[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 3.  Party Organization]
[C. Party Committees and Informal Groups]
[Â§ 15. Official Objectors' Committees]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 200-206]
 
                               CHAPTER 3
 
                           Party Organization
 
                C. PARTY COMMITTEES AND INFORMAL GROUPS
 
Sec. 15. Official Objectors' Committees

    On the Consent and Private Calendars are placed bills of a 
noncontroversial nature, susceptible of passage by the House without 
extensive debate.(15) Objection may be made, however, to 
consideration of any bill that has been called on either calendar, in 
which case disposition of the bill proceeds according to the rules of 
the House. For the purpose of determining whether objection should be 
made to any bills that have been called up on either calendar, official 
objectors appointed to act for each party analyze carefully the bills 
to be considered.(16) Official Objectors' Committees are 
appointed by each party's floor leader.(17)
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15. For general discussion of the Private and Consent Calendars, see 
        Ch. 22, infra.
16. See Sec. Sec. 15.2, 15.4, infra.
17. See Sec. Sec. 15.1, 15.3, infra.
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    Proceedings relating to bills on the Private Calendar are set forth 
in a House rule providing, in part, that,(18)
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18. Rule XXIV clause 6, House Rules and Manual Sec. 893 (1973).
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        On the first Tuesday of each month . . . the Speaker shall 
    direct the Clerk to call the bills and resolutions on the Private 
    Calendar. Should objection be

[[Page 201]]

    made by two or more Members to the consideration of any bill or 
    resolution so called, it shall be recommitted to the committee 
    which reported the bill or resolution, and no reservation of 
    objection shall be entertained by the Speaker. . . .
        On the third Tuesday . . . the Speaker may direct the Clerk to 
    call the bills and resolutions on the Private Calendar, preference 
    to be given to omnibus bills containing bills or resolutions which 
    have previously been objected to. . . .

    Proceedings relating to bills on the Consent Calendar are also set 
forth in the rules. Thus, it is provided(19) that,
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19. Rule XIII clause 4, House Rules and Manual Sec. 746 (1973).
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        . . . On the first and third Mondays of each month . . . the 
    Speaker shall direct the Clerk to call the bills in numerical 
    order, which have been for three legislative days upon the 
    ``Consent Calendar.'' Should objection be made to the consideration 
    of any bill so called it shall be carried over on the calendar 
    without prejudice to the next day when the ``Consent Calendar'' is 
    again called, and if objected to by three or more Members it shall 
    immediately be stricken from the Calendar. . . .

    The objectors of both parties for the Consent Calendar may agree on 
and announce to the House certain rules or criteria by which the 
objectors will be guided in their consideration of bills on the 
calendar.(20) Similarly, objectors for the Private Calendar 
generally annouce agreements they have made respecting their 
consideration of bills on the Private Calendar.(1)
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20. See Sec. 15.2, infra.
 1. See Sec. 15.5, infra.                          -------------------
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Objectors for Consent Calendar--Appointment

Sec. 15.1 Official objectors for the Consent Calendar are appointed by 
    each party's floor leader, who announces such appointments in the 
    House.

    In the 91st Congress, Mr. Wayne N. Aspinall, of Colorado, one of 
the objectors for the Consent Calendar, presented in the House a 
statement of the rules of operation of the official objectors for the 
Consent Calendar. Such statement read in part as follows:(2)
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 2. 115 Cong. Rec. 6543, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 17, 1969.
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        On February 18, the majority and minority floor leaders 
    appointed their respective members of the official objectors 
    committees, the gentleman from Oklahoma, Mr. [Carl] Albert, 
    appointed three members of his party and the gentleman from 
    Michigan, Mr. Gerald R. Ford, appointed three members of his party. 
    The objectors committees are unofficial committees of the House of 
    Representatives, existing at the request and at the pleasure of

[[Page 202]]

    the respective floor leaders of the two parties who, in order to 
    facilitate the proper screening of legislation which may be placed 
    on the Consent Calendar, designate members of each side of the 
    aisle charged with the specific responsibility of seeing to it that 
    legislation passing by such procedure is in the interest of good 
    government.

