[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 5.  The House Rules, Journal, and Record]
[C. The Congressional Record]
[Â§ 15. In General; Purpose and Format]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 352-358]
 
                               CHAPTER 5
 
                  The House Rules, Journal, and Record
 
                      C. THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
 
Sec. 15. In General; Purpose and Format


    The Congressional Record is ``substantially a verbatim report of 
proceedings'' in the two Houses of Congress.(1) While the 
House Journal(2) is the official record of the proceedings 
of the House,(3) it contains only minutes of official 
actions, and is not a record of debate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 44 USC Sec.  901 (1970).
            The origin, publication, and distribution of the Record is 
        discussed in 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 6959.
 2. See Sec. Sec. 8-14, supra.
 3. 4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 2727.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The statutory provisions and rules which govern the 
format(4) and content(5) are discussed below. In 
addition, it should be noted that although the Record is 
``substantially a verbatim report,'' the rules of the Joint Committee 
on Printing and the general practices of the House permit Members to 
extend their remarks so as to include matters not spoken on the 
floor,(6) and to edit remarks actually delivered on the 
floor.(7) The House may also order the deletion from the 
Record of remarks made by a Member without recognition by the Speaker, 
and unparliamentary remarks which reflect unfavorably upon the House, 
its membership, or institutions.(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. See Sec. Sec. 15.1, 15.2, infra.
 5. See Sec. 16, infra.
 6. See Sec. 20, infra.
 7. See Sec. 19, infra.
 8. See Sec. 17, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Control over the arrangement and style of the Record is vested in 
the Joint Committee on Printing(9) by 
statute.(10) The Joint Committee on Printing has adopted 
rules to provide for the prompt publication and delivery of the 
Record.(11)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9.  The Joint Committee on Printing is composed of three Members of 
        the Senate and three Members of the House. The House elects its 
        members from the Committee on House Administration, and the 
        Chairman of that committee must be one of the three selected. 
        House Rules and Manual Sec. 1001 (1973).
10. 44 USC Sec. 901 (1970). See also 44 USC Sec. Sec. 902-910 (1970) 
        for other statutory provisions relative to the Congressional 
        Record.
11. The rules of the Joint Committee on Printing are frequently 
        reprinted in the daily edition of the Congressional Record in 
        the section entitled ``Laws and Rules for Publication of the 
        Congressional Record,'' which precedes the section entitled 
        ``Daily Digest.'' The individual rules will be considered 
        herein as they pertain to the subject matter under discussion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Each House of Congress separately controls the content of its

[[Page 353]]

portion of the Record.(12) By House rule, the Committee on 
House Administration has jurisdiction over ``[m]atter relating to 
printing and correction of the Congressional Record.''(13)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2503.
13. House Rules and Manual Sec. 693 (1973).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    House Rule XXXIV clause 1(14) provides for the 
appointment and removal of the official reporters of debate, and vests 
in the Speaker the manner of the execution of their duties. The 
reporters of debates have played a significant role in the evolution by 
which the House has developed a system of daily verbatim reports of its 
proceedings.(15)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. House Rules and Manual Sec. 923 (1973).
15. See 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 6959.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Congress has statutorily mandated that the Record be published in 
daily form during each session, and be revised, printed, and bound 
promptly in permanent form for distribution during and after the close 
of each session of Congress.(16) Thus a daily edition is 
published and distributed on each working day while Congress is in 
session, and a softbound edition, known as the ``greenbound'' edition 
is published and distributed biweekly while Congress is in session. The 
hardbound permanent edition is generally ready for publication and 
distribution sometime subsequent to the conclusion of a session of 
Congress.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. 44 USC Sec. 903 (1970).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Record for each day is divided into four main sections: 
Proceedings of the House; Proceedings of the Senate; Extensions of 
Remarks;(17) and Daily Digest. The Joint Committee on 
Printing has directed the Public Printer to arrange the contents of the 
daily edition of the Record so as to alternate the placement in 
consecutive issues of the House and Senate proceedings insofar as such 
an arrangement is feasible.(18) The House and Senate 
proceedings directly precede the ``Extensions of Remarks'' section, 
which is followed by the ``Daily Digest.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. See Sec. 20, infra, for a discussion of the content of the 
        ``Extensions of Remarks'' section.
18. Rule 1 of the Joint Committee on Printing, effective May 23, 1972.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Congress has directed the Joint Committee on Printing to provide 
for the preparation and publication of an index to the Congressional 
Record semimonthly while Congress is in session, and a complete index 
to the entire session subsequent to the close of each session of 
Congress.(19) The index consists generally of two main

[[Page 354]]

parts, an index to proceedings, and a history of bills and resolutions, 
which is arranged by bill and resolution number.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. See 44 USC Sec. Sec. 901, 902 (1970).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    As part of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 
1946,(20) Congress adopted the following provision, which is 
the statutory authority for the Daily Digest:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. See 44 USC Sec. 905 (1970).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The Joint Committee on Printing shall provide for printing in 
    the daily Record the legislative program for the day together with 
    a list of congressional committee meetings and hearings, and the 
    place of meeting and subject matter. It shall cause a brief resume 
    of congressional activities for the previous day to be incorporated 
    in the Record, together with an index of its contents prepared 
    under the supervision of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk 
    of the House of Representatives, respectively.

    The Daily Digest regularly contains the following subsections: 
Highlights; Senate Chamber Action; Senate Committee Meetings; House 
Chamber Action; House Committee Meetings; and Joint Committee Meetings. 
A list of House and Senate committee meetings scheduled for the morning 
of which the Record is published concludes the Daily Digest. In 
addition, the Friday issues contain a section entitled ``Congressional 
Program Ahead'' which discusses the activities scheduled in the House 
and Senate and their committees for the coming week.
    The Joint Committee on Printing has specified to the Public Printer 
the type size and printing style that is to be used in the publication 
of the Record.(1) Neither the Speaker nor the House may 
order changes in the type size or printing style without the approval 
of the Joint Committee on Printing.(2)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. See Rule 2 of the Joint Committee on Printing, effective May 23, 
        1972.
 2. See Sec. Sec.  15.1, 15.2, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A Member, upon payment of the cost, may receive from the Public 
Printer extracts from the Congressional Record for his personal use and 
distribution.(3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3. 44 USC Sec. 907 (1970). See 44 USC Sec. 908 (1970) for the 
        statutory procedure by which the Sergeant at Arms may deduct 
        the cost of printing the extracts from the salary of a Member 
        or Delegate who is delinquent in paying for the extracts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    When reprints are to be made of material in the Record by the 
Government Printing Office, it is customary to obtain the approval of 
those Members whose remarks are to be reprinted.(4)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. See Sec. 15.4, infra.                          -------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Format Changes

Sec. 15.1 A unanimous-consent request to change the format of

[[Page 355]]

    the Record to permit a comparative print of three versions of a 
    legislative enactment to be printed in three parallel columns 
    should be submitted subject to the approval of the Joint Committee 
    on Printing.

    On Oct. 30, 1939,(5) Mr. Lawrence Lewis, of Colorado, 
requested unanimous consent that a comparative print showing the 
Neutrality Act of 1937, together with House Joint Resolution 
306,(6) as passed by the House, and the same joint 
resolution as amended and passed by the Senate, be printed in the 
Record in three parallel columns. At the time of this request the 
proceedings of Congress were being printed in the Record in double 
parallel columns. The Speaker(7) responded to this request 
to deviate from the basic format of the Record as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5. 85 Cong. Rec. 1059, 76th Cong. 2d Sess.
 6. 76th Cong. 2d Sess. (1939).
 7. William B. Bankhead (Ala.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The Speaