Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress-Rule XXVII.Change Or Suspension of Rules

[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 709-719]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

[[Page 709]]

Rule XXVII.

CHANGE OR SUSPENSION OF RULES.

Sec. 902. Motions to suspend the rules.

1. No rule shall be
suspended except by a vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum
being present; nor shall the Speaker entertain a motion to suspend the
rules except on Mondays and Tuesdays, and during the last six days of a
session.

This rule has been built up gradually on an old rule of 1794, which
provided that no rule should be rescinded without one day's notice. In
1822 a clause was added that no rule should be suspended except by a
two-thirds vote; and in 1828 it was provided that the ``order of
business, as established by the rules,'' should not be changed except by
a two-thirds vote. This rule marks the great purpose of the motion,
which was to give a means of getting consideration for bills which could
not get forward under the rule for the order of business. Originally in
order on any day, the motion was, in 1847, restricted to Mondays of each
week, and, in 1880, to the first and third Mondays of each month. In
1874 the old limit of 10 days at the end of the session was reduced to 6
days. In the 93d Congress, the rule was amended to permit the Speaker to
recognize for such motions on the first and third Mondays and on the
Tuesdays immediately following those days and to eliminate the
distinction between days on which committees and individuals has
preference (H. Res. 6, Jan. 3, 1973, pp. 26, 27); and in the 95th
Congress, the rule was amended to permit the Speaker to recognize for
such motions on every Monday and Tuesday (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, 95th
Cong., pp. 53-70). Originally of great use in establishing the order of
business, when the older and more defective rules for the order of
business existed, the use of the motion has changed since the House in
1890 adopted rules for the order of business which enables the House on
any day to go to any public bills on its calendars. Also about the same
time the perfection of the process of getting bills before the House out
of order by a majority vote through a report from the Committee on Rules
still further diminished the importance of the motion to suspend the
rules (V, 6790).

[[Page 710]]
tion may not be amended (V, 5322, 5405, 6858; Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43251-
63; June 4, 1985, pp. 13983, 13986, 13989), postponed (V, 5322), or laid
on the table (V, 5405), and the motion to reconsider may not be applied
to a negative vote on the motion (V, 5645, 5646; VIII, 2781). The motion
to refer may not be applied to the bill which it is proposed to pass
under suspension of the rules (V, 6860). The motion to suspend the rules
applied to the parliamentary law of Jefferson's Manual as well as to the
other rules of the House (V, 6796), and may even be used to deny the
right to have read a paper on which the House is to vote (V, 5278-5284).
While it has been held that the right of a Member to have read the paper
on which he is called to vote is not changed by the fact that the
procedure is by suspension of the rules (V, 5277; VIII, 3400), the
precedents are not uniform in this regard, and in earlier instances the
separate motion to suspend the rules and dispense with reading of
pendings bills, amendments and Senate amendments was held in order (V,
5278-84). Under the modern practice, only the motion ``to suspend the
rules and pass'' is itself read and is held to suspend all rules
inconsistent with its purposes, including a rule requiring that a recess
be taken (V, 5752), or that a quorum be present when a bill is reported
from committee (Sept. 22, 1992, p. ----). Thus only the title of the
bill is normally read by the Clerk, and amendments included in the
motion are not reported separately, but the Chair may, in his
discretion, where objection is made to that procedure, require the
reading of an amendment which is not printed or otherwise available
(July 17, 1950, pp. 10448-49). Where a motion to suspend the rules and
agree to a resolution which provided for concurring in a Senate
amendment with an amendment consisting of the text of a bill introduced
in the House, the Speaker ruled that reading of the resolution itself
was sufficient and that it could be re-read to the House only by
unanimous consent (Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43251-63). It may be used also to
change a rule (V, 6862), or to make a new rule, as was more frequently
done in the earlier years of the House when it was the only way for
making a special order except by unanimous consent (IV, 3152-3162). In
the later practice special orders may still be made on motion to suspend
the rules (IV, 3154); but usually they are made by majority vote of the
House on a report from the Committee on Rules (IV, 3169). The motion to
suspend may include a series of actions, as the discharge of a committee
from consideration of a bill and the passage of it (V, 6850), the
reconsideration of the vote passing a bill, amendment of it, and passage
again (V, 6849), the permission to a committee to report several bills
(V, 6857), an order to the Clerk to incorporate in the engrossment of a
general appropriation bill a provision not otherwise in order (IV,
3845), an authorization to the House to entertain a specified motion to
suspend the rules on a future day, not a suspension day (IV, 3845), a
motion to take a bill (V, 6288; VIII, 3425), or a motion to reconsider,
from the table (V, 5640). A motion to suspend the rules may provide for
the passage of a bill regardless of whether it has been reported or
referred to any calendar or even previously introduced (VIII, 3421), may
include

[[Page 711]]
an amendment without the formality of committee approval (June 22,
1992, p. ----), and may provide for agreeing to a conference report
which has been ruled out of order by the Speaker (Dec. 20, 1974, p.
41860). One motion to suspend the rules having been rejected, the
Speaker may recognize for a similar motion (Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43270-
81).

