[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
[105th Congress]
[House Document 104-272]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 317-877]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 317]]
RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WITH NOTES AND ANNOTATIONS
__________
Rule I.
duties of the speaker.
| Sec. 621. Journal; Speaker's approval. | 1. The Speaker shall take the Chair on every legislative day precisely at the hour to which the House shall have adjourned at the last sitting and immediately call the Members to order. The Speaker, having examined the Journal of the proceedings of the last day's sitting and approved the same, shall announce to the House his approval of the Journal, and the Speaker's approval of the Journal shall be deemed to be agreed to subject to a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval on the demand of any Member, which vote, if decided in the affirmative, shall not be subject to a motion to reconsider. It shall be in order to offer one motion that the Journal be read only if the Speaker's approval of the Journal is not agreed to, and such motion shall be determined without debate and shall not be subject to a motion to reconsider. |
| Sec. 623. Speaker's control of the Hall, corridors, and rooms. | 3. He shall have general control, except as provided by rule or law, of the Hall of the House, and of the corridors and passages and the disposal of the unappropriated rooms in that part of the Capitol assigned to the use of the House, until further order. |
| Sec. 624. Speaker's signature to acts, warrants, subpoenas, etc.; and decision of questions of order subject to appeal. | 4. He shall sign all acts, addresses, joint resolutions, writs, warrants, and subpoenas of, or issued by order of, the House, and decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal by any Member, on which appeal no Member shall speak more than once, unless by permission of the House. The Speaker is authorized to sign enrolled bills whether or not the House is in session. |
| Sec. 625. Signing of enrolled bills. | Enrolled bills are signed first by the Speaker (IV, 3429). He has declined to sign in the absence of a quorum (IV, 3458), or pending a motion to reconsider (V, 5705); and the report of a committee as to the accuracy of the enrollment |
| Sec. 626. Signing of warrants, subpoenas, etc. | Warrants, subpoenas, etc., during recesses of Congress are signed only by authority specially given (III, 1753, 1763, 1806). The issuing of warrants must be specially authorized by the House (I, 287) or pursuant to a standing rule (clause 4 of rule XV; Sec. 774a, infra). Instance wherein the House authorized the Speaker to warrant for the arrest of absentees (VI, 638). The Speaker also signs the articles, replications, etc., in impeachments (III, 2370, 2455); and certifies cases of contumacious witnesses for action by the courts (III, 1691, 1769; VI, 385; 2 U.S.C. 194). A subpoena validly issued by a committee authorized by the House under clause 2(m) of rule XI to issue subpoenas need only be signed by the chairman of that committee, whereas when the House issues an order or warrant, the Speaker must issue the summons under his hand and seal, and it must be attested by the Clerk (III, 1668; see H. Rept. 96-1078, p. 22). |
| Sec. 627. Practice governing the Speaker in deciding points of order. | The Speaker may require that a question of order be presented in writing (V, 6865). When enough of a proposition has been read to show that it is out of order, the question of order may be raised without waiting for the reading to be completed (V, 6886-7; VIII, 2912, 3378, 3437), though the Chair may decline to rule until the entire proposition has been read (Dec. 14, 1973, pp. 41716-18). Questions arising during a division are decided peremptorily (V, 5926), and when they arise out of any other question must be decided before that question (V, 6864). In rare instances the Speaker has declined to rule until he has taken time for examination of the question (III, 2725; VI, 432; VII, 2106; VIII, 2174, 2396, 3475). |
| Sec. 628. Practice, governing appeals. | The right of appeal insures the House against the arbitrary control of the Speaker and can not be taken away from the House (V, 6002). While a decision of the Chair on a point of order is subject to appeal on demand of any Member, a Member cannot secure a recorded vote on a point of order absent an appeal and the Chair's putting the question thereon (June 20, 1996, p. ----). |
| Sec. 629. Putting of the question by the Speaker. | 5. (a) He shall rise to put a question, but may state it sitting; and shall put questions in this form, to wit: ``As many as are in favor (as the question may be), say `Aye'.''; and after the affirmative voice is expressed, ``As many as are opposed, say `No'.''; if he doubts, or a division is called for, the House shall divide; those in the affirmative of the ques- |
| Sec. 630b. Former ordering of tellers and taking of the vote. | Under the precedents recorded before the abolition of tellers, it was the duty of the Member to serve as teller when appointed by the Chair (V, 5987); but when Members of one side had declined, the second teller was appointed from the other side (V, 5988) or the position was left vacant (V, 5989). A Delegate could have been appointed teller (II, 1302). Where there was doubt as to the count by tellers, the Chair could have ordered the vote taken again (V, 5991; July 19, 1946, p. 9466), but this must have been done before the result was announced (V, 5993-5995; VIII, 3098). The Chair could have counted without passing between the tellers (V, 5996, 5997; VIII, 3100, 3101). |
| Sec. 631. Postponing rollcall votes on passage. | (b)(1) On any legislative day whenever a recorded vote is ordered or the yeas and nays are ordered, or a vote is objected to under clause 4 of rule XV on any of the following questions, the Speaker may, in his discretion, postpone further proceedings on each such question to a designated time or place in the legislative schedule on that legislative day in the case of the question of agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal, or within two legislative days, in the case of the other questions listed herein: |
| Sec. 632. The Speaker's vote. Tie vote. | 6. He shall not be required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings, except where his vote would be decisive, or where the House is engaged in voting by ballot; and in cases of a tie vote the question shall be lost. |
| Sec. 633. Speaker pro tempore. | 7. (a) He shall have the right to name any Member to perform the duties of the Chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond three legislative days, except that with the permission of the House he may name a Member to act as Speaker pro tempore only to sign enrolled bills and joint resolu- |
| Sec. 633a. Fourterm limit. | (b) No person may serve as Speaker for more than four consecutive Congresses, beginning with the One Hundred Fourth Congress (disregarding for this purpose any service for less than a full session in any Congress). |
| Sec. 634a. Election, oath, and designation of Speaker pro tempore. | The right of the House to elect a Speaker pro tempore in the absence of the Speaker was exercised before the rule was adopted (II, 1405), although the House sometimes preferred to adjourn (I, 179). An elected Speaker pro tempore in the earlier practice was not sworn (I, 229; II, 1386); but the Senate and sometimes the President were notified of his election (II, 1386-1389, 1405-1412; VI, 275). On August 31, 1961, p. 17765, the House adopted House Resolution 445, electing Hon. John W. McCormack as Speaker pro tempore in the absence and terminal illness of Speaker Rayburn. The resolution provided that the Clerk notify the President and the Senate. The Chairman of the Democratic Caucus then administered the oath. Elected Speakers pro tempore have signed enrolled bills, appointed committees, etc., functions not exercised by a Speaker pro tempore by designation (II, 1399, 1400, 1404; VI, 274, 277, Sept. 21, 1961, p. 20572; June 21, 1984, p. 17708), but the clause was amended in the 99th Congress (H. Res. 7, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 393) to authorize the Speaker, with House approval, to designate a Speaker pro tempore to sign enrolled bills. |
| Sec. 634b. Travel authority. | 8. He shall have the authority to designate any Member, officer or employee of the House of Representatives to travel on the business of the House of Representatives, as determined by him, within or without the United States, whether the House is meeting, has recessed or has adjourned, and all expenses for such travel may be paid for from the applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(h)(1) of rule X on vouchers solely approved and signed by the Speaker. However, expenses may not be paid from the applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(h)(1) of rule X for travel of a Member after the date of the general election of Members in which the Member has not been elected to the succeeding Congress, or in the case of a Member who is not a candidate in such general election, the earlier of the date of such general election or the adjournment sine die of the last regular session of the Congress. |
| Sec. 634c. Broadcasting of House proceedings. | 9. (a) He shall devise and implement a system subject to his direction and control for closed circuit viewing of floor proceedings of the House of Representatives in the offices of all Members and committees and in such other places in the Capitol and the House Office Buildings as he deems appropriate. Such system may include other telecommunications functions as he deems appropriate. Any such telecommunications function shall be subject to rules and regulations issued by the Speaker. |
| Sec. 634d. Office of the Historian. | 10. There is established in the House of Representatives an office to be known as the Office of the Historian of the House of Representatives. |
| Sec. 634e. Office of General Counsel. | 11. There is established in the House of Representatives an office to be known as the Office of General Counsel for the purpose of providing legal assistance and representation to the House. Legal assistance and representation shall be provided without regard to political affiliation. The Office of General Counsel shall function pursuant to the direction of the Speaker, who shall consult with a Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which shall include the majority and minority leaderships. The Speaker shall appoint and set the annual rate of pay for employees of the Office of General Counsel. |
| Sec. 634f. Authority to declare recesses. | 12. To suspend the business of the House for a short time when no question is pending before the House, the Speaker may declare a recess subject to the call of the Chair. |
| Sec. 634g. Drug testing in the House. | 13. The Speaker, in consultation with the Minority Leader, shall develop through an appropriate entity of the House a system for drug testing in the House of Representatives. The system may provide for the testing of any Member, officer, or |
| Sec. 635. Election, oath, and removal of officers. | There shall be elected by a viva voce vote, at the commencement of each Congress, to continue in office until their successors are chosen and qualified, a Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chaplain, each of whom shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and for the true and faithful discharge of the duties of his office to the best of his knowledge and ability, and to keep the secrets of the House; and each shall appoint all of the employees of his department provided for by law. The Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Chief Administrative Officer may be removed by the House or by the Speaker. |
| Sec. 637. Clerk's duties at organization. | 1. The Clerk shall, at the commencement of the first session of each Congress, call the Members to order, proceed to call the roll of Members by States in alphabetical order, and, pending the election of a Speaker or Speaker pro tempore, preserve order and decorum, and decide all questions of order subject to appeal by any Member. |
| Sec. 638. The roll of Memberselect. | The roll of Members is made up by the Clerk from the credentials, in accordance with a provision of law (I, 14-62; VI, 2; 2 U.S.C. 26). A certificate of election in due form having been filed, the Clerk placed the name of the Member-elect on the roll, although he was subsequently advised that a State Supreme Court had issued a writ restraining the Secretary of State from issuing such certificate (Jan. 3, 1949, p. 8). The call of the roll may not be interrupted, especially by one not on that roll (I, 84), and a person not on the roll may not be recognized (I, 86). A motion to proceed to the election of Speaker is of higher privilege than a motion to correct the roll (I, 19-24). The House has declined to permit enrollment by the Clerk to be final as to prima facie right (I, 376, 589, 592). |
| Sec. 639. Clerk as presiding officer at organizations. | In early years the authority of the Clerk to decide questions of order pending the election of a Speaker was questioned (I, 65), and the Clerks often declined to make decisions (I, 68-72; V, 5325), although in 1855 occur exceptions to this theory (I, 91). But in 1860 the provisions of the present rule were adopted (I, 64), with a further rule that the rules of one House should apply in the organization of its successor (V, 6743-6747); and under this arrangement the Clerks have made rulings (I, 76, 77; VI, 623). In 1890 the theory that the rules of one House may be made binding on its successor was overthrown (V, 6747). In a case of vacancy arising after the adoption of rules, this rule would be operative and conclude questions as to the Clerk's authority. The Clerk having died, and in the absence of the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Doorkeeper of the 79th Congress presided at organization of the 80th Congress (Jan. 3, 1947, p. 33). |
| Sec. 640. Clerk furnishes a list of reports. | 2. He shall make and cause to be printed and delivered to each Member, or mailed to his address, at the commencement of every regular session of Congress, a list of the reports which it is the duty of any officer or Department to make to Congress, referring to the act or resolution and page of the volume of the laws or Journal in which it may be contained, and placing under the name of each officer the list of reports required of him to be made. |
| Sec. 641. Clerk's duty as to Journal and documents. | 3. He shall note all questions of order, with the decisions thereon, the record of which shall be printed as an appendix to the Journal of each session; and complete, as soon after the close of the session as possible, the printing and distribution to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico of the Journal of the House, together with an accurate and complete |
| Sec. 647a. Official to act as Clerk upon designation. | 4. He shall, in case of temporary absence or disability, designate an official in his office to sign all papers that may require the official signature of the Clerk of the House, and to do all other acts, except such as are provided for by statute, that may be required under the rules and practices of the House to be done by the Clerk. Such official acts, when so done by the designated official, shall be under the name of the Clerk of the House. The said designation shall be in writing, and shall be laid before the House and entered on the Journal. |
| Sec. 647c. Administration of vacant Member's office. | 6. He shall supervise the staff and manage any office of a Member who is deceased, has resigned, or been expelled until a successor is elected and shall perform similar duties in the event that a vacancy is declared by the House in any congressional district because of the incapacity of the Member representing such district or other reason. Whenever the Clerk is acting as a supervisory authority over such staff, he shall have authority to terminate employees; and he may appoint, with the approval of the Committee on House Oversight, such staff as is required to operate the office until a successor is elected. He shall maintain on the House payroll and supervise in the same manner staff appointed pursuant to section 800 of Public Law 91-665 (2 U.S.C. 31b-5) for sixty days following the death of a former Speaker. |
| Sec. 647e. Cooperation with others. | 8. The Clerk shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits of financial records and administrative operations. |
| Sec. 648. SergeantatArms enforces authority of House. | 1. It shall be the duty of the Sergeant-at-Arms to attend the House during its sittings, to maintain order under the direction of the Speaker or Chairman, and, pending the election of a Speaker or Speaker pro tempore, under the direction of the Clerk, execute the commands of the |
| Sec. 650a. Doorkeeping. | 3. He shall enforce strictly the rules relating to the privileges of the Hall and be responsible to the House for the official conduct of his employees. |
| Sec. 650b. Semiannual reports. | 5. In addition to any other reports required by the Speaker or the Committee on House Oversight, the Sergeant-at-Arms shall report to the Committee on House Oversight not later than forty-five days following the close of each semiannual period ending June 30 or on December 31 on the financial and operational status of each function under the jurisdiction of the Sergeant-at-Arms. Each report shall include financial statements, a description or explanation of current operations, the implementation of new policies and procedures, and future plans for each function. |
| Sec. 650c. Cooperation with others. | 6. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits of financial records and administrative operations. |
| Sec. 651a. Duties. | 1. The Chief Administrative Officer of the House shall have operational and financial responsibility for functions as assigned by the Committee on House Oversight, and shall be subject to the policy direction and oversight of the Committee on House Oversight.- |
| Sec. 651b. Semiannual reports. | 2. In addition to any other reports required by the Committee on House Oversight, the Chief shall report to the Com- |
| Sec. 651c. Cooperation with others. | 3. The Chief shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits of financial records and administrative operations. |
| Sec. 651d. Former Office of Doorkeeper. | Before the 104th Congress (sec. 201(c), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----), rule V enumerated the duties of the Doorkeeper, who enforced the rules relating to the privileges of the Hall of the House. The earlier form of the rule was adopted in 1838 and amended in 1869, 1880 (I, 260), and 1890 (V, 7295). By law the Doorkeeper was assigned certain administrative duties (I, 262), including certain housekeeping functions. Through his employees and appointees, the Doorkeeper also discharged various duties not enumerated in the law or in the rules, such as announcing at the door of the Hall of the House all messengers from the President and the Senate (V, 6591). The Clerk having died, and the Sergeant-at-Arms having been absent, the Doorkeeper of the 79th Congress presided at the organization of the 80th Congress (Jan. 3, 1947, p. 33). In the 78th Congress, the House adopted a resolution on the death of the Doorkeeper and appointed a committee to attend his funeral (Jan. 28, 1943, pp. 421- 22). |
| Sec. 651e. Former Director of Nonlegislative and Financial Services. | The Chief Administrative Officer supplanted the Director of Non-legislative and Financial Services formerly provided for under clause 1 of rule VI in the 103d Congress, which corresponded to an erstwhile rule LII of the 102d Congress (see Sec. 654, infra). Certain functions and entities formerly within the purview of elected officers were transferred to the Director of Non-legislative and Financial Services pursuant to section 7 of the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, Apr. 9, 1992, p. ----). Section 7(b) of that resolution vested the Committee on House Administration (now House Oversight) with authority to prescribe regulations providing for the orderly transfer of such functions and entities and any other transfers necessary for the improvement of non-legislative and financial services in the House, so long as not transferring a function or entity within the jurisdiction of the Committee under rule X. Section 13 of the resolution provided that previous responsibility for a function or entity would remain fixed until such function or entity were transferred. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule VI of the 103d Congress (then still designated as rule LII of the 102d Congress), the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader jointly appointed the first Director of Non-legislative and Financial Services of the House on October 23, 1992 (Oct. 29, 1992, p. ----). |
| Sec. 654. Inspector General. | 1. There is established an Office of Inspector General. |
| Sec. 654a. Former Office of the Postmaster. | Until the 102d Congress, rule VI provided for an Office of the Postmaster, who superintended the post offices of the House and the delivery of its mail. The earlier form of the rule was adopted in 1838 and amended in 1880 (I, 270), 1911 (VI, 34), 1971 (H. Res. 5, 92d Cong., p. 144), and 1972 (H. Res. 1153, 92d Cong., pp. 36013-15). The Office of the Postmaster was abolished during the 102d Congress by sections 2 and 5 of the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, Apr. 9, 1992, p. ----). |
| Sec. 655. Duties of the Chaplain. | The Chaplain shall attend at the commencement of each day's sitting of the House and open the same with prayer. |
| Sec. 656. Members required to be present and vote. |
1. Every
Member shall be present within the Hall of the House during its
sittings, unless excused or necessarily prevented; and shall vote on
each question put, unless he has a direct < |
| Sec. 658. Member's control of his own vote. | It has been found impracticable to enforce the provision requiring every Member to vote (V, 5942-5948), and such question, even if entertained, may not interrupt a pending rollcall vote (V, 5947). The weight of authority also favors the idea that there is no authority in the House to deprive |
| Sec. 659. Nature of disqualifying personal interest. | It is a principle of ``immemorial observance'' that a Member should withdraw when a question concerning himself arises (V, 5949); but it has been held that the disqualifying interest must be such as affects the Member directly (V, 5954, 5955, 5963), and not as one of a class (V, 5952; VIII, 3071, 3072; Speaker Bankhead, May 31, 1939, pp. 6359-60; Speaker Albert, Dec. 2, 1975, p. 38135). In a case where question affected the titles of several Members to their seats, each refrained from voting in his own case, but did vote on the identical cases of his associates (V, 5957, 5958). And while a Member should not vote on the direct questions affecting himself, he has sometimes voted on incidental questions (V, 5960, 5961). |
| Sec. 660a. Pairs. | 2. Pairs shall be announced by the Clerk immediately before the announcement by the Chair of the result of the vote, by the House or Committee of the Whole from a written list furnished him, and signed by the Member making the statement to the Clerk, which list shall be published in the Record as a part of the proceedings, immediately following the names of those not voting. However, pairs shall be announced but once during the same legislative day. |
| Sec. 660b. Voting. | 3. (a) A Member may not authorize any other individual to cast his vote or record his presence in the House or Committee of the Whole. |
| Sec. 661. Definition of questions of privilege. | 1. Questions of privilege shall be, first, those affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings; and second, those affecting the rights, reputation, and conduct of Members, individually, in their representative capacity only. |
| Sec. 661a. Precedence of questions of privilege. | 2. (a)(1) A resolution reported as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered from the floor by the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered as privileged under article I, section 7, clause 1 of the Constitution, shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn. A resolution offered from the floor by a Member other than the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a question of the privileges of the House shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn only at a time or place, designated by the Speaker, in the legislative schedule within two legislative days after the day on which the proponent announces to the House his intention to offer the resolution and the form of the resolution. |
| Sec. 662. Questions of privileges of the House. | The body of precedent relating to questions of privilege includes rulings that span the adoption of standing rule IX in 1880. |
| Sec. 662a. Questions relating to organization. | The privileges of the House also include questions relating to its organization (I, 22-24, 189, 212, 290), and the title of its Members to their seats (III, 2579-2587), which may be raised as questions of the privileges of the House even though the subject has been previously referred to committee (I, 742; III, 2584; VIII, 2307), such as resolutions to declare prima facie right to a seat, or to declare a vacancy, where the House has referred the questions of prima facie and final rights to an elections committee for investigation (H. Res. 1, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 381; H. Res. 52, Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2220; H. Res. 97, Mar. 4, 1985, p. 4277; H. Res. 121, Apr. 2, 1985, p. 7118; H. Res. 148, Apr. 30, 1985, p. 9801); various questions incidental to the right to a seat (I, 322, 328, 673, 742; II, 1207; III, 2588; VII, 2316), such as a resolution declaring a vacancy in the House because a Member-elect is unable to take the oath of office and to serve as a Member or to expressly resign the office due to an incapacitating illness (H. Res. 80, Feb. 24, 1981, p. 2916); a resolution declaring neither of two claimants seated pending a committee report and decision of final right to the seat by the House (Jan. 3, 1961, pp. 23-25; Jan. 3, 1985, p. 381), including incidental provisions providing compensation for both claimants and office staffing by the Clerk (Jan. 3, 1985, p. 381), and resolutions directing temporary seating of a certified Member-elect pending determination of final right notwithstanding prior House action declining to seat either claimant (Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2220; Mar. 4, 1985, p. 4277). A resolution electing a House officer is presented as a question of privilege (July 31, 1997, p. ----). A |
| Sec. 662b. Questions relating to constitutional prerogatives. | The privileges of the House, as distinguished from that of the individual Member, include questions relating to its constitutional prerogatives in respect to revenue legislation and appropriations (see, e.g., II, 1480-1501; VI, 315; Nov. 8, 1979, pp. 31517-18; Oct. 1, 1985, p. 25418; June 16, 1988, p. 14780; June 21, 1988, p. 15425; Aug. 12, 1994, p. ----). For a more thorough record of revenue bills returned to the Senate, see Sec. 102, supra. Such a question of privilege may be raised at any time when the House is in possession of the papers (June 20, 1968, Deschler's Precedents, vol. 3, ch. 13, sec. 14.2; Aug. 19, 1982, p. 22127), but not otherwise (Apr. 6, 1995, p. ----). The constitutional prerogatives of the House also include its function with respect to treaties (II, 1502-1537); impeachments and matters incidental thereto (see Sec. 604, supra); bills ``pocket vetoed'' during an intersession adjournment (Nov. 21, 1989, p. 31156); its power to punish for contempt, whether of its own Members (II, 1641-1665), of witnesses who are summoned to give information (II, 1608, 1612; III, 1666-1724), or of other persons (II, 1597-1640); and questions relating to legal challenges involving the prerogatives of the House (Jan. 29, 1981, p. 1304; Mar. 30, 1982, p. 5890), including a resolution responding to a court challenge to the prerogative of the House to establish a Chaplain (Mar. 30, 1982, p. 5890). For a discussion of the relationship of the House and its Members to the courts, see Sec. Sec. 290-291b, supra. |
| Sec. 662c. Questions relating to official conduct. | The privileges of the House include certain questions relating to the conduct of Members, officers, and employees (see, e.g., I, 284, 285; III, 2628, 2645-2647). Under that standard, the following resolutions have been held to constitute questions of the privileges of the House: (1) a resolution directing the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate illegal solicitation of political contributions in the House Office Building by unnamed sitting Members (July 10, 1985, p. 18397); (2) a resolution establishing an ad hoc committee to investigate allegations of ``ghost'' employment in the House (Apr. 9, 1992, p. ----); (3) a resolution to further investigate the conduct of a Member on which it has reported to the House (Aug. 5, 1987, p. 22458); (4) a resolution directing the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to report to the House the status of an investigation pending before the committee (Nov. 17, 1995, p. ----; Nov. 30, 1995, p. ----); (5) a resolution appointing an outside counsel (Sept. 19, 1996, p. ----; Sept. 24, 1996, p. ----); (6) a resolution to commit other matters to an outside counsel already appointed by the committee (June 27, 1996, p. -- --); (7) a resolution directing the committee to release the report of an outside counsel (Sept. 19, 1996, p. ----; Sept. 24, 1996, p. ----); (8) a resolution making allegations concerning the propriety of responses by officers of the House to court subpoenas for papers of the House without notice to the House, and directions to a committee to investigate such allegations (Feb. 13, 1980, pp. 2768-69); (9) a resolution making allegations of improper representation by counsel of the legal position of Members in a brief filed in the Court and directions for withdrawal of the brief (Mar. 22, 1990, p. 4996); (10) a resolution making allegations of unauthorized actions by a committee employee to intervene in judicial proceedings (Feb. 5, 1992, p. ----); (11) a resolution directing the Clerk to notify interested parties that the House regretted the use of official resources to present to the Supreme Court of Florida a legal brief arguing the unconstitutionality of Congressional term limits, and that the House had no position on that question (Nov. 4, 1991, p. 29968); and (12) a resolution alleging a chronology of litigation relating to the immunity of a Member from civil liability for bona fide official acts and expressing the views of the House thereon (May 12, 1988, p. 10574). For a discussion of disciplinary resolutions meting out punishment for violations of standards of official conduct, which constitute questions of the privileges of the House, see Sec. Sec. 62-66, supra. |
| Sec. 662d. Questions relating to integrity of proceedings. | The privileges of the House include questions relating to the integrity of its proceedings, including the processes by which bills are considered (III, 2597-2601, 2614; IV, 3383, 3388, 3478), such as the constitutional question of the vote required to pass a joint resolution extending the State ratification period of a proposed Constitutional Amendment (Speaker O'Neill, Aug. 15, 1978, pp. 26203-04). Privileges of the House also include: (1) resignation of a Member from a select or standing committee (Speaker Albert, June 16, 1975, p. 19054; Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 8, 1977, pp. 6579-82); (2) newspaper charges affecting the honor and dignity of the House (VII, 911); and (3) the conduct of representatives of the press (II, 1630, 1631; III, 2627; VI, 553). |
| Sec. 662e. Questions relating to comfort and convenience. | The privileges of the House include questions relating to the comfort and convenience of Members and employees (III, 2629-2636), such as resolutions concerning the proper attire for Members in the Chamber when the temperature is uncomfortably warm (July 17, 1979, p. 19008); as well as questions relating to safety, such as resolutions requiring an investigation into the safety of Members in view of alleged structural deficiencies in the West Front of the Capitol (July 25, 1980, pp. 19762- 64); and directing the appointment of a select committee to inquire into alleged fire safety deficiencies in the environs of the House (May 10, 1988, p. 10286). |
| Sec. 662f. May not effect change in rules. | A motion to amend the rules of the House does not present a question of privilege [Speaker Cannon sustained by the House by a vote of 235 to 53, thereby overruling the decision of March 19, 1910 (VIII, 3376), which held such motion privileged (VIII, 3377)], and a question of the privileges of the House may not be invoked to effect a change in the rules or standing orders of the House or their interpretation (Speaker O'Neill, Dec. 6, 1977, pp. 38470-73; Sept. 9, 1988, p. 23298; July 30, 1992, p. ----; Jan. 31, 1996, p. ----), including directions to the Speaker infringing upon his discretionary power of recognition under clause 2 of rule XIV (July 25, 1980, pp. 19762-64), for example, by requiring that he give priority in recognition to any Member seeking to call up a matter highly privileged pursuant to a statutory provision, over a member from the Committee on Rules seeking to call up a privileged report from that committee (Speaker Wright, Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403), or by requiring that he state the question on overriding a veto before recognizing for a motion to refer (thereby overruling prior decisions of the Chair to change the order of precedence of motions) (Speaker Wright, Aug. 3, 1988, p. 20281). Similarly, a resolution alleging that, in light of an internationally objectionable French program of nuclear test detonations, for the House to receive the President of France in a Joint Meeting would be injurious to its dignity and to the integrity of its proceedings, and resolving that the Speaker withdraw the pending invitation and re- |
| Sec. 662g. As distinct from privileged questions. | The clause of the rule giving questions of privilege precedence of all other questions except a motion to adjourn is a recognition of a principle always well understood in the House, for it is an axiom of the parliamentary law that such a question ``supersedes the consideration of the original question, and must be first disposed of'' (III, 2522, 2523; VI, 595). As the business of the House began to increase it was found necessary to give certain important matters a precedence by rule, and such matters are called ``privileged questions.'' But as they relate merely to the order of business under the rules, they are to be distinguished from ``questions of privilege'' which relate to the safety or efficiency of the House itself as an organ for action (III, 2718). It is evident, therefore, that a question of privilege takes precedence over a matter merely privileged under the rules (III, 2526-2530; V, 6454; VIII, 3465). Certain matters of business, arising under provisions of the Constitution mandatory in nature, have been held to have a privilege which superseded the rules establishing the order of business, as bills providing for census or apportionment (I, 305-308), bills returned with the objections of the President (IV, 3530-3536), propositions of impeachment (III, 2045-2048, 2051, 2398; July 22, 1986, p. 17294), and questions incidental thereto (III, 2401, 2418; V, 7261; July 22, 1986, p. 17306; Dec. 2, 1987, p. 33720; Jan. 3, 1989, p. 84; Feb. 7, 1989, p. 1726), matters relating to the count of the electoral vote (III, 2573-2578), resolutions relating to adjournment and recess of Congress (V, 6698, 6701-6706), and a resolution declaring the office of Speaker vacant (VI, 35); but under later decisions certain of these matters which have no other basis in the Constitution or in the rules for privileged status, such as bills relating to census and apportionment, have been held not to present questions of privilege, and the effect of such decisions is to require all questions of privilege to come within the specific provisions of this rule (VI, 48; VII, 889; Apr. 8, 1926, p. 7147) (see Sec. 662b, supra). |
| Sec. 663. Questions of personal privilege. | The privilege of the Member rests primarily on the Constitution, which gives to him a conditional immunity from arrest (Sec. 90, supra) and an unconditional freedom of debate in the House (III, 2670, Sec. 92, supra). A menace to the personal safety of Members from an insecure ceiling in the Hall was held to involve a question of the highest privilege (III, 2685); and an assault on a Member within the Capitol when the House was not in session, from a cause not |
| Sec. 665. Precedence of privileges of the House. | The body of precedent relating to the precedence of questions of privilege spans both the adoption of standing rule IX in 1880 and its amendment to require notice in certain cases in 1993. |
| Sec. 665a. Precedence of questions of privileges of House. | A question of privilege which relates to a breach of privilege (an assault) occurring during the reading of the Journal may interrupt its reading (II, 1630). A question of privilege may interrupt the reading of the Journal (II, 1630; VI, 637), the consideration of a bill under a special order (III, 2524, 2525), a rule providing for a vote ``without intervening motion'' (VI, 560), a proposition to suspend the rules (III, 2553; VI, 553, 565), the consideration of certain matters on which the previous question has been ordered (III, 2532; VI, 561; VIII, 2688), business in order on Calendar Wednesday (VI, 394; VII, 908-910), reports from the Rules Committee before debate has begun (VIII, 3491; Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403), call of the Consent Calendar on Monday (VI, 553), before that Calendar was repealed in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. ----), and motions to resolve into Committee of the Whole (VI, 554; VIII, 3461). A question of the privileges of the House takes precedence over unfinished business, privileged under clauses 1 and 3 of rule XXIV (Speaker Albert, June 4, 1975, p. 16860). Since a resolution raising a question of the privileges of the House takes precedence over a motion to suspend the rules, it may be offered and voted on between motions to suspend the rules on which the Speaker has postponed record votes until after debate on all suspensions (May 17, 1983, p. 12486). While a question of privilege is pending, a message of the President is received (V, 6640-6642), but is read only by unanimous consent (V, 6639). A motion to reconsider may also be entered but may not be considered (V, 5673-5676). It has been held that only one question of privilege may be pending at a time (III, 2533), but having presented one question of privilege, a Member, before discussing it, may submit a second question of privilege related to the first and discuss both on one recognition (VI, 562). In general one question of privilege may not take precedence over another (III, 2534, 2552, 2581), and the Chair's power of recognition determines which of two matters of equal privilege is considered first (July 24, 1990, p. 18916). While a resolution raising a question of the privileges of the House has precedence over all other questions, it is nevertheless |
| Sec. 665b. Precedence of questions of personal privilege. | When a Member proposes merely to address the House on a question of personal privilege, and does not bring up a resolution affecting the dignity or integrity of the House for action, the practice as to precedence is somewhat different. Thus, a Member rising to a question of personal privilege may not interrupt a call of the yeas and nays (V, 6051, 6052, 6058, 6059; VI, 554, 564), or take from the floor another Member who has been recognized for debate (V, 5002; VIII, 2459, 2528; Sept. 29, 1983, p. 26508; July 23, 1987, p. 20861), but he may interrupt the ordinary legislative business (III, 2531). A Member may address the House on a question of personal privilege even after the previous question has been ordered on a pending bill (VI, 561; VIII, 2688). Under modern practice, a question of personal privilege may not be raised in Committee of the Whole (Sept. 4, 1969, p. 24372; Dec. 13, 1973, p. 41270), the proper remedy being that a demand that words uttered in the Committee of the Whole be taken down pursuant to clause 5 of rule XIV; yet a breach of privilege occurring in Committee of the Whole relates to the dignity of the House and is so treated (II, 1657). A question of personal privilege may not be raised while a question of the privileges of the House is pending (Apr. 30, 1985, p. 9808; May 1, 1985, p. 10003). |
| Sec. 665c. Questions of privilege in relation to quorum. | During a call of the House in the absence of a quorum, only such questions of privilege as relate immediately to those proceedings may be presented (III, 2545). See also Sec. 771a, infra. |
| Sec. 669. Number and jurisdiction of standing committees. | 1. There shall be in the House the following standing committees, each of which shall have the jurisdiction and related functions assigned to it by this clause and clauses 2, 3, and 4; and all bills, resolutions, and other matters relating to subjects within the jurisdiction of any standing committee as listed in this clause shall (in accordance with and subject to clause 5) be referred to such committees, as follows: |
| Sec. 670. Agriculture. | (1) Adulteration of seeds, insect pests, and protection of birds and animals in forest reserves. |
| Sec. 671a. Appropriations. | (1) Appropriation of the revenue for the support of the Government. |
| Sec. 671b. Responsibilities under Budget Act. | Effective July 12, 1974, special Presidential messages on rescissions and deferrals of budget authority submitted pursuant to sections 1012 and 1013 of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 683-4), as well as rescission bills and impoundment resolutions defined in section 1011 (2 U.S.C. 682) and required in section 1017 (2 U.S.C. 688) to be referred to the ``appropriate'' committee, are referred to the Committee on Appropriations if the proposed rescissions or deferrals involve funds already appropriated or obligated. Also effective July 12, 1974, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (sec. 404(a); 88 Stat. 320) added to the Committee's jurisdiction, and later perfected by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), subparagraphs (2), (3), and (4). |
| Sec. 672. Banking and Financial Services. | (1) Banks and banking, including deposit insurance and Federal monetary policy. |
| Sec. 673a. Budget, Composition of. | (A) Members who are members of other standing committees, including five Members who are members of the Committee on Appropriations, and five Members who are members of the Committee on Ways and Means; |
| Sec. 673b. Jurisdiction and duties. | (2) All concurrent resolutions on the budget (as defined in section 3 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974), other matters required to be referred to the committee under titles III and IV of that Act, and other measures setting forth appropriate levels of budget totals for the United States Government. |
| Sec. 674. Commerce. | (2) Consumer affairs and consumer protection. |
| Sec. 675. Education and the Workforce. | (2) Columbia Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind; Howard University; Freedmen's Hospital. |
| Sec. 676. Government Reform and Oversight. | (1) The Federal Civil Service, including intergovernmental personnel; the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement. |
| Sec. 677a. House Oversight. | (1) Appropriations from accounts for committee salaries and expenses (except for the Committee on Appropriations), House Information Resources, and allowances and expenses of Members, House officers and administrative offices of the House. |
| Sec. 677b. House facilities. | The Committee has jurisdiction over measures relating to the House Restaurant, which was first under the jurisdiction of the former Committee on Accounts, then under the supervision of the Architect of the Capitol (H. Res. 590, 76th Cong., Sept. 5, 1940, p. 11552, as made permanent law by P.L. 76-812, 40 U.S.C. 174k), and then under the supervision of the Select Committee on the House Restaurant (H. Res. 472, 91st Cong., July 10, 1969, p. 19080; H. Res. 111, 93d Cong., Feb. 7, 1973), which was not re-established after the 93d Congress. |
| Sec. 677c. Enrolled bills. | The Committee has absorbed the Committee on Enrolled Bills which was established in 1789 by a joint rule of the two Houses. This rule lapsed in 1876 with the other joint rules; but in 1880 the rules of the House were amended to recognize the joint committee (IV, 4350, 4416; VII, 2099). The Committee and the Secretary of the Senate make comparisons of bills of their respective Houses for enrollment, and the two cooperate in the interchange of bills for signature. |
| Sec. 677d. Library. | Under the Reorganization Act the Committee has jurisdiction of some of the subjects formerly within the jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on the Library, such as matters relating to the Library of Congress and the House Library, statuary and pictures, acceptance or purchase of works of art for the Capitol, the Botanic Gardens, management of the Library of Congress, purchase of books and manuscripts, matters relating to the Smithsonian Institution, and the incorporation of similar institutions. Excepted are measures relating to the construction or reconstruction, maintenance, and care of the buildings and grounds of the Botanic Gardens, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation (now Transportation and Infrastructure). The House Members of the Joint Committee on the Library, provided for by law (2 U.S.C. 132b), are elected by resolution each Congress. |
| Sec. 677e. Congressional Record. | The Committee has jurisdiction of matters relating to printing and correction of the Congressional Record, formerly within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Printing. The House Members of the Joint Committee on Printing, provided for by law (44 U.S.C. 1), are elected by resolution each Congress. |
| Sec. 678. International Relations. | (1) Relations of the United States with foreign nations generally. |
| Sec. 679a. Judiciary. | (1) The judiciary and judicial proceedings, civil and criminal. |
| Sec. 679b. Internal Security. | (18) Subversive activities affecting the internal security of the United States. |
| Sec. 680. National Security. | (1) Ammunition depots; forts; arsenals; Army, Navy, and Air Force reservations and establishments. |
| Sec. 681. Resources. | (1) Fisheries and wildlife, including research, restoration, refuges, and conservation. |
| Sec. 682a. Rules. | (1) The rules and joint rules (other than rules or joint rules relating to the Code of Official Conduct), and order of business of the House. |
| Sec. 682b. Special orders. | Since 1883 the Committee on Rules has reported special orders providing times and methods for consideration of special bills or classes of bills, thereby enabling the House by majority vote to forward particular legislation, instead of being forced to use for the purpose the motion to suspend the rules, which requires a two-thirds vote (IV, 3152; V, 6870; for forms of, IV, 3238-3263). |
| Sec. 683. Science. | (1) All energy research, development, and demonstration, and projects therefor, and all federally owned or operated nonmilitary energy laboratories. |
| Sec. 684. Small Business. | (1) Assistance to and protection of small business, including financial aid, regulatory flexibility and paperwork reduction. |
| Sec. 685a. Standards of Official Conduct. | (1) Measures relating to the Code of Official Conduct. |
| Sec. 685b. Former Select Committees on Ethics. | In the 95th Congress, the House established a Select Committee on Ethics and granted it exclusive legislative jurisdiction over bills that incorporated into permanent law provisions of House rules addressing financial ethics of Members, officers, and employees (H. Res. 383, Mar. 9, 1977, pp. 6811-16). The Select Committee was also granted jurisdiction to promulgate implementing regulations and to issue advisory opinions. The resolution creating the Select Committee provided that it would expire on December 31, 1977, but the Committee and its functions ultimately were extended through the ``completion of its official business'' (H. Res. 871, Oct. 31, 1977, p. 35957). The advisory opinions compiled by the former Select Committee on Ethics have been incorporated in the House Ethics Manual (102d Cong., 2d Sess.). |
| Sec. 686. Transportation and Infrastructure. | (1) Coast Guard, including lifesaving service, lighthouses, lightships, ocean derelicts, and the Coast Guard Academy. |
| Sec. 687. Veterans' Affairs. | (2) Cemeteries of the United States in which veterans of any war or conflict are or may be buried, whether in the United States or abroad, except cemeteries administered by the Secretary of the Interior. |
| Sec. 688. Ways and Means. | (1) Customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery. |
| Sec. 692a. General oversight. | (1) its analysis, appraisal, and evaluation of (A) the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of the laws enacted by the Congress, or (B) conditions and circumstances which may indicate the necessity or desirability of enacting new or additional legislation, and |
| Sec. 693. Special oversight. | 3. (a) The Committee on National Security shall have the function of reviewing and studying, on a continuing basis, all laws, programs, and Government activities dealing with or involving international arms control and disarmament and the education of military dependents in schools. |
| Sec. 694a. Committee on Appropriations; budget hearings. | 4. (a)(1)(A) The Committee on Appropriations shall, within thirty days after the transmittal of the Budget to the Congress each year, hold hearings on the Budget as a whole with particular reference to-- |
| Sec. 694b. Procedure for budget hearings. | (C) Hearings pursuant to subdivision (A), or any part thereof, shall be held in open session, except |
| Sec. 694c. Budget Act; 15day referral to Appropriations. | (2) Whenever any bill or resolution which provides new entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is reported by a committee of the House and the amount of new budget authority which will be required for the fiscal year involved if such bill or resolution is enacted as so reported exceeds the appropriate allocation of new budget authority reported as described |
| Sec. 695. Budget. | (b) The Committee on the Budget shall have the duty-- |
| Sec. 696. Government Reform and Oversight. | (c)(1) The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight shall have the general function of-- |
| Sec. 697b. Enrolled bills. | (A) examining all bills, amendments, and joint resolutions after passage by the House and, in cooperation with the Senate, examining all bills and joint resolutions which shall have passed both Houses to see that they are correctly enrolled, forthwith presenting those which originated in the House to the President of the United States in person after their signature by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate and reporting the fact and date of such presentation to the House; |
| Sec. 697c. Direction of officers. | (B) providing policy direction for, and oversight of, the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Inspector General; and |
| Sec. 697d. Acceptance of gifts. | (C) accepting a gift, other than as otherwise provided by law, if the gift does not involve any duty, burden, or condi- |
| Sec. 697e. Approval of certain settlements. | (2) An employing office of the House of Representatives may enter a settlement of a complaint under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 that provides for the payment of funds only after receiving the joint approval of the chairman and the ranking minority party member of the Committee on House Oversight concerning the amount of such payment. |
| Sec. 698. Standards of Official Conduct; additional duties. | (e)(1) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is authorized: (A) to recommend to the House from time to time such administrative actions as it may deem appropriate to establish or enforce standards of official conduct for Members, officers, and employees of the House, and any letter of reproval or other administrative action of the committee pursuant to an investigation under subdivision (B) shall only be issued or implemented as a part of a report required by such subdivision; (B) to investigate, subject to subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, any alleged violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, of the Code of Official Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, and after notice and hearing (unless the right to a hearing is waived by the Member, officer, or employee), shall report to the House its findings of fact and recommendations, if any, upon the final disposition of any such investigation, and such action as the committee may deem appropriate in the circumstances; (C) to report to the appropriate Federal or State authorities, either with the approval of the House or by an affirma- |
| Sec. 699a. Annual appropriations. | (f)(1) Each standing committee of the House shall, in its consideration of all bills and joint resolutions of a public character within its jurisdiction, insure that appropriations for continuing programs and activities of the Federal Government and the District of Columbia government will be made annually to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the nature, requirements, and objectives of the programs and activities involved. For the |
| Sec. 699b. Concurrent resolution on Budget. | (g) Each standing committee of the House shall, not later than 6 weeks after the President submits his budget, submit to the Committee on the Budget (1) its views and estimates with respect to all matters to be set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget for the ensuing fiscal year which are within its jurisdiction or functions, and (2) an estimate of the total amounts of new budget authority, and budget outlays resulting therefrom, to be provided or authorized in all bills and resolutions within its jurisdiction which it intends to be effective during that fiscal year. The views and estimates submitted by the Committee on Ways and Means under the preceding sentence shall include a specific recommendation, made after holding public hearings, as to the appropriate level of the public debt which should be set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget referred to in such sentence and serve as |
| Sec. 699c. Reconciliation process. | (i) Each standing committee of the House which is directed in a concurrent resolution on the budget to determine and recommend changes in laws, bills, or resolutions under the reconciliation process shall promptly make such determination and recommendations, and report a reconciliation bill or resolution (or both) to the House or submit such recommendations to the Committee on the Budget, in accordance with the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. |
| Sec. 700. Referral procedures. | 5. (a) Each bill, resolution, or other matter which relates to a subject listed under any standing committee named in clause 1 shall be referred by the Speaker in accordance with the provisions of this clause. |
| Sec. 701a. Electing committees. | 6. (a)(1) The standing committees specified in clause 1 shall be elected by the House within the seventh calendar day beginning after the commencement of each Congress, from nominations submitted by the respective party caucuses. It shall always be in order to consider resolutions recommended by the respective party caucuses to change the composition of standing committees. |
| Sec. 701b. Party membership as basis for election. | (b)(1) Membership on standing committees during the course of a Congress shall be contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus or conference that nominated Members for election to such committees. Should a Member cease to be a member of a particular party caucus or con- |
| Sec. 701c. Committee chairmen. | (c) One of the Members of each standing committee shall be elected by the House, from nominations submitted by the majority party caucus, at the commencement of each Congress, as chairman thereof. No Member may serve as the chairman of the same standing committee, or as the chairman of the same subcommittee thereof, for more than three consecutive Congresses, beginning with the One Hundred Fourth Congress (disregarding for this purpose any service for less than a full session in any Congress). In the temporary absence of the chairman, the Member next in rank in the |
| Sec. 701d. Requirement for subcommittees. | (d) No committee of the House shall have more than five subcommittees (except the Committee on Appropriations, which shall have no more than thirteen; the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, which shall have no more than seven; and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which shall have no more than six). |
| Sec. 701e. Select and conference committees. | (f) The Speaker shall appoint all select and conference committees which shall be ordered by the House from time to time. At any time after an original appointment, the Speaker may remove Members or appoint additional Members to select and conference committees. In appointing members to conference committees the Speaker shall ap- |
| Sec. 701f. Party membership as basis for appointment. | (g) Membership on select and joint committees during the course of a Congress shall be contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus or conference the Member was a member of at the time of his appointment to a select or joint committee. Should a Member cease to be a member of that caucus or conference, said Member shall automatically cease to be a member of any select or joint committee to which he is assigned. The |
| Sec. 701g. Delegates and Resident Commissioner. | (h) The Speaker may appoint the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and Delegates to the House to any select committee and to any conference committee. |
| Sec. 702. Aging. | A paragraph (i) of this clause was incorporated into the rules effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), to provide for a permanent Select Committee on Aging appointed by the Speaker pursuant to paragraph (f). That provision was stricken in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----). |
| Sec. 703a. Committee procedure. | 1. (a)(1) The Rules of the House are the rules of its committees and subcommittees so far as applicable, except that a motion to recess from day to day, and a motion to dispense with the first reading (in full) of a bill or resolution, if printed copies are available, are nondebatable motions of high privilege in committees and subcommittees. |
| Sec. 703b. Investigative authority. | (b)(1) Each committee is authorized at any time to conduct such investigations and studies as it may consider necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its re- |
| Sec. 703c. Printing and binding. | (c) Each committee is authorized to have printed and bound testimony and other data presented at hearings |
| Sec. 703d. Activity reports. | (d)(1) Each committee shall submit to the House not later than January 2 of each odd-numbered year, a report on the activities of that committee under this rule and rule X during the Congress ending on January 3 of such year. |
| 704a. Committee rules. | 2. (a) Each standing committee of the House shall adopt written rules governing its procedure. Such rules-- |
| Sec. 704b. Committee procedure generally. | Failure to follow certain procedural requirements imposed on committees by this rule may invalidate committee actions. Violation of the requirements as to open meetings and hearings and other hearing irregularities improperly over- |
| 705. Committee meetings. | (b) Each standing committee of the House shall adopt regular meeting days, which shall be not less frequent than monthly, for the conduct of its business. Each such committee shall meet, for the consideration of any bill or resolution pending before the committee or for the transaction of other committee business, on all regular meeting days |
| 706a. Required records. | (e)(1) Each committee shall keep a complete record of all committee action which shall include-- |
| Sec. 706b. Public availability. | (B) a record of the votes on any question on which a rollcall vote is demanded. The result of each such rollcall vote shall be made available by the committee for inspection by the public at reasonable times in the offices of the committee. Information so available for public inspection shall include a description of the amendment, motion, order, or other proposition and the name of each Member voting for and each Member voting against such amendment, motion, order, or proposition, and the names of those Members present but not voting, except that in the case of rollcall votes in the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct taken in executive session, the result of any such vote shall not be made available for inspection by the public without an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee. |
| Sec. 706c. Committee files. | (2) All committee hearings, records, data, charts, and files shall be kept separate and distinct from the congressional office records of the Member serving as |
| 707. Ban on proxies. | (f) No vote by any member of any committee or subcommittee with respect to any measure or matter may be cast by proxy. |
| 708. | (g)(1) Each meeting for the transaction of business, including the markup of legislation, of each standing committee or subcommittee thereof (except the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct) shall be open to the public, including to radio, television, and still photography coverage, except as provided by clause 3(f)(2), except when the committee or subcommittee, in open session and with a majority present, determines by rollcall vote that all or part of the remainder of the meeting on that day shall be closed to the public because disclosure of matters to be considered would endanger na- |
| 709. Quorum of two; of onethird. | (h)(1) Each committee may fix the number of its members to constitute a quorum for taking testimony and receiving evidence which shall be not less than two. |
| 710. Committees not to sit. | (i) No committee of the House may sit during a joint session of the House and Senate or during a recess when a joint meeting of the House and Senate is in progress. |
| 711. | (j)(1) Whenever any hearing is conducted by any committee upon any measure or matter, the minority party Members on the committee shall be entitled, upon request to the chairman by a majority of them before the completion of the hearing, to call witnesses selected by the minority to testify with respect to that measure or matter during at least one day of hearing thereon. |
| 712. | (k)(1) The chairman at an investigative hearing shall announce in an opening statement the subject of the investigation. |
| 713a. Chairman's duty. | (l)(1)(A) It shall be the duty of the chairman of each committee to report or cause to be reported promptly to the House any measure approved by the committee and to take or cause to be taken necessary steps to bring the matter to a vote. |
| Sec. 713b. Filing by majority of committee. | (B) In any event, the report of any committee on a measure which has been approved by the committee shall be filed within seven calendar days (exclusive of days on which the House is not in session) after the day on which there has been filed with the |
| Sec. 713c. Requirement of quorum. | (2)(A) No measure or recommendation shall be reported from any committee unless a majority of the committee was actually present. |
| Sec. 713d. Vote on reporting. | (B) With respect to each rollcall vote on a motion to report any measure or matter of a public character, and on any amendment offered to the measure or matter, the total number of votes cast for and against, and the names of those members voting for and against, shall be included in the committee report on the measure or matter. The preceding sentence shall not apply to votes taken in executive session by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. |
| Sec. 713e. Content of reports. | (3) The report of any committee on a measure which has been approved by the committee shall include (A) the oversight findings and recommendations required pursuant to clause 2(b)(1) of rule X separately set out and clearly identified; (B) the statement required by section 308(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, separately set out and clearly identified, if the measure provides new budget authority (other than continuing appropriations), new entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of such Act, new credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures, except that the estimates with respect to new budget authority shall include, when practicable, a comparison of the total estimated funding level for the relevant program (or programs) to the appropriate levels under current law; (C) the estimate and comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of such Act, separately set out and clearly identified, whenever the Director (if timely submitted prior to the filing of the report) has submitted such estimate and comparison to the committee; and |
| Sec. 713f. Constitutional authority. | (4) Each report of a committee on a bill or joint resolution of a public character shall include a statement citing the specific powers granted to the Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint resolution. |
| Sec. 713g. Application of laws to Legislative branch. | Under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, each report accompanying a bill or joint resolution relating to terms and conditions of employment or access to public services or accommodations must describe the manner in which the provisions apply to the Legislative branch or a statement of the reasons the provisions do not apply; and any Member may raise a point of order against the consideration of a bill or joint resolution not complying with this requirement, which may be waived in the House by majority vote (sec. 102(b)(3), P.L. 104-1; 109 Stat. 6). |
| Sec. 713h. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that imposes several requirements on committees with respect to measures effecting ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 659b-c) and establishes points of order to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d). See Sec. 1007, infra. |
| Sec. 714. Minority views. | (5) If, at the time of approval of any measure or matter by any committee, other than the Committee on Rules, any member of the committee gives notice of intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views, that member shall be entitled to not less than two additional calendar days after the day of such notice (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) in which to file such views, in writing and signed by that member, with the clerk of the committee. All such views so filed by one or more members of the committee shall be included within, and shall be a part of, the report filed by the committee with respect to that measure or matter. When time guaranteed by |
| Sec. 716. Oneday layover. | A committee expense resolution reported by the Committee on House Oversight pursuant to clause 5 of rule XI need only be available for one day. However, other resolutions reported from that committee which are privileged (such as a resolution authorizing the printing of material as a House document), but which do not constitute questions of the privileges of the House, are subject to this clause (Speaker Albert, Mar. 6, 1975, p. 5537). |
| Sec. 717. | (7) If, within seven calendar days after a measure has, by resolution, been made in order for consideration by the House, no motion has been offered that the House consider that measure, any member of the committee which reported that measure may be recognized in the discretion of the Speaker to offer a motion that the House shall consider that measure, if that committee has duly authorized that member to offer that motion. |
| 718. Administration of oaths to witnesses. | (m)(1) For the purpose of carrying out any of its functions and duties under this rule and rule X (including any matters referred to it under clause 5 of rule X), any committee, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized (subject to subparagraph (2)(A) of this paragraph)-- |
| Sec. 719a. Committee travel. | (A) No member or employee of the committee shall receive or expend local currencies for subsistence in any country for any day at a rate in excess of the |
| Sec. 719b. Travel reports. | (B) Each member or employee of the committee shall make to the chairman of the committee an itemized report showing the dates each country was visited, the amount of per diem furnished, the cost of transportation furnished, any funds expended for any other official purpose and shall summarize in these categories the total foreign currencies and/or appropriated funds expended. All such individual reports shall be filed no later than sixty days following the completion of travel with the chairman of the committee for use in complying with reporting requirements in applicable Federal law and shall be open for public inspection. |
| Sec. 720. | 3. (a) It is the purpose of this clause to provide a means, in conformity with acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, and decorum, by which committee hearings, or committee meetings, which are open to the public may be covered, by television broadcast, radio broadcast, and still photography, or by any of such methods of coverage-- |
| Sec. 721. Media coverage. | (c) It is, further, the intent of this clause that the general conduct of each meeting (whether of a hearing or otherwise) covered, under authority of this clause, by television broadcast, radio broadcast, and still photography, or by any of such methods of coverage, and the personal behavior of the committee members and staff, other Government officials and personnel, witnesses, television, radio, and press media personnel, and the general public at the hearing or other meeting shall be in strict conformity with and observance of the acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, courtesy, and decorum traditionally observed by the House in its operations and shall not be such as to-- |
| Sec. 722. When permitted. | (e) Whenever a hearing or meeting conducted by any committee or subcommittee of the House is open to the public, those proceedings shall be open to coverage by television, radio, and still photography, except as provided in paragraph (f)(2). A committee or subcommittee chairman may not limit the number of television or still cameras to fewer than two representatives from each medium (except for legitimate space or safety considerations, in which case pool coverage shall be authorized). |
| Sec. 723. Committee rules. | (f) Each committee of the House shall adopt written rules to govern its implementation of this clause. Such rules shall include provisions to the following effect: |
| Sec. 724. Press photographers. | (8) In the allocation of the number of still photographers permitted by a committee or subcommittee chairman in a hearing or meeting room, preference shall be given to photographers from Associated Press Photos and United Press International Newspictures. If requests are made by more of the media than will be permitted by a committee or subcommittee chairman for coverage of the hearing or meeting by still photography, that coverage shall be made on the basis of a fair and equitable pool arrangement devised by the Standing Committee of Press Photographers. |
