Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 112th Congress-Section XII.Committee of the Whole

[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 157-166]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

sec. xii--committee of the whole

[[Page 158]]

by
the House are then referred to one or more select committees, according
as the subject divides itself into one or more bills. Scob., 36, 44.
Propositions for any charge on the people are especially to be first
made in a Committee of the Whole. 3 Hats., 127. The sense of the whole
is better taken in committee, because in all committees everyone speaks
as often as he pleases. Scob., 49. * * *

Sec. 326. Parliamentary usage as to Committee of the
Whole.

The speech, messages, and other matters of great concernment are
usually referred to a Committee of the Whole House (6 Grey, 311), where
general principles are digested in the form of resolutions, which are
debated and amended till they get into a shape which meets the
approbation of a majority. These being reported and confirmed

This provision is largely obsolete, the House having by its rules and
practice provided specifically for procedure in Committee of the Whole,
and having also by its rules for the order of business left no
privileged status for motions to go into Committee of the Whole on
matters not already referred to that committee. The Committee of the
Whole no longer originates resolutions or bills, but receives such as
have been formulated by standing or select committees and referred to
it; and when it reports, the House usually acts at once on the report
without reference to select or other committees (IV, 4705). The practice
of referring annual messages of the President to Committee of the Whole,
to be there considered and reported with recommendations for the
reference of various portions to the proper standing or select
committees (V, 6621, 6622), was discontinued in the 64th Congress (VIII,
3350). The current practice is to refer the annual message to the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and order it
printed (Jan. 14, 1969, p. 651). Executive communications submitted to
implement the proposals contained in the State of the Union Message are
referred by the Speaker to the various committees having jurisdiction
over the subject matter therein.

Sec. 327. Selection of Chair of Committee of the
Whole.

* * * They generally acquiesce in the chairman named by the Speaker;
but, as well as all other committees, have a right to elect one, some
member, by consent, putting the question, Scob., 36; 3 Grey, 301. * * *

[[Page 159]]

The House (by clause 1 of rule XVIII) gives the authority to appoint
the chair of the Committee of the Whole to the Speaker (IV, 4704).

Sec. 328. Form of going into Committee of the
Whole.

* * * The form of going from the House into committee, is for
the Speaker, on motion, to put the question that the House do now
resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to take into consideration
such a matter, naming it. If determined in the affirmative, he leaves
the chair and takes a seat elsewhere, as any other Member; and the
person appointed chairman seats himself at the Clerk's table. Scob., 36.
* * *

This is the form in the House, except that the chair of the Committee
of the Whole sits in the Speaker's chair. Clause 1(b) of rule XVIII
(former rule XXIII) was adopted to authorize the Speaker, and it is the
modern practice, when no other business is pending, to declare the House
resolved into Committee of the Whole to consider a measure at any time
after the House has adopted a special order of business providing for
consideration of such measure (and not require a motion), unless the
resolution specifies otherwise (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).

Sec. 329. Quorum in Committee of the Whole.

* * * Their
quorum is the same as that of the House; and if a defect happens, the
chairman, on a motion and question, rises, the Speaker resumes the chair
and the chairman can make no other report than to inform the House of
the cause of their dissolution. * * *

Until 1890 a quorum of the Committee of the Whole was the same as the
quorum of the House; but in 1890 the rule (formerly clause 2 of rule
XXIII, current clause 6 of rule XVIII) fixed it at one hundred (IV,
2966). Clause 6 of rule XVIII provides the procedure that is followed in
Committee of the Whole in case of failure of a quorum.

[[Page 160]]

Sec. 330. Rising of committee for reception of
messages.

* * * If a message is announced during a committee, the Speaker
takes the chair and receives it, because the committee can not. 2 Hats.,
125, 126.

In the House, the committee rises informally to receive a
message, or to enable the Speaker to sign and lay before the House an
enrolled bill, at the direction of the Chair without a formal motion
from the floor (IV, 4786, footnote; Jan. 28, 1980, p. 888; Feb. 8, 1995,
p. 4112); but at this rising the House may not have the message read or
transact other business except by unanimous consent (IV, 4787-4791).
However, it is the general custom for the Speaker to decline to
entertain a unanimous-consent request during an informal rising of the
Committee of the Whole (IV, 4789, Apr. 6, 2000, p. 4778).

Sec. 331. Quarrels in Committee of the Whole, and duty of
the Speaker in relation thereto.

In a Committee of the Whole, the tellers
on a division differing as to numbers, great heats and confusion arose,
and danger of a decision by the sword. The Speaker took the chair, the
mace was forcibly laid on the table; whereupon the Members retiring to
their places, the Speaker told the House ``he has taken the chair
without an order to bring the House into order.'' Some excepted against
it; but it was generally approved as the only expedient to suppress the
disorder. And every Member was required, standing up in his place, to
engage that he would proceed no further in consequence of what had
happened in the grand committee, which was done. 3 Grey, 128.