Sec. 903. Nature of the motion to suspend the
rules.

While originally the motion was used to suspend the rule on the order of
business in order to consider a particular bill (V, 6852, 6853), in the
later practice it is more usual to move ``to suspend the rules and
pass'' the bill (V, 6846, 6847), and a division of the question may not
be demanded, either as to the two branches of the motion or as to
distinct substantive propositions in the subject of the motion (V, 6141-
6143). The mo

[[Page 712]]
Speaker's denial of recognition (II, 1425), and no advance notice to
Members of bills to be called up under suspension of the rules is
required (Mar. 20, 1978, pp. 7535-36), but the rules forbid the Speaker
to entertain a motion to suspend the rules relating to the privilege of
the floor (Sec. 919; V, 7283; VIII, 3634), the use of the Hall of the
House (Sec. 918; V, 7270) or prohibiting the introduction of persons in
the galleries (Sec. 764; VI, 197).

Sec. 904. Precedence of the motion to suspend the
rules.

In the early practice, when the motion to suspend the rules was used
to enable a matter to be taken up for consideration out of order, it was
not admitted when a subject was already before the House (V, 5278, 6836,
6837, 6852, 6853). A bill taken up under this early practice might be
amended (V, 6842, 6856) by the House, or withdrawn by the mover, in
which case another Member might not present it (V, 6854, 6855). In the
later practice, where the motion includes both suspension of the rules
and action on the subject it is admitted, although another matter be
pending (V, 6834), although the yeas and nays may have been demanded on
another highly privileged motion (V, 6835), or although the previous
question may have been ordered or moved on another matter (V, 6827; see
also Sept. 17, 1990, p. ----; V, 6831-6833; VIII, 3418). Earlier
rulings, however, did not, while a series of Senate amendments were
pending, permit a motion to suspend the rules in order to permit a vote
to be taken on the amendments in gross (V, 6828, 6830). But in the
earlier practice, also, while a matter was pending a motion to suspend
the rules in order to dispense with the reading otherwise required was
admitted (V, 5278). The motion to suspend the rules has been ruled out
of order when the House is considering a bill under a special order (V,
6838); and when a question of high privilege under rule IX is before the
House a motion to suspend the rules and consider another matter is not
in order (V, 6825, 6826; VI, 553, 565). But the motion to suspend the
rules has been held of equal privilege with the motion to instruct
conferees after 20 days of conference, which under clause 1(c) of rule
XXVIII is ``of the highest privilege'' (Mar. 1, 1988, pp. 2749, 2751,
2754). A motion to suspend the rules and approve the Journal was held in
order, although the Journal had not been read and the then highly
privileged motion to fix the day to which the House should adjourn was
pending (IV, 2758). While the motion is of high privilege, it may be
superseded by a question of the privilege of the House (III, 2553; VI,
565). Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XVI the Speaker may entertain one
motion to adjourn pending a motion to suspend the rules, but after that
vote shall not entertain any other motion until the vote is taken on the
motion to suspend the rules. Moreover, in the absence of a motion to
suspend, the ordinary motions relating to business of the House may be
made on suspension days as on other days (IV, 3080). The motion to
suspend the rules may be made on days other than suspension days by
unanimous consent (V, 6795) or by adoption of a resolution reported by
the Rules Committee. On ``suspension days'' the motion to suspend the
rules has been admitted at the discretion of the Speaker since 1881 (V,
6791-6794, 6845; VIII, 3402-3404), and no appeal may be taken from the

Sec. 905. Individual and committee motions to suspend
the rules.