| Sec. 725. Accreditation. | (11) Personnel providing coverage by the television and radio media shall be then currently accredited to the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries. |
| Sec. 726. | 4. (a) The following committees shall have leave to report at any time on the matters herein stated, namely: The Committee on Appropriations--on general appropriation bills and on joint resolutions continuing appropriations for a fiscal year if reported after September 15 preceding the beginning of such fiscal year; the Committee on the Budget--on the matters required to be reported by such committee under Titles III and IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; the Committee on House Oversight--on enrolled bills, contested elections, and all matters referred to it of printing for the use of the House or the two Houses, and on all matters of expenditure of the applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(h)(1) of rule X, and on all matters relating to preservation and availability of noncurrent records of the House under rule XXXVI; the Committee on Rules--on rules, joint rules, and the order of business; and the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct--on resolutions recommending action by the House of Representatives with respect to an individual Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives as a result of any investigation by the committee relating to the official conduct of such Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives. |
| Sec. 727. Privileged reports defined. | The matters reported under the provisions of this clause are denominated ``privileged reports'' or ``privileged questions,'' and since the privilege relates merely to the order of business under the rules, they must be distinguished from ``questions of privilege'' which relate to the safety or dignity of the House itself defined in rule IX (III, 2718). Therefore, ``questions of privilege'' take precedence over these matters which are privileged under the rules (III, 2426-2530; V, 6454; VIII, 3465). |
| Sec. 728. The privilege of individual committees for reports. | The privilege given by this clause to the Committee on Rules is confined to ``action touching rules, joint rules, and order of business'' and this committee may not report as privileged a concurrent resolution providing for a Senate investigating committee (VIII, 2255), or provide for the appointment of a clerk (VIII, 2256); but the privilege has been held to include the right to report special orders for the consideration of individual bills or classes of bills (V, 6774), or the consideration of a specified amendment to a bill and prescribing a mode of considering such amendment (VIII, 2258). A special rule providing for the consideration of a bill is not invalidated by the fact that at the time the rule was reported, the bill was not |
| Sec. 729a. Reports from Committee on Rules. | (b) It shall always be in order to call up for consideration a report from the Committee on Rules on a rule, joint rule, or the order of business (except it shall not be called up for consideration on the same day it is presented to the House, unless so determined by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the Members voting, but this provision shall not apply during the last three days of the session), and, pending the consideration thereof, the Speaker may entertain one motion that the House adjourn; but after the result is announced the Speaker shall not entertain any other dilatory motion until the report shall have been fully disposed of. The Committee on Rules shall not report any rule or order which provides that business under clause 7 of rule XXIV shall be set aside by a vote of less than two-thirds of the Members present; nor shall it report any rule or order which would prevent the motion to recommit from being made as provided in clause 4 of rule XVI, including a motion to recommit with instructions to report back an amendment otherwise in order (if offered by the Minority Leader or a designee), except with respect to a Senate bill or resolution for which the text of a House-passed measure has been substituted. |
| Sec. 729b. Dilatory motions not permitted. | In the later practice it has been held that the question of consideration may not be raised against a report from the Committee on Rules (V, 4961-4963; VIII, 2440, 2441). The clause forbidding dilatory motions has been construed strictly (V, 5740-5742), and in the later practice the following have been excluded: (1) the motion to commit after the ordering of the previous question (V, 5593-5601; VIII, 2270, 2750; Feb. 22, 1984, p. 2965); (2) an appeal from the Chair's decision not to entertain the question of |
| Sec. 729c. Restrictions on authority of Committee on Rules. | From 1934 until the amendment of clause 4(b) in the 104th Congress (sec. 210, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----), it was consistently held that the Committee on Rules could recommend a special order that limited, but did not totally prohibit, a motion to recommit pending passage of a bill or joint resolution, as by precluding the motion from containing instructions relating to specified amendments (Speaker Rainey, sustained on appeal, Jan. 11, 1934, pp. 479-83); or by omitting to preserve the availability of amendatory instructions in the case that the bill is entirely rewritten by the adoption of a substitute made in order as original text (Speaker Foley, June 4, 1991, p. 13170; Speaker Foley, Nov. 25, 1991, p. 34460); or by expressly allowing only a simple (``straight'') motion to recommit |
| Sec. 729d. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that, effective on January 1, 1996, or 90 days after appropriations are made available to the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to the 1995 Act (whichever is earlier), imposes several requirements on committees with respect to ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 658b-c), establishes points of order to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 |
| Sec. 730. Filing reports. | (c) The Committee on Rules shall present to the House reports concerning rules, joint rules, and order of business, within three legislative days of the time when the bill or resolution involved is ordered reported by the committee. If any such rule or order is not considered immediately, it shall be referred to the calendar and, if not called up by the Member making the report within seven legislative days thereafter, any member of the Committee on Rules may call it up as a question of privilege (but only on the day after the calendar day on which such Member announces to the House his intention to do so) and the Speaker shall recognize any member of the Committee on Rules seeking recognition for that purpose. If the Committee on Rules makes an adverse report on any resolution pending before the committee, providing for an order of business for the consideration by the House of any public bill or joint resolution, on days when it shall be in order to call up motions to discharge committees it shall be in order for any Member of the House to call up for consideration by the House such adverse report, and it shall be in order to move the adoption by the House of such resolution adversely reported notwithstanding the adverse report of the Committee on Rules, and the Speaker shall recognize the Member seeking recogni- |
| Sec. 731. Comparative print. | (d) Whenever the Committee on Rules reports a resolution repealing or amending any of the Rules of the House of Representatives or part thereof it shall include in its report or in an accompanying document-- |
| Sec. 731a. Specifying waivers. | (e) Whenever the Committee on Rules reports a resolution providing for the consideration of any measure, it shall, to the maximum extent possible, specify in the resolution the object of any waiver of a point of order against the measure or against its consideration. |
| Sec. 732a. Primary expense resolution. |
5. (a) Whenever any
committee, commission, or other entity (except the Committee on
Appropriations) is to be granted authorization for the payment of its
expenses (including all staff salaries) for a Congress, such
authorization initially shall be procured by one primary expense
resolution reported by the Committee on House Oversight. A
primary < |
| Sec. 732c1. Additional expense resolution. | (b) After the date of adoption by the House of any such primary expense resolution for any such committee, commission, or other entity for any Congress, authorization for the payment of additional expenses (including staff salaries) in that Congress may be procured by one or more supplemental expense resolutions reported by the Committee on House Oversight, as necessary. Any such supplemental expense resolution reported to the House shall not be considered in the House unless a printed report on that resolution has been available to the Members of the House for at |
| Sec. 732c2. Exception for certain initial funding. | (1) any resolution providing for the payment from committee salary and expense accounts of the House of sums necessary to pay compensation for staff services performed for, or to pay other expenses of, any committee, commission or other entity at any time from and after the beginning of any odd-numbered year and before the date of adoption by the House of the primary expense resolution providing funds to pay the expenses of that committee, commission or other entity for that Congress; or |
| Sec. 732d. Funds for committee staffs; expense resolutions. | (d) From the funds made available for the appointment of committee staff pursuant to any primary or additional expense resolution, the chairman of each committee shall ensure that sufficient staff is made available to each subcommittee to carry out its responsibilities under the rules of the committee, and that the minority party is fairly treated in the appointment of such staff. |
| Sec. 732e. Travel by members not reelected. | (e) No primary expense resolution or additional expense resolution of a committee may provide for the payment or reimbursement of expenses incurred by any member of the committee for travel by the member after the date of the general election of Members in which the Member is not elected to the succeeding Congress, or in the case of a Member who is not a candidate in such general election, the earlier of the date of such general election or the adjournment sine die of the last regular session of the Congress. |
| Sec. 732f. Interim funding. | (f)(1) For continuance of necessary investigations and studies by-- |
| Sec. 733a. Thirty professional staff. |
6. (a)(1) Subject to
subparagraph (2) and paragraph (f), each standing committee may appoint,
by majority vote of the committee, not more than thirty professional
staff members from the funds provided for the appointment of
committee < |
| Sec. 733c. Minority. | (2) Subject to paragraph (f) of this clause, whenever a majority of the minority party members of a standing com- |
| Sec. 733d. Consultants and training. | Committees may, with the approval of the Committee on House Oversight, procure the temporary or intermittent services of consultants and obtain specialized training for professional staff, subject to expense resolutions, under the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, sections 303 and 304 (2 U.S.C. 72a(i) and (j)). |
| Sec. 734a. Staff duties. | (b)(1) The professional staff members of each standing committee-- |
| Sec. 734b. ``Associate'' or ``shared'' staff. | (2) Subparagraph (1) does not apply to any staff designated by a committee as ``associate'' or ``shared'' staff who are not paid exclusively by the committee, provided that the chairman certifies that the compensation paid by the committee for any such employee is commensurate with the work performed for the committee, in accordance with the provisions of clause 8 of rule XLIII. |
| Sec. 735. Pay. | (c) Each employee on the professional and investigative staff of each standing committee shall be entitled to pay at a single gross per annum rate, to be fixed by the chairman, which does not exceed the maximum rate of pay, as in effect from time to time, under applicable provisions of law. |
| Sec. 736. Staff, Committees on Appropriations. | (d) Subject to appropriations hereby authorized, the Committee on Appropriations may appoint such staff, in addition to the clerk thereof and assistants for the minority, as it determines by majority vote to be necessary, such personnel, other than minority assistants, to possess such qualifications as the committee may prescribe. |
| Sec. 737. | (e) No committee shall appoint to its staff any experts or other personnel detailed or assigned from any department or agency of the Government, except with the written permission of the Committee on House Oversight. |
| Sec. 738. Nonpartisan staff. | (i) Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(2), a committee may employ non-partisan staff, in lieu of or in addition to committee staff designated exclusively for the majority or minority party, upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the majority party and a majority of the members of the minority party. |
| Sec. 739. Reports on staff. | Effective in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), former clause 6(j), which was added on January 3, 1953 (p. 24) and which was contained in section 134(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1945, was deleted; that clause required committees to report semiannually to the Clerk, for printing in the Congressional Record, on the names, professions and salaries of committee employees. |
| Sec. 740. Powers and privileges of Resident Commissioner and Delegates as to committee service. | The Resident Commissioner to the United States from Puerto Rico and each Delegate to the House shall be elected to serve on standing committees in the same manner as Members of the House and shall possess in such committees the same powers and privileges as the other Members. |
| Sec. 742. Calendar for reports of committees. | 1. There shall be three calendars to which all business reported from committees shall be referred, viz.: |
| Sec. 743. Nonprivileged reports filed with the Clerk. |
2. All
reports of committees, except as provided in clause 4(a) of rule XI,
together with the views of the minority, shall be delivered to the Clerk
for printing and reference to the proper calendar under the direction of
the Speaker, in accordance with the foregoing clause, and the titles or
subject thereof shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the
Record: Provided, That bills reported < |
| Sec. 745. ``Ramseyer Rule.'' | 3. Whenever a committee reports a bill or a joint resolution repealing or amending any statute or part thereof it shall include in its report or in an accompanying document-- |
| Sec. 745a. Corrections Calendar. | 4. (a) After a bill has been favorably reported and placed on either the Union or House Calendar, the Speaker may, after consultation with the Minority Leader, file with the Clerk a notice requesting that such bill also be placed upon a special calendar to be known as the ``Corrections Calendar.'' At any time on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, after the Pledge of Allegiance, the |
| Sec. 746. Former Consent Calendar. | The original form of this clause, providing for the former Consent Calendar, was adopted March 15, 1909, amended January 18, 1924; December 7, 1925; December 8, 1931; and April 23, 1932 (VII, 972). Bills must have been on the printed calendar three legislative working days in order to be eligible for consideration (VII, 992, 994). When a House bill was on the Consent Calendar, by unanimous consent the House committee could have been discharged from the consideration of a Senate bill on the same subject, and the Senate bill considered in lieu of the House bill (VII, 1004). The status of bills on the Consent Calendar was not affected by their consideration from another calendar and such bills could have been called up for consideration from the Consent Calendar while pending as unfinished business in the House or Committee of the Whole (VII, 1006). |
| Sec. 747. Motion to discharge. | 5. There shall also be a Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees, as provided in clause 3 of rule XXVII. |
| Sec. 748b. Estimate of cost. | 7. (a) The report accompanying each bill or joint resolution of a public character reported by any committee shall contain-- |
| Sec. 748c. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that imposes several requirements on the Director of the Congressional Budget Office and on committees of the House with respect to measures effecting ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 659b-c) and establishes points of order to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d). See Sec. 1007, infra, and Sec. 713h, supra. |
| Sec. 749. Obtaining the floor for debate; and relevancy and decorum therein. | 1. When any Member desires to speak or deliver any matter to the House, he shall rise and respectfully address himself to ``Mr. Speaker'', and, on being recognized, may address the House from any place on the floor or from the Clerk's desk, and shall confine himself to the question under debate, avoiding personality. Debate may include references to actions taken by the Senate or by committees thereof which are a matter of public record, references to the pendency or sponsorship in the Senate of bills, resolutions, and amendments, factual descriptions relating to |
| Sec. 750. Interruption of a Member in debate. | A Member having the floor may not be taken off his feet by an ordinary motion, even the highly privileged motion to adjourn (V, 5369, 5370; VIII, 2646), or the motion to table (Mar. 18, 1992, p. ----). He may not be deprived of the floor by a parliamentary inquiry (VIII, 2455-2458), a question of privilege (V, |
| Sec. 751. Speaker in debate. | The Speaker may of right speak from the Chair on questions of order and be first heard (II, 1367), but with this exception he may speak from the Chair only by leave of the House and on questions of fact (II, 1367-1372). On occasions comparatively rare Speakers have called Members to the Chair and participated in debate on questions of order or matters relating their own conduct or rights, usually without asking consent of the House (II, 1367, 1368, 1371; III, 1950; V, 6097). In more recent years, Speakers have frequently entered into debate on substantive legislative issues before the House for decision, and the right to participate in debate in the Committee of the Whole is without question (see, e.g., Apr. 30, 1987, p. 10811). |
| Sec. 752. Member must confine himself to the subject. | It has always been held, and generally quite strictly, that in the House the Member must confine himself to the subject under debate (V, 5043-5048; VI, 576; VIII, 2481, 2534). The Chair normally waits for the question of relevancy of debate to be raised and does not take initiative (Sept. 27, 1990, p. ----; Mar. 23, 1995, p. ----; Nov. 14, 1995, pp. ----, ----; Dec. 15, 1995, p. ----; Mar. 12, 1996, p. ----). |
| Sec. 753a. Oneminute and specialorder speeches. | Recognition for one-minute speeches by unanimous consent and the order of recognition are entirely within the discretion of the Speaker (Nov. 15, 1983, p. 32657). When the House has a heavy legislative schedule, the Speaker may refuse to recognize Members for that purpose until the completion of legislative business (Procedure, ch. 21, sec. 7.5; July 24, 1980, p. 19386). It is not in order to raise as a question of the privileges of the |
| Sec. 753b. Morninghour debates. | Beginning in the second session of the 103d Congress, the House has by unanimous consent agreed (without prejudice to the Speaker's ultimate power of recognition under this rule) to convene 90 minutes early on Mondays and Tuesdays for morning-hour debate (Feb. 11, 1994, p. ----; May 23, 1994, p. ----; June 8, 1994, p. ----; June 10, 1994, p. ----; Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----; Feb. 16, 1995, p. ----; Jan. 21, 1997, p. ----). On May 12, 1995, the House extended and modified the above order to accommodate earlier convening |
| Sec. 753c. ``Oxford'' style debates. | In the 103d Congress the House agreed by unanimous consent to conduct at a time designated by the Speaker structured debate on a mutually agreeable topic announced by the Speaker, with four participants from each party in a format announced by the Speaker (Feb. 11, 1994, p. ----; Mar. 11, 1994, p. ---- ; May 23, 1994, p. ----; June 8, 1994, p. ----; June 10, 1994, p. ----). Pursuant to that authority the House conducted three ``Oxford''-style debates (Mar. 16, 1994, p. ----; May 4, 1994, p. ----; July 20, 1994, p. ----). As a precursor to those structured debates, special-order time was used for a ``Lincoln-Douglas'' style debate involving five Members, with one Member acting as ``moderator'' by controlling the hour under this clause (Nov. 3, 1993, p. ----). |
| Sec. 754. Speaker governed by usage in recognitions. | Although there is no appeal from the Speaker's recognition, he is not a free agent in determining who is to have the floor. The practice of the House establishes rules from which he may not depart. When the order of business brings before the House a certain bill he must first recognize, for motions for its disposition, the Member who represents the committee which has reported it (II, 1447; VI, 306, 514). This is not necessarily the chairman of the committee, for a chairman who, in committee, has opposed the bill, must yield the prior recognition to a member of his committee who has favored the bill (II, 1449). Usually, however, the chairman has charge of the bill and is entitled at all stages to prior recognition for allowable motions intended to expedite it (II, 1452, 1457; VI, 296, 300). Once the proponent of a pending motion has been recognized for debate thereon, a unanimous-consent request to modify the motion may be entertained only if the proponent yields for that purpose (Jan. 5, 1996, p. ----). This principle does not, however, apply to the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole (II, 1453). The Member who originally introduces the bill which a committee reports has no claims to recognition as opposed to the claims of the members of the committee, but in cases where a proposition is brought directly before the House by a Member the mover is entitled to prior recognition for motions and debate (II, 1446, 1454; VI, 302-305, 417; |
| Sec. 755. Loss of right to recognition by Member in charge. | When an essential motion made by the Member in charge of a bill is decided adversely, the right to prior recognition passes to the Member leading the opposition to the motion (II, 1465-1468; VI, 308). Under this principle control of a measure passes when the House disagrees to a recommendation of the committee reporting the measure (II, 1469-1472) or when the Committee of the Whole reports the measure adversely (IV, 4897; VIII, 2430). Similarly, this principle applies when a motion for the previous question is rejected (VI, 308). However, a Member who led the opposition to ordering the previous question may be preempted by a motion of higher precedence (Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). On the other hand, the mere defeat of an amendment proposed by the Member in charge does not cause the right to prior recognition to pass to an opponent (II, 1478, 1479). |
| Sec. 756. Prior right of Members of the committee to recognition for debate. | In debate the members of the committee--except the Committee of the Whole (II, 1453)--are entitled to priority of recognition for debate (II, 1438, 1448; VI, 306, 307), but a motion to lay a proposition on the table is in order before the Member entitled to prior recognition for debate has begun his remarks (V, 5391-5395; VI, 412; VIII, 2649, 2650). |
| Sec. 757. Exceptions to the usages constraining the Speaker as to recognitions. | As to motions to suspend the rules, which are in order on Mondays and Tuesdays of each week, the Speaker exercises a discretion to decline to recognize (V, 6791-6794, 6845; VIII, 3402- 3404). He also may decline to recognize a Member who desires to ask unanimous consent to set aside the rules in order to consider a bill not otherwise in order, this being the way of signifying his objection to the request. But this authority did not extend to the former Consent Calendar. The Speaker has announced and enforced a policy of conferring recognition for unanimous-consent requests for the consideration of unreported bills and resolutions only when assured that the majority and minority floor and committee leaderships have no objection (see, e.g., Dec. 15, 1981, p. 31590; May 4, 1982, p. 8613; Nov. 16, 1983, p. 33138; Jan. 25, 1984, p. 354; Jan. 26, 1984, p. 449; Jan. 31, 1984, p. 1063; Oct. 2, 1984, p. 28516; Feb. 4, 1987, p. 2675; Jan. 3, 1989, p. 89; Jan. 3, 1991, p. 64; Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----; Apr. 4, 1995, p. ----). This policy has been extended to: (1) requests relating to reported bills (July 23, 1993, p. ----); (2) requests for immediate consideration of matters (separately unreported) comprising a portion of a measure already passed by the House (Dec. 19, 1985, p. 38356); (3) requests |
| Sec. 758. The hour rule in debate. | 2. * * * and no Member shall occupy more than one hour in debate on any question in the House or in committee, except as further provided in this rule. |
| Sec. 759. The opening and closing of general debate. | 3. The Member reporting the measure under consideration from a committee may open and close, where general debate has been had thereon; and if it shall extend beyond one day, he shall be entitled to one hour to close, notwithstanding he may have used an hour in opening. |
| Sec. 760. The call to order for words spoken in debate. | 4. If any Member, in speaking or otherwise, transgress the rules of the House, the Speaker shall, or any Member may, call him to order; in which case he shall immediately sit down, unless permitted, on motion of another Member, to explain, and the House shall, if appealed to, decide on the case without debate; if the decision is in favor of the Member called to order, he shall be at liberty to proceed, but not otherwise; and, if the case requires it, he shall be liable to censure or such punishment as the House may deem proper. |
| Sec. 761. Words taken down and other calls to order for unparliamentary debate. | Members transgressing the rules of debate and decorum may be called to order by the Speaker (VIII, 2481, 2521, 3479), a Member (II, 1344; V, 5154, 5161-5163, 5175, 5192), or a delegate (II, 1295). A Member may initiate a call to order either by making a point of order that a Member is transgressing the rules or by formally demanding that words be taken down under clause 5 (Sept. 12, 1996, pp. ----, ----; Sept. 17, 1996, p. ----; Sept. 18, 1996, p. ----; Sept. 25, 1996, p. -- --). A Member's comportment in debate may constitute a breach of decorum even though the content of the Member's speech is not, itself, unparliamentary (July 29, 1994, p. ----). Except for naming the offending Member, the Speaker may not otherwise censure or punish him (II, 1345; VI, 237; Sept. 18, 1996, p. ----; see also Sec. 366, supra). The House may by proper motions under clauses 4 and 5 of this rule dictate the consequences of a ruling by the Chair that a Member was out of order (May 26, 1983, p. 14048). |
| Sec. 762. Member to speak but once to the same question; right to close controlled debate. | 6. No Member shall speak more than once to the same question without leave of the House, unless he be the mover, proposer, or introducer of the matter pending, in which case he shall be permitted to speak in reply, but not until every Member choosing to speak shall have spoken. |
| Sec. 763. Decorum of Members in the Hall. | 7. While the Speaker is putting a question or addressing the House no Member shall walk out of or across the hall, nor, when a Member is speaking, pass between him and the Chair; and during the session of the House no Member shall wear his hat, or remain by the Clerk's desk during the call of the roll or the counting of ballots, or smoke upon the floor of the House; and the Sergeant-at-Arms is charged with the strict enforcement of this clause. Neither shall any person be allowed to smoke or to use any personal, electronic office |
| Sec. 764. Gallery occupants not to be introduced. | 8. It shall not be in order for any Member to introduce to or to bring to the attention of the House during its sessions any occupant in the galleries of the House; nor may the Speaker entertain a request for the suspension of this rule by unanimous consent or otherwise. |
| Sec. 764a. Revisions of remarks in debate. | 9. (a) The Congressional Record shall be a substantially verbatim account of remarks made during the proceedings of the House, subject only to technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections authorized by the Member making the remarks involved. |
| Sec. 764b. Standard of conduct. | (c) This clause establishes a standard of conduct within the meaning of clause 4(e)(1)(B) of rule X. |
| Sec. 765. Call of the roll for the yeaandnay vote. | 1. Subject to clause 5 of this rule, upon every roll call the names of the Members shall be called alphabetically by surname, except when two or more have the same surname, in which case the name of the State shall be added; and if there be two such Members from the same State, the whole name shall be called, and after the roll has been once called, the Clerk shall call in their alphabetical order the names of those not voting. Members appearing after the second call, but before the result is announced, may vote or announce a pair. |
| Sec. 765a. Bell system. | The legislative call system was designed to alert Members to certain occurrences on the floor of the House. The Speaker has directed that the bells and lights comprising the system be utilized as follows (Jan. 23, 1979, pp. 701-02): |
| Sec. 766. Changes and corrections of votes. | Before the result of a vote has been finally and conclusively pronounced by the Chair, but not thereafter, a Member may change his vote (V, 5931-5933, 6093, 6094; VIII, 3070, 3123, 3124, 3160), and a Member who has answered ``present'' may change it to ``yea'' or ``nay'' (V, 6060). But a vote given by a Member may not be withdrawn without leave of the House (V, 5930). |
| Sec. 767. Interruptions of the roll call. | When once begun the roll call may not be interrupted even by a motion to adjourn (V, 6053; VIII, 3133), a parliamentary inquiry (VIII, 3132), a question of personal privilege (V, 6058, 6059; VI, 554, 564), the arrival of the time fixed for another order of business (V, 6056) or for a recess (V, 6054, 6055; VIII, 3133), or the presentation of a conference report (V, 6443). But it is interrupted for the reception of messages and by the arrival of the hour fixed for adjournment sine die (V, 6715-6718). Incidental questions arising during the roll call, such as the refusal of a Member to vote (V, 5946-5948), are considered after the completion of the call and the announcement of the vote (V, 5947). The rules do not preclude a Member from announcing after a recorded vote on which he failed to answer, how he would have voted if present (Speaker Rayburn, June 27, 1957, p. 10521; contra VIII, 3151), but neither the rules nor the practice permit a Member to announce after a recorded vote how absent colleagues would have voted if present (VI, 200; Apr. 3, 1933, p. 1139; Apr. 28, 1933, p. 2587; May 20, 1933, p. 3834; Mar. 16, 1934, pp. 4691, 4700; Apr. 14, 1937, pp. 3489, 3490; Apr. 15, 1937, p. 3563). |
| Sec. 768. The call of the House. | 2. (a) In the absence of a quorum, fifteen Members, including the Speaker, if there is one, shall be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members; and those for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, |
| Sec. 769. Ordering and conducting the call. | Under this rule a call may not be ordered by less than 15, and with out that number present the motion for a call is not entertained (IV, 2983). It must be ordered by majority vote, and a minority of 15 or more favoring a call on such vote is not sufficient (IV, 2984). A quorum not being present no motion is in order but for a call of the House or to adjourn (IV, 2950, 2988; VI, 680), and at this stage the motion to adjourn has precedence over the motion for a call of the House (VIII, 2642). |
| Sec. 770. Arrest of Members. | An order of arrest for absent Members may be made after a single-calling of the roll (IV, 3015, 3016), and a warrant issues on direction of those present, such motion having precedence of a motion to dispense with proceedings under the call (IV, 3036). The Sergeant-at-Arms is required to arrest Members wherever they may be found (IV, 3017), and leave for a committee to sit during sessions does not release its Members from liability to arrest (IV, 3020). A motion to require the Sergeant-at-Arms to report progress in securing a quorum is in order during a call of the House (VI, 687). A Member who appears and answers is not subject to arrest (IV, 3019), and in a case where a Member complained of wrongful arrest the House ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to investigate and amend the return of his warrant (IV, 3021). A Member once arrested having escaped it was held that he might not be brought back on the same warrant (IV, 3022). A privileged motion to compel the attendance of absent Members is in order after the Chair has announced that a quorum has not responded on a negative recorded vote on a motion to adjourn (Nov. 2, 1987, p. 30386). |
| Sec. 771a. Motions during a call. | During the call, which in later practice has been invoked only in absence of a quorum, incidental motions may be agreed to by less than a quorum (IV, 2994, 3029; VI, 681), and under clause 6(a)(4) of rule XV a point of order of no quorum may not be made during the offering, consideration, and disposition of any motion incidental to a call of the House. This includes motions for the previous question (V, 5458), to reconsider and to lay the motion to reconsider on the table (V, 5607, 5608), to adjourn, which is in order even in the midst of the call of the roll for excuses (IV, 2998) or while the House is dividing on a motion for a call of the House (VIII, 2644), and which takes precedence over a motion to dispense with further proceedings under the call (VIII, 2643), and an appeal from a decision of the Chair (IV, 3010, 3037; VI, 681). The yeas and nays may also be ordered (IV, 3010), but a question of privilege may not be raised unless it be something connected immediately with the proceedings (III, 2545). Motions not strictly incidental to the call are not admitted, as for a recess (IV, 2995, 2996), to excuse a Member from voting even when otherwise in order (IV, 3007), to enforce the statute relating to deductions of pay of Members for absence (IV, 3011; VI, 682), to construe a rule or make a new rule (IV, 3008), or to order a change of a Journal record (IV, 3009). A motion for a call of the House is not debatable (VI, 683, 688). The motion to compel the attendance of absent Members, being neither debatable nor amendable, is not subject to a motion to lay on the table (Speaker Wright, Nov. 2, 1987, p. 30389). |
| Sec. 771b. Quorum call by clerks. | (b) Subject to clause 5 of this rule, when a call of the House in the absence of a quorum is ordered, the Speaker shall name one or more clerks to tell the Members who are present. The names of those present shall be recorded by such clerks, and shall be entered in the Journal and the absentees noted, but the doors shall not be closed except when so ordered by the Speaker. Members shall have not less than fifteen minutes from the ordering of a call of the House to have their presence recorded. |
