[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 112th Congress]
[112nd Congress]
[House Document 111-157]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 149-150]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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sec. vi--quorum
[[Page 150]]
chair may be taken and the House adjourned.
And whenever, during business, it is observed that a quorum is not
present, any member may call for the House to be counted, and being
found deficient, business is suspended. 2 Hats., 125, 126.
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Sec. 310. Necessity of a quorum during business, including
debate. |
In general the chair is not to be taken till a quorum for
business is present; unless, after due waiting, such a quorum be
despaired of, when the
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In the House the Speaker takes the Chair at the hour to which the
House stood adjourned and there is no requirement that the House proceed
immediately to establish a quorum, although the Speaker has the
authority under clause 7 of rule XX to recognize for a call of the House
at any time. The question of a quorum is not considered unless properly
raised (IV, 2733; VI, 624), and it is not in order for the Speaker to
recognize for a point of no quorum unless the Speaker has put the
pending question or proposition to a vote. Although it was formerly the
rule that a quorum was necessary for debate as well as business (IV,
2935-2949), in the 94th Congress the House restricted the Chair's
ability to recognize the absence of a quorum (clause 7 of rule XX).
Clause 5(c) of rule XX permits the House to operate with a ``provisional
quorum'' where the House is without a quorum due to catastrophic
circumstances. Title III of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act,
2006, amended Federal election law to require States to hold special
elections for the House within 49 days after a vacancy is announced by
the Speaker in the extraordinary circumstance that vacancies in
representation from the States exceed 100 (P.L. 109-55; 2 U.S.C. 8).