Prior to the 93d Congress, the rule gave to individuals preference
on the first Monday of the month for making motions to suspend the
rules, and preference on the third Mondays for committees to make the
motion (V, 6790). In rare instances the Speaker has called the
committees
in regular order for motions to suspend the rules, but this method is
not required (V, 6810, 6811). In the earlier practice the committee
motion must have been formally and specifically authorized by the
committee (V, 6805-6807); but after the motion was seconded and debate
had begun it was too late to raise a question as to the authorization
(V, 6808). Under the later practice authorization by a committee is not
required (VIII, 3410). The committee may not present a bill which has
not been referred to it (V, 6813) and is not within its jurisdiction (V,
6848). A bill offered on a committee suspension day, in the early
practice, could carry with it only such amendments as were authorized by
a committee (V, 6812), but in the modern practice the formality of
committee approval is not required (June 22, 1992, p. ----). If on a
committee day an individual motion was made and seconded, it was then
too late to make a point of order (V, 6809).

[[Page 713]]
clause 4 of rule XV the yeas and nays were ordered (IV, 3053-3055; Dec.
21, 1973, pp. 43251-63). Where the Chair allocates the time in
opposition to the motion to the ranking minority member of the reporting
committee, a challenge that that member does not qualify by being
opposed, in order to control such time, must be made when the time is
allocated by the Chair (May 15, 1984, p. 12215; Speaker Wright, June 2,
1987, p. 14223). The motion to suspend the rules may be withdrawn at any
time before the Chair puts the question and a voice vote is taken
thereon (July 27, 1981, p. 17563).

Sec. 906. The second of the motion to suspend the
rules.

Prior to the 102d Congress, certain motions to suspend the rules were
required to be seconded, if demanded, by a majority by tellers, but this
requirement was eliminated from the rule in the 102d Congress (H. Res.
5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). This requirement for a second was adopted in
1874, was rescinded two years later, but was again adopted in 1880. The
object of it was to prevent consumption of the time of the House by
forcing consideration of undesirable propositions (V, 6797). The
requirement (formerly clause 2) was amended in the 96th Congress (H.
Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16) so that a second was not required where
printed copies of the proposed measure were available. Copies of reports
on bills considered under suspension are not required to be available in
advance. The Constitutional right of a Member to demand the yeas and
nays, or the right of a Member under clause 5(a) of rule I to demand a
recorded vote, did not exist on the question of ordering a second under
the former clause 2, which only permited the ordering of a second by
tellers if a quorum was present (V, 6032-6036; VIII, 3109; Dec. 16,
1981, p. 31851). The fact that a majority of the Members of the House
did not pass between the tellers on the question of ordering a second
did not conclusively show that a quorum was not present in the Chamber,
and the Speaker could count the House to determine whether a quorum was
actually present (Dec. 16, 1981, p. 31851). But where a quorum failed on
the vote for a second, under

Sec. 907. The forty minutes of debate on motion to
suspend the rules.

2. When a motion to suspend the rules has been submitted to
the House, it shall be in order, before the final vote is taken thereon,
to debate the proposition to be voted upon for forty minutes, one-half
of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and one-half to debate
in opposition to, such proposition; and the same right of debate shall
be allowed whenever the previous question has been ordered on any
proposition on which there has been no debate.

Formerly clause 3, this provision was amended and redesignated in the
102d Congress to conform to the repeal of the former clause 2, relating
to the requirement of a second (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----).
Before the adoption of this clause in 1880 (V, 6821) the motion to
suspend the rules was not debatable (V, 5405, 6820). The 40 minutes of
debate is divided between the mover and a Member opposed to the bill,
unless it develops that the mover is opposed to the bill, in which event
some Member in favor is recognized for debate (VIII, 3416). Where
recognition for the 20 minutes in opposition is contested, the Speaker
will accord priority first on the basis of true opposition, then on the
basis of committee membership, and only then on the basis of party
affiliation, the latter preference inuring to the minority party (VIII,
3415; Nov. 18, 1991, p. ----). When the mover and the opponent divide
their time with others, the practice as to alternation of recognitions
is not insisted on so rigidly as in other debate (II, 1442). Debate
should be confined to the object of the motion and may not range to the
merits of a bill not scheduled for suspension on that day (Nov. 23,
1991, p. ----).

[[Page 714]]
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), and amended further in the 96th
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16). The paragraph was deleted
entirely in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113) when
all of the Speaker's postponing authorities were consolidated into
clause 5 of rule I.
This clause formerly included a paragraph (b) dealing with the
Speaker's authority to postpone further proceedings on motions to
suspend the rules and pass bills or resolutions. Paragraph (b) was added
in the 93d Congress (H. Res. 998, Apr. 9, 1974, pp. 10195-99), amended
in the 95th Congress

Sec. 907a. The forty minutes of debate on other
propositions.