[[Page 161]]

In the House the Speaker has on several occasions taken the chair
``without an order to bring the House into order'' (II, 1648-1653), but
that being accomplished the Speaker may yield to the chair that the
committee may rise in due form (II, 1349). In one instance, the Chair,
having been defied and insulted by a Member, left the chair; and, on the
chair being taken by the Speaker, he reported the facts to the House
(II, 1653). In several cases Members who have quarreled have made
explanation and reconciled their difficulties (II, 1651), or have been
compelled by the House to apologize ``for violating its privilege and
offending its dignity'' (II, 1648, 1650).

Sec. 332. Effect of breaking up of Committee of the Whole by
disorder.

A Committee of the Whole being broken up in disorder, and
the chair resumed by the Speaker without an order, the House was
adjourned. The next day the committee was considered as thereby
dissolved, and the subject again before the House; and it was decided in
the House, without returning into committee. 3 Grey, 130.

This provision is obsolete, because in the practice of the House there
is but one Committee of the Whole, which is in its nature a standing
committee with calendars of business. It is never dissolved, and bills
remain on its calendar until reported in the regular manner after
consideration (IV, 4705). After restoring order, the Speaker usually
leaves the chair, thus permitting the committee later to rise in due
form (II, 1349).

[[Page 162]]

mittee have gone through the
business referred to them, and that he is ready to make report when the
House shall think proper to receive it. If the House have time to
receive it, there is usually a cry of ``now, now,'' whereupon he makes
the report; but if it be late, the cry is ``to-morrow, to-morrow,'' or
``Monday,'' etc., or a motion is made to that effect, and a question put
that it be received to-morrow, &c. Scob., 38.

Sec. 333. Motions for previous question and to adjourn not
used in Committee of the Whole.

No previous question can be put in a
committee; nor can this committee adjourn as others may; but if their
business is unfinished, they rise, on a question, the House is resumed,
and the chairman reports that the Committee of the Whole have, according
to order, had under their consideration such a matter, and have made
progress therein; but not having had time to go through the same, have
directed him to ask leave to sit again. Whereupon a question is put on
their having leave, and on the time the House will again resolve itself
into a committee. Scob., 38. But if they have gone through the
matter <> referred to them, a member moves that the committee may
rise, and the chairman report their proceedings to the House; which
being resolved, the chairman rises, the Speaker resumes the chair, the
chairman informs him that the com

In the practice of the House the previous question and motion to
adjourn are not admitted in Committee of the Whole; but the rules
(clause 8 of rule XVIII) provide for closing five-minute debate by
motion. When the committee rises without concluding a matter the Chair
reports that it ``has come to no resolution thereon''; but leave to sit
again is not asked in the modern practice. The permission of the House
is not asked when the Chair reports a matter concluded in committee. The
report is made and received as a matter of course, and is thereupon
before the House for action. When the House has vested control of
general debate in certain Members, their control may not be abrogated
during general debate by another Member moving to rise, unless they
yield for that purpose (May 25, 1967, p. 14121; June 10, 1999, p.
12471). A Member yielded time in general debate may not yield to another
for such motion (Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2178; May 17, 2000, p. 8200). The
motion that the Committee of the Whole rise is privileged during debate
under the five-minute rule, and may be offered during debate on a
pending amendment, except where a Member has the floor (Aug. 13, 1986,
p. 21215; Mar. 22, 1995, p. 8770). The motion to rise may not include
restrictions on the amendment process or limitations on future debate on
amendments (June 6, 1990, p. 13234). The motion that the Committee of
the Whole rise is not debatable (May 17, 2000, p. 8203). For a further
discussion of the motion to rise, see Sec. 983, infra. For a point of
order against the motion to rise and report an appropriation bill to the
House where the bill, as proposed to be amended, exceeds an applicable
allocation of new budget authority under section 302(b) of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and procedures for the Committee of
the Whole in the event that the point of order is sustained, see
Sec. 1044b, infra.

[[Page 163]]

breach of privilege (V, 6986). When a bill
is reported the Speaker must assume that it has passed through all the
stages necessary for the report (IV, 4916). When the committee reported
not only what it had done but by whom it had been prevented from doing
other things, the Speaker held that the House might not amend the
report, which stood (IV, 4909). When an amendment is reported by the
committee it may not be withdrawn, and a question as to its validity is
not considered by the Speaker (IV, 4900). When a committee, directed by
order of the House to consider certain bills, reported also certain
other bills, the Speaker held that so much of the report as related to
the latter bills could be received only by unanimous consent (IV, 4911).
When a report is ruled out as in excess of the committee's power, the
accompanying bill stands recommitted (IV, 4784, 4907). A report from a
Committee of the Whole could not formerly be received in the absence of
a quorum (VI, 666; clause 7 of rule XX).