    The floor leaders generally announce to the House their respective 
appointments of objectors. Sometimes, the floor leader announces his 
designation of one of the objectors as Chairman of the Official 
Objectors' Committee. In the 91st Congress, the announcement of the 
appointment of objectors was as follows:(3)
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 3. 115 Cong. Rec. 3721, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 18, 1969.
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        Mr. Gerald R. Ford [of Michigan]: Mr. Speaker, I have asked for 
    this time for the purpose of announcing the official objectors for 
    the Republican Members for the Consent Calendar. They are to be as 
    follows: the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Pelly), the gentleman 
    from Missouri (Mr. Hall), and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
    Johnson).

    In the 84th Congress, the announcement of the appointment of 
Democratic objectors for the Consent Calendar was made as 
follows:(4)
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 4. 101 Cong. Rec. 496, 84th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 20, 1955.
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        Mr. [John W.] McCormack [of Massachusetts]: Mr. Speaker, I 
    desire to announce to the House the appointment of the official 
    Democratic objectors on the Consent Calendar as follows:
        The distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Deane, 
    Chairman of the Committee on Consent Calendar Objectors; the 
    gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Aspinall; and the gentleman from 
    Massachusetts, Mr. Boland.

    Generally, three members are appointed to the Official Objectors' 
Committee for the Consent Calendar and three members to the Committee 
of Official Objectors for the Private Calendar. There have been minor 
departures from this practice. In the 85th Congress, the appointment of 
four Republican objectors for the Consent Calendar was announced as 
follows:(5)
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 5. 103 Cong. Rec. 1488, 85th Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 4, 1957.
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        Mr. [Joseph W.] Martin [Jr., of Massachusetts]: I desire to 
    announce the appointment on the Republican side of members on the 
    official objectors committee on the Consent Calendar: the gentleman 
    from Iowa, Mr. Cunningham; the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. 
    Byrnes; the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Ford; and the gentleman 
    from Nebraska, Mr. Weaver.

    In the 82d Congress, three Democratic objectors were appointed who 
served on both the Consent and the Private Calendar. The announcement 
of the appointments was as follows:(6)
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 6. 97 Cong. Rec. 792, 82d Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 31, 1951. For other 
        instances in which a Member was appointed to serve as objector 
        for both the Consent and Private Calendar, see 115 Cong. Rec. 
        3721, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 18, 1969; and 101 Cong. Rec. 
        496, 84th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 20, 1955.

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        Mr. [John W.] McCormack [of Massachusetts]: Mr. Speaker . . . 
    may I say that the following named Members will be the official 
    objectors on the Democratic side for the 82nd Congress for the 
    Consent Calendar and the Private Calendar: the gentleman from 
    Arkansas [Mr. Trimble], the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. 
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    Deane], and the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Aspinall.]

Similarly, the announcement of the appointment of Democratic objectors 
in the 81st Congress was made as follows:(7)
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 7. 95 Cong. Rec. 925, 81st Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 7, 1949.
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        Mr. McCormack: Mr. Speaker, I desire to announce the 
    appointment of the Objectors Committee on the Democratic side. The 
    distinguished gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Trimble], the 
    distinguished gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Deane], and the 
    distinguished gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Aspinall]. The gentleman 
    from Arkansas [Mr. Trimble], being the ranking Member, is Chairman 
    of the Objectors Committee on the Democratic side.

Agreement by Official Objectors on Rules of Operation

Sec. 15.2 It has been the practice of the official objectors to agree 
    upon certain rules and principles that will govern their 
    consideration of bills on the Consent Calendar, and to present a 
    statement of such rules and principles to the House.

