[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 1.  Assembly of Congress]
[B. Procedure]
[Â§ 11. Resumption of Legislative Business]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 68-72]
 
                               CHAPTER 1
 
                          Assembly of Congress
 
                              B. PROCEDURE
 
Sec. 11. Resumption of Legislative Business

    Once the two Houses of Congress have assembled, elected offi 
                         
[[Page 69]]

cers, sworn Members, and adopted rules, the resumption of legislative 
business is in order.(19) Two
important questions arise, however, as to the taking up of business: 
first, at what point in time does Congress actually begin legislating 
after organization, and second, to what extent does business carry over 
from the previous session. As to the time the two new Houses begin 
transacting business, there is a long established custom of postponing 
business not pertinent to organization until after the President has 
delivered his state of the Union message to the 
Congress.(20) In the Senate, this principle applies both at 
the beginning of a new session of a new Congress, and at the 
commencement of a consecutive session of an existing 
Congress.(1) Although the House does not transact 
legislative business at the beginning of a new Congress until after the 
Presidential message, that body does resume business at the beginning 
of a second or third session before the Presidential 
message,(2) and even on occasion before a quorum has 
appeared in the Senate.(3)
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19. The Act of 1789, Ch. 1, Sec. 2, 1 Stat. 23, as amended, 2 USC 
        Sec. 25 (1948) requires that the oath be administered to the 
        Speaker, Members and Clerk ``previous to entering on any other 
        business. . . .'' See also 1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 130, 
        140, 237, 241, 243; 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 6647-49; 
        contra (allowing business before the election of the Clerk), 1 
        Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 242, 244, 245.
            The Speaker has suggested that bills should not be acted 
        upon prior to the adoption of rules. 117 Cong. Rec. 16, 92d 
        Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 20, 1971 (Speaker Carl Albert); the 
        announcement is cited at Sec. 12.2, infra. For an occasion 
        where a major bill was considered and passed before rules 
        adoption, see 77 Cong. Rec. 83, 73d Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 9, 
        1933 (cited at Sec. 12.8, infra).
20. See 1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 81, 122-125; Sec. 7.1, supra; 
        Sec. 12.10, infra. See the remarks, in explanation of the 
        custom, by Mr. Michael J. Mansfield, 114 Cong. Rec. 4-5, 90th 
        Cong. 2d Sess., Jan. 15, 1968 (quoted at Sec. 11.4, infra).
 1. See Sec. 12.10, infra (first session) and Sec. 11.4, infra 
        (subsequent session).
 2. See Sec. Sec. 11.2 and 11.3, infra.
 3. See 1 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 126.
 4. House Rules and Manual Sec. 901 (1973).
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    Upon convening for a second or third session during the term of a 
Congress, the House resumes all business that was pending either before 
the House or before committees at the adjournment sine die of the 
preceding session. That practice of resuming business grows out of Rule 
XXVI of the House rules,(4) which specifically continues all 
business before committees as if no adjournment had taken place; actual 
practice under 
                         
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the rule continues all business before the House, not 
just that before committees.(5)
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 5. For the history and the scope of the rule, see 5 Hinds' Precedents 
        Sec. 6727. The practice of resuming all old business at the 
        start of a session during the term of a Congress departed from 
        the rule of the English Parliament, as stated in Jefferson's 
        Manual. House Rules and Manual Sec. 592 (1973).
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    The vast majority of business remaining at the end of one Congress 
does not, however, carry over to the beginning of a new Congress, since 
Congress does not allow the past proceedings of one Congress to bind its 
successor. Few 
categories have carried over from one Congress to the next; impeachment 
proceedings pending on the last day of one Congress have been continued 
at the beginning of the succeeding one,(6) and a 
Presidential veto message to the House was on one occasion read and 
received at the beginning of the next Congress.(7)
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 6. Jefferson's Manual, House Rules and Manual Sec. 620 (1973). On two 
        occasions, the impeachment trial was conducted by the Senate 
        following the impeachment by the House in the prior Congress 
        (see 3 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 2320, 2321; 6 Cannon's 
        Precedents Sec. Sec. 515, 516). Whether the House itself may 
        continue unfinished impeachment proceedings is discussed in Ch. 
        14, infra.
 7. See 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 6645.
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    The committees of a new Congress do not routinely resume the 
business that was pending at the end of the prior 
Congress.(8) However, should the House membership wish to 
authorize a special committee of investigation to continue its business 
into a new Congress, the new House may so authorize by 
resolution.(9) On one occasion, the House accepted as 
binding a concurrent resolution of the last Congress requiring the 
appointment of a joint committee; although the joint committee was 
never actually created, the House was prepared to accord to the 
resolution the force of a binding joint rule.(10)
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 8. See Rule XXXVI, House Rules and Manual Sec. 932 (1973).
 9. See Sec. 11.1, infra.
10. 4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 4445.
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    In contrast to the House principle that committees and their 
functions regularly expire with the term of the Congress, Senate 
committees may carry over to a new Congress, since the Senate is a 
continuing legislative body as opposed to the House.(11)
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11. See 4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 4544.
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Resumption of Committee Investigation in New Congress