Sec. 335. Duties of Speaker and House as to reception of
reports of Committee of the Whole.

The Speaker recognizes only reports
from the Committee of the Whole made by the chair thereof (V, 6987), and
a matter alleged to have arisen therein but not reported may not be
brought to the attention of the House (VIII, 2429, 2430) even on the
claim that a question of privilege is involved (IV, 4912; V, 6987). In
one instance, however, the committee reported with a bill a resolution
relating to an alleged

[[Page 164]]

to postpone requests for a
recorded vote, the Chair's order of voting on the matter as unfinished
business determines which amendment (if both were adopted) would be
reported to the House (Aug. 6, 1998, pp. 19098-107). Normally, if the
Committee of the Whole perfects a bill by adopting certain amendments
and then adopts an amendment striking all after section one of the bill
and inserting a new text, only the bill, as amended by the motion to
strike and insert, is reported to the House; but when the bill is being
considered under a special rule permitting a separate vote in the House
on any of the amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the
bill or the committee substitute, all amendments adopted in the
Committee are reported to the House regardless of their consistency (May
26, 1960, pp. 11302-04). Where a separate vote is demanded in this type
of situation in the House only on an amendment striking a section of a
committee substitute, but not on perfecting amendments that have been
previously adopted in Committee of the Whole to that section, rejection
in the House of the motion to strike the section results in a vote on
the committee substitute in its original form and not as perfected,
because the perfecting amendments have been displaced in the Committee
of the Whole and have not been revived on a separate vote in the House
(Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1977, pp. 33622-24). But if the Committee of
the Whole reports a bill to the House with an adopted amendment in the
nature of a substitute and the special order of business in question
does not provide for separate House votes on amendments thereto, a
separate vote may not be demanded on an amendment to such amendment,
because only one amendment in its perfected form has been reported back
to the House (Nov. 17, 1983, p. 33463).

Sec. 336. Amendments in Committee of the
Whole.

The Committee of the Whole, like any other committee, may amend a proposition either
by an ordinary amendment or by a substitute amendment (IV, 4899), but
these amendments must be reported to the House for action. Amendments
rejected by the committee are not reported (IV, 4877). Ordinarily all
amendments must be disposed of before the committee may report (IV,
4752-4758); but sometimes a special order of business requires a report
at a specified time, in which case pending amendments are reported (IV,
3225-3228) or not (IV, 4910) as the terms of the order may direct. In
the 98th Congress, clause 2 of rule XXI was amended to give precedence
to the motion that the Committee rise and report a general appropriation
bill at the conclusion of its reading for amendment and before or
between consideration of amendments proposing certain limitations or
retrenchments (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34). The 104th Congress
further amended clause 2 to permit only the Majority Leader or a
designee to offer that motion (sec. 215(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p.
468). The 105th Congress elevated the Majority Leader's preferential
motion in clause 2 to take precedence of any motion to amend at that
stage (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 121). The practice of the House,
based originally on a rule (IV, 4904), requires amendments to be
reported from the Committee of the Whole in their perfected forms, and
this holds good even in the case of an amendment in the nature of a
substitute, which may have been amended freely (IV, 4900-4903). If a
Committee of the Whole amends a paragraph and subsequently strikes the
paragraph as amended, the first amendment fails, and is not reported to
the House or voted on (IV, 4898; V, 6169; VIII, 2421, 2426), and when
the Committee of the Whole adopts two amendments that are subsequently
deleted by an amendment striking and inserting new text, only the latter
amendment is reported to the House (June 20, 1967, p. 16497). Where two
amendments proposing inconsistent motions to strike and insert a pending
section are considered as separate first degree amendments (not one as a
substitute for the other) before either is finally disposed of under a
special procedure permitting the Chair

[[Page 165]]

amendment in the nature of a substitute
adopted in the Committee of the Whole where the bill is being considered
under a special rule permitting separate votes in the House on any of
the amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or
committee amendment (Sept. 30, 1971, p. 34337), but where a special rule
``self-executes'' an amendment as a modification of an amendment in the
nature of a substitute to be considered as an original bill, that
modification is not separately voted on upon demand in the House
(Speaker Foley, Feb. 3, 1993, p. 2043). A Member may withdraw a demand
for a separate vote in the House on an amendment reported from Committee
of the Whole before the Speaker's putting the question thereon, and
unanimous consent is not required (May 28, 1987, p. 14030). When demand
is made for separate votes in the House on several amendments adopted in
the Committee of the Whole, the amendments are voted on in the House in
the order in which they appear in the bill (July 24, 1968, pp. 23093-95;
May 28, 1987, p. 14030; June 11, 1997, p. 10654), except when amendments
have been considered under a special rule prescribing the order for
their consideration where the bill is considered as read, in which case
they are voted on upon demand in the order in which considered in
Committee of the Whole (Mar. 11, 1993, p. 4733; Mar. 25, 1993, pp. 6358,
6359). For former automatic reconsideration in the House of amendments
if the votes of Delegates and the Resident Commissioner were decisive,
see Sec. 985, infra.

