[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 1.  Assembly of Congress]
[A. Meeting and Organization]
[Â§ 2. Types of  Meeting; Sessions]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 7-11]
 
                               CHAPTER 1
 
                          Assembly of Congress
 
                      A. MEETING AND ORGANIZATION
 
Sec. 2. Types of Meeting; Sessions

    Congress assembles in various ways, as determined by the status of 
Congress at its last meeting and by the provisions of the twentieth 
amendment, requiring assembly at least once a year.(9) The 
two types of ``assembly'' contemplated by the twentieth amendment 
include the convening of the first session of a new Congress and the 
convening of the second or following session of an existing 
Congress.(10) A third category of assembly, the extra 
session, may arise when the Congress is convened pursuant to 
Presidential proclamation after the final adjournment of one session 
but before the constitutional day for the convening of the next 
session.(11) When the President ex
                         
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ercises his power to convene, a Congress may hold three or more 
sessions during its term.(12) The last category of assembly, 
as the term is used generally to connote a meeting, occurs during a 
session of Congress, after adjournment either to a day certain or from 
day to day.
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 9. Section 2. The twentieth amendment, ratified Feb. 6, 1933, 
        superseded U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 4, clause 2.
10. See House Rules and Manual Sec. 590 (1973). See Sec. 3, infra, for 
        determination of the meeting time of Congress.
11. For the President's authority to convene Congress, see U.S. Const. 
        art. II, Sec. 3. For characterization of meetings called by the 
        President, and whether they constitute a new session, see 
        Sec. 3, infra. See also Ashley v Keith Oil Corp., 7 F.R.D. 589 
        (D. Mass. 1947); compare Jefferson's Manual, House Rules and 
        Manual Sec. 588 (1973). For instances of extra sessions since 
        1936, see Sec. Sec. 2.1-2.2, infra.
            In the 93d Congress, the concurrent resolution adjourning 
        sine die the 1st session (H. Con. Res. 412) provided that the 
        leadership could reassemble Congress.
12. For historical commentary on the number of sessions per term, see 
        Sec. 3, infra.
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    The final adjournment of one session, preceding the opening of a 
new session, is usually but not always accomplished by a sine die 
adjournment resolution.
    For example, the 76th Congress, 3d session, terminated and the 77th 
Congress, 1st session, began at noon on Jan. 3, 1941, pursuant to the 
twentieth amendment; neither a concurrent resolution providing for 
adjournment sine die nor a law changing the convening date of the 77th 
Congress had been passed. The House adopted a simple motion to adjourn 
on Jan. 2, and the Senate stayed in session up to noon on Jan. 3 when 
the 3d session of the 76th Congress expired.(13)
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13. See 86 Cong. Rec. 14059, 76th Cong. 3d Sess., Jan. 3, 1941. See 
        also Sec. 2.4, infra, and 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 3375.
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    These distinctions are important in determining the procedure of 
the House and the power of its Members when it meets. At the beginning 
of the first session of a new Congress, the House is without the 
anchors of rules of procedure, elected officers, or duly sworn Members. 
At the beginning of a consecutive session of an existing Congress, on 
the other hand, Members have been sworn and rules and officers remain 
the same. The openings of new sessions, however, whether of a new 
Congress, or of an old Congress, or by Presidential proclamation, share 
one common procedural characteristic: the ascertainment of a quorum 
must be the first order of business. Congress is not ``assembled'' 
until a quorum is present in both Houses, and each House has been 
notified of the quorum in the other.(14) That re
                         
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quirement distinguishes the opening of a session from the assembly of 
Congress during a session, where a quorum is not required unless the 
lack thereof is challenged.(15) There are, of course, other 
proceedings on the opening day of a session which do not occur at 
regular daily meetings, such as the notification to the President of 
the assembly of Congress.(16)
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14. 6 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 5.
            A message from one House that a quorum has appeared is not 
        delivered in the other until a quorum has appeared there also. 
        1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 126.
            Although art. I, Sec. 5, clause 1 of the Constitution 
        requires a quorum to do business, the House has proceeded to 
        business at the beginning of a second session despite the lack 
        thereof in the Senate (1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 126), and both 
        Houses have permitted the oath to be administered in the 
        absence of a quorum (1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 174, 181, 
        182; 4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 875).
15. See Ch. 20, infra. On at least one occasion, a quorum was not 
        present at the opening day of the second session. 10 Annals of 
        Cong. 782, 6th Cong., 2d Sess., Nov. 17, 1800 (the date 
        Congress moved permanently to the District of Columbia).
16. See Sec. 7.1, infra.
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    The point in time at which the elected Congress becomes the 
Congress ``assembled'' has been a subject of much discussion, as the 
determination of that question may define the authority of Congress to 
act in an official capacity.(17) The language of the 
Constitution, in empowering each House to determine the rules of its 
proceedings and to elect its officers, clearly contemplates the 
assembly as being a ``House'' before the adoption of rules or election 
of officers.(18) No definitive rule can, however, be laid 
down as to the authority of Congress to act before organization, 
without looking specifically at the act in question and at the stage of 
organization, factors which receive detailed analyses elsewhere in this 
chapter. As a rule, only housekeeping resolutions are considered during 
organization, although a major bill may on occasion be acted upon 
before organization is completed by the adoption of 
rules.(19) A related question, whether Congress was in 
session at a particular time, may become a justifiable controversy when 
the effectiveness of a congressional or Presidential act depends on the 
determination.(20)
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17. See 1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 87-88.
18. See 1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 82.
19. See, in general, Sec. 12, infra. For consideration of legislation 
        before rules adoption, see Sec. 12.8, infra.
20. On the question whether a legislative body was technically in 
        session at the time a bill was passed, there are two rules of 
        statutory construction: under the conclusive presumption rule, 
        courts refuse to go beyond authenticated bills to inquire 
        whether the legislative body was in session; the opposite view 
        admits extrinsic evidence. Sutherland, Statutes and Statutory 
        Construction Sec. 406 (3d. ed. 1943). Federal courts accord a 
        presumption in favor of regularity to the proceedings of 
        Congress. See Yellin v U.S., 374 U.S. 109, 146 (1963); Barry v 
        U.S. ex rel Cunningham, 279 U.S. 597, 619 (1929).
            Whether Congress was in session at a particular time may 
        become a justifiable controversy when the effectiveness of a 
        Presidential veto depends on the determination. Wright v U.S., 
        302 U.S. 583 (1938); Pocket Veto Case, 279 U.S. 655 (1929). 
        Generally, see Ch. 24, infra.

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Extra Sessions; Presidential Proclamation

Sec. 2.1 On two occasions since 1936, Congress has held three sessions, 
    the second, or special session, being convened by Presidential 
    proclamation following the sine die adjournment of the first 
    session.

    Following the sine die adjournment of the first session of the 75th 
Congress on Aug. 21, 1937,(21) Congress was convened for its 
second session on Nov. 15, 1937, before the constitutional day of 
meeting, by Presidential proclamation.(22) The third session 
of the 75th Congress met on the constitutional day, Jan. 3, 
1938,(23) following the final adjournment of the second 
session.
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21. 81 Cong. Rec. 9678, 75th Cong. 1st Sess.
22. 82 Cong. Rec. 7, 75th Cong. 2d Sess.
23. 83 Cong. Rec. 6, 75th Cong. 3d Sess.
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    Similarly, the second session of the 76th Congress was convened by 
Presidential proclamation on Sept. 21, 1939,(24) before the 
constitutional day of meeting for the second session, Jan. 3, 1940. The 
third session of the 76th Congress convened on Jan. 3 subsequent to the 
final adjournment of the second session.(25)
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24. 85 Cong. Rec. 7, 76th Cong. 2d Sess.
25. 86 Cong. Rec. 5, 76th Cong. 3d Sess.
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Sec. 2.2 When the House convenes, pursuant to Presidential 
    proclamation, following the sine die adjournment of a session, the 
    Speaker calls the House to order and the Clerk reads the 
    proclamation of the President convening the extraordinary session.

    On Nov. 15, 1937,(26) following the sine die adjournment 
of the first session on Aug. 6, 1937, Speaker William B. Bankhead, of 
Alabama, called the House to order and directed the Clerk to read the 
following proclamation:
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26. 82 Cong. Rec. 7, 75th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Convening the Congress in Extra Session by the President of the 
                            United States of America

                                 a proclamation

        Whereas public interests require that the Congress of the 
    United States should be convened in extra session at 12 o'clock 
    noon on the 15th day of November 1937, to receive such 
    communication as may be made by the Executive:
                         
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        Now, therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the 
    United States of America, do hereby proclaim and declare that an 
    extraordinary occasion requires the Congress of the United States 
    to convene in extra session at the Capitol in the City of 
    Washington on the 15th day of November 1937, at 12 o'clock noon, of 
    which all persons who shall at that time be entitled to act as 
    Members thereof are hereby required to take notice. . . .

Sec. 2.3 When Congress is convened by the President for a special and 
    additional session, it may provide appropriations, by joint 
    resolution, for extra mileage expenses of Members and additional 
    wages of House employees thereby incurred.

    On Sept. 25, 1939,(27) the House agreed to a joint 
resolution appropriating payment for expenses incident to the second 
and extraordinary session of the 76th Congress, convened by 
Presidential proclamation. The appropriations covered mileage expenses 
incurred by the Members, Delegates, and Commissioners of Congress and 
by the Vice President, and wages for the pages of the Senate and the 
House during the term of the second session.
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27. 85 Cong. Rec. 16, 76th Cong. 2d Sess.
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Interval Between Sessions

Sec. 2.4 On one occasion since 1936, the Senate stayed in session until 
    the date and hour when one Congress expired and the next one began 
    pursuant to the twentieth amendment.(28)
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28. For other instances where one session of Congress followed another 
        without appreciable interval, see 5 Hinds' Precedents 
        Sec. 6690; 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 3375.
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    On Jan. 3, 1941,(1) the Senate of the 76th Congress, 3d 
session, convened at 11:30 a.m. At 11:43 a.m. the Senate took a recess 
until 11:55 a.m. Further proceedings were carried as follows in the 
Record:
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 1. 86 Cong. Rec. 14059, 76th Cong. 3d Sess. The House had adjourned 
        pursuant to a simple motion to adjourn on Jan. 2, 1941.
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        The third session of the Seventy-sixth Congress expired 
    automatically, under constitutional limitation, when the hour of 12 
    o'clock arrived.



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