| Sec. 772. Count of those not voting to make a quorum of record on a roll call. | 3. On the demand of any Member, or at the suggestion of the Speaker, the names of Members sufficient to make a quorum in the Hall of the House who do not vote shall be noted by the Clerk and recorded in the Journal, and reported to the Speaker with the names of the Members voting, and be counted and announced in determining the presence of a quorum to do business. |
| Sec. 773. The call of the House in the new form. | 4. Subject to clause 5 of this rule, whenever a quorum fails to vote on any question, and a quorum is not present and objection is made for that cause, unless the House shall adjourn there shall be a call of the House, and the Sergeant-at-Arms shall forthwith proceed to bring in absent Members, and the yeas and nays on the pending question shall at the same time be con- |
| Sec. 774a. Conduct of the call in the new form. | Under this clause the roll is called over twice, and those appearing after their names are called may vote (IV, 3052). A motion to adjourn may be made before the call begins (IV, 3050). After the roll has been called, and while the proceedings to obtain a quorum are going on, motions to excuse Members are in order (IV, 3051). The Sergeant-at-Arms is required to detain those who are present and bring in absentees (IV, 3045-3048), and he does this without the authority of a resolution adopted by those present (IV, 3049). There is doubt as to whether or not a warrant is necessary but it is customary for the Speaker to issue one on the authority of the rule (IV, 3043; VI, 702). When arrested, Members are arraigned at the bar, and either vote or are noted as present, after which they are discharged (IV, 3044). When a quorum fails to vote on a yea-and-nay vote on a motion which requires a quorum to be present, and a quorum is not present, the Chair takes notice of the fact, and unless the House adjourns, a call of the House is ordered by the Chair under this rule, and the vote is taken on the question de novo (IV, 3045, 3052; VI, 679). An automatic roll call results under this rule when the objection that a quorum is not present and voting is made after a viva voice vote (VI, 697). An automatic roll call under this rule is not in order in Committee of the Whole (Aug. 2, 1966, p. 17844). Pursuant to clause 5(b) of rule I, where the Speaker has announced that |
| Sec. 774b1. Use of electronic equipment in recording roll calls. | 5. (a) Unless, in his discretion, the Speaker orders the calling of the names of Members in the manner provided for under the preceding provisions of this rule, upon any roll call or quorum call the names of such Members voting or present shall be recorded by electronic device. In any such case, the Clerk shall enter in the Journal and publish in the Congressional Record, in alphabetical order in each category, a list of names of those Members recorded as voting in the affirmative, of those Members recorded as voting in the negative, and of those Members answering present, as the case may be, as if their names had been called in the manner provided for under such preceding provisions. Members shall have not less than fifteen minutes from the ordering of the roll call or quorum call to have their vote or presence recorded. |
| Sec. 774b2. ``15and5'' voting. | (b) The Speaker may, in his discretion, reduce to not less than five minutes the time within which a rollcall vote by electronic device may be taken-- |
| Sec. 774c. Quorum; when not required. | (1) before or during the offering of prayer; |
| Sec. 774d. Speaker's discretion to recognize for motion for call of House. | (2) Notwithstanding subparagraph (1), it shall always be in order for a Member to move a call of the House when recognized for that purpose by the Speaker, and when a quorum has been established pursuant to a call of the House, further proceedings under the call shall be considered as dispensed with unless the Speaker, in his discretion, recognizes for a motion under clause 2(a) of this rule or for a motion to dispense with further proceedings under the call. |
| Sec. 774e. Yeas and nays ordered on certain questions. | 7. The yeas and nays shall be considered as ordered when the Speaker puts the question on final passage or adoption of any bill, joint resolution, or conference report making general appropriations or increasing Federal income tax rates, or on final adoption of any concurrent resolution on the budget or conference report thereon. |
| Sec. 775. Motions reduced to writing and entered on the Journal. | 1. Every motion made to the House and entertained by the Speaker shall be reduced to writing on the demand of any Member, and shall be entered on the Journal with the name of the Member making it, unless it is withdrawn the same day. |
| Sec. 776. Stating and withdrawing of motions. | 2. When a motion has been made, the Speaker shall state it or (if it be in writing) cause it to be read aloud by the Clerk before being debated, and it shall then be in possession of the House, but may be withdrawn at any time before a decision or amendment. |
| Sec. 777. Conditions of withdrawal of motions. | Even after the affirmative side has been taken on a division the withdrawal of a motion has been permitted (V, 5348), also after a viva voce vote and the ordering and appointment of tellers (V, 5349). While the House was dividing on a second of the previous question (this second is no longer required) on a motion to refer a resolution, the Member was permitted to withdraw the resolution (V, 5350); also a motion was once withdrawn after the previous question had been ordered on an appeal from a decision on a point of order as to the motion (V, 5356). A motion to suspend the rules could be withdrawn at any time before a second was ordered (V, 6844; VIII, 3405, 3419), even on another suspension day (V, 6844) but not after a second was ordered, except by unanimous consent (VIII, 3420); but where a second is not required on a motion to suspend the rules under clause 2 of rule XXVII, the motion may be withdrawn at any time before action is taken thereon (July 27, 1981, p. 17563). A motion may be withdrawn although an amendment may have been offered and be pending (V, 5347; VI, 373; VIII, 2639), and in the House an amendment, whether simple or in the nature of a substitute, may be withdrawn at any time before an amendment is adopted thereto or decision is had thereon (VI, 587; VIII, 2332, 2764); and the same right to withdraw an amendment exists in the House as in Committee of the Whole (IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21315); but unanimous consent to withdraw an amendment is required in Committee of the Whole (V, 5221, 5753; VI, 570; VIII, 2465, 2859, 3405). Withdrawal of a pending resolution is not in order when the absence of a quorum has been announced by the Chair (Oct. 14, 1970, pp. 36665-69). A motion that the House resolve into the Committee of the Whole for the consideration of a bill may be withdrawn pending a point of order against consideration of the bill, and if the motion is withdrawn the Chair is not obligated to rule on the point of order (VIII, 3405; Dec. 3, 1979, p. 34385). Unanimous consent is not required to withdraw a pending unanimous-consent request (Speaker O'Neill, Dec. 16, 1985, p. 36575). |
| Sec. 778. The question of consideration. | 3. When any motion or proposition is made, the question, Will the House now consider it? shall not be put unless demanded by a Member. |
| Sec. 779. Raising the question of consideration. | A Member may demand the question of consideration, although the Member in charge of the bill may claim the floor for debate (V, 4944, 4945; VI, 404); but after debate has begun the demand may not be made (V, 4937-4939). It has been admitted, however, after the making of a motion to lay on the table (V, 4943). The demand for the question of consideration may not be prevented by a motion for the previous question (V, 5478), but after the previous question is ordered it may not be demanded (V, 4965, 4966), even on another day, unless other business has intervened |
| Sec. 780. Questions subject to the question of consideration. | The question of consideration may be demanded against a matter of the highest privilege, such as the right of a Member to his seat (V, 4941), a question involving the privilege of the House (VI, 560), against the motion to reconsider (VIII, 2437), but not against a bill returned with the President's objection (V, 4960, 4970). It may not be raised against a proposition before the House for reference merely, as a petition (V, 4964). It may not be demanded against a class of business in order under a special order or rule, but may be demanded against each bill individually (IV, 3308, 3309; V, 4958, 4959). It may be raised against a bill which has been made a special order (IV, 3175; V, 4953-4957), unless the order provides for immediate consideration (V, 4960), and it may be raised against a bill on the Union Calendar on Calendar Wednesday before resolving into the Committee of the Whole even after one Wednesday has been devoted to it (VIII, 2447); but it may not be raised against a report from the Committee on Rules relating to the order of considering individual bills (V, 4961-4963; VIII, 2440, 2441). |
| Sec. 781. Relation of question of consideration to points of order. | A point of order against the eligibility for consideration of a bill which if sustained might prevent consideration should be made and decided before the question of consideration is put (V, 4950, 4951; VII, 2439), but if the point relates merely to the manner of considering, it should be passed on afterwards (V, 4950). In general, after the House has decided to consider, a point of order raised with the object of preventing consideration, in whole or part, comes too late (IV, 4598; V, 4952, 6912-6914), but on a conference report the question of consideration |
| Sec. 781a. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that imposes several requirements on committees with respect to ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 658b-c), establishes points of order to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d), and precludes the consideration of a rule or order waiving such points of order in the House (sec. 426(a); 2 U.S.C. 658e(a)). The latter provision also prescribes that such points of order be disposed of by putting the question of consideration with respect to the proposition against which they are lodged (sec. 426(b); 2 U.S.C. 658e(b)). See Sec. 1007, infra. |
| Sec. 782. Precedence of privileged motions. | 4. When a question is under debate, no motion shall be received but to adjourn, to lay on the table, for the previous question (which motions shall be decided without debate), to postpone to a day certain, to refer, or to amend, or postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the foregoing order; and no motion to postpone to a day certain, to refer, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, shall be again allowed on the same day at the same stage of the question. After the previous question shall have been ordered on the passage of a bill or joint resolution one motion to recommit shall be in order, and the Speaker shall give preference in recognition for such purpose to a Member who is opposed to the bill or joint resolution. However, with respect to any motion to recommit with instructions after the previous question shall have been ordered, it always shall be in order to debate such motion for ten minutes before the vote is taken on that motion, except that on demand of the floor manager for the majority it shall be in |
| Sec. 783. The motion to adjourn. | The motion to adjourn not only has the highest precedence when a question is under debate, but, with certain restrictions, it has the highest privilege under all other conditions. Even questions of privilege (III, 2521), such as a motion privileged under the Constitution (VIII, 2641), the filing of a privileged report pursuant to clause 4(a) of rule XI (Apr. 29, 1985, p. 9699), a motion to suspend the rules (Aug. 11, 1992, p. ----), and the motion to reconsider yield to it (V, 5605), and a conference report may defer it only until the |
| Sec. 784. Motion to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn and motion to authorize the Speaker to declare a recess. | The motion to fix the day and time to which the House shall adjourn, in its present form, was included in this clause of rule XVI and given privileged status in the 93d Congress (H. Res. 6, Jan. 3, 1973, pp. 26-27). At several times during the 19th Century the motion to fix the day to which the House should adjourn was included within the rule as to the precedence of motions but was dropped because of its use in obstructive tactics (V, 5301, 5379). The following precedents relate to the use of the motion in its earlier form: No question being under debate, a motion to fix the day to which the House should adjourn, already made, was held not to give way to a motion to adjourn (V, 5381). But if the motion to adjourn be made first, the motion to fix the day or for a recess is not entertained (V, 5302). The motion to fix the day is not debatable under the practice of the House (V, 5379, 5380; VIII, 2648, 3367), requires a quorum for adoption (IV, 2954; June 19, 1975, p. 19789; June 22, 1976, p. 19755), and is only in order if offered on the day on which the adjournment applies (Speaker pro tempore O'Neill, Sept. 23, 1976, p. 32104). The House may convene and adjourn twice on the same calendar day pursuant to a motion under this clause that when the House adjourn it adjourn to a time certain later in the day, thereby meeting for two legislative days on the same calendar day (Nov. 17, 1981, p. 27771; Oct. 29, 1987, p. 29933; June 29, 1995, p. ----). When the Speaker exercises his discretion to entertain ``at any time'' a motion that when the House adjourn it stand adjourned to a day and time certain, the motion is of equal privilege with the simple motion to adjourn and takes precedence over a pending question on which the vote has been objected to for lack of a quorum (Nov. 17, 1981, p. 27770). The motion is not subject to the motion to lay on the table since it is not debatable and the precedence conferred on the motion to table only applies to a question that is ``under debate'' (Nov. 17, 1981, p. 27770). |
| Sec. 785. Motion to lay on the table. | The motion to lay on the table is used in the House for a final, adverse disposition of a matter without debate (V, 5389), and is in order before the Member entitled to prior recognition for debate has begun his remarks (V, 5391- 5395; VIII, 2649, 2650). Under the explicit terms of this clause, the motion is not debatable (Oct. 17, 1991, p. 26749). The motion is applicable to a motion to reconsider (VIII, 2652, 2659), a motion to postpone to a day certain (VIII, 2654, 2657), a resolution presenting a question of privilege (VI, 560), a privileged resolution offered at the direction of a party caucus electing Members to committees (Feb. 5, 1997, p. ----), an appeal from a decision of the Chair (VIII, 3453), a motion to discharge a committee from a resolu- |
| Sec. 786. The motions to postpone. | As indicated in the rule, the motions to postpone are two in number and distinct: One to postpone to a day certain; the other to postpone indefinitely. Each must apply to the whole and not a part of the pending proposition (V, 5306). Neither may be entertained after the previous question is ordered (V, 5319-5321; VIII, 2616, 2617), or be applied to a special order providing for the consideration of a class of bills (V, 4958); but when a bill comes before the House under the terms of a special order that assigns a day merely, a motion to postpone may be applied to the bill (IV, 3177-3182). Business postponed to a day certain is in order on that day immediately after the approval of the Journal and disposition of business on the Speaker's Table, unless displaced by more highly privileged business (VIII, 2614). Where consideration of a measure postponed to a day certain resumes as unfinished business in the House, recognition for debate does not begin anew but recommences from the point where it was interrupted (June 10, 1980, p. 13801). It is not in order to postpone pending business to Calendar Wednesday (VIII, 2614), but if so postponed by consent, when consideration is concluded on that Wednesday, the remainder of the day is devoted to business in order under the Calendar Wednesday rule (VII, 970). The motion is not used in Committee of the Whole, but a motion that a bill be reported with the recommendation that it be postponed is in order in the Committee of the Whole proceeding under the general rules of the House (IV, 4765; VIII, 2372), is debatable (VIII, 2372), and is a preferential motion (VIII, 2372, 2615), but debate is confined to the advisability of postponement only (VIII, 2372). It has been held in order to postpone an appeal (VIII, 2613). A bill under consideration in the morning hour may not be made a special order by a motion to postpone to a day certain (IV, 3164). |
| Sec. 787. The motions to refer. | The parliamentary motion to refer is explicitly recognized and given status in four different situations under House rules: The ordinary motion provided for in the first sentence of this clause; the motion to recommit with or without instructions after the previous question has been ordered on a bill or joint resolution to final passage, provided in the second sentence of this clause; the motion to commit, with or without instructions, pending the motion for or after ordering of the previous question as provided in clause 1 of rule XVII (V, 5569) and the motion to refer, with or without instructions, pending a vote in the House to strike out the enacting clause as provided in clause 7 of rule XXIII. The terms ``refer,'' ``commit,'' and ``recommit'' are sometimes used interchangeably (V, 5521; VIII, 2736), but when used in the precise manner and situation contemplated in each rule, reflect certain differences based upon whether the question to which applied is ``under debate,'' whether the motion itself is debatable, whether a Minority Member or a Member opposed to the question to which the motion is applied is entitled to a priority of recognition, and whether the prohibition in clause 4(b) of rule XI against a special order reported from the Committee on Rules denying a motion to recommit a bill or joint resolution pending final passage is applicable. The motion may not be used in direct form in Committee of the Whole (IV, 4721; VIII, 2326); and where a bill is being considered under the provisions of a resolution stating that ``at the conclusion of the consideration of the bill for amendment under the five-minute rule the Committee shall rise and report the bill back to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted,'' a motion that the Committee rise and report to the House with the recommendation that the bill be recommitted to the legislative committee reporting it is not in order (Aug. 10, 1950, p. 12219). It may be made after the engrossment and third reading of a bill, even though the previous question may not have been ordered (V, 5562, 5563). |
| Sec. 788. Instructions with the motion to refer. | The motion to refer may specify that the reference shall be to a select as well as a standing committee (IV, 4401) without regard for rules of jurisdiction (IV, 4375; V, 5527) and may provide for reference to another committee than that reporting the bill (VIII, 2696, 2736), or to the Committee of the Whole (V, 5552-5553), and even that the committee be endowed with power to send for persons and papers (IV, 4402). Unless the previous question is ordered the motion may be amended (VIII, 2712, 2738), in part (V, 5754); by substitute (VIII, 2698, 2738, 2759); or by adding instructions (V, 5521, 5570, 5582-5584; VIII, 2695, 2762; Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). The ordering of the previous question on a bill and all amendments to final passage precludes debate (other than that specified in clause 4 of rule XVI) on a motion to recommit but does not exclude amendments to such motion (V, 5582; VIII, 2741) and unless the previous question is ordered on a motion to recommit with instructions, the motion is open to amendment germane to the bill (see V, 6888; VIII, 2711), and a substitute striking out all of the proposed instructions and substituting |
| Sec. 789. Repetition of motions. | The rule specifies that the motions to postpone and refer shall not be repeated on the same day at the same stage of the question (V, 5301, 5591; VIII, 2738, 2760). Under the practice, also, a motion to adjourn may be repeated only after intervening business (V, 5373; VIII, 2814), debate (V, 5374), the ordering of the yeas and nays (V, 5376, 5377), decision of the Chair on a question of order (V, 5378), reception of a message (V, 5375). The motion to lay on the table may also be repeated after intervening business (V, 5398-5400); but the ordering of the previous question (V, 5709), a call of the House (V, 5401), or decision of a question of order have been held not to be such intervening business, it being essential that the pending matter be carried to a new stage in order to permit a repetition of the motion (V, 5709). |
| Sec. 791. Division of the question. | 6. On the demand of any Member, before the question is put, a question shall be divided if it includes propositions so distinct in substance that one being taken away a substantive proposition shall remain: Provided, That any motion or resolution to elect the members or any portion of the members of the standing committees of the House and the joint standing committees shall not be divisible, nor shall any resolution or order reported by the Committee on Rules, providing a special order of business be divisible. |
| Sec. 792. Principles governing the division of the question. | The principle that there must be at least two substantive propositions in order to justify division is insisted on rigidly (V, 6108-6113), as failure to do so produces difficulties (III, 1725). The question may not be divided after it has been put (V, 6162), or after the yeas and nays have been ordered (V, 6160, 6161); but division of the question may be demanded after the previous question is ordered (V, 5468, 6149; VIII, 3173). In passing on a demand for division the Chair considers only substantive propositions and not the merits of the question presented (V, 6122). It seems to be most proper, also, that the division should depend on grammatical structure rather than on the legislative propositions involved (I, 394; V, 6119), but a question presenting two propositions grammatically is not divisible if either does not constitute a substantive proposition when considered alone (VII, 3165). Thus a resolution censuring a Member and adopting a report of a committee thereon, which recommends censure on the basis of the committee's findings, is not divisible since those questions are substantially equivalent (Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1978, pp. 37016-17); and an adjournment resolution that also authorizes the receipt of veto messages from the President during the adjournment is not subject to a division of the question, as the receipt authority would be nonsensical standing alone (June 30, 1976, p. 21702); however, a concurrent resolution on the budget is subject to a demand for a division of the question if, for example, the resolution grammatically and substantively relates to different fiscal years (May 7, 1980, pp. 10185-87), or includes a separate, hortatory section having its own grammatical and substantive meaning (Speaker Foley, Mar. 5, 1992, p. ----). Decisions have been made that a resolution affecting two individuals may be divided, although such division may involve a reconstruction of the text (I, 623; V, 6119-6121). The better practice seems to be, however, that this reconstruction of the text should be made by the adoption of a substitute amendment of two branches, rather than by interpretation of the Chair (II, 1621). But merely formal words, such as ``resolved,'' may be supplied by interpretation of the Chair (V, 6114-6118). A resolution with two resolve clauses separately certifying the contemptuous conduct of two individuals is divisible (Feb. 27, 1986, p. 3040). |
| Sec. 793. Motion to strike out and insert not divisible. | 7. A motion to strike out and insert is indivisible, but a motion to strike out being lost shall neither preclude amendment nor motion to strike out and insert; * * * |
| Sec. 794. Germane amendments. | * * * and no motion or proposition on a subject different from that under consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment. |
| Sec. 795. Proposition to which amendment must be germane. | Under the later practice an amendment should be germane to the particular paragraph or section to which it is offered (V, 5811-5820; VIII, 2922, 2936; Oct. 14, 1971, pp. 36194, 36211; Sept. 19, 1986, p. 24729), without reference to subject matter of other titles not yet read (July 31, 1990, p. 20816), and an amendment inserting an additional section should be germane to the portion of the bill to which it is offered (V, 5822; VIII, 2927, 2931; July 14, 1970, pp. 24033-35), though it may be germane to |
| Sec. 796. Instructions to committees and amendments thereto. | The rule that amendments must be germane applies to amendments to the instructions in a motion to instruct conferees (VIII, 3230, 3235), and the test of an amendment to a motion to instruct conferees is the relationship of the amendment to the subject matter of the House or Senate version of the bill (Deschler-Brown Precedents, vol. 11, ch. 28, sec. 28.2). The rule of germaneness similarly applies to the instructions in a motion to recommit a bill to a committee of the House, as it is not in order to propose as part of a motion to recommit any proposition that would not have been germane if proposed as an amendment to the bill in the House (V, 5529-5541; VIII, 2708-2712; Mar. 2, 1967, p. 5155), and |
| Sec. 797. Senate amendments and matter contained in conference reports. | In the consideration of Senate amendments to a House bill an amendment must be germane to the particular Senate amendment to which it is offered (V, 6188-6191; VIII, 2936; May 14, 1963, p. 8506; Dec. 13, 1980, p. 34097), and it is not sufficient that an amendment to a Senate amendment is germane to the original House bill if it is not germane to the subject matter of a Senate amendment that merely inserts new matter and does not strike out House provisions (V, 6188; VIII, 2936). But where a Senate amendment proposes to strike out language in a House bill, the test of the germaneness of a motion to recede and concur with an amendment is the relationship between the language in the motion and the provisions in the House bill proposed to be stricken, as well as those to be inserted, by the Senate amendment (June 8, 1943, p. 5511; June 15, 1943, p. 5899; Dec. 12, 1974, pp. 39272-73). The test of the germaneness of an amendment to a motion to concur in a Senate amendment with an amendment is the relationship between the amendment and the motion, and not between the amendment and the Senate amendment to which the motion has been offered (Aug. 3, 1973, Deschler-Brown Precedents, vol. 11, ch. 28, sec. 27.6). Formerly, a Senate amendment was not subject to the point of order that it was not germane to the House bill (VIII, 3425), but under changes in the rules points of order may be made and separate votes demanded on portions of Senate amendments and conference reports containing language that would not have been germane if offered in the House. Clause 4 of rule XXVIII permits points of order against language in a conference report which was originally in the Senate bill or amendment and which would not have been germane if offered to the House-passed version, and permits a separate motion to reject such portion of the conference report if found non-germane (Oct. 15, 1986, pp. 31498-99). For purposes of that rule, the House-passed version, against which Senate provisions are compared, is that finally committed to conference, taking into consideration all amendments adopted by the House, including House amendments to Senate amendments (July 28, |
| Sec. 798a. Subject matter as test of germaneness. | An amendment must relate to the subject matter under consideration. To a bill seeking to eliminate wage discrimination based on the sex of the employee, an amendment to make the provisions of the bill applicable to discrimination based on race was ruled out as not germane (July 25, 1962, p. 14778). To a bill establishing an office in the Department of the Interior to manage biological information, an amendment addressing socioeconomic matters was held not germane (Oct. 26, 1993, p. ----). To a bill authorizing military assistance to Israel and funds for the United Nations Emergency Force in the Middle East, an amendment expressing the sense of Congress that the President conduct negotiations to obtain a peace treaty in the Middle East and the resumption of diplomatic and trade relations between Arab nations and the U.S. and Israel was held not germane (Dec. 11, 1973, pp. 40842-43). To a concurrent resolution expressing Congressional concern over certain domestic policies of a foreign government and urging that government to improve those internal problems in order to enhance better relations with the United States, amendments expressing the necessity for U.S. diplomatic initiatives as a consequence of that foreign government's policies are not germane (July 12, 1978, pp. 20500-05). To a resolution amending several clauses of a rule of the House but confined in its scope to the issue of access to committee hearings and meetings, an amendment to another clause of that rule relating to committee staffing was held not germane (Mar. 7, 1973, p. 6714). To a title of a bill that only addresses the administrative structure of a new department and not its authority to carry out transferred programs, an amendment prohibiting the department from withholding funds to carry out certain objectives is not germane (June 12, 1979, pp. 14485-86). To an amendment authorizing the use of funds for a specific study, an amendment naming any program established in the bill for an unrelated purpose for a specified Senator was held not germane (Aug. 15, 1986, p. 22075). To one of two reconciliation bills reported by the Budget Committee, an amendment making a prospective indirect change to the other reconciliation bill not then pending before the House was held not germane (June 25, 1997, p. ----). To a bill reauthorizing the National Sea Grant College Program, a proposal to amend existing law to provide for automatic con- |
| Sec. 798b. Fundamental purpose as test of germaneness. | Whether or not an amendment is germane should be judged from the provisions of its text rather than from the motives that circumstances may suggest (V, 5783, 5803; Dec. 13, 1973, pp. 41267-69; Aug. 15, 1974, pp. 28438-39). Thus an amendment that does relate to the subject matter of the bill is not subject to challenge solely on the basis that it may be characterized as private legislation benefitting certain individuals, offered to a public bill (May 30, 1984, p. 14495). The fundamental purpose of an amendment must be germane to the fundamental purpose of the bill (VIII, 2911). Thus for a bill proposing to accomplish a result by methods comprehensive in scope, a committee amendment in the nature of a substitute seeking to achieve the same result was held germane where it was shown that additional provisions not contained in the original bill were merely incidental conditions or exceptions that were related to the fundamental purpose of the bill (Aug. 2, 1973, pp. 27673- 75; July 8, 1975, p. 21633; |
| Sec. 798c. Committee jurisdiction as test of germaneness. | An amendment when considered as a whole should be within the jurisdiction of the committee reporting the bill, although committee jurisdiction over the subject of an amendment and of the original bill is not the exclusive test of germaneness (Aug. 2, 1973, pp. 27673-75), and the Chair relates the amendment to the bill in its perfected form (Aug. 17, 1972, p. 28913). To a bill reported from the Committee on Agriculture providing price support programs for various agricultural commodities, an amendment repealing price control authority for all commodities under an act reported from the Committee on Banking and Currency is not germane (July 19, 1973, pp. 24950-51). To a bill reported from the Committee on Ways and Means providing for a temporary increase in the public debt ceiling for the current fiscal year (not directly amending the Second Liberty Bond Act), an amendment proposing permanent changes in that Act and also affecting budget and appropriation procedures (matters within the jurisdiction of other House committees) was held not germane (Nov. 7, 1973, pp. 36240-41). To a bill relating to intelligence activities of the Executive Branch, an amendment effecting a change in the rules of the House by directing a committee to impose an oath of secrecy on its members and staff was held not germane (May 1, 1991, p. 9669). To a bill reported by the Committee on Government Operations creating an executive agency to protect consumers, an amendment conferring on Congressional committees with oversight over consumer protection the authority to intervene in judicial or administrative proceedings (a rule-making provision within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Rules) was ruled not germane (Nov. 6, 1975, p. 35373). Similarly, to a bill reported from the Committee on Government Operations creating a new department, transferring the administration of existing laws to it and authorizing appropriations to carry out the Act subject to provisions in existing law, an amendment prohibiting the use of funds so authorized to carry out a designated funding program transferred to the department is not necessarily germane, where the purpose of the authorization is to allow appropriations in general appropria- |
| Sec. 798d. Various tests of germaneness are not exclusive. | The standards by which the germaneness of an amendment may be measured, as set forth in Sec. Sec. 798a-c, supra, are not exclusive; an amendment and the matter to which offered may be related to some degree under the tests of subject matter, purpose, and jurisdiction, and still not be considered germane under the precedents. Thus, the following have been held not to be germane: To a proposition relating to the terms of Senators, an amendment changing the manner of their election (V, 5882); to a bill |
| Sec. 798e. One individual proposition not germane to another. | One individual proposition may not be amended by another individual proposition even though the two belong to the same class (VIII, 2951-2953, 2963-2966, 3047; Jan. 29, 1986, p. 684; Oct. 22, 1990, p. ----; Oct. 24, 1991, p. 28561). Thus, the following are not germane: To a bill proposing the admission of one Territory into the Union, an amendment for admission of another Territory (V, 5529); to a bill amending a law in one particular, amending the law in another particular (VIII, 2949); to a proposition to appropriate or to authorize appropriations for only one year (and containing no provisions extending beyond that year), an amendment to extend the authorization or appropriation to another year (VIII, 2913; Nov. 13, 1980, pp. 29523-28; see also May 2, 1979, p. 9564; Oct. 12, 1979, pp. 28097-99); to a measure earmaking funds in an appropriation bill, an amendment authorizing the program for which the appropriation is made (Nov. 15, 1989, p. 29019); to a bill for the relief of one individual, an amendment proposing similar relief for another (V, 5826-5829); to a resolution providing a special order for one bill, an amendment to include another bill (V, 5834-5836); to a provision for extermination of the cotton-boll weevil, an amendment including the gypsy moth (V, 5832); to a provision for a clerk for one committee, an amendment for a clerk to another committee (V, 5833); to a Senate amendment dealing with use of its contingent fund for art restoration in that body, a proposed House amendment for use of the House contingent fund for a similar but broader purpose (May 24, 1990, p. 12203); to a bill prohibiting transportation of messages relative to dealing in cotton futures, an amendment adding wheat, corn, etc. (VIII, 3001); to a bill prohibiting cotton futures, an amendment prohibiting wheat futures (VIII, 3001); to a bill for the relief of certain aliens, an amendment for the relief of other persons who are not aliens (May 14, 1975, p. 14360); |