The last provision of this clause allows 40 minutes of debate
when the previous question is ordered on a proposition on which there
has been no debate (V, 6821; Mar. 22, 1990, p. ----). However, any
previous debate on the merits of the main proposition precludes the 40
minutes (V, 5499-5502). The demand for 40 minutes of debate: must come
before the vote is taken on the main question (V, 5496); is not
available when the question on which the previous question is ordered is
otherwise nondebatable, such as the motion to close debate (VIII, 2555,
2690); is not available on an undebated amendment where the motion for
the previous question covers both the amendment and the original
proposition, which has been debated (V, 5504); and is not available on
incidental motions (V, 5497-5498), on propositions previously debated in
Committee of the Whole (V, 5505), on conference reports accompanying
measures that were debated before being sent to conference (V, 5506-
5507), or on ancillary measures, such as a concurrent resolution to
correct an enrolled bill (V, 5508). Debate allowed under this provision
is equally divided and controlled between the person demanding the time
and a Member representing the opposition (Sept. 13, 1965, pp. 23602-06;
May 8, 1985, p. 11073). Priority in recognition for time in opposition
is accorded to a Member truly opposed (VIII, 2689).

[[Page 715]]
resolution which has remained in a standing committee thirty or more
days without action: Provided, That said resolution from which it is
moved to discharge the Committee on Rules has been referred to that
committee at least seven days prior to the filing of the motion to
discharge. The motion shall be placed in the custody of the Clerk, who
shall arrange some convenient place for the signature of Members. A
signature may be withdrawn by a Member in writing at any time before the
motion is entered on the Journal. Once a motion to discharge has been
filed, the Clerk shall make the signatures a matter of public record. -
The Clerk shall cause the names of the Members who have signed a
discharge motion during any week to be published in a portion of the
Congressional Record designated for that purpose on the last legislative
day of that week. The Clerk shall make available each day for public
inspection in an appropriate office of the House cumulative lists of
such names. The Clerk shall devise a means by which to make such lists
available to offices of the House and to the public in electronic form.
When a majority of the total membership of the House shall have signed
the motion, it shall be entered on the Journal, printed with the
signatures thereto in the Congressional Record, and referred to the
Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees.

Sec. 908. Motion to discharge a committee.

3. A Member may
present to the Clerk a motion in writing to discharge a committee from
the consideration of a public bill or resolution which has been referred
to it thirty days prior thereto (but only one motion may be presented
for each bill or resolution). Under this rule it shall also be in order
for a Member to file a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules from
further consideration of any resolution providing either a special order
of business, or a special rule for the consideration of any public bill
or resolution favorably reported by a standing committee, or a special
rule for the consideration of a public bill or

[[Page 716]]
of the Journal, any Member who has signed a motion to discharge which
has been on the calendar at least seven days prior thereto, and seeks
recognition, shall be recognized for the purpose of calling up the
motion, and the House shall proceed to its consideration in the manner
herein provided without intervening motion except one motion to adjourn.
Recognition for the motions shall be in the order in which they have
been entered on the Journal.
On the second and fourth Mondays of each month except during the last
six days of any session of Congress, immediately after the approval

[[Page 717]]
and if unfinished before adjournment of the day on which it is called
up it shall remain the unfinished business until it is fully disposed
of. Should the House by vote decide against the immediate consideration
of such bill or resolution, it shall be referred to its proper calendar
and be entitled to the same rights and privileges that it would have had
had the committee to which it was referred duly reported same to the
House for its consideration: Provided, That when any perfected motion to
discharge a committee from the consideration of any public bill or
resolution has once been acted upon by the House it shall not be in
order to entertain during the same session of Congress any other motion
for the discharge from that committee of said measure, or from any other
committee of any other bill or resolution substantially the same,
relating in substance to or dealing with the same subject matter, or
from the Committee on Rules of a resolution providing a special order of
business for the consideration of any other such bill or resolution, in
order that such action by the House on a motion to discharge shall be
res adjudicata for the remainder of that session: Provided further, That
if before any one motion to discharge a committee has been acted upon by
the House there are on the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees
other motions to discharge committees from the consideration of bills or
resolutions substantially the same, relating in substance to or dealing
with the same subject matter, after the House shall have acted on one mo

[[Page 718]]
tion to discharge, the remaining said motions shall be stricken from
the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees and not acted on during
the remainder of that session of Congress.