Sec. 11.1 A new Congress may, by resolution, continue a special 
    committee investigation begun by a former Congress.

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    On Jan. 3, 1935,(12) the House agreed to the following 
resolution:
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12. 79 Cong. Rec. 24, 74th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Resolved, That the Special Committee on Un-American Activities, 
    appointed by the Speaker to conduct certain investigations under 
    authority of House Resolution 198 of the Seventy-third Congress, is 
    hereby granted additional time until February 4, 1935, to prepare 
    and file its report and recommendations for legislation with the
    House. Any unexpended balance of the total amount authorized for 
    the use of said special committee under House Resolution 199 and 
    House Resolution 424 of the Seventy-third Congress is hereby 
    continued available until said date.

Resumption of Old Business- Second Session

Sec. 11.2 On the opening day of the second session the House conducted 
    business, the call of the Consent Calendar.

    On Jan. 19, 1970,(13) Speaker John W. McCormack, of 
Massachusetts, stated that as it was Consent Calendar day, the Clerk 
would call the first bill on the Consent Calendar.
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13. 116 Cong. Rec. 150, 91st Cong. 2d Sess.
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Sec. 11.3 A Senate bill, messaged to the House following sine die 
    adjournment, was referred to committee on the opening day of the 
    second session.

    On Jan. 10, 1966, the opening day of the second session of the 89th 
Congress,(14) Senate bill 2471, messaged to the House during 
the sine die adjournment, was taken from the Speaker's table and 
referred to committee.
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14. 112 Cong. Rec. 36, 89th Cong. 2d Sess.
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Senate Practice

Sec. 11.4 While the Senate rules do not prohibit business on the 
    opening day of a new session, it is the custom of that body to 
    defer all business until after the President has delivered his 
    state of the Union address.

    On Jan. 15, 1968,(15) the opening day of the second 
session, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Jr. ruled in response to a 
series of parliamentary inquiries that there was no rule in the Senate 
rules that required adjournment on opening day without consideration of 
speeches, resolutions, or petitions, or that prohibited a Senator from 
making a speech or prohibited the Senate from receiving a petition of 
grievance from citizens. The Vice President stated, how
                         
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ever, that there was a long-established historical precedent in the 
Senate for postponing business until after the state of the Union message 
to the Congress by the President. The Majority Leader of the Senate, Michael 
J. Mansfield, of Montana, then arose and stated his intention to 
shortly move for adjournment, for the following reasons:
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15. 114 Cong. Rec. 4, 5, 90th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        I have had some conversations with various Senators relative to 
    their desire to have a petition read to the Senate today.
        I appreciate the courtesy which they showed in telling me of 
    what they intended to do.
        I explained to them, or at least I tried to, that, I had been 
    asked by many other Senators whether there was to be any business 
    today, and I had told them all that under custom and procedures, 
    there would be no business, there would be no morning hours, and 
    there would be no introduction of bills because that was the 
    custom, based on practice and precedent. It was a custom which gave 
    to the President of the United States a courtesy, and it was a 
    custom which was predicated on the idea that no business of any 
    sort should be transacted until after the delivery of the 
    President's state of the Union message.
        It is my understanding that only on one occasion was this 
    practice abrogated and that was when Congress received notice that 
    the President of the United States would not be in the position to 
    deliver his state of the Union message until 2 weeks after Congress 
    convened.

    The Senate then adjourned, without transacting any business, until 
the following day.

Sec. 11.5 Contrary to the usual custom in the Senate of deferring all 
    business at the opening of a session until after the President's 
    message on the state of the Union, the Senate agreed to begin 
    business on the second day of the session, before the President's 
    message.

    On Jan. 18, 1972,(16) the Senate agreed by unanimous 
consent to take up unfinished business from the first session on Jan. 
19, the following day. The President informed the Senate that he would 
deliver the state of the Union message to the Congress on Jan. 20, 
1972.
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16. 118 Cong. Rec. 4, 92d Cong. 2d Sess.
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