| Sec. 798f. A general provision not germane to a specific subject. | A specific subject may not be amended by a provision general in nature, even when of the class of the specific subject (V, 5843-5846; VIII, 2997, 2998; July 31, 1985, pp. 21832-34; see also Procedure, ch. 28, sec. 8). Thus the following are not germane: To a bill for the admission of one Territory into the Union, an amendment providing for the admission of several other Territories (V, 5837); to a bill relating to all corporations engaged in interstate commerce, an amendment relating to all corporations (V, 5842); to a bill modifying an existing law as to one specific particular, an amendment relating to the terms of the law other than those dealt with by the bill (V, 5806-5808); to a bill amending an existing law in one particular, an amendment amending other laws and more comprehensive in scope (Nov. 19, 1993, pp. ----, -- --, ----); to an amendment addressing particular educational requirements imposed on educational agencies by the underlying bill, an amendment addressing any requirements imposed on educational agencies by the underlying bill (Mar. 21, 1994, p. ----); to a bill reauthorizing programs administered by the Economic Development Administration and the Appalachian Regional Commission, an amendment providing for the waiver of any Federal regulation that would interfere with economic development (May 12, 1994, p. ----); to a bill amending the war-time prohibition act in one particular, an amendment repealing that act (VIII, 2949); to a bill proscribing certain picketing in the District of Columbia, an amendment making the provisions thereof applicable throughout the United States (Aug. 22, 1966, p. 20113); to a bill dealing with enforcement of United Nations sanctions against one country in relation to a specific trade commodity, an amendment imposing United States sanctions against all countries for all commodities and communications (Mar. 14, 1977, pp. 7446-47); to a bill authorizing funds for radio broadcasting to Cuba, an amendment broadening the bill to include broad- |
| Sec. 798g. Specific subjects germane to general propositions of the class. | A general subject may be amended by specific propositions of the same class (VIII, 3002, 3009, 3012; see also Procedure, ch. 28, sec. 9). Thus, the following have been held to be germane: To a bill admitting several Territories into the Union, an amendment adding another Territory (V, 5838); to a bill providing for the construction of buildings in each of two cities, an amendment providing for similar buildings in several other cities (V, 5840); to a resolution embodying two distinct phases of international relationship, an amendment embodying a third (V, 5839); to an amendment prohibiting indirect assistance to several countries, an amendment to include additional countries within that prohibition (Aug. 3, 1978, p. 24244); and to a portion of a bill providing two categories |
| Sec. 799. Amendments to bills amending existing law. | To a bill amending a general law on a specific point an amendment relating to the terms of the law rather than to those of the bill was ruled not to be germane (V, 5808; VIII, 2707, 2708); thus a bill amending several sections of one title of the United States Code does not necessarily |
| Sec. 800. Amendments imposing conditions, qualifications, and limitations. | Restrictions, qualifications, and limitations sought to be added by way of amendment must be germane to the provisions of the bill. Thus, to a bill authorizing the funding of a variety of programs that satisfy several stated requirements, in order to accomplish a general purpose, an amendment conditioning the availability of those funds upon implementation by their recipients of another program related to that general purpose is germane (June 18, 1973, pp. 20100-01); an amendment delaying operation of a proposed enactment pending an ascertainment of a fact is germane when the fact to be ascertained relates solely to the subject matter of the bill (VIII, 3029; Dec. 15, 1982, pp. 30957-61); to a bill authorizing funds for military procurement and construction, an amendment declaring that none of the funds be used to carry out military operations in North Vietnam was held germane (Mar. 2, 1967, p. 5143). To a bill authorizing the insurance of vessels, an amendment denying such insurance to vessels charging exorbitant rates is germane (VIII, 3023), and to a bill authorizing changes in railroad rates, an amendment is germane which provides that such changes shall not include increases in rates (VIII, 3022). To a bill authorizing humanitarian and evacuation assistance to war refugees, an amendment making such authorization contingent on a report to Congress on costs of a portion of the evacuation program (but not requiring implementation of any new program) is germane (Apr. 23, |
| Sec. 801. Dilatory motions pending motions to suspend rules. | 8. Pending a motion to suspend the rules, the Speaker may entertain one motion that the House adjourn; but after the result thereon is announced he shall not entertain any other motion till the vote is taken on suspension. |
| Sec. 802. Privileged motion for consideration of revenue and appropriation bills. | 9. At any time after the reading of the Journal it shall be in order, by direction of the appropriate committees, to move that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the purpose of considering general appropriation bills. |
| Sec. 804. The previous question. | 1. There shall be a motion for the previous question, which, being ordered by a majority of Members voting, if a quorum be present, shall have the effect to cut off all debate and bring the House to a direct vote upon the immediate question or questions on which it has been asked and ordered. The previous question may be asked and ordered |
| Sec. 805. Effect of previous question on debate. | The previous question is the only motion used for closing debate in the House itself (V, 5456; VIII, 2662). It is not in order in Committee of the Whole (IV, 4716; Apr. 25, 1990, p. 8257) but is in order in the House as in Committee of the Whole (VI, 639). The motion may not include a provision that it shall take effect at a certain time (V, 5457). Forty minutes of debate are allowed whenever the previous question is ordered on a proposition on which there has been no debate (V, 6821; VIII, 2689; Sept. 13, 1965, p. 23602; see clause 2 of rule XXVII); but if there has been debate, even though brief, before the ordering of the previous question, the forty minutes are not allowed (V, 5499-5501). This preliminary debate should be on the merits of the question if the forty minutes of debate are to be denied for reason of it (V, 5502). The forty minutes should be demanded before division has begun on the main question (V, 5496). It may not be demanded on incidental motions, but is confined to the main question (V, 5497, 5498; VIII, 2687). It may not be demanded on a proposition that has been debated in Committee of the Whole (V, 5505), or on a conference report if the subject matter of the report was debated before being sent to conference (V, 5506, 5507). When the previous question is ordered merely on an amendment that has not been debated, the forty minutes are allowed (V, 5503); but the same liberty of debate is not allowed |
| Sec. 806. Application of the previous question. | The provisions of the rule define the application of the previous question with considerable accuracy. It may not be moved on more than one bill except by the unanimous consent of the House (V, 5461-5465), or on motions to agree to a conference report and also to dispose of differences not included in the report (V, 5464) and when ordered on a motion to send to conference applies to that motion alone and does not extend to a subsequent motion to instruct conferees (VIII, 2675). It may apply to the main question and a pending motion to refer (V, 5466; VI, 373; VIII, 2678), or to a pending resolution and a pending amendment thereto (Sept. 25, 1990, p. 25575). When a bill is reported from the Committee of the Whole with the recommendation that the enacting words be stricken out, it may be applied to the motion to concur without covering further action on the bill (V, 5342). During consideration ``in the House as in Committee of the Whole'' it may be demanded while Members still desire to offer amendments (IV, 4926-4929; VI, 639), but it may not be moved on a single section of a bill (IV, 4930). When ordered on a resolution with a preamble there is doubt of its application to the preamble, unless the motion specifies (V, 5469, 5470). It may be moved on a series of resolutions, but this does not preclude a division of the resolutions on the vote (V, 5468), although where two propositions on which the previous question is moved are related, as in the case of a special order reported from the Committee on Rules and a pending amendment thereto, a division is not in order (Sept. 25, 1990, p. 25575). The previous question is often ordered on undebatable propositions to prevent amendment (V, 5473, 5490), but may not be moved on a motion that is both undebatable and unamendable (IV, 3077). It applies to questions of privilege as to other questions (II, 1256; V, 5459, 5460; VIII, 2672). |
| Sec. 807. The right to move the previous question. | The Member in charge of the bill and having the floor may demand the previous question although another Member may propose a motion of higher privilege (VIII, 2684), but the motion of higher privilege must be put first (V, 5480; VIII, 2609, 2684), and if the Member in charge of the bill claims the floor in debate another Member may not demand the previous question (II, 1458); but having the floor, unless yielded to for debate only, any Member may make the motion although the effect may be to deprive the Member in charge of the bill (V, 5476; VIII, 2685). The Member who has called up a measure in the House has priority of recognition to move the previous question thereon, even over the chairman of the reporting committee (Oct. 1, 1986, p. 27468). And if, after debate, the Member in charge of the bill does not move the previous question, another Member may (V, 5475); but where a Member intervenes on a pend- |
| Sec. 808. The motion to commit in relation to the previous question. | The motion to commit under this rule applies to resolutions of the House alone as well as to bills (V, 5572, 5573; VIII, 2742), and to a motion to amend the Journal (V, 5574). It does not apply to a report from the Committee on Rules providing a special order of business (V, 5593-5601; VIII, 2270, 2750), or to a pending amendment to a proposition in the House (V, 5573). Although a motion to commit under this clause, with instructions to report forthwith with an amendment, has been allowed after the previous question has been ordered on a motion to dispose of Senate amendments before the stage of disagreement (V, 5575; VIII, 2744, 2745), a motion to commit under this rule does not apply to a motion disposing of Senate amendments after the stage of disagreement where utilized to displace a pending preferential motion (Speaker Albert, Sept. 16, 1976, pp. 30887-88). |
| Sec. 809. Relation of the previous question to other motions. | The motion to lay on the table may not be applied to the previous question (V, 5410, 5411); nor may it be applied to the main question after the previous question has been ordered (V, 5415-5422; VIII, 2655), or after the yeas and nays have been ordered on the demand for the previous question (V, 5408, 5409). |
| Sec. 810. Relation of previous question to failure of a quorum. | 2. A call of the House shall not be in order after the previous question is ordered, unless it shall appear upon an actual count by the Speaker that a quorum is not present. |
| Sec. 811. Questions of order pending the motion for the previous question. | 3. All incidental questions of order arising after a motion is made for the previous question, and pending such motion, shall be decided, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate. |
| Sec. 812. The motion to reconsider. | 1. When a motion has been made and carried or lost, it shall be in order for any member of the majority, on the same or succeeding day, to move for the reconsideration thereof, and such motion shall take precedence of all other questions except the consideration of a conference report or a motion to adjourn, and shall not be withdrawn after the said succeeding day without the consent of the House, and thereafter any Member may call it up for consideration: Provided, That such motion, if made during the last six days of a session, shall be disposed of when made. |
| Sec. 813. Maker of the motion to reconsider. | The mover of a proposition is entitled to prior recognition to move to reconsider (II, 1454). A Member may make the motion at any time without thereby abandoning a prior motion made by himself and pending (V, 5610). A Delegate or Resident Commissioner may not make the motion in the House (rule XII; II, 1292; VI, 240). The provision of the rule that the motion may be made ``by any member of the majority'' is construed, in case of a tie vote, to mean any member of the prevailing side (V, 5615, 5616), and the same construction applies in case of a two-thirds vote (II, 1656; V, 5617, 5618; VIII, 2778-2780). Where the yeas and nays have not been ordered recorded in the Journal, any Member, irrespective of whether he voted with the majority or not, may make the motion to reconsider (V, 5611-5613, 5689; VIII, 2775, 2785; Sept. 23, 1992, p. ----); but a Member who was absent (V, 5619), or who was paired in favor of the majority contention and did not vote, may not make the motion (V, 5614; VIII, 2774). When proxy voting was permitted in committee, it was generally held that a member who was not present at a vote, but cast his vote by proxy, did not qualify to make the motion to reconsider thereon. Any Member may object to the Chair's statement that by unanimous consent the motion to reconsider a vote is laid on the table, and the objecting Member need not have voted on the prevailing side, but if objection is made, the Chair's statement is ineffective and only a Member who voted on the prevailing side may offer the motion to reconsider the vote (Speaker pro tempore Wright, Aug. 15, 1986, p. 22139). |
| Sec. 814. Precedence of the motion to reconsider. | The precedence given the motion by the rule permits it to be made even after the previous question has been demanded (V, 5656) or while it is operating (V, 5657-5662; VIII, 2784). The motion to reconsider the vote on the engrossment of a bill may be admitted after the previous question has been moved on a motion to postpone (V, 5663), and a motion to reconsider the vote on the third reading may be made and acted on after a motion for the previous question on the passage has been made (V, 5656). It also takes precedence of the motion to go into Committee of the Whole to consider an appropriation bill (VIII, 2785), or even of a demand that the House return to committee after the appearance of a quorum (IV, 3087). But in a case wherein the House had passed a bill and disposed of a motion to reconsider the vote on its passage, it was held to be too late to reconsider the vote sustaining the decision of the Chair which brought the bill before the House (V, 5652), and that a motion |
| Sec. 815. Application of the motion to reconsider. | A motion to reconsider may be entertained, although the bill or resolution to which it applies may have gone to the other House or the President (V, 5666-5668). However, unanimous consent is required to initiate reconsideration of a measure passed by both Houses (IV, 3466-3469). The Senate may not reconsider the confirmation of a nomination after a commission has been issued by the President to a nominee and the latter has taken the oath and entered upon the duties of his office (U.S. v. Smith, 286 U.S., 6). The fact that the House had informed the Senate that it had agreed to a Senate amendment to a House bill was held not to prevent a motion to reconsider the vote on agreeing (V, 5672). When a motion is made to reconsider a vote on a bill that has gone to the Senate, a motion to recall the bill is privileged (V, 5669-5671). The motion to reconsider may be applied once only to a vote ordering the previous question (V, 5655; VIII, 2790), and may not be applied to a vote ordering the previous question that has been partially executed (V, 5653, 5654); but a vote agreeing to an order of the House has been reconsidered, although the execution of the order had begun (III, 2028; V, 5665). The vote ordering the previous question on a special order reported from the Committee on Rules may be reconsidered and is not dilatory under clause 4(b) of rule XI (Sept. 25, 1990, p. 25575). |
| Sec. 816. Effect of the motion to reconsider. | A bill is not considered passed or an amendment agreed to if a motion to reconsider is pending, the effect of the motion being to suspend the original proposition (V, 5704); and the Speaker declines to sign an enrolled bill until a pending motion to reconsider has been disposed of (V, 5705). But when the Congress expires leaving undisposed a motion to reconsider the vote whereby a simple resolution of the House has been agreed to, it is probable that the resolution would be operative; and where a bill has been enrolled, signed by the Speaker, and approved by the President, it is undoubtedly a law, even though a motion to reconsider may not have been disposed of (V, 5704, footnote). A Member-elect may not take the oath until a motion to reconsider the vote determining his title is disposed of (I, 335); but when, in such a case, the motion is disposed of, the right to be sworn is complete |
| Sec. 817. The vote on the motion to reconsider. | The motion to reconsider is agreed to by majority vote, even when the vote reconsidered requires two-thirds for affirmative action (II, 1656; V, 5617, 5618; VIII, 2795), or when only one-fifth is required for affirmative action, as in votes ordering the yeas and nays (V, 5689- 5692, 6029; VIII, 2790). But one motion to reconsider the yeas and nays having been acted on, another motion to reconsider is not in order (V, 6037). |
| Sec. 818. Relation of the motion to reconsider to the motion to lay on the table. | A vote on the motion to lay on the table may be reconsidered whether the decision be in the affirmative (V, 5628, 5695, 6288; VIII, 2785) or in the negative (V, 5629). It is in order to reconsider the vote laying an appeal on the table (V, 5630), although during proceedings under a call of the House this motion was once ruled out (V, 5631). The motion to reconsider may not be applied to the vote whereby the House has laid another motion to reconsider on the table (V, 5632-5640; June 20, 1967, pp. 16497-98); and a motion to reconsider may be laid on the table only before the Chair has put the question on the motion to a vote (Sept. 20, 1979, p. 25512). |
| Sec. 819. Debate on the motion to reconsider. | A motion to reconsider is debatable only if the motion proposed to be reconsidered was debatable (V, 5694-5699; VIII, 2437, 2792; Sept. 13, 1965, p. 23608); so the motion to reconsider a vote ordering the previous question is not debat- |
| Sec. 820. Application of motion to reconsider to bills in committees. | 2. No bill, petition, memorial, or resolution referred to a committee, or reported therefrom for printing and recommitment, shall be brought back into the House on a motion to reconsider; * * * |
| Sec. 821. Requirement that reports of committees be in writing and be printed. | This clause was first adopted in 1860, and amended in 1872, to prevent a practice of using the privilege of the motion to reconsider to secure consideration of bills otherwise not in order (V, 5647). There is a question as to whether or not the rule applies to a case wherein the House, after considering a bill, recommits it (V, 5648-5650). After a committee has reported a bill it is too late to reconsider the vote by which it was referred (V, 5651). 2. * * * and all bills, petitions, memorials, or resolutions reported from a committee shall be accompanied by reports in writing, which shall be printed. |
| Sec. 822. Amendments to text and to title. | When a motion or proposition is under consideration a motion to amend and a motion to amend that amendment shall be in order, and it shall also be in order to offer a further amendment by way of substitute, to which one amendment may be offered, but which shall not be voted on until the original matter is perfected, but either may be withdrawn before amendment or decision is had thereon. Amendments to the title of a bill or resolution shall not be in order until after its passage, and shall be decided without debate. |
| Sec. 823. Conditions of the motion to amend. | It is not in order to offer more than one motion to amend of the same nature at a time (V, 5755; VIII, 2831), and two independent amendments may be voted on at once only by unanimous consent of the House (V, 5779). Amendments en bloc, once pending, are open to perfecting amendment at any point (June 12, 1991, p. 14337). An amendment must contain instructions to the Clerk as to the portion of the bill it seeks to amend and is subject to a point of order if not in proper form (Oct. 3, 1985, pp. 25970-71). A Member may not amend or modify his own amendment except by unanimous consent (Oct. 1, 1985, p. 25453); and where the Chair recognizes the proponent of an amendment to propound such a unanimous-consent request before commencing debate, the Chair does not charge time consumed under a reservation of objection against the proponent's time for debate on the amendment (Feb. 3, 1993, p. ----; May 27, 1993, p. ----). Discrete propositions to strike out and insert provisions on diverse pages and lines of a bill and to insert a new section on a separate subject may constitute separate amendments which may be offered en bloc only by unanimous consent, even when the bill has been considered as read and open to amendment at any point (Sept. 16, 1981, Deschler's Precedents, vol. 9, ch. 27, sec. 11.26). But the four motions specified by the rule may be pending at one and the same time (V, 5793; VIII, 2883, 2887). Once |
| Sec. 823a. Relation of point of order to motion to amend. | A point of order against an amendment is timely if made or reserved prior to formal recognition of the proponent to commence debate thereon (July 16, 1991, p. 18391), but thereafter comes too late (V, 6894, 6898-6899). To preclude a point of order, debate should be on the merits of the proposition (V, 6901). When enough of an amendment has been read to show that it is out of order, a point of order may be raised without waiting for the reading to be completed (V, 6886-6887; VIII, 2912, 3437), though the Chair may decline to rule until the entire proposition has been read (Dec. 14, 1973, pp. 41716-18). A timely reservation of a point of order by one Member inures to the benefit of any other Member who desires to press a point of order (V, 6906; July 18, 1990, p. 17930). |
| Sec. 824. Withdrawal of the motion to amend. | While the rule provides that either an ordinary or substitute amendment may be withdrawn in the House (V, 5753) or ``in the House as in Committee of the Whole'' (IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21315), it may not be withdrawn or modified in Committee of the Whole except by unanimous consent (V, 5221; VIII, 2564, 2859). |
| Sec. 825. Precedence of the motion to amend. | Pursuant to clause 4 of rule XVI, the motion for the previous question takes precedence of a motion to amend (Nov. 8, 1971, p. 39944); and if the previous question is not ordered, the motion to refer also has precedence of the motion to amend (V, 5555; VI, 373). Amendments reported by a committee are acted on before those offered from the floor (V, 5773; VIII, 2862, 2863), but a floor amendment to the text of a pending section is considered before a committee amendment adding a new section at the end of the pending section (Oct. 4, 1972, pp. 33779-82), and there is a question as to the extent to which the chairman of the committee reporting a bill should be recognized to offer amendments to perfect it in preference to other Members (II, 1450). Amendments may not be offered by proxy (VIII, 2830). The motion to strike out the enacting clause has precedence of the motion to amend, and may be offered while an amendment is pending (V, 5328-5331; VIII, 2622-2624); but the motion to amend takes precedence over a motion that the Committee of the Whole rise and report the bill with the recommendation that it pass (July 27, 1937, p. 7699). |
| Sec. 826. Relation of the motion to amend to other motions. | With some exceptions an amendment may attach itself to secondary and privileged motions (V, 5754). Thus, the motions to postpone, refer, amend, for a recess, and to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn may be amended (V, 5754; VIII, 2824). But the motions for the previous question, to lay on the table, to adjourn (V, 5754) and to go into Committee of the Whole to consider a privileged bill may not be amended (IV, 3078, 3079; VI, 723-725). |
| Sec. 827. Consideration of Senate amendments in Committee of the Whole; motion for conference. | 1. Any amendment of the Senate to any House bill shall be subject to the point of order that it shall first be considered in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, if, originating in the House, it would be subject to |
| Sec. 828a1. Consideration of Senate amendments in Committee of the Whole. | While a Senate amendment that is merely a modification of a House proposition, like the increase or decrease of the amount of an appropriation, and does not involve new and distinct expenditure, may not be required to be considered in Committee of the Whole (IV, 4797-4806; VIII, 2382-2385), where the question was raised against a Senate amendment which on its face apparently placed a charge upon the Treasury the Speaker held it devolved upon those opposing the point of order to cite proof to the contrary (VIII, 2387). When in the House an amendment is offered to provide an appropriation for another purpose than that of the Senate amendment, the House goes into Committee of the Whole to consider it (IV, 4795). When an amendment is referred, the entire bill goes to the Committee of the Whole (IV, 4808), but the committee considers only the Senate amendment (V, 6192). It usually considers all the amendments, although they may not all be within the rule requiring such consideration (V, 6195). In Committee of the Whole a Senate amendment, even though it be very long, is considered as an entirety and not by paragraphs or sections (V, 6194). When reported from the Committee of the Whole, Senate amendments are voted on en bloc and only those amendments are voted on severally on which a separate vote is demanded (VIII, 3191). It |
| Sec. 828a2. Motion for conference. | The motion to send a bill to conference under this clause is in order notwithstanding the fact that the stage of disagreement has not been reached (Aug. 1, 1972, p. 26153). On a bill that has been jointly referred and reported in the House, the motion must be authorized by all committees reporting thereon (Sept. 26, 1978, p. 31623), but a committee discharged from a sequential referral need not authorize a motion made by direction of the committee that reported the bill (Oct. 4, 1994, p. ----). Where such a motion has been rejected by the House, it may be repeated if the committee having jurisdiction over the subject matter again authorizes its chairman to make the motion (Oct. 3, 1972, pp. 33502-03; see also Procedure, ch. 32, sec. 5). The motion to send to conference is in order only if the Speaker in his discretion recognized for that purpose, and the Speaker will not recognize for the motion where he has referred a non-germane Senate amendment in question to a House committee with jurisdiction and they have not yet had the opportunity to consider the amendment (June 28, 1984, p. 19770). |
| Sec. 828b. Stage of disagreement between Houses. | When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill with amendments of the other House, motions to dispose of said amendments are privileged in the House (IV, 3149, 3150; VI, 756; VIII, 3185, 3194). The stage of disagreement between the two Houses is reached after the House in possession of the papers has either disagreed to the amendment(s) of the other House or has insisted on its own amendment to a measure of the other House (Sept. 16, 1976, p. 30868), and not merely where the other House has returned a bill with an amendment (Dec. 7, 1977, pp. 38728- 29). Thus where the House concurred in a Senate amendment to a House bill with an amendment, insisted on the amendment and requested a conference, and the Senate then concurred in the House amendment with a further amendment, the matter was privileged in the House for further disposition since the House had communicated its insistence and |
| Sec. 829. Conferees may not agree to certain Senate amendments. | 2. No amendment of the Senate to a general appropriation bill which would be in violation of the provisions of clause 2 of rule XXI, if said amendment had originated in the House, nor any amendment of the Senate providing for an appropriation upon any bill other than a general appropriation bill, shall be agreed to by the managers on the part of the House unless specific authority to agree to such amendment shall be first given by the House by a separate vote on every such amendment. |
| Sec. 830. Reading, engrossment, and passage of bills. | 1. Bills and joint resolutions on their passage shall be read the first time by title and the second time in full, when, if the previous question is ordered, the Speaker shall state the question to be: Shall the bill be engrossed and read a third time? and, if decided in the affirmative, it shall be read the third time by title, and the question shall then be put upon its passage. |
| Sec. 831. First and second readings. | Formerly a bill was read for the first time by title at the time of its introduction, but since 1890 all bills have been introduced by filing them with the Clerk, thus rendering a reading by title impossible at that time (IV, 3391). But the titles of all bills introduced are printed in the Journal and Record, thus carrying out the real purposes of the rule. |
| Sec. 832. The third reading after engrossment. | The right to demand the reading in full of the engrossed copy of a bill formerly guaranteed by the rule, existed only immediately after it had passed to be engrossed and before it had been read a third time by title (IV, 3400, 3403, 3404; VII, 1061); or before the yeas and nays had been ordered on passage (IV, 3402). The right to demand the reading in full caused the bill to be laid aside until engrossed even though the previous question had been ordered (IV, 3395-3399; VII, 1062). A privileged motion may not intervene before the third reading (IV, 3405), and the question on engrossment and third reading is not subject to a demand for division of the question (Aug. 3, 1989, p. 18544). A vote on passage must first be reconsidered to remedy the omission to read a bill a third time (IV, 3406). Senate bills are not engrossed in the House; but are ordered to a third reading. The demand for the reading of the engrossed copy of a Senate bill cannot be made in the House (VIII, 2426). |
| Sec. 833. Voting on bills. | A bill in the House (as distinguished from the Committee of the Whole) is amended pending the engrossment and third reading (V, 5781; VI, 1051, 1052). The question on engrossment and third reading being decided in the negative the bill is rejected (IV, 3420, 3421). A bill must be considered and voted on by itself (IV, 3408). Where the two Houses pass similar but distinct bills on the same subject it is necessary that one or the other House act again on the subject (IV, 3386). The requirement of a two-thirds vote for proposed constitutional amendments has been construed in the later practice to apply only to the vote on the final passage (V, 7029, 7030; VIII, 3504). A bill having been rejected by the House, a similar but not identical bill on the same subject was afterwards held to be in order (IV, 3384). |
| Sec. 834a. Unauthorized appropriations in reported general appropriation bills or amendments thereto. | 2. (a) No appropriation shall be reported in a general appropriation bill, or shall be in order as an amendment thereto, for any expenditure not previously authorized by law, except to continue appropriations for public works and objects which are already in progress. |
| Sec. 834b. Legislation in reported general appropriation bills; exceptions. | (b) No provision changing existing law shall be reported in a general appropriation bill, including a provision making the availability of funds contingent on the receipt or possession of information not required by existing law for the period of the ap- |
| Sec. 834c. Legislation or limitations in amendments to general appropriation bills. | (c) No amendment to a general appropriation bill shall be in order if changing existing law, including an amendment making the availability of funds contingent on the receipt or possession of information not required by existing law for the period of the appropriation. Except as provided in paragraph (d), no amendment shall be in order during consideration of a general appropriation bill proposing a limitation not specifically contained or authorized in existing law for the period of the limitation. |
| Sec. 834d. Motion to rise and report as preferential to limitation or retrenchment amendments. | (d) After a general appropriation bill has been read for amendment, motions that the Committee of the Whole rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted shall, if offered by the Majority Leader or a designee, have precedence over motions to further amend the bill. If any such motion is rejected, amendments proposing limitations not specifically contained or authorized in existing law for the period of the limitation or proposing germane amendments which retrench expenditures by reduction of |
| Sec. 834e. Designated emergencies in reported appropriation bills. | (e) No provision shall be reported in any appropriation bill or joint resolution containing an emergency designation for purposes of section 251(b)(2)(D) or section 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, or shall be in order as an amendment thereto, if the provision or amendment is not designated as an emergency, unless the provision or amendment rescinds budget authority or reduces direct spending, or reduces an amount for a designated emergency. |
| Sec. 834f. Offsetting amendments en bloc to appropriation bills. | (f) During the reading of any appropriation bill for amendment in the Committee of the Whole, it shall be in order to consider en bloc amendments proposing only to transfer appropriations among objects in the bill without increasing the levels of budget authority or outlays in the bill. When considered en bloc pursuant to this paragraph, such amendments may amend portions of the bill not yet read for amendment (following the disposition of any points of order against such portions) and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. |
| Sec. 834g. Clause 2 of rule XXI, generally. | The 25th Congress in 1837 was the first to adopt a rule prohibiting appropriations in a general appropriation bill or amendment thereto not previously authorized by law, in order to prevent delay of appropriation bills because |
