声摘要——仅仅因为休会期间其他议员大多不在场。整个过程从开始到结束仅需数分钟，所有人便各自回家。
但上周二的参议院会议并非如此。所有人都想看看共和党人是否会尝试通过众议院通过的国土安全部拨款法案。或者说，众议院是否会尝试与参议院保持一致，通过其法案。但两者都没有发生。尽管大批记者涌入国会山。
国会最后一刻匆忙为国土安全部拨款的幕后故事
但上周四上午的戏剧性程度更高。周三，众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（路易斯安那州共和党人）突然转变立场，同意参议院通过的拨款法案：为国土安全部所有部门提供资金至10月1日，但边境巡逻队和移民海关执法局除外。约翰逊与参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（南达科他州共和党人）联合发表声明支持参议院的策略。因此周四黎明时分，图恩本人亲自到场，再次推动参议院的法案。
多数党或少数党领袖在例行形式会议期间亲临会场，几乎是前所未有的情况。对于例行形式会议而言，这堪称重大时刻。
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这并非一场普通的例行形式会议。尽管周二会议上没有任何进展，但这两场会议都远未达到国会休会期间常见的常规例行形式会议的水准。
外界普遍预计众议院将在周四晚些时候的例行形式会议上保持一致。但众议院共和党会议内部却一片哗然。约翰逊几天前还将参议院的协议斥为“笑话”，为何突然转而支持？更不用说约翰逊左右摇摆，激怒了共和党会议的所有派系。
因此众议院未采取任何行动。这就是为何国土安全部仍处于停摆状态——参众两院放大了近日四次例行形式会议的影响和可能性。
事实证明，所有这些备受瞩目的例行形式会议都只是名副其实的例行形式会议。
一无所获。国会又一次什么都没做成。
查德·珀格拉姆目前担任福克斯新闻频道（FNC）首席国会通讯员。他于2007年9月加入该网络，总部位于华盛顿特区。
A de facto pro forma: Why Washington fixated these sessions as the DHS shutdown dragged on through recess
April 4, 2026 6:44pm EDT / Fox News
The normally dull procedural meetings drew floods of reporters as lawmakers failed to resolve the funding impasse
By Chad Pergram Fox News
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the partial government shutdown after the Senate failed to advance a House bill to end it on ‘Special Report.’
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Carpe diem. If you’ve wondered why all of Washington buzzed so much this week about “pro forma” sessions in the House and Senate, here’s your chance to find out why.
Come on now. Tempus fugit. There’s no time like the present. Hopefully, when you finish reading this, you can declare veni, vidi, vici when it comes to your understanding of pro forma sessions in the House and Senate.
Let’s start with what pro forma means and why it holds application in Congress.
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In Latin, “pro forma” refers to “a matter of form.” In other words, something appears real, but it’s just perfunctory. For decades, the House and Senate have used the parliamentary artifice of a “pro forma” session to adhere to the Constitutional requirement of meeting every three days.
Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution states that “Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.” That means the House and Senate must convene at three-day intervals — unless both bodies approved the same “adjournment resolution” to allow one another to depart Washington for an extended period of time. In other words, the House and Senate must vote and agree to be out at the same time. And if there’s no consensus on an adjournment resolution, the House and Senate technically must “meet” every three days.
The House and Senate often fail to sync up on an adjournment resolution because the party opposite the President wants to block him from using his power to install cabinet officials or other figures via a “recess appointment” — thus circumnavigating the Senate confirmation process. That makes it challenging to approve an adjournment resolution. But that’s another matter.
Sunrise light hits the U.S. Capitol dome on Thursday, January 2, 2025.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Back to pro forma sessions.
Sans an adjournment resolution, the House and Senate simply gavel in and gavel out every three days. There is (usually) no legislative business. These are pro forma sessions. The House and Senate meet “in form.” But don’t accomplish anything. There’s often only one lawmaker on hand — the person who presides. House pro forma sessions usually run two or three minutes. Senate sessions are even more abbreviated — usually lasting 25 to 35 seconds.
What constitutes a Congressional meeting? Just those few seconds of session time suffices.
Some years ago, senators actually held an informal competition, racing through pro formas in an attempt to see who could conduct the meeting the fastest. The quickest pro forma session clocked in at a blistering 21 seconds.
Here’s the parliamentary posture of the House and Senate last week:
The Senate adjourned for the day in the wee hours on Friday, March 28. The House followed suit just before midnight the same night. Without an adjournment resolution, both would meet the next Tuesday. Therefore, if the House or Senate wouldn’t have to meet again until Tuesday.
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There’s nothing written prohibiting the House or Senate from conducting legislative business during a pro forma session. In other words, either body just has to conduct some legislative business to convert a pro forma session into a de facto session. So that’s why it was though that the Senate’s pro forma session on Tuesday was ripe for activity as the DHS shutdown continued.
Some House Republicans demanded that the Senate align with what the House passed Friday night: a bill which funded all of the Department of Homeland Security for two months.
The Senate gaveled to order on Tuesday morning around 10:33 am et (a couple of moments late). Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., presided. But after 31 seconds, Hoeven adjourned the Senate without any business. Hoeven himself — or any senator — could have tried to pass the House bill with the skeleton crew on hand. Sen. Chris Coons, D-D.E., was the only other senator in the chamber. Coons or anyone else could have sought recognition to speak. But none of that happened.
Amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has not had his immigration reform demands met while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., passed rival DHS funding proposals.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
And then the Senate adjourned, only to meet again Thursday morning (note the three-day interlude) at 7 a.m. for another pro forma session.
Pro forma sessions are customarily one of the most dull exercises in Congress. A skeleton crew of floor staff are there. Those asked to preside over the sessions are lawmakers who need to be in Washington for some reason over a recess or those who don’t go home often. Depending on which party has the majority, lawmakers from Maryland, Virginia or West Virginia frequently preside — simply because they are nearby. A limited number of reporters surface. They’re all thirsty for a quote or soundbite — simply because so few other lawmakers are available thanks to the recess. The whole enterprise starts and wraps up within minutes and everyone goes back home.
But that was not the case with last Tuesday’s Senate session. Everyone wanted to see if Republicans might try to approve the House-passed DHS bill. Or for that matter, if the House may attempt to align with the Senate and pass its bill. Neither happened. Even though a flood of reporters descended on the Capitol.
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But the drama was higher this past Thursday morning. On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dramatically reversed himself and consented to the Senate-passed bill to fund all the Department of Homeland Security through Oct. 1 — except the Border Patrol and ICE. Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., published a joint statement endorsing the Senate’s strategy. And so around dawn on Thursday, Thune himself showed up to pass the Senate package again.
The presence of the Majority or Minority Leader on the floor during a pro forma session is nearly unprecedented. It’s a magna momemti when it comes to a pro forma meeting.
A Transportation Security Administration agent watches as passengers queue for security screening at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on March 22.(Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
This was not an ordinary pro forma. And even though nothing happened on Tuesday, neither of those sessions were far from the customary pro formas Congress usually sees during a recess.
It was presumed that the House would align in its pro forma session later Thursday morning. But consternation gripped the House Republican Conference. How was Johnson suddenly endorsing the Senate deal which he just characterized as a “joke” a few days earlier? That’s to say nothing of Johnson twisting himself in multiple knots and aggravating all wings of the GOP Conference.
So the House took no action. Which is why DHS remains shut down since the House and Senate have magnified the scope and potential for all four pro forma sessions held in recent days.
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It turns out that all of these high-profile pro forma sessions were just bona fide pro forma sessions.
Nil actum est. Congress didn’t accomplish anything. Again.
Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
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