When any motion under this rule shall be called up, the bill or
resolution shall be read by title only. After twenty minutes' debate,
one-half in favor of the proposition and one-half in opposition thereto,
the House shall proceed to vote on the motion to discharge. If the
motion prevails to discharge the Committee on Rules from any resolution
pending before the committee, the House shall immediately consider such
resolution, the Speaker not entertaining any dilatory motion except one
motion to adjourn, and, if such resolution is adopted, the House shall
immediately proceed to its execution. If the motion prevails to
discharge one of the standing committees of the House from any public
bill or resolution pending before the committee, it shall then be in
order for any Member who signed the motion to move that the House
proceed to the immediate consideration of such bill or resolution (such
motion not being debatable), and such motion is hereby made of high
privilege; and if it shall be decided in the affirmative, the bill shall
be immediately considered under the general rules of the House,

This clause was adopted December 8, 1931 and amended January 3, 1935
(VII, 1007). It displaced a rule providing for a motion to instruct a
committee to report a public bill or resolution. The first discharge
rule was adopted June 17, 1910, pp. 8439, 8445. It was amended during
the 62d Congress (Apr. 4-5, 1911, pp. 18, 80). It was further amended in
the 62d Congress (H. Res. 407, Feb. 3, 1912, p. 1685), the 68th Congress
(H. Res. 146, Jan. 18, 1924, p. 1143), and the 69th Congress, (H. Res.
6, Dec. 7, 1925, p. 383). Formerly clause 4, this provision was
redesignated in the 102d Congress to conform to the repeal of the former
clause 2, relating to the requirement of a second; it was at the same
time amended to enable debate on a resolution discharged from the
Committee on Rules (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). Under the
previous form of the rule, where the Committee on Rules was discharged
from further consideration of a resolution the House immediately voted
on adoption of the resolution (Speaker Rayburn, Jan. 24, 1944, pp. 631-
32).

In the 103d Congress, after a successful petition under this clause
placed on the calendar a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules from
further consideration of a resolution to require publication of the
names of Members who had signed pending discharge petitions, the clause
was so amended (H. Res. 134, Sept. 28, 1993, p. ----). In the 104th
Congress the clause was once again amended to ensure the periodic
publication of such names (sec. 219, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
Before the 103d Congress signatures on a motion to discharge a committee
were not made public until the requisite number had signed the motion
(VII, 1008; Apr. 12, 1934, p. 6489).

The phrase ``a majority of the total membership of the House'' was
construed to mean 218 Members (Speaker Byrns, Apr. 15, 1936, p. 5509).
The word ``days'' has been construed to mean ``legislative days''
(Speaker Bankhead, Dec. 10, 1937, p. 1300). The rule does not authorize
signature of discharge motions by proxy (VII, 1014).

The rule does not apply to a bill that has been reported by a
committee during the interval between the placing of a motion to
discharge on the calendar and the day when such motion is called up for
action in the House (Apr. 23, 1934, p. 7156). The Committee on Rules may
not be discharged from further consideration of a resolution providing
for an investigating committee (Apr. 23, 1934, p. 7161).

[[Page 719]]
Jan. 16, 1950, p. 436). The seven days that the motion must be on the
calendar before it may be called up begins to run as of the day the
motion is placed on the calendar (Dec. 14, 1937, p. 1517). A discharge
petition in the 102d Congress received the requisite number of
signatures on the same day it was filed (May 20, 1992, p. ----), and
subsequently by unanimous consent the House dispensed with the motion to
discharge and agreed to consider the object of the petition (a special
order of business resolution) on a date certain under the same terms as
if discharged by motion (June 4, 1992, p. ----). In the 103d Congress a
discharge petition also received the requisite number of signatures on
the same day it was filed (Feb. 24, 1994, p. ----).
The death or resignation of a Member who has signed a motion does not
invalidate his signature (May 31, 1934, p. 10159). It may be withdrawn
by his successor (Dec. 7, 1943, p. 10388; Jan. 17, 1946, p. 96; Mar. 5,
1946, p. 1968; July 30, 1946, pp. 10464, 10491; Mar. 2, 1948, pp. 1993,
2001;

The right to close twenty minute debate on a motion to discharge a
Committee is reserved to the proponents of the motion (VII, 1010a); and
the chairman of the committee being discharged, if opposed to the
motion, has been recognized to control the ten minutes in opposition
(Aug. 10, 1970, p. 27999).

Where a measure not requiring consideration in the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union is brought before the House by a
successful motion to discharge, the Member moving its consideration is
recognized in the House under the hour rule (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 28004).

The point of order provided in clause 5(a) of rule XXI does not apply
to an appropriation in a bill taken away from a committee by the motion
to discharge (VII, 1019a).