| Sec. 835. Points of order on general appropriation bills. | As the rule applies only to general appropriation bills, which are not enumerated or defined in the rules (VII, 1116) bills appropriating only for one purpose have been held not to be ``general'' within the meaning of this rule (VII, 1122). Neither a resolution providing an appropriation for a single government agency (Jan. 31, 1962, p. 1352), nor a joint resolution only containing continuing appropriations for diverse agencies to provide funds until regular appropriation bills are enacted (Sept. 21, 1967, p. 26370), nor a joint resolution providing an appropriation for a single government agency and permitting a transfer of a portion of those funds to another agency (Oct. 25, 1979, pp. 29627- 28), nor a joint resolution transferring funds already appropriated from one specific agency to another (Mar. 26, 1980, pp. 6716-17), nor a joint resolution transferring unobligated balances to the President to be available for specified purposes but containing no new budget authority (Mar. 3, 1988, p. 3239), are ``general appropriation bills'' within the purview of this clause. A point of order under this rule does not apply to a special order reported from the Committee on Rules ``self- executing'' the adoption in the House of an amendment changing existing law (July 27, 1993, p. ----). |
| Sec. 836. Authorization of law for appropriations. | The authorization by existing law required in the rule to justify appropriations may be made also by a treaty if it has been ratified by both the contracting parties (IV, 3587); however, where existing law authorizes appropriations for the U.S. share of facilities to be recommended in an agreement with another country containing specified elements, an agreement in principle with that country predating the authorization law and lacking the required elements is insufficient authorization (June 28, 1993, p. ----). An executive order does not constitute sufficient authorization in law absent proof of its derivation from a statute enacted by Congress authorizing the order and expenditure of funds (June 15, 1973, p. 19855; June 25, 1974, p. 21036). Thus a Reorganization Plan submitted by the President pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 906 has the status of statutory law when it becomes effective and is sufficient authorization to support an appropriation for an office created by executive order issued pursuant to the Reorganization Plan (June 21, 1974, pp. 20595-96). A resolution of the House has been held sufficient authorization for an appropriation for the salary of an employee of the House (IV, 3656-3658) even though the resolution may have been agreed to only by a preceding House (IV, 3660). Previous enactment of items of appropriation unauthorized by law does not justify similar appropriations in subsequent bills (VII, 1145, 1150, 1151) unless if through appropriations previously made, a function of the government has been established which would bring it into the category of continuation of works in progress (VII, 1280), or unless legislation in a previous appropriation act has become permanent law (May 20, 1964, p. 11422). The omission to appropriate during a series of years for an object authorized by law does not repeal the law, and consequently an appropriation when proposed is not subject to the point of order (IV, 3595). The law authorizing each head of a department to employ such numbers of clerks, messengers, copyists, watchmen, laborers, and other employees as may be appropriated for by Congress from year to year is held to authorize appropriations for those positions not otherwise authorized by law (IV, 3669, 3675, 4739); but this law does not apply to offices not within departments or not at the seat of government (IV, 3670-3674). A permanent law authorizing the President to appoint certain staff, together with legislative provisions au- |
| Sec. 837. Authorization for claims and salaries. | Judgments of courts certified to Congress in accordance with law or authorized by treaty (IV, 3634, 3635, 3644) and audited under authority of law have been held to be authorization for appropriations for the payment of claims (IV, 3634, 3635). But unadjudicated claims (IV, 3628), even though ascertained and transmitted by an executive officer (IV, 3625-3640), and findings filed under the Bowman Act do not constitute authorization (IV, 3643). |
| Sec. 838. Authorizations for public works. | An appropriation for a public work in excess of a fixed limit of cost (IV, 3583, 3584; VII, 1133), or for extending a service beyond the limits assigned by an executive officer exercising a lawful discretion (IV, 3598), or by actual law (IV, 3582, 3585), or for purposes prohibited by law are out of order (IV, 3580, 3581, 3702), as is an appropriation from the Highway Trust Fund where the project is specifically authorized from the general fund (Sept. 23, 1993, p. ----). But the mere appropriation of a sum ``to complete'' a work does not fix a limit of cost such as would exclude future appropriations (IV, 3761). A declaration of policy in an act followed by specific provisions conferring authority upon a governmental agency to perform certain functions is not construed to authorize appropriations for purposes germane to the policy but not specifically authorized by the act (VII, 1200). A point of order will not lie against an amendment proposing to increase a lump sum for public works projects where language in the bill limits use of the lump sum appropriation to ``projects as authorized by law'' (Procedure, ch. 25, sec. 5.5), but where language in the bill limits use of the lump sum both to projects ``authorized by laws'' and ``subject, where appropriate, to enactment of authorizing legislation,'' that paragraph constitutes an appropriation in part for some unauthorized projects and is not in order (June 6, 1985, p. 14617). |
| Sec. 839. Continuation of a public work by appropriations. | The rule requiring appropriations to be authorized by existing law excepts those ``in continuance of appropriations for such public works and objects as are already in progress'' (IV, 3578); and the ``works in progress'' exception has historically been applied only in cases of general revenue funding (Sept. 22, 1993, pp. ----; Sept. 23, 1993, pp. ----). But an appropriation in violation of existing law or to extend a service beyond a fixed limit is not in order as the continuance of a public work (IV, 3585, 3702-3724; VII, 1332; Sept. 23, 1993, pp. -- --; June 8, 1983, Deschler's Precedents, vol. 8, ch. 26, sec. 8.9). The ``works in progress'' exception may not be invoked to fund a project governed by a lapsed authorization and may not be invoked to fund a project that is not yet under construction (July 31, 1995, p. ----). Where existing law (40 U.S.C. 606) specifically prohibits the making of an appropriation to construct or alter any public building involving more than $500,000 unless approved by the House and Senate Public Works Committees, an appropriation for such purposes not authorized by both committees is out of order notwithstanding the ``works in progress'' exemption, since the law specifically precludes the appropriation from being made (June 8, 1983, p. 14855). An appropriation from the Highway Trust Fund for an ongoing project was held not in order under the ``works in progress'' exception where the Internal Revenue Code ``occupied the field'' with a comprehensive authorization scheme not embracing the specified project (Sept. 22, 1993, pp. ----; Sept. 23, 1993, pp. ----). Interruption of a work does not necessarily remove it from the privileges of the rule (IV, 3705-3708); but the continuation of the work must not be so conditioned in relation to place as to become a new work (IV, 3704). It has been held that a work has not been begun within the meaning of the rule when an appropriation has been made for a site for a public building (IV, 3785), or when a commission has been created to select a site or when a site has actually been selected for a work (IV, 3762-3763), or when a survey has been made (IV, 3782-3784). By ``public works and objects already in progress'' are meant tangible matters like buildings, roads, etc., and not duties of officials in executive departments (IV, 3709-3713), or the continuance of a work indefinite as to completion and intangible in nature like the gauging of streams (IV, 3714, 3715). A general system of roads on which some work has been done cannot be admitted as a work in progress (VII, 1333), nor can an extension of an existing road (Sept. 22, 1993, p. ----). Concerning reappropriation for continuation of public works in progress, see Sec. 847, infra. |
| Sec. 840. Examples illustrating the continuation of a public work. | Thus the continuation of the following works has been admitted: A topographical survey (IV, 3796, 3797; VII, 1382), a geological map (IV, 3795), marking of a boundary line (IV, 3717), marking graves of soldiers (IV, 3788), a list of claims (IV, 3717), and recoinage of coins in the Treasury (IV, 3807); but the following works have not been admitted: Investigation of materials, like coal (IV, 3721), scientific investiga- |
| Sec. 841a. New buildings at existing institutions as in continuance of a public work. | Appropriations for new buildings at Government institutions have sometimes been admitted (IV, 3741-3750) when intended for the purposes of the institution (IV, 3747); but later decisions, in view of the indefinite extent of the practice made possible by the early decisions, have ruled out propositions to appropriate for new buildings in navy yards (IV, 3755-3759) and other establishments (IV, 3751-3754). Appropriations for new schoolhouses in the District of Columbia (IV, 3750; VII, 1358), for new Army hospitals (IV, 3740), for new lighthouses (IV, 3728), armor-plate factories (IV, 3737-3739), and for additional playgrounds for children in the District of Columbia (IV, 3792) have also been held not to be in continuation of a public work. |
| Sec. 841b. New vessel for naval and other services as in continuation of a public work. | By a former broad construction of the rule an appropriation of a new and not otherwise authorized vessel of the Navy had been held to be a continuance of a public work (IV, 3723, 3724); but this line of decisions has been overruled (VII, 1351; Chairman Lehlbach, Jan. 22, 1926, p. 2621). While appropriations for new construction and procurement of aircraft and equipment for the Navy are not in order, appropriations for continuing experiments and development work on all types of aircraft are in order (Chairman Lehlbach, Jan. 22, 1926, p. 2623). This |
| Sec. 842a. Legislation on appropriation bills generally. | The provision of the rule forbidding in any general appropriation bill a ``provision changing existing law'' is construed to mean the enactment of law where none exists (IV, 3812, 3813), such as permitting funds to remain available until expended or beyond the fiscal year covered by the bill, where existing law permits no such availability (Aug. 1, 1973, pp. 27288-89), or immediately upon enactment (July 29, 1986, p. 17981; June 28, 1988, p. 16255) or merely permits availability to the extent provided in advance in appropriation Acts but not explicitly beyond the fiscal year in question (July 21, 1981, p. 16687). Language waiving the provisions of existing law that did not specifically permit inclusion of such a waiver in an appropriation bill (Nov. 13, 1975, p. 36271; June 20, 1996, p. ----), has been ruled out, as has language identical to that contained in an authorization bill previously passed by the House but not yet signed into law (Aug. 4, 1978, p. 24436), or a proposition for repeal of existing law (VII, 1403). Although clause 2(b) permits the Committee on Appropriations to report rescissions of appropriations, an amendment proposing a rescission constitutes legislation under clause 2(c) (May 26, 1993, p. ----). A proposal to amend existing law to provide for automatic continuation of appropriations in the absence of timely enactment of a regular appropriation bill constitutes legislation in contravention of clause 2(c) (July 17, 1996, p. ----; July 24, 1996, p. ----). |
| Sec. 842b. Contingencies and congressional actions. | An amendment making an appropriation contingent upon a recommendation (June 27, 1979, pp. 17054-55) or action not specifically required by law (July 23, 1980, pp. 19295-97; July 29, 1980, pp. 20098- 20100) is legislation. For example, a provision limiting the use of funds in a bill ``unless'' or ``until'' an action contrary to existing law is taken constitutes legislation (Deschler's Precedents, vol. 8, ch. 26, sec. 47.1; July 24, 1996, p. ----). Where existing law requires an agency to furnish certain information to congressional committees upon request, without a subpoena, it is not in order on an appropriation bill to make funding for that agency contingent upon its furnishing information to subcommittees upon request (July 29 and July 30, 1980, pp. 20475-76), or contingent upon submission of an agreement by a Federal official to Congress and Congressional review thereof (July 31, 1986, p. 18370). Similarly, it is not in order on a general appropriation bill to condition funds on legal determinations to be made by a federal court and an executive department (June 28, 1988, p. 16261; see Deschler's Precedents, vol. 8, ch. 26, sec. 47.2). |
| Sec. 842c. Construing or amending existing law. | A provision proposing to construe existing law is itself legislative and therefore not in order (IV, 3936-3938; May 2, 1951, pp. 4747-48; July 26, 1951, p. 8982). However, an official's general responsibility to construe the language of a limitation on the use of funds, absent imposition of an affirmative direction not required by law, does not destroy the validity of the limitation (June 27, 1974, pp. 21687-94). |
| Sec. 842d. Imposing duties or requiring determinations. | Propositions to establish affirmative directions for executive officers (IV, 3854-3859; VII, 1443; July 31, 1969, p. 21675; June 18, 1979, pp. 15286-87; July 1, 1987, pp. 18654 and 18655; June 27, 1994, p. ----), even in cases where they may have discretion under the law so to do (IV, 3853; June 4, 1970, p. 18401; Aug. 8, 1978, pp. 24959-60), or to affirmatively take away an authority or discretion conferred by law (IV, 3862, 3863; VII, 1975; Mar. 30, 1955, pp. 4065-66; June 21, 1974, p. 20600; July 31, 1985, p. 21909), are subject to the point of order. While any limitation in an appropriation bill (see Sec. 483, supra) places some minimal duties on Federal officials, who must determine the effect of such a limitation on appropriated funds, an amendment or language in an appropriation bill may not impose additional duties, not required by law, or make the appropriation contingent upon the performance of such duties (May 28, 1968, p. 15350). Language in the form of a conditional limitation requiring determinations by Federal officials will be held to change existing law unless the proponent can show that the new duties are merely incidental to functions already required by law and do not involve substantive new determinations (July 26, 1985, p. 20807). |
| Sec. 842e. Mandating expenditures. | A provision which mandates a distribution of funds in contravention of an allocation formula in existing law is legislation (July 29, 1982, pp. 18637, 18638; Oct. 5, 1983, p. 27335; Aug. 2, 1989, p. 18123; July 24, 1995, p. ----), as is an amendment which by such a mandate interferes with an executive official's discretionary authority (Mar. 12, 1975, p. 6338), as in an amendment requiring not less than a certain sum to be used for a particular purpose where existing law does not mandate such expenditure (June 18, 1976, p. 19297; July 29, 1982, p. 18623), or where an amendment earmarks appropriated funds to the arts to require their expenditure pursuant to standards otherwise applicable only as guidelines (July 12, 1989, p. 14432). Where existing law directed a Federal official to provide for sale of certain government property to a private organization in ``necessary'' amounts, an amendment providing that no such property be withheld from distribution from qualifying purchasers is legislation, since requiring disposal of all property and restricting discretionary authority to determine ``necessary'' amounts (Aug. 7, 1978, p. 24707). An amendment directing the use of funds to assure compliance with an existing law, where existing law does not so mandate, also is legislation (June 24, 1976, p. 20370). So-called ``hold-harmless'' provisions which mandate a certain level of expenditure for certain purposes or recipients, where existing law confers discretion or makes ratable reductions in such expenditures, also constitute legislation (Apr. 16, 1975, p. 10357; June 25, 1976, p. 20557). A transfer of available funds from one Department to another with directions as to the use to which those funds must be put is legislation (and also a reappropriation in violation of clause 6 of this rule) (Dec. 8, 1982, p. 29449). A provision requiring states to match funds provided in an appropriation bill was held to constitute legislation where existing law contained no such requirement (June 28, 1993, p. ----). Where existing law prescribes a formula for the allocation of funds among several categories, an amendment merely reducing the amount earmarked for one of the categories is not legislation, so long as it does not textually change the statutory formula (July 24, 1995, p. ----). |
| Sec. 842f. Waivers; amending legislation permitted to remain. | The House may, by agreeing to a report from the Committee on Rules or by adopting an order under suspension of the rules, allow legislation on general appropriation bills (IV, 3260-3263, 3839-3845). A paragraph which proposes legislation or an unauthorized appropriation being permitted to remain, by special order or by failure to raise a point of order, may be perfected by germane amendment (IV, 3823-3835, 3838; VII, 1405, 1413-1415; June 9, 1954, pp. 5963-64; Sept. 11, 1985, p. 23398; June 14, |
| Sec. 842g. Senate amendments. | The principle seems to be generally well accepted that the House proposing legislation on a general appropriation bill should recede if the other House persists in its objection (IV, 3904-3908), and clause 2 of rule XX (Sec. 829, supra) prohibits House conferees from agreeing to a Senate amendment which proposes legislation on an appropriation bill without specific authority from the House. But where a Senate amendment proposing legislation on a general appropriation bill is, pursuant to the edict of clause 2 of rule XX, reported back from conference in disagreement, a motion to concur in the Senate amendment with a further amendment is in order, even if the proposed amendment adds legislation to that contained in the Senate amendment, and the only test is whether the proposed amendment is germane to the Senate amendment reported in disagreement (IV, 3909; VIII, 3188, 3189; Speaker McCormack, Dec. 15, 1970, pp. 41504-05; Aug. 1, 1979, pp. 22007-11; Speaker O'Neill, Dec. 12, 1979, pp. 35520-21; June 30, 1987, p. 18308). |
| Sec. 843a. Limitations on appropriation bills generally. | Although the rule forbids on any general appropriation bill a provision ``changing existing law,'' which is construed to mean legislation generally, the practice of the House has established the principle that certain ``limitations'' may be admitted. Just as the House may decline to appro- |
| Sec. 843b. Effect of limitation on executive discretion. | The limitation may not be applied directly to the official functions of executive officers (IV, 3957-3966; VII, 1673, 1678, 1685), but it may restrict executive discretion so far as this may be done by a simple negative on the use of the appropriation (IV, 3968-3972; VII, 1583, 1653, 1694; Sept. 14, 1972, pp. 30749-50; June 21, 1974, pp. 20601-02; Oct. 9, 1974, p. 34716). An appropriation may be withheld from a designated object by a negative limitation on the use of funds, although contracts |
| Sec. 843c. Limitations consistent with existing law. | An amendment denying the use of funds in the bill to pay the salaries of Federal officials who perform certain functions under existing law is a proper limitation if the description of those duties precisely follows existing law and does not require them to perform new duties (June 24, 1976, p. 20373), just as an amendment denying such funds to a Federal official not in compliance with an existing law which he is charged with enforcing is a valid limitation placing no new duties on that Federal official (Sept. 10, 1981, p. 20110). The fact that a limitation on the use of funds may indirectly interfere with an executive official's discretionary authority by denying the use of funds (June 24, 1976, p. 20408) or may impose certain incidental burdens on executive officials (Aug. 25, 1976, p. 27737) does not destroy the character of the limitation as long as it does not directly amend existing law and is descriptive of functions and findings already required to be undertaken by existing law. As it is in order by way of a limitation to deny the use of funds for implementation of an executive order, an amendment precisely describing the contents of the executive order does not constitute legislation solely for that reason (Mar. 16, 1977, p. 7748). And the fact that the regulation for which funds are denied may have been promulgated pursuant to court order and pursuant to constitutional provisions is an argument on the merits of the amendment and does not render it legislative in nature (Aug. 19, 1980, pp. 21981-84). An amendment prohibiting the use of funds to carry out any ruling of the Internal Revenue Service which rules that taxpayers are not entitled to certain charitable deductions was held in order as a limitation, since merely descriptive of an existing ruling already promulgated and not requiring any new determinations as to the applicability of the limitation to other categories of taxpayers (July 16, 1979, pp. 18808- 10). An amendment reducing the availability of funds for trade adjustment assistance by amounts of unemployment insurance entitlements was held in order where the law establishing trade adjustment assistance already required the disbursing agency to take into consideration levels of unemployment insurance in determining payment levels (June 18, 1980, pp. 15355-56). A limitation precluding funds for any transit project exceeding a specified cost-effectiveness index was held not to impose new duties where the Chair was persuaded that the limitation applied to projects for which indexes were already required by law (Sept. 23, 1993, p. ----). A limitation precluding the use of funds to enforce FAA regulations to require domestic air carriers to surrender more than a specified number of ``slots'' at a given airport in preference of international air carriers was held not to impose new duties on FAA officials because existing regulations already required the FAA to determine the origin of withdrawn slots (Sept. 23, 1993, p. ----). An exception stating that the limitation does not prohibit the use of funds for designated Federal activities which are already authorized by law in |
| Sec. 844a. Legislation reducing expenditures. | Decisions under the so-called ``Holman Rule'' in clause 2 of rule XXI have been rare in the modern practice of the House. The trend in construing language in general appropriation bills or amendments thereto has been to minimize the importance of the ``Holman Rule'' in those cases where the decision can be made on other grounds. The practice of using limitations in appropriation bills has been perfected in recent years so that most modern decisions by the Chair deal with distinctions between such limitations and matters which are deemed to be legislation (see Sec. Sec. 842 |
| Sec. 844b. Content of reports on appropriation bills. | 3. A report from the Committee on Appropriations accompanying any general appropriation bill making an appropriation for any purpose shall contain a concise statement describing fully the effect of any provision of the accompanying bill which directly or indirectly changes the application of existing law, and shall contain a list of all appropriations contained in the bill for any expenditure not previously authorized by law |
| Sec. 845. Restriction on the reference of claims. | 4. No bill for the payment or adjudication of any private claim against the Government shall be referred, except by unanimous consent, to any other than the following committees, namely: To the Committee on International Relations or to the Committee on the Judiciary. |
| Sec. 846a. Restriction of power to report appropriations. | 5. (a) No bill or joint resolution carrying appropriations shall be reported by any committee not having jurisdiction to report appropriations, nor shall an amendment proposing an appropriation |
| Sec. 846b. Restriction on bills and amendments carrying taxes or tariffs. | (b) No bill or joint resolution carrying a tax or tariff measure shall be reported by any committee not having jurisdiction to report tax and tariff measures, nor shall an amendment in the House or proposed by the Senate carrying a tax or tariff measure be in order during the consideration of a bill or joint resolution reported by a committee |
| Sec. 846c. Threefifths vote to increase income tax rates. | (c) No bill or joint resolution, amendment, or conference report carrying a Federal income tax rate increase shall be considered as passed or agreed to unless so determined by a vote of not less than three-fifths of the Members voting. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term ``Federal income tax rate increase'' means any |
| Sec. 846d. Prohibition against retroactive income tax rate increase. | (d) It shall not be in order to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report carrying a retroactive Federal income tax rate increase. For purposes of the preceding sentence-- |
| Sec. 847. Reappropriations prohibited. | 6. No general appropriation bill or amendment thereto shall be received or considered if it contains a provision reappropriating unexpended balances of appropriations; except that this provision shall not apply to appropriations in continuation of appropriations for public works on which work has commenced, and shall not apply to transfers of unexpended balances within the department or agency for which they were originally appropriated, reported by the Committee on Appropriations. |
| Sec. 848. Printed hearings and reports on appropriation bills. | 7. No general appropriation bill shall be considered in the House until printed committee hearings and a committee report thereon have been available for the Members of the House for at least three calendar days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day). |
| Sec. 848a. Reservation of points of order. | 8. At the time any appropriation bill is reported, all points of order shall be considered as reserved. |
| Sec. 849a. Introduction and reference of petitions, memorials, and private bills. | 1. Members having petitions or memorials or bills of a private nature to present may deliver them to the Clerk, endorsing their names and the reference or disposition to be made thereof; and said petitions and memorials and bills of a private nature, except such as, in the judgment of the Speaker, are of an obscene or insulting character, shall be entered on the Journal, with the names of the Members presenting them, and the Clerk shall furnish a transcript of such entry to the official reporters of debates for publication in the Record. |
| Sec. 849b. Duties of Speaker and Members in presenting petitions. | Petitions, memorials, and other papers addressed to the House may be presented by the Speaker as well as by a Member (IV, 3312). Petitions from the country at large are presented by the Speaker in the manner prescribed by the rule (III, 2030; IV, 3318; VII, 1025). A Member may present a petition from people of a State other than his own (IV, 3315, 3316). The House itself may refer one portion of a petition to one committee and another portion to another committee (IV, 3359, 3360), but ordinarily the reference of a petition does not come before the House |
| Sec. 850. As to division of bills for reference. | The parliamentary law provides that the House may commit a portion of a bill, or a part to one committee and part to another (V, 5558), yet under the practice of the House until January 3, 1975, a bill or joint resolution could not be divided for reference, although it might contain matters properly within the jurisdiction of several committees (IV, 4372, 4376). On that date, the Speaker was given authority over referral of bills as prescribed in clause 5 of rule X. |
| Sec. 851. Fraudulent introduction of a bill. | The fraudulent introduction of a bill involves a question of privilege, and a bill so introduced was ordered stricken from the files (IV, 3388). As the result of the unauthorized introduction of several bills without the knowledge of the Members listed as sponsors, the Speaker directed that all bills and resolutions must be signed by the prime sponsor thereof in order to be accepted for introduction (Speaker Albert, Feb. 3, 1972, p. 2521). |
| Sec. 852. Certain private and commemorative bills prohibited. | 2. (a) No private bill or resolution (including so-called omnibus claims or pension bills), and no amendment to any bill or resolution, authorizing or directing (1) the payment of money for property damages, for personal injuries or death for which suit may be instituted under the Tort Claims Procedure as provided in Title 28, United States Code, or for a pension (other than to carry out a provision of law or treaty stipulation); (2) the construction of a bridge across a navigable stream; or (3) the correction of a military or naval record, shall be received or considered in the House. |
| Sec. 853. Correction of errors in reference; and relation to jurisdiction. | 3. Any petition or memorial or bill or resolution excluded under this rule shall be returned to the Member from whom it was received; and petitions and private bills which have been inappropriately referred may, by the direction of the committee having possession of the same, be properly referred in the manner originally presented; and an erroneous reference of a petition or private bill under this clause shall not confer jurisdiction upon the committee to consider or report the same. |
| Sec. 854. Introduction, reference, and change of reference of public bills, memorials, and resolutions. | 4. (a) All other bills, memorials, and resolutions may, in like manner, be delivered, endorsed with the names of Members introducing them, to the Speaker, to be by him referred, and the titles and references thereof and of all bills, resolutions, and documents referred under the rules shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Record of the next day, and correction in case of error of reference may be made by the House, without debate, in accordance with rule X on any day immediately after the reading of the Journal, by unanimous consent, or on motion of a committee claiming jurisdiction, or on the report of the committee to which the bill has been erroneously referred. Two or more Members may introduce jointly any bill, or resolution to which this paragraph applies. |
| Sec. 855. Resolution of inquiry. | 5. All resolutions of inquiry addressed to the heads of executive departments shall be reported to the House within fourteen legislative days after presentation. |
| Sec. 856. Forms of resolutions of inquiry and delivery thereof. | Resolutions of inquiry are usually simple rather than concurrent in form (III, 1875), and are never joint resolutions (III, 1860). A resolution authorizing a committee to request information has been treated as a resolution of inquiry (III, 1860). It has been considered proper to use the word ``request'' in asking for information from the President and ``direct'' in addressing the heads of departments (III, 1856, footnote, 1895). It is usual for the House in calling on the President for information, especially with relation to foreign affairs, to use the qualifying clause ``if not incompatible with the public interest'' (II, 1547; III, 1896-1901; V, 5759; VI, 436). But in some instances the House has made its inquiries of the President without condition, and has even made the inquiry imperative (III, 1896-1901). Resolutions of inquiry are delivered under direction of the Clerk (III, 1879) |
| Sec. 857. Privileged status of resolutions of inquiry. | The practice of the House gives to resolution of inquiry a privileged status. Thus, they are privileged for report and consideration at any time after their reference to a committee (III, 1870; VI, 413, 414), but not before (III, 1857), and are in order for consideration only on motion directed to be made by the committee reporting the same (VI, 413; VIII, 2310). They are privileged for consideration on ``Suspension days'' and took precedence of the former Consent Calendar (VI, 409) before its abolishment in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. ----), but are not in order on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 896-898). And only resolutions addressed to the President and the heads of the executive departments have the privilege (III, 1861-1864; VI, 406). To enjoy the privilege a resolution should call for facts rather than opinions (III, 1872, 1873; VI, 413, 418-432; July 7, 1971, pp. 23810-11), should not require investigations (III, 1872-1874; VI, 422, 427, 429, 432), and should not present a preamble (III, 1877, 1878; VI, 422, 427); but if a resolution on its face calls for facts, the Chair will not investigate the probability of the existence of the facts called for (VI, 422). However, a resolution inquiring for such facts as would inevitably require the statement of an opinion to answer such inquiry is not privileged (Speaker Longworth, Feb. 11, 1926, p. 3805). |
| Sec. 858. Discharge of a committee from a resolution of inquiry. | Committees are required to report resolutions of inquiry back to the House within one week (now fourteen days) of the reference, and this time is construed to be legislative days (VIII, 3368; Speaker Rayburn, Feb. 9, 1950, p. 1755) exclusive of either the first or last day (III, 1858, 1859). If a committee refuses or neglects to report the resolution back, the House may reach the resolution only by a motion to discharge the committee (III, 1865). The ordinary motion to discharge a committee is not privileged (VIII, 2316); but the practice of the House has given privilege to the motion in cases of resolutions of inquiry (III, 1866-1870). And this motion to discharge is privileged at the end of the time period, though the resolution may have been delayed in reaching the committee (III, 1871). The motion to discharge is not debatable (III, 1868; VI, 415). However, if the motion is agreed to, the resolution is debatable under the hour rule unless the previous question is ordered (VI, 416, 417). If a committee reports a privileged resolution of inquiry, it may then be called up only by an authorized member of the reporting committee and not by another Member of the |
| Sec. 859. Resolutions of inquiry as related to the Executive. | The President having failed to respond to a resolution of inquiry, the House respectfully reminded him of the fact (III, 1890). In 1796 the House declared that its constitutional requests of the Executive for information need not be accompanied by a statement of purposes (II, 1509). As to the kind of information which may be required, especially as to the papers that may be demanded, there has been much discussion (III, 1700, 1738, 1888, 1902, 1903; VI, 402, 435). There have been several conflicts with the Executive (II, 1534, 1561; III, 1884, 1885- 1889, 1894) over demands for papers and information, especially when the resolutions have called for papers relating to foreign affairs (II, 1509-1513, 1518, 1519). |
| Sec. 860. Introduction of bills, resolutions, or memorials by request. | 6. When a bill, resolution, or memorial is introduced ``by request'', these words shall be entered upon the Journal and printed in the Record. |