    In the 91st Congress,(8) Mr. Wayne N. Aspinall, of 
Colorado, one of the official objectors, presented a statement of the 
rules of operation of the official objectors for the Consent Calendar. 
The proceedings were as follows:
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 8. 115 Cong. Rec. 6543, 6544, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 17, 1969.
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        Mr. Aspinall: Mr. Speaker . . . one of the most important 
    procedures that the House follows in considering legislation is 
    known as the Consent Calendar operation. . . . It is under this 
    procedure that most of the acts of Congress which become public 
    laws are considered by the House of Representatives.
        It has been the practice heretofore of the official objectors 
    for Consent Calendar committees--the majority members and the 
    minority members--to agree upon rules of procedure at the beginning 
    of a session. I would suggest, to the new Members especially, that 
    they read the statement regarding these rules of procedure, which 
    has the approval of and bears the initials of all the members of 
    the Consent Calendar committees, three members of the majority and 
    three members of the minority.
        The statement is as follows:

[[Page 204]]

         Statement of Rules of Operation of the Official Objectors for 
                              the Consent Calendar

            . . . For several sessions now objectors on both sides of 
        the aisle have followed certain rules for consideration of 
        Consent Calendar bills which they have made known to the 
        Members at the beginning of a session. These rules are not 
        publicized at this time to establish hard-and-fast procedures 
        but rather to advise the Members of the House as to the manner 
        in which the committee plans to operate throughout the 91st 
        Congress.
            The members of the committee feel that generally no 
        legislation should pass by unanimous consent which involves an 
        aggregate expenditure of more than $1 million; second, that no 
        bill which changes national policy or international policy 
        should be permitted to pass on the Consent Calendar but rather 
        should be afforded the opportunity of open and extended debate; 
        third, that any bill which appears on the Consent Calendar, 
        even though it does not change national or international 
        policy, or does not call for an expenditure of more than $1 
        million, should not be approved without the membership being 
        fully informed of its contents, providing it is a measure that 
        would apply to the districts of a majority of the Members of 
        the House of Representatives . . . fourth, that if a bill has 
        been placed on the Consent Calendar and the members of the 
        committee having jurisdiction over the legislation show that it 
        has not been cleared by the Bureau of the Budget, by the 
        respective Department affected by such legislation, or that 
        such reports from the committee or from the Department show 
        that the legislation is not in accord with the President's 
        program, it should not pass on the Consent Calendar. . . .

Official Objectors for Private Calendar--Appointment

Sec. 15.3 Each party's official objectors for the Private Calendar are 
    appointed by the party floor leader, who announces in the House the 
    names of those he has appointed.

    In the 89th Congress, during the course of describing procedures 
relating to the Private Calendar, Mr. Edward P. Boland, of 
Massachusetts, remarked that, ``The majority leader and minority leader 
each appoint three Members to serve as Private Calendar objectors 
during a Congress.''(9)
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 9. 111 Cong. Rec. 3914, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 2, 1965.
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    The following announcements, made in the 91st 
Congress,(10) represent the usual manner in which the floor 
leader notifies the House of his appointment of official objectors:
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10. 115 Cong. Rec. 3721, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 18, 1969.
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        (Mr. Carl Albert, of Oklahoma, asked and was given permission 
    to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend his 
    remarks.)
        Mr. Albert [after announcing appointment of Consent Calendar 
    objectors]:
        I have also designated as official objectors for the majority 
    for the Private Calendar the following Members: the

[[Page 205]]

    gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Boland), the gentleman from 
    Georgia (Mr. Davis), and the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. 
    Edmondson). . . .
        Mr. Gerald R. Ford [of Michigan] [after announcing appointment 
    of Consent Calendar objectors]:
        Also, Mr. Speaker, the official objectors for the Republican 
    Members for the Private Calendar are to be as follows: the 
    gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
    Clarence J. Brown), and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Hunt).

