when does a record of how members of congress voted on an issue have to be recorded in the journal
Congressional Record The Constitution, in Article I, Section 5, requires Congress to keep a journal of its proceedings, although the House and Senate Journals are separate publications from the Congressional Record, and include only a record of actions and votes, rather than verbatim texts of the debates.
Procedures of the United States House of Representatives The United States Constitution provides that each "House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings,"[1] therefore each Congress of the United States, upon convening, approves its own governing rules of procedure. This clause has been interpreted by the courts to mean that a new Congress is not bound by the rules of proceedings of the previous Congress.[2]