| Sec. 861a. Selection of Chairman of Committee of the Whole; and his power to preserve order. | 1. (a) In all cases, in forming a Committee of the Whole House, the Speaker shall leave his chair after appointing a Member as Chairman to preside, who shall, in case of disturbance or disorderly conduct in the galleries or lobby, have power to cause the same to be cleared. |
| Sec. 861b. Functions of the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole. | The Sergeant-at-Arms attends the sittings of the Committee of the Whole and, under direction of the Chairman, maintains order (I, 257). His decisions on questions of order may be appealed; and in stating the appeal, the question is put as in the House: ``Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the judgment of the Committee?'' and a majority vote sustains the ruling (Aug. 1, 1989, p. 17159). In rare cases wherein the Chairman has been defied or insulted he has directed the committee to rise, left the chair and, on the chair being taken by the Speaker, has reported the facts to the House (II, 1350, 1651, 1653). While the Committee of the Whole does not control the Congressional Record, the Chairman may direct the exclusion of disorderly words spoken by a Member after he has been called to order (V, 6987), but may not determine the privileges of a Member under general ``leave to print'' (V, 6988). The Chairman decides questions of order arising in the committee independently of the Speaker (V, 6927, 6928), but has declined to consider a question that had arisen in the House just before the committee began to sit (IV, 4725, 4726) or a question that may arise in the House in the future (June 21, 1995, p. ----). He recognizes for debate (V, 5003); but like the Speaker is forbidden to recognize for requests to suspend the rule of admission to the floor (V, 7285). He may direct the committee to rise when the hour previously fixed for adjournment of the House arrives, or when the hour previously fixed by the House for consideration of other business arrives, in which case he reports in the regular way (IV, 4785; VIII, 2376; Aug. 22, 1974, p. 30077); but if the committee happens to be in session at the hour fixed for the meeting of the House on a new legislative day, it rests with the committee and not with the Chairman to determine whether or not the committee shall rise (V, 6736, 6737). |
| Sec. 862. Speaker's declaration into Committee of the Whole pursuant to special order. | (b) After the House has adopted a special order of business resolution reported by the Committee on Rules providing for the consideration of a measure in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, the Speaker may at any time within his discretion, when no question is pending before the House, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration of that measure without inter- |
| Sec. 863. Failure of a quorum in Committee of the Whole. | 2. (a) A quorum of a Committee of the Whole shall consist of one hundred Members. The first time that a Committee of the Whole finds itself without a quorum during any day, the Chairman shall invoke the procedure for the call of the roll under clause 5 of rule XV, unless, in his discretion, he orders a call of the Committee to be taken by the procedure set forth in clause 1 or clause 2(b) of rule XV: Provided, That the Chairman may in his discretion refuse to entertain a point of order that a quorum is not present during general debate only. If on such call, a quorum shall appear, the Committee shall continue its business; but if a quorum does not appear, the Committee shall rise and the Chairman shall report the names of the absentees to the House. After the roll has been once called to establish a quorum during such day, the Chairman may not entertain a point of order that a quorum is not present unless the Committee is operating under the five-minute rule and the Chairman has put the pending motion or proposition to a vote; and if the Chairman sustains a point of order that a quorum is not present after putting the question on such a motion or proposition, he may announce that following a regular quorum call conducted pursuant to the previous provisions of this clause, he will reduce to not |
| Sec. 864. Rising and reports of Committee of the Whole. | The presence of a quorum is not necessary for adoption of a motion that the Committee of the Whole rise (IV, 2975, 2976, 4914; clause 6(b) of rule XV; Mar. 5, 1980, pp. 4801-02; Oct. 3, 1985, p. 26096; May 21, 1992, p. ----); but when the committee rises without a quorum, it may not report the bills it has acted on (IV, 2972, 2973), and such bills as have been laid aside to be reported remain in the committee until the next occasion, when the committee rises without question as to a quorum (IV, 4913). A simple motion that the Committee of the Whole rise is privileged (VIII, 2369) and takes precedence over a motion to amend (May 21, 1992, p. ----); however the motion cannot interrupt a Member who has the floor (VIII, 2370-2371) and may be ruled out when dilatory (VIII, 2800). For a further discussion of the motion to rise, see Sec. 334, supra. |
| Sec. 864b. Former provision for de novo vote where Delegates decisive. | When the 103d Congress enabled voting by the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner in the Committee of the Whole, it also added a paragraph (d) to clause 2 of rule XXIII to provide for immediate reconsideration in the House of questions resolved in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union by a margin within which the votes of Delegates and the Resident Commissioner have been decisive (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----). When the 104th Congress repealed the authority for the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner to vote in the Committee of the Whole, it also repealed clause 2(d) (sec. 212(c), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). |
| Sec. 865. Subjects requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole. | 3. All motions or propositions involving a tax or charge upon the people, all proceedings touching appropriations of money, or bills making appropriations of money, or property, or requiring such appropriation to be made, or authorizing payments out of appropriations already made, or releasing any liability to the United States for money or property, or referring any claim to the Court of Claims, shall be first considered in a Committee of the Whole, and a point of order under this rule shall be good at any time before the consideration of a bill has commenced. |
| Sec. 866. Construction of the rule, requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole. | To require consideration in Committee of the Whole, a bill must show on its face that it falls within the requirements of the rule (IV, 4811-4817; VIII, 2391), but where the expenditure is a mere matter of speculation (IV, 4818-4821; VIII, 2388), or where the bill might involve a charge, but does not necessarily do so (IV, 4809, 4810), the rule does not apply. In passing upon the question as to whether a proposition involves a charge upon the Treasury, the Speaker is confined to the provisions of the text and may not take into consideration personal knowledge not directly deducible therefrom (VIII, 2386, 2391). Resolutions reported by the Committee on House Administration (now House Oversight) appropriating from the contingent fund (now referred to as ``applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(h)(1) of rule X'') of the House are considered in the House (VIII, 2415, 2416). Authorizations of expenditures from the contingent fund, under the later ruling (IV, 4862-4867) do not fall within the specifications of the rule (IV, 4868). A bill providing for an expenditure which is to be borne otherwise than by the Government (IV, 4831; VIII, 2400), or relating to money in the Treasury in trust (IV, 4835, 4836, 4853; VIII, 2413), is not governed by the rule. But where a bill sets in motion a train of circumstances destined ultimately to involve certain expenditures, it must be considered in Committee of the Whole (IV, 4827; VIII, 2399), as must also bills ultimately authorizing officials in certain contingencies to part with property belonging to the United States (VIII, 2399). The requirements of the rule apply to amendments as well as to |
| Sec. 867. Subjects not requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole. | The House may consider in Committee of the Whole subjects not specified in the rule (IV, 4822); for example, major amendments to the rules of the House have been considered in Committee of the Whole pursuant to special orders (H. Res. 988, Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, considered in Committee of the Whole pursuant to H. Res. 1395, Sept. 30, 1974, p. 32953; H.R. 17654, Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, considered in Committee of the Whole pursuant to H. Res. 1093, July 13, 1970, p. 23901). While conference reports were formerly considered in Committee of the Whole, they may not be sent there on the suggestion of the point of order that they contain matter ordinarily requiring consideration therein (V, 6559-6561). When a bill is made a special order (IV, 3216-3224), or when unanimous consent is given for its consideration (IV, 4823; VIII, 2393), the effect is to discharge the Committee of the Whole and bring the bill before the House itself for its consideration (IV, 3216; VII, 788), and in such event the bill is considered ``in the House as in the Committee of the Whole'' (VIII, 2393). When a bill once considered in Committee of the Whole is recommitted, it is not, when again reported, necessarily subject to the point of order that it must be considered in Committee of the Whole (IV, 4828, 4829; V, 5545, 5546, 5591). |
| Sec. 868. General practice as to consideration in Committee of the Whole. | Provisions placing liability jointly on the United States and the District of Columbia (IV, 4833), granting an easement on public lands or in streets belonging to the United States (IV, 4840-4842), dedicating public land to be forever used as a public park (IV, 4837, 4838), providing site for statue (VIII, 2405), confirming grants of public lands (IV, 4843) and creating new offices (IV, 4824, 4846), have been held to require consideration in Committee of the Whole. Indian lands have not been considered ``property'' of the Government within the meaning of the rule (IV, 4844, 4845; VIII, 2413). And while a bill removing the rate of postage has been held to be within the rule as ``involving a tax or charge'' (IV, 4861), taxes on bank circulation have not been so considered (IV, 4854, 4855). |
| Sec. 869. Order of business in Committee of the Whole. | 4. In Committees of the Whole House business on their calendars may be taken up in regular order, or in such order as the committee may determine, unless the bill to be considered was determined by the House at the time of going into committee, but bills for raising revenue, general appropriation bills, and bills for the improvement of rivers and harbors shall have precedence. |
| Sec. 870. General debate and amendment under the fiveminute rule in Committee of the Whole. | 5. (a) When general debate is closed by order of the House, any Member shall be allowed five minutes to explain any amendment he may offer, after which the Member who shall first obtain the floor shall be allowed to speak five minutes in opposition to it, and there shall be no further debate thereon, but the same privilege of |
| Sec. 871. Motion to close general debate in Committee of the Whole. | The motion to close general debate in Committee of the Whole, successor in the practice to the motion to discharge provided by the rule of 1841, is made in the House pending the motion that the House resolve itself into committee, and not after the House has voted to go into committee (V, 5208); and though not debatable, the previous question is sometimes ordered on it to prevent amendment (V, 5203); and in case the previous question is ordered, the 40 minutes debate under clause 2 of rule XXVII is not allowed (VIII, 2555, 2690). General debate must have already begun in Committee of the Whole before the motion to limit it is in order in the House (V, 5204-5206). The motion may not apply to a series of bills (V, 5209) and the motion in the House to limit debate on a bill in the Committee of the Whole must apply to the whole and not to a part of a bill (V, 5207). A proposition for a division of time may not be made as a part of it (V, 5210, 5211). The motion may not be made in Committee of the Whole (V, 5217; VIII, 2548); but, in absence of an order by the House, the Committee of the Whole may by unanimous consent determine as to general debate (V, 5232; VIII, 2553). Where the House has fixed the time the committee may not, even by unanimous consent, extend it (V, 5212-5216; VIII, 2321, 2550; Mar. 27, 1984, p. 6599). The general debate must close before amendments may be offered (IV, 4744; V, 5221); and it is closed by the fact that no Member desires to participate further (IV, 4745). Where no member of a committee designated to control time is present at the appropriate time during general debate in Committee of the Whole, the Chair may presume the time to have been yielded back (June 11, 1984, p. 15744). Motions for disposition of the bill are not in order before general debate is closed (IV, 4778); nor may a Member, in time yielded to him for general debate, move that the Committee rise (May 25, 1967, p. 14121) or yield to another for such motion (Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2178).- |
| Sec. 872. Reading and amendment under the fiveminute rule. | The reading of the bill for amendment is not specifically required by the present form of the rule; but is done under a practice which was originally instituted by the rule of 1789 and has continued, although the rule was eliminated, undoubtedly by inadvertence, in the codification of 1880 (V, 5221). Revenue, general appropriation, lighthouse, and river and harbor bills are generally read by paragraphs; other bills by sections (IV, 4738, 4740); and while the matter is very largely in the discretion of the Chair (VIII, 2341, 2344, 2346), the Committee of the Whole has overruled his decision (VIII, 2347). A bill (or the remainder of a bill) may be considered as having been read and open to amendment by unanimous consent but not by motion (June 18, 1976, p. 19296). A Senate amendment, however, is read in entirety, and not by either paragraphs or sections (V, 6194) and an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered from the floor |
| Sec. 873a. Pro forma amendments under the fiveminute rule. | The pro forma amendment to ``strike out the last word'' has long been used for purposes of debate or explanation where an actual amendment is not contemplated (V, 5778; VIII, 2591); but a pro forma amendment must be voted on unless withdrawn (VIII, 2874). A Member who has occupied five minutes on a pro forma amendment may not lengthen this time by making another pro forma amendment (V, 5222; VIII, 2560), nor may he then extend this time by offering a substantive amendment while other Members are seeking recognition (July 28, 1965, p. 18631). A Member recognized to offer a pro forma amendment under the five-minute rule |
| Sec. 873b. Motion to dispense with reading. | (b) It shall be in order to move in the Committee of the Whole to dispense with the reading of an amendment if the amendment has been printed in the bill as reported from a committee, or if any Member shall have caused the amendment to be printed in the Congressional Record, and to be submitted to the clerk, or to any responsible staff member designated by the Chairman, of the reporting committee or committees, at least one day prior to floor consideration, and said motion shall be decided without debate. |
| Sec. 873c. Unfunded mandates. | (c)(1) In the Committee of the Whole, an amendment proposing only to strike an unfunded mandate from the portion of the bill then open to amendment, if otherwise in order, may be precluded from consideration only by specific terms of a special order of the House. |
| Sec. 874a. Closing the fiveminute debate in Committee of the Whole. | 6. The committee may, by the vote of a majority of the Members present, at any time after the five minutes' debate has begun upon proposed amendments to any section or paragraph of a bill, close all debate upon such section or paragraph or, at its election, upon the pending amendments only (which motion shall be decided without debate); but this shall not preclude further amendment, to be decided without debate. However, if debate is closed on any section or paragraph under this clause before there has been debate on any amendment which any Member shall have caused to be printed in the Congressional Record at least one day prior to floor consideration of such amendment, the Member who caused such |
| Sec. 875. The motion to strike out the enacting words of a bill. | 7. A motion to strike out the enacting words of a bill shall have precedence of a motion to amend, and, if carried, shall be considered equivalent to its rejection. Whenever a bill is reported from a Committee of the Whole with an adverse recommendation and such recommendation is disagreed to by the House, the bill shall stand recommitted to the said committee without further action by the House, but before the question of concurrence is submitted it is in order to entertain a motion to refer the bill to any committee, with or without instructions, and when the same is again reported to the House it shall be referred to the Committee of the Whole without debate. |
| Sec. 876a. Practice as to use of the motion to strike out the enacting clause. | The motion may not be made until the first section of the bill has been read (V, 5327; VIII, 2619). Having precedence of a motion to amend, it may be offered while an amendment is pending (V, 5328-5331; VIII, 2622, 2624, 2627). The motion takes precedence over the motion to amend and therefore over the motion to rise and report at the end of the reading of a general appropriation bill for amendment under clause 2(d) of rule XXI (July 24, 1986, p. 17641). The motion also takes precedence over a motion to limit debate on pending amendments (June 28, 1995, p. ----; July 13, 1995, p. ----). Where a special order provides that a bill shall be open to amendment in Committee of the Whole, a motion |
| Sec. 876b. Reading concurrent resolution on budget for amendment. | 8. At the conclusion of general debate in a Committee of the Whole on any concurrent resolution on the budget pursuant to section 305(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the concurrent resolution shall be considered as having been read for amendment. It shall not be in order in the House or in a Committee of the Whole to consider an amendment to a concurrent resolution on the budget, or any amendment to an amendment thereto, unless the concurrent resolution as amended by such amendment or amendments (a) would be mathematically consistent (except to the extent that the amendment involved is limited by the third sentence of this clause); and (b) would contain all |
| Sec. 877. Application of rules of the House to the Committee of the Whole. | 9. The rules of proceeding in the House shall be observed in Committees of the Whole House so far as they may be applicable. |
| Sec. 877a. Modification of special orders. | Unanimous consent requests may not be entertained in the Committee of the Whole by the Chair if their effect is to materially modify procedures required by a special rule or order adopted by the House. For example, the following unan- |
| Sec. 878. The rule for the order of business in the House. | 1. The daily order of business shall be as follows: First. Prayer by the Chaplain. l Second. Reading and approval of the Journal, unless postponed pursuant to the provisions of clause 5(b)(1) of rule I. |
| Sec. 879. Privileged interruptions of the order of business in the House. |
This rule does not, however, bind the House to a daily
routine, since the system of making certain important subjects
privileged (see clause 4(a) of rule XI, clause 9 of rule XVI, and rule
XXVIII) permits the interruption of the order of business by matters
which, in fact, often supplant it entirely for days at a time. But on
any day, when the order of business is interrupted by a privileged
matter, the business in order goes on from the place of interruption
(IV, 3070, 3071) unless the House adjourn. After an adjournment the
House begins again at the beginning. While privileged matters may
interrupt the order of business, they may do so only with the consent of
a majority of the House, expressed as to appropriation bills by the vote
on going into Committee of the Whole to consider such bills, and as to
matters like conference reports, questions of privilege, etc., by
raising and voting on the question of consideration. The only exceptions
to the principle that a majority may prevent interruption is contained
in clauses 6 and 7 of rule XXIV, providing for a call of the private
calendar on the first Tuesday of each month and a call of committees on
Wednesdays. By this combination of an order of business with privileged
interruptions the House is enabled to give precedence to its most
important business without at the same time losing the power by majority
vote to go to any other bills on its calendars.
< |
| Sec. 881. The interruption of the order of business by the request for unanimous consent. | When the House has no rule establishing an order of business, as at the beginning of a session before the adoption of rules, it is in order for any Member who is recognized by the Chair to offer a proposition relating to the order of business without asking consent of the House (IV, 3060). But after the adoption of the rule for the order of business, interruptions are confined to matters privileged to interrupt or to cases wherein the House gives unanimous consent for an interruption. A request for unanimous consent to consider a bill is in effect a request to suspend the order of business temporarily (IV, 3059). Therefore any Member, including the Speaker, may object, or reserve the right to object and inquire, for example, about the reasons for the request, or demand the ``regular order'' (IV, 3058). Debate under a reservation of objection proceeds at the sufferance of the House and may not continue after a demand for the regular order (see, e.g., Speaker Foley, Nov. 14, 1991, p. 32128; Dec. 15, 1995, p. ----). A Member objecting to a unanimous-consent request or demanding the regular order when another has reserved the right to object must stand to be observed by the Chair (Nov. 7, 1991, p. 30633; |
| Sec. 883. Matters on Speaker's table for action by the House or by the Speaker alone. | Such portions of messages from the Senate as require action by the House, all messages from the President except those transmitting his objections to bills (IV, 3534-3536), and all communications and reports from the heads of departments go to the Speaker's table when received, to be disposed of under this rule. Simple resolutions of the Senate that do not require any action by the House are not referred (VII, 1048). All of the President's messages and such portions of Senate messages as, being House bills with Senate amendments, do not require consideration in Committee of the Whole are laid before the House for action; but communications other than messages from the President, all portions of Senate messages requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole (IV, 3101), and Senate bills of all kinds (with the exception noted in the rule) are referred to the appropriate standing committees under direction of the Speaker without action by the House (IV, 3107, 3111; VI, 727). A House bill returned with Senate amendments involving a new matter of appropriation, whether with or without a request for a conference, may be referred directly to a standing committee (VI, 731), and on being reported therefrom is referred directly to the Committee of the Whole (IV, 3094, 3095, 3108- 3110). The usual practice, however, is to take from the Speaker's table and send to conference by unanimous consent (VI, 732). The Speaker's authority under this clause includes the discretionary authority to refer from the Speaker's table Senate amendments to House passed bills, to standing committees, under any conditions permitted under clause 5 of rule X for referral of introduced bills; he may for example impose a time limitation for consideration only of a portion of the Senate amendment, not germane to the original House bill, by the standing committee with subject-matter jurisdiction, without referring the remainder of the Senate amendment to the House committee with jurisdiction over the original House bill (Speaker O'Neill, H.R. 31, Mar. 26, 1981, p. 5397). The Speaker announced his policy regarding referral of nongermane Senate amendments to committee (Jan. 3, 1983, p. 54; Jan. 6, 1987, p. 21); and his policy regarding recognition for unanimous-consent requests to dispose of Senate amendments at the Speaker's table (Apr. 26, 1984, p. 10194; Feb. 4, 1987, p. 2676) discussed in Sec. 757, supra. A Senate bill to come before the House directly from the table must conform to the conditions prescribed by the rule (IV, 3098, 3099; VI, 727, 734, 737), and must have come to the House after and not before the House bill ``substantially the same'' has been placed on the House Calendar (IV, 3096; VI, 727, 736, 738). In the event the House bill has passed before the Senate bill is received, the Senate bill may nevertheless be disposed of on motion directed |
| Sec. 884. Reference of President's messages from the Speaker's table. | A message of the President on the Speaker's table is regularly laid before the House only at the time prescribed by the order of business (V, 6635-6638). While it is always read in full and entered on the Journal and the Congressional Record (V, 6963), the accompanying documents are not read on demand of a Member or entered in the Journal or Record (V, 5267-5271; VII, 1108). The annual message of the President is usually referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union by the House on motion (V, 6631). In the earlier practice it was distributed to appropriate standing committees by resolutions reported from the Committee on Ways and Means (V, 6621, 6622) but since the first session of the 64th Congress the practice has been discontinued (VIII, 3350). A portion of the annual message has been referred directly to a select committee (V, 6628). A message other than an annual message is usually referred directly to a standing committee by direction of the Speaker (IV, 4053; VIII, 3346), but may be referred by the House itself on motion by a Member (V, 6631; VIII, 3348), and such motion is privileged (VIII, 3348). This reference may be to a select as well as to a standing committee (V, 6633, 6634). |
| Sec. 885. Unfinished business. | 3. The consideration of the unfinished business in which the House may be engaged at an adjournment, except business in the morning hour, shall be resumed as soon as the business on the Speaker's table is finished, and at the same time each day thereafter until disposed of, and the consideration of all other unfinished business shall be resumed whenever the class of business to which it belongs shall be in order under the rules. |
| Sec. 886. Construction of rule as to unfinished business. | The ``business in which the House may be engaged at an adjournment'' means, literally, business in the House, as distinguished from the Committee of the Whole; and it further means business in which the House is engaged in its general legislative time, as distinguished from the special periods set aside for classes of business, like the morning hour for calls of committee, Tuesdays for private bills, etc. In general, all business unfinished in the general legislative time goes over as unfinished business under the rule, but there are a few exceptions. Thus, a motion relating to the order of business does not recur as unfinished business on a succeeding day, even though the yeas and nays may have been ordered on it (IV, 3114). The question of consideration, also, when not disposed of at an adjournment, does not recur as unfinished business on a succeeding day (V, 4947, 4948), but may be again raised on a subsequent day when the matter is again called up as unfinished business (VIII, 2438). Where the House adjourns during the consideration of a report from the Committee on Rules, further consideration of the report becomes the unfinished business on the following day, and debate resumes from the point where interrupted (Sept. 27, 1993, p. ----; Sept. 28, 1993, p. ----). When the House adjourns on the second legislative day after postponement of a question under this clause without resuming proceedings thereon, the question remains the unfinished business on the next legislative day (Oct. 1, 1997, p. ----). When the House adjourns while a motion to instruct under clause 1 of rule XXVIII is pending, the motion to instruct becomes unfinished business on the next day and does not need to be renoticed (Oct. 1, 1997, p. ----). |
| Sec. 887. Effect of previous question. | When the House adjourns before voting on a proposition on which the previous question has been ordered, either directly or by the terms of a special order (IV, 3185), the matter comes up the next day as unfinished business (V, 5510-5517; VIII, 2691; Aug. 2, 1989, p. 18187). If several bills come over in this situation, they have precedence in the order in which the several motions for the previous question were made (V, 5518). When the previous question is ordered on a bill undisposed of at adjournment on Friday, the bill comes up for disposition on the next legislative day (VIII, 2694). A bill going over from Calendar Wednesday with the previous question ordered on it should be disposed of on the next legislative day (VII, 967), but when the previous question is ordered on a bill undisposed of when the House adjourns Tuesday, the bill goes over until Thursday (VII, 890-894; VIII, 2674, 2691). A bill coming over from a preceding day with the previous question ordered was of equal privilege with business on the former Consent Calendar (VII, 990). |
| Sec. 888. Business unfinished in periods set apart for classes of business. | The rule excepts by its terms certain classes of business which are considered in periods set apart for classes of business, viz: l (a) Bills considered in the morning hour and on Calendar Wednesday for the call of committees. l (b) Bills in Committee of the Whole. |
| Sec. 889. The morning hour for the call of committees. | 4. After the unfinished business has been disposed of, the Speaker shall call each standing committee in regular order, and then select committees, and each committee when named may call up for consideration any bill reported by it on a previous day and on the House Calendar, and if the Speaker shall not complete the call of the Committees before the House passes to other business, he shall resume the next call where he left off, giving preference to the last bill under consideration: Provided, That whenever any committee shall have occupied the morning hour on |
| Sec. 890. Procedure in the morning hour. | Originally the morning hour was a fixed period of sixty minutes (IV, 3118); but under the present rules (clause 4 of rule XXIV) it does not terminate until the call is exhausted or until the House adjourns (IV, 3119), unless the House on motion made at the end of sixty minutes votes to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union (clause 5 of rule XXIV; IV, 3134), or unless other privileged matter intervenes (IV, 3131, 3132). Before the expiration of the sixty minutes the Speaker has declined to permit the call to be interrupted by a privileged report (IV, 3132) or by unanimous consent (IV, 3130). Where the business for which the call is interrupted is concluded, the call is resumed unless there be other interrupting business or the House adjourns (IV, 3133). A bill once brought up on the call continues before the House in that order of business until disposed of (IV, 3120), unless withdrawn by authority of the committee before action which puts it in possession of the House (IV, 3129); and may not be made a special order for a future day by a motion to postpone to a day certain (IV, 3164). In order to be called up in this order a bill must actually be on the House Calendar, and properly there, in order to be considered (IV, 3122-3126), and a bill on the Union Calendar may not be brought up on call of committees under this clause (VI, 753). If the authority of the committee to call up a bill is disputed, the Chair does not consider it his duty to decide the question (IV, 3127), but the Chair may base its decision on statements from the chairman and other members of the committee (IV, 3128). |
| Sec. 891. Interruption of the call of committees by motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. | 5. After one hour shall have been devoted to the consideration of bills called up by committees, it shall be in order, pending consideration or discussion thereof, to entertain a motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, or, when authorized |
| Sec. 892. Conditions of the motion to go into Committee of the Whole at the end of one hour. | The words of the rule ``one hour after'' have been interpreted to mean a less time in case the call of committees shall have exhausted itself before the expiration of one hour (IV, 3135); but not otherwise (IV, 3141). After the House has been in Committee of the Whole under this order and has risen and reported, and the report has been acted on by the House, other motions to go into committee to consider other bills are in order (IV, 3136). The motion to go into committee generally may be made by the individual Member (IV, 3138), but when it is proposed to designate a particular bill he must have the authority of a committee (IV, 3138). The amendment to the motion to consider a particular bill must refer to a bill on the Union Calendar (IV, 3139). This order of business is used entirely for non- privileged bills and is not used in the House for consideration of bills in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union if otherwise privileged (such as general appropriation bills, which have priority for consideration under clause 9 of rule XVI, and bills reported under the leave to report to the House at any time pursuant to clause 4(a) of rule XI). |
| Sec. 893. Interruption of the regular order on Tuesdays for consideration of the Private Calendar. | 6. On the first Tuesday of each month after disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, the Speaker shall direct the Clerk to call the bills and resolutions on the Private Calendar. Should objection be made by two or more Members to the consideration of any bill or resolution so called, it shall be recommitted to the committee which |
| Sec. 894. Tuesday as a day for private business. | This provision was adopted in the 62d Congress in lieu of special orders under which pension and private business formerly had been considered. The rule was amended on April 23, 1932 (VII, 846) and was adopted in its present form on March 27, 1935, pp. 4480-89, 4538. A Member serving as an ``official objector'' for the Private Calendar has periodically included in the Record an explanation of how bills on the Private Calendar are considered (see, e.g., Dec. 5, 1995, p. ----; June 17, 1997, p. ----). Clause 2 of rule XXII prohibits consideration of certain private bills. Under clause 6(e)(2) of rule XV, the Speaker may in his discretion recognize a Member to move a call of the House prior to the call of the Private Calendar (July 8, 1987, p. 18972). |
| Sec. 895. Methods of considering omnibus bills. | During the consideration of omnibus bills the Chair declines to recognize Members for unanimous-consent requests to address the House (Speaker pro tempore O'Connor, May 7, 1935, p. 7100); motions to strike out the last word are not in order, and requests for extension of time under the five-minute rule are not entertained (Speaker Byrns, Mar. 17, 1936, pp. 3890, 3894-95). |