In the 91st Congress, when Mr. Garry E. Brown, of Michigan, was 
appointed to replace a member of the Republican Objectors Committee for 
the Private Calendar, the following announcement was made by the 
Minority Leader:(11)
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11. 116 Cong. Rec. 7677, 91st Cong. 2d Sess., Mar. 17, 1970.
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        Mr. Gerald R. Ford: Mr. Speaker, I announce that the Republican 
    Members of the Private Calendar objectors committee for the 
    remainder of the 2nd session of the 91st Congress will be: the 
    gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
    Brown), and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Brown).

Similarly, in the 84th Congress, on Apr. 26, 1955,(12) the 
Minority Leader announced as follows:
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12. 101 Cong. Rec. 5120, 84th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. [Joseph W.] Martin [Jr., of Massachusetts]: Mr. Speaker, I 
    desire to announce that Mr. William K. Van Pelt has been placed 
    upon the list of objectors on the Private Calendar, representing 
    the minority, to take the place of the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. 
    Ayres].

    As in the case of appointments to the Official Objectors Committee 
for the Consent Calendar,(13) announcements of appointments 
to the Official Objectors Committee for the Private Calendar have 
sometimes included the designation of a chairman.(14)
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13. See Sec. 15.1, supra.
14. See 101 Cong. Rec. 496, 84th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 20, 1955 
        (announcement by Mr. John W. McCormack [Mass.] ).
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    As noted above,(15) a Member has sometimes been 
appointed to serve on both the Official Objectors Committee for the 
Private Calendar and the Official Objectors Committee for the Consent 
Calendar.
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15. See Sec. 15.1, supra.
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Functions of Official Objectors

Sec. 15.4 The Official Objectors Committees for the Private Calendar 
    study all bills placed on that calendar, and may make objection to 
    any private bill when the calendar is called.

    In the 89th Congress, Mr. Edward P. Boland, of Massachusetts,

[[Page 206]]

in the course of discussing procedures relating to the Private 
Calendar, remarked as follows:(16)
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16. 111 Cong. Rec. 3914, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 2, 1965.
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        The objectors have the responsibility of carefully studying all 
    bills which are placed on the Private Calendar. When the Private 
    Calendar is called, the objectors are on the floor ready to object 
    to any private bill which they feel is objectionable for any 
    reason. Seated near them to provide technical assistance are the 
    majority and minority legislative clerks.

        Should any Member have a doubt or question about a particular 
    private bill, he can get assistance from the objectors, their 
    clerks, or from the Member who introduced the bill.

Agreement as to Bills to be Considered

Sec. 15.5 The official majority and minority objectors for the Private 
    Calendar agree upon rules governing their consideration of private 
    bills, and announce such rules in the House. The official objectors 
    usually agree that they will consider only those bills which have 
    been on the Private Calendar for a period of seven calendar days.

    In the 89th Congress, Mr. Edward P. Boland, of Massachusetts, in 
the course of describing procedures relating to the Private Calendar, 
announced as follows:(17)
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17. 111 Cong. Rec. 3914, 3915, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 2, 1965. 
        Similar announcements have been made in other Congresses; see, 
        for example, 115 Cong. Rec. 6656, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Mar. 
        18, 1969.
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        The great volume of private bills and the desire to have an 
    opportunity to study them carefully before they are called on the 
    Private Calendar has caused the six objectors to agree upon certain 
    ground rules. Those rules limit consideration of bills placed on 
    the Private Calendar only shortly before the Calendar is called. 
    The agreement is as follows:

            Reaffirming the policy initially adopted on June 3, 1958, 
        the members of the majority and minority Private Calendar 
        objectors committees have today agreed that during the 89th 
        Congress they will consider only those bills which have been on 
        the Private Calendar for a period of seven calendar days, 
        excluding the day the bills are reported and the day the 
        Private Calendar is called.
            It is agreed that the majority and minority legislative 
        clerks will not submit to the objectors any bills which do not 
        meet this requirement.
            This policy will be strictly observed except during the 
        closing days of each session when House rules are suspended.