Sec. 337. Committee of the Whole amendments in the
House.

All amendments to a bill reported from the Committee of the Whole
stand on an equal footing and must be voted on by the House (IV, 4871)
in the order in which they are reported, although they may be
inconsistent, one with another (IV, 4881, 4882), and are subject to
amendment in the House unless the previous question is ordered (VIII,
2419). Two amendments being reported as distinct were considered
independently, although apparently one was a proviso attaching to the
other (IV, 4905); and an entire and distinct amendment may not be
divided, but must be voted on by the House as a whole (IV, 4883-4892;
VIII, 2426). It is a frequent practice for the House by unanimous
consent to act at once on all the amendments to a bill reported from the
Committee of the Whole, but it is the right of any Member to demand a
separate vote on any amendment (IV, 4893, 4894; VIII, 2419) unless a
special rule mandates that sundry amendments be put en gros (June 24,
2009, p. _). Where a special rule permits en bloc consideration of
certain amendments in Committee of the Whole, those amendments if
reported back to the House may also be considered en bloc for a separate
vote in the House on demand of any Member (Speaker O'Neill, Sept. 7,
1978, p. 28425). A Member may demand a separate vote in the House on an
amendment to a committee

Depending on the will of the House as expressed on the question of
ordering the previous question (IV, 4895; V, 5794; VIII, 2419), when a
bill is reported with amendments, it is in order to submit additional
amendments after disposition of the committee amendments (IV, 4872-
4876). However, in modern practice the opportunity to submit amendments
is normally foreclosed by the ordering of the previous question under a
special rule. The fact that a proposition has been rejected by the
Committee of the Whole does not prevent it from being offered as an
amendment when the subject comes up in the House (IV, 4878-4880; VIII,
2700). A substitute amendment may be offered to a bill reported from
committee, and then the previous question may be ordered on the
substitute, on all other amendments, and on the bill to final passage
(V, 5472). An amendment in the nature of a substitute reported from
committee is treated like any other amendment (V, 5341), and if the
House rejects the substitute the original bill without amendment is
before the House (VIII, 2426).

[[Page 166]]

is not read in full again in the House when
reported and acted on. The chair of the Committee of the Whole who
reports a bill does not become entitled to prior recognition for debate
in the House (II, 1453); but on an adverse report an opponent is
recognized to offer a motion for disposition of the bill (IV, 4897;
VIII, 2430), or for debate (VII, 2629). The recommendation of the
committee being before the House, the motion to carry out the
recommendation is usually considered as pending without being offered
from the floor (IV, 4896), but when a bill was reported with a
recommendation that it lie on the table, a question was raised as to
whether or not this motion, which prevents debate, should be considered
as pending (IV, 4897). The House considers an amendment reported from
the Committee of the Whole to the preamble of a Senate joint resolution
following disposition of amendments to the text and pending third
reading (May 25, 1993, pp. 11036, 11037).

Sec. 338. Bills from Committee of the Whole in the
House.

Where a series of bills are reported from Committee of the Whole, the
House considers them in the order in which they are reported (IV, 4869,
4870; VIII, 2417). A proposition reported for action has precedence over
an independent resolution on the same subject offered by a Member from
the floor (V, 6986), and where a bill and a resolution relating to an
alleged breach of privilege were reported together the question was put
first on the bill (V, 6986). A bill read in full and considered in
Committee of the Whole (IV, 3409, 3410), or presumed to have been so
read (IV, 4916),

Sec. 339. Discharge of the Committee of the Whole.

A motion
to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the consideration of a
matter committed to it is not privileged as against a demand for the
regular order (IV, 4917). When the committee is discharged from
consideration of a bill the House, in lieu of the report of the chair,
accepts the minutes of the Clerk as evidence of amendments agreed to
(IV, 4922).
<> In other things the rules or proceedings are to be the same
as in the House. Scob., 39.

The House provides by rule (clause 11 of rule XVIII) that the rules of
proceeding in the House shall apply in Committee of the Whole so far as
they may be applicable.