| Sec. 897. Calendar Wednesday business. | 7. On Wednesday of each week no business shall be in order except as provided by clause 4 of this rule unless the House by a two-thirds vote on motion to dispense therewith shall otherwise determine. On such a motion there may be debate not to exceed five minutes for and against. On a call of committees under this rule bills may be called up from either the House or the Union Calendar, excepting bills which are privileged under the rules; but bills called up from the Union Calendar shall be considered in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. This rule shall not apply during the last two weeks of the session. It shall not be in order for the Speaker to entertain a motion for a recess on any Wednesday except during the last two weeks of the session: Provided, That not more |
| Sec. 898. Decisions on Calendar Wednesday. | The first portion of this rule was adopted March 1, 1909, and amended March 15, 1909. The first and second provisos were adopted January 18, 1916. The last proviso was adopted December 8, 1931 (VII, 881), and was amended in the 102d Congress to specify that the alphabetical call of the committees under Calendar Wednesday resumes where left off between sessions within a Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39). The rule applies to unprivileged bills only, and when a bill otherwise unprivileged is given a privileged status by unanimous consent or by rule it is automatically rendered ineligible for consideration on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 932- 935). House Calendar bills have no preference over Union Calendar bills (VII, 938). The motion to dispense with a call of committees under this rule is privileged and may be made prior to the consideration of District of Columbia business under clause 8 of this rule (June 11, 1973, pp. 19028-30). |
| Sec. 899. District of Columbia. | 8. The second and fourth Mondays in each month, after the disposition of motions to discharge committees and after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, shall, when claimed by the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, be set apart for the consideration of such business relating to the District of Columbia as may be presented by said committee. |
| Sec. 901. Resumption of business of a preceding session. | All business before committees of the House at the end of one session shall be resumed at the commencement of the next session of the same Congress in the same manner as if no adjournment had taken place. |
| 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 |
| 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 motion 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). The motion to reconsider may not be applied to a negative vote on the motion (V, 5645, 5646; VIII, 2781; Sept. 28, 1996, p. ----), although it may be applied to an affirmative vote (Sept. 28, 1996, p. ----). 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 |
| 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. 24695; 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 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) |
| 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). |
| 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. 39). 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 clause 4 of rule XV the yeas and nays were ordered (IV, 3053-3055; Dec. |
| 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. |
| 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. 4996). 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). |
| 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 a special rule for the consideration of a public bill or resolution reported by a standing committee, or a special rule for the consideration of a public bill or resolution which has remained in a standing committee thirty or more days without action: Pro- |
| Sec. 909. High privilege of conference reports; and form of accompanying statement. | 1. (a) The presentation of reports of committees of conference shall always be in order, except when the Journal is being read, while the roll is being called, or the House is dividing on any proposition. |
| Sec. 909a. Time for debate on motions to instruct. | (b) The time allotted for debate on any motion to instruct House conferees shall be equally divided between the majority and minority parties, except that if the proponent of the motion and the Member from the other party are both supporters of the motion, one-third of such debate time shall be allotted to a Member who is opposed to said motion. |
| Sec. 910. Motions privileged after 20 calendar days of conference. | (c) After House conferees on any bill or resolution in conference between the House and Senate shall have been appointed for twenty calendar days and shall have failed to make a report, it is hereby declared to be a motion of the highest privilege to move to discharge said House conferees and to appoint new conferees, or to instruct said House conferees (but in either case only at a time or place designated by the Speaker in the legislative schedule of the day after the calendar day on which the Member offering the |
| Sec. 911. The statement accompanying a conference report. | (d) Each report made by a committee of conference to the House shall be printed as a report of the House. As so printed, such report shall be accompanied by an explanatory statement prepared jointly by the conferees on the part of the House and the conferees on the part of the Senate. |
| Sec. 911a. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that requires a committee of conference to ensure that the Director of that Office prepares a statement with respect to unfunded costs of any additional Federal mandate contained in the conference agreement. See Sec. 1007, infra. |
| Sec. 912a. Consideration of conference reports. | 2. (a) It shall not be in order to consider the report of a committee of conference until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) after such report and the accompanying statement shall have been filed in the House, and such consideration then shall be in order only if such report and accompanying statement shall have been printed in the daily edition of the Congressional Record for the day on which |
| Sec. 912b. Consideration of amendments in disagreement. | (b)(1) It shall not be in order to consider any amendment (including an amendment in the nature of a substitute) proposed by the Senate to any measure reported in disagreement between the two Houses, by a report of a committee of conference that the committee has been unable to agree, until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) after such report and accompanying statement shall have been filed in the House, and such consideration then shall be in order only if such |
| Sec. 912c. Certain motions to insist as preferential. | (2) During consideration of such an amendment to a general appropriation bill, if the original motion offered by the floor manager proposes to change existing law, then pending such original motion and before debate thereon one motion to insist on disagreement to the amendment proposed by the Senate shall be preferential to any other motion to dispose of that amendment if offered by the chairman of a committee having jurisdiction of the subject matter of the amendment or by a designee. Such a preferential motion shall be separately debatable for one hour equally divided between its proponent and the proponent of the original motion. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on such a preferential motion to its adoption without intervening motion. |
| Sec. 912d. Certain conference reports considered as read. | (c) Any conference report and Senate amendment in disagreement which has been available as provided in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this clause shall be considered as having been read when called up for consideration. |
| Sec. 913a. Conferees may report germane modification of amendment in nature of substitute. | 3. Whenever a disagreement to an amendment in the nature of a substitute has been committed to a conference committee it shall be in order for the Managers on the part of the House to propose a substitute which is a germane modification of the matter in disagreement, but the introduction of any language in that substitute presenting a specific additional topic, question, issue, or proposition not committed to the conference committee by either House shall not constitute a germane modification of the matter in disagreement. Moreover, their report shall not include matter not committed to the conference committee by either House, nor shall their report include a modification of any specific topic, question, issue, or proposition committed to the conference committee by either or both Houses if that modification is beyond the scope of that specific topic, question, issue, or proposition as so committed to the conference committee. |
| Sec. 913b. Nongermane matter in conference agreements. | 4. (a) With respect to any report of a committee of conference called up before the House containing any matter which would be in violation of the provisions of clause 7 of rule XVI if such matter had been offered as an amendment in the House, and which-- |
| Sec. 913c. Nongermane matter in amendments in disagreement. | 5. (a)(1) With respect to any amendment (including an amendment in the nature of a substitute) which-- |
| Sec. 913d. Open conference meetings. | 6. (a) Each conference committee meeting between the House and Senate shall be open to the public except when the House, in open session, has determined by a rollcall vote of a majority of those Members voting that all or part of the meeting shall be closed to the public. |
| Sec. 914. Secret session of the House. | Whenever confidential communications are received from the President of the United States, or whenever the Speaker or any Member shall inform the House that he has communications which he believes ought to be kept secret for the present, the House shall be cleared of all persons except the Members and officers thereof, and so continue during the reading of such communications, the debates and proceedings thereon, unless otherwise ordered by the House. |
| Sec. 915. Objections to use of exhibits. | When the use of any exhibit in debate is objected to by any Member, it shall be determined without debate by a vote of the House. |
| Sec. 916. History of former rule on reading of papers. | The earlier form of the rule, originally adopted in 1794 and amended in 1802 and 1880 (V, 5257), addressed reading from papers. It recognized the right of a Member under the general parliamentary law to have read the paper on which the House is to vote (V, 5258), but when that paper had been read once, the reading could not be repeated unless by order of the House (V, 5260). The right could be abrogated by suspension of the rules (V, 5278-5284; VIII, 3400); but was not abrogated simply by the fact that the current procedure was taking place under the rule for suspension (V, 5273-5277). On a motion to refer a report, the reading of it could be demanded as a matter of right, but the latest ruling left to the House to determine whether or not an accompanying record of testimony should be read (V, 5261, 5262). In general the reading of a report was held to be in the nature of debate (V, 5292); but where a report presented facts and conclusions but no legislative proposition, it was read if submitted for action (IV, 4663). Where a paper is offered as involving a matter of privilege it may be read to the House (III, 2597; VI, 606; VIII, 2599), rather than by the Speaker privately (III, 2546), but a Member |
| Sec. 917. Earlier practice. | The reading of papers other than the one on which the vote was about to be taken was usually permitted without question (V, 5258), and the Member in debate usually read such papers as he pleased, but this privilege was subject to the authority of the House if another Member objected (V, 5285-5288, 5289-5291; VIII, 2597, 2602; Dec. 19, 1974, p. 41425; Dec. 10, 1987, p. 34669). This principle applied even to the Member's own written speech (V, 5258; VIII, 2598), to a report which he proposed to have read in his own time or to read in his place (V, 5293), and to excerpts from the Congressional Record (VIII, 2597). But, on a motion to lay on the table, a demand for the reading of a paper other than the one to which the motion applied was overruled (V, 5297); and after the previous question were ordered a Member could not ask the decision of the House as to the reading of a paper not before the House for action (V, 5296), even though it be the report of the committee (V, 5294, 5295). For further discussion, see Sec. Sec. 432-436, supra. The consent of the House pursuant to the former form of this rule for a Member to read a paper in debate only permitted the Member seeking such permission to read as much of the paper as possible in the time yielded or allotted to that Member, and did not necessarily grant permission to read or to insert the entire document (Mar. 1, 1979, p. 3748). Where a Member objected to another's reading from a paper the Chair put the question without debate, and it was not in order under the guise of parliamentary inquiry to debate that question by indicating that the objection was a dilatory tactic (Dec. 10, 1987, p. 34672). |
| Sec. 918. Use of the Hall of the House. | The Hall of the House shall be used only for the legislative business of the House and for the caucus meetings |
| Sec. 919. Persons and officials admitted to the floor during sessions of the House. | 1. The persons hereinafter named, and none other, shall be admitted to the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto, viz: The President and Vice President of the United States and their private secretaries, judges of the Supreme Court, Members of Congress and Members-elect, contestants in election cases during the pendency of their cases in the House, the Secretary and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, heads of departments, foreign ministers, governors of States, the Architect of the Capitol, the Librarian of Congress and his assistant in charge of the Law Library, the Resident Commissioner to the United States from Puerto Rico, each Delegate to the House, such persons as have, by name, received the thanks of Congress, the Parliamentarian, elected officers and elected minority employees of the House (other than Members); and ex-Members of the House of Representatives, former Parliamentarians of the House, and former elected officers and elected minority employees of the House, |
| Sec. 920. Admission to the floor when the House is not sitting. | 2. There shall be excluded at all times from the Hall of the House of Representatives and the cloakrooms all persons not entitled to the privilege of the floor during the session, except that until fifteen minutes of the hour of the meeting of the House persons employed in its service, accredited members of the press entitled to admission to the press gallery, and other persons on re- |
| Sec. 921a. Former Members and officers. | 3. Ex-Members of the House of Representatives, former Parliamentarians of the House, and former elected officers and former elected minority employees of the House, shall be entitled to the privilege of admission to the Hall of the House and rooms leading thereto only if they do not have any direct personal or pecuniary interest in any legislative measure pending before the House or reported by any committee of the House and only if they are not in the employ of, or do not represent, any party or organization for the purpose of influencing, directly or indirectly, the passage, defeat or amendment of any legislative measure pending before the House, reported by any committee of the House or under consideration in any of its committees or subcommittees. The Speaker shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this rule and to ensure its enforcement. |
| Sec. 921b. Members' staff. | 4. Persons from Member's staffs admitted to the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto under clause 1 shall be admitted only upon prior notification to the Speaker. No such person or clerk of a committee so admitted under clause 1 shall engage in efforts in the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto to influence Members with regard to the legislation being amended. Such persons and clerks shall remain at the desk and are admitted only to advise the Member or committee responsible for their admission. Any such person or clerk who violates this clause may be excluded during the session from the Hall of the House and rooms leading thereto by the Speaker. |
| Sec. 921c. Prohibition on distribution of campaign contributions. | 5. No Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives, or any other person entitled to admission to the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto by this rule, shall knowingly distribute any political campaign contribution in the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto. |
| Sec. 922. The various galleries and admission thereto. | The Speaker shall set aside a portion of the west gallery for the use of the President of the United States, the members of his Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, foreign ministers and suites, and the members of their respective families, and shall also set aside another portion of the same gallery for the accommodation of persons to be admitted on the card of Members. The southerly half of the east gallery shall be assigned exclusively for the use of the families of Members of Congress, in which the Speaker shall control one bench, and on request of a Member the Speaker shall issue a card of admission to his family, which shall include their visi- |
| Sec. 923. Reporters of debates and committee stenographers. | 1. The appointment and removal, for cause, of the official reporters of the House, including stenographers of committees, and the manner of the execution of their duties shall be vested in the Clerk, subject to the direction and control of the Speaker. |
| Sec. 924. Rules relating to Congressional Record. | The arrangement, style, etc., of the Congressional Record is prescribed by the Joint Committee on Printing pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 901, 904 (see also VIII, 3500). The rules of the Joint Committee on Printing governing publication of the Congressional Record are as follows: |
| Sec. 924a. Substantially verbatim account. | The requirement of rule 7 of the supplemental rules outlined above that the Congressional Record be a substantially verbatim account of remarks actually rendered was included as a new clause 9 of rule XIV in the 104th Congress, with the prescription that that rule constitute a standard of conduct under clause 4(e)(1)(B) of rule X (sec. 213, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). Under clause 9 of rule XIV, remarks actually delivered may not be deleted and remarks inserted must appear in distinctive type (Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). The Speaker has instructed the Official Reporters of Debates to adhere strictly to the requirement of rule 7 of the supplemental rules (Mar. 2, 1988, p. 2963; Feb. 3, 1993, p. ----; Jan. 3, 1996, p. ----). Because the Record is maintained as a substantially verbatim account of the proceedings of the House (44 U.S.C. 901), the Speaker will not entertain a unanimous-consent request to give a special-order speech ``off the Record'' (June 24, 1992, p. -- --). |
| Sec. 925. Relations of the Committee of the Whole to the Congressional Record. | As a general rule the Committee of the Whole has no control over the Congressional Record (V, 6986); but the Chairman in the preservation of order, may direct the exclusion of disorderly words spoken by a Member after he has been called to order (V, 6987). In a case wherein the committee conceived that a letter read in committee involved a breach of privilege, it reported the matter to the House for action, and the House struck the letter from the Record (V, 6986). The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole does not determine the privileges of a Member under a general leave to print in the record, that being for the House alone (V, 6988). Neither may the Committee of the Whole grant a general leave to print, although for convenience it does permit individual Members to extend their remarks (V, 7009, 7010; VIII, 3488- 3490; Aug. 31, 1965, p. 22385), nor may the Committee of the Whole permit the inclusion of extraneous material (Jan. 23, 1936, p. 950; Feb. 1, 1937, pp. 656-57; Sept. 19, 1967, p. 26032). |
| Sec. 926. Correction of the Congressional Record. | While the House controls the Congressional Record, the Speaker with the assent of the House laid down the principle that words spoken by a Member in order might not be changed by the House, as this would be determining what a Member should utter on the floor (V, 6974; VI, 583; VIII, 3469, 3498). Neither should one House strike out matter placed in the Record by permission of the other House (V, 6966). But the House may correct the speech of one of its Members so that it may record faithfully what he actually said (V, 6972). Where a Member interrupts another during debate without being yielded or otherwise recognized (as on a point of order) his remarks are not printed in the Record (Speaker O'Neill, Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2229). Where a Member had uttered disorderly words on the floor without objection, the House yet decided that it was not precluded from action when the words, after being withheld for revision, appeared in the Record, and struck them out (V, 6979, 6981; VI, 582; VIII, 2538, 3463, 3472). |
| Sec. 927. Privileges of propositions to correct the Congressional Record. | A motion or resolution for the correction of the Congressional Record which involves a question of privilege may be made properly after the reading and approval of the Journal (V, 7013; VIII, 3496), and is not in order pending the approval of the Journal (V, 6989), but is privileged after that (V, 7014-7019; VIII, 3461, 3463). |
| Sec. 928. Privilege of Member to revise his remarks in the Congressional Record. | The traditional practice to allow a Member, with the approval of the House and under conditions set forth by the Joint Committee on Printing, to revise his remarks before publication in the Congressional Record (V, 6971, 7024; VIII, 3500) should be interpreted in light of clause 9 of rule XIV and rule 7 of the supplemental rules of the Joint Committee on Printing, which require the Record to be a substantially verbatim account of remarks made during House proceedings (see Sec. Sec. 764a, 764b, 924, supra). In any event, a Member should not change the notes of his own speech in such a way as to affect the remarks of an opponent in controversy without bringing the correction to the attention of that Member (V, 6972; VIII, 3461), and alterations which place a different aspect on the remarks of a colleague require authorization by the House (VIII, 3463, 3497). A Member is not entitled to inspect the Reporter's notes of remarks which do not contain reflections on himself, delivered by another Member and withheld for revision (V, 6964). Where a Member so revised his remarks as to affect the import of words uttered by another Member, the House corrected the Record (V, 6973). |
| Sec. 929. ``Leave to print'' in the Congressional Record. | The practice of inserting in the Congressional Record speeches not actually delivered on the floor has grown up by consent of the House as the membership has increased and it has become difficult at times for every Member to express at length on the floor his reasons for his attitude on public questions (V, 6990-6996, 6998-7000). The House quite generally stipulates, in granting leave to print, that it shall be exercised without unreasonable freedom (V, 7002, 7003). General leave to print may be granted only by the House, although in Committee of the Whole a Member, by unanimous consent, may be given leave to extend his remarks (V, 7009, 7010; VIII, 3488-3490). When a Member under leave to print places in the Record that which would not have been in order if uttered on the floor, the House may exclude the speech in whole or in part (V, 7005-7008; VIII, 3495; Oct. 2, 1992, p. ----; Sept. 27, 1996, p. ----). Thus, where a Member, under leave to print, made charges against another Member, the House ordered the speech stricken out (V, 7004). The principle that |
| Sec. 930a. Unofficial reporters in the press gallery and on the floor. | 2. Such portion of the gallery over the Speaker's chair as may be necessary to accommodate representatives of the press wishing to report debates and proceedings shall be set aside for their use, and reputable reporters and correspondents shall be admitted thereto under such regulations as the Speaker may from time to time prescribe; and the supervision of such gallery, including the designation of its employees, shall be vested in the standing committee of correspondents, subject to the direction and control of the Speaker; and the Speaker may assign one seat on the floor to Associated Press reporters and one to United Press International, and regulate the occupation of the same. And the Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may prescribe, one additional representative of each press association. |
| Sec. 930b. Unofficial reporters in the radio gallery and on the floor. | 3. Such portion of the gallery of the House of Representatives as may be necessary to accommodate reporters of news to be disseminated by radio, television, and similar means of transmission, wishing to report debates and proceedings, shall be set aside for their use, and reputable reporters thus engaged shall be admitted thereto under such regulations as the Speaker may from time to time prescribe; and the supervision of such gallery, including the designation of its employees, shall be vested in the Executive Committee of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries, subject to the direction and control of the Speaker; and the Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may prescribe, one representative of the National Broadcasting Company, one of the Columbia Broadcasting System, one of the Mutual Broadcasting System, and one of the American Broadcasting Company. |
| Sec. 931. Fees of witnesses before the House or committees. | The rule for paying witnesses to appear before the House or any of its committees shall be as follows: For each day a witness shall attend, the same per diem rate as established, authorized, and regulated by the Committee on House Oversight for Members and employees of the House, and actual expenses of travel in coming to or going from the place of examination; but no per diem shall be paid when a witness has been summoned at the place of examination. |
| Sec. 932. Duties of Clerk and committees as to custody of papers before committees. | 1. (a) At the end of each Congress, the chairman of each committee of the House shall transfer to the Clerk any noncurrent records of such committee, including the subcommittees thereof. |
| Sec. 933. Custody of papers in the files of the House. | No memorial or other paper presented to the House shall be withdrawn from its files without its leave, and if withdrawn therefrom certified copies thereof shall be left in the office of the Clerk; but when an act may pass for the settlement of a claim, the Clerk is authorized to transmit to the officer in charge with the settlement thereof the papers on file in his office relating to such claim, or may loan temporarily to an officer or bureau of the executive departments any papers on file in his office relating to any matter pending before such officer or bureau, taking proper receipt therefor. |
| Sec. 934. Elections by ballot. | In all cases of ballot a majority of the votes given shall be necessary to an election, and where there shall not be such a majority on the first ballot the ballots shall be repeated until a majority be obtained; and in all balloting blanks shall be rejected and not taken into the count in enumeration of votes or reported by the tellers. |
| Sec. 935. Entry of messages in the Journal and Record. | Messages received from the Senate and the President of the United States, giving notice of bills passed or approved, shall be entered in the Journal and published in the Record of that day's proceedings. |
| Sec. 936. Reception and reference of executive communications, including estimates. | Estimates of appropriations and all other communications from the executive departments, intended for the consideration of any committees of the House, shall be addressed to the Speaker, and by him referred as provided by clause 2 of rule XXIV. |
| Sec. 937. Officers and employees not to be agents of claims. | No person shall be an officer or employee of the House, or continue in its employment, who shall be an agent for the prosecution of any claim against the Government or be interested in such claim otherwise than as an original claimant or than in the proper discharge of official duties. |
| Sec. 938. Relations of Jefferson's Manual and Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to the rules of the House. | The rules of parliamentary practice comprised in Jefferson's Manual and the provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as amended, shall govern the House in all cases to which they are applicable, and in which they are not inconsistent with the standing rules and orders of the House and joint rules of the Senate and House of Representatives. |
| Sec. 939. Official conduct of Members, officers, or employees of the House. | 1. A Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives shall conduct himself at all times in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives. |
| Sec. 940. Financial report disclosing certain financial interests. | 1. A copy of each report filed with the Clerk under Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 shall be sent by the Clerk within the seven-day period beginning the date on which the report is filed to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. By August 1 of each year, the Clerk shall compile all such reports sent to him by Members within the period beginning on January 1 and ending on June 15 of each year and |
| Sec. 941. | 2. After the date of adoption of this rule, no funds may be paid into any unofficial office account. |
| Sec. 942. | 1. Any franked mail which is mailed by a Member under section 3210(d) of title 39, United States Code, shall be mailed at the equivalent rate of postage |
| Sec. 943. Income limitations. | 1. (a)(1) Except as provided by subparagraph (2), in calendar year 1991 or thereafter, a Member or an officer or employee of the House may not-- |
| Sec. 944a. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. | 1. (a) There is hereby established a permanent select committee to be known as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (hereinafter in this rule referred to as the ``select committee''). The select committee shall be composed of not more than sixteen Members, of whom not more than nine may be from the same party. The select committee shall include at least one Member from: |
| Sec. 944b. | This rule was adopted in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 658, July 14, 1977, pp. 22932-49) and has had several technical amendments: (1) to change the size of the Select Committee from 13 to 14 members (H. Res. 70, 96th Cong., Jan. 25, 1979, p. 1023); (2) to reflect a change in the name of a committee (H. Res. 89, 96th Cong., Feb. 5, 1979, pp. 1848-49); (3) to change the size to not more than 16 members (H. Res. 33, 99th Cong., Jan. 30, 1985, p. 1271); (4) to change the size to not more than 17 members and to change the cross-reference in clause 7(c)(1) to include paragraph (a) or (b) (H. Res. 5, 100th Cong., Jan. 6, 1987, p. 6); (5) to change the size to not more than 19 members (H. Res. 5, 101st Cong., Jan. 3, 1989, p. 73) and to permit the Speaker to attend meetings and have access to information (H. Res. 268, Nov. 14, 1989, p. 28789); (6) to strike obsolete language relating to tenure restrictions in clause 1 and relating to the requirement for authorizations of appropriations in clause 9 (H. Res. 5, 102d Cong., Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39); and (7) to make certain conforming changes (Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (sec. 10104, P.L. 105-33)).. |
| Sec. 945. Public debt limit. | 1. Upon the adoption by the Congress (under section 301 or 304 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974) of any concurrent resolution on the budget setting forth as the appropriate level of the public debt for the period to which such concurrent resolution relates an amount which is different from the amount of the statutory limit on the public debt that would otherwise be in effect for such period, the enrolling clerk of the House of Representatives shall prepare an engrossment of a joint resolution, in the form prescribed in clause 2, increasing or decreasing the statutory limit on the public debt. The vote by which the conference report on the concurrent resolution on the budget was agreed to in the House (or by which the concurrent resolution itself was adopted in the House, if there is no conference report) shall be deemed to have been a vote in favor of such joint resolution upon final passage in the House of Representatives. Upon the engrossment of such joint resolution it shall be deemed to have passed the House of Representatives and been duly certified and examined; the engrossed copy shall be signed by the Clerk and transmitted to the Senate for further legislative action; and (upon final passage by both Houses) the joint resolution shall be signed by the presiding officers of both Houses and presented to the Presi- |
| Sec. 946. Response to subpoenas. | 1. When any Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives is properly served with a subpoena or other judicial order directing appearance as a witness relating to the official functions of the House or for the production or disclosure of any documents relating to the official functions of the House, such Member, officer, or employee shall comply, consistently with the privileges and rights of the House, with said subpoena or other judicial order as hereinafter provided, unless otherwise determined pursuant to the provisions of this rule. |
| Sec. 946a. Gift rule. | 1. (a) No Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives shall knowingly accept a gift except as provided in this rule. |
| Sec. 946b. Former rules on employment practices and application of certain laws. | The earliest form of the rule on ``employment practices'' was designated as rule LI. It grew out of the Fair Employment Practices Resolution first adopted in the 100th Congress (H. Res. 558, Oct. 3, 1988, p. 27840) and renewed in the 101st Congress (H. Res. 15, Jan. 3, 1989, p. 85). The terms of that resolution were incorporated by reference in a standing rule LI in the 102d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39), and were codified in full text, with certain amendments, in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. -- --). The Employment Practices rule was overtaken by the earliest form of ``application of certain laws,'' which was originally designated as LII in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 578, Oct. 7, 1994, p. ----). The Application of Laws rule, in turn, was overtaken by the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-1; 2 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.). Certain savings provisions appear in section 506 of that Act (2 U.S.C. 1435). A later form of rule designated as LII (gift rule) was adopted in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 250, Nov. 16, 1995, p. ----). In the 105th Congress the Gift Rule was redesignated as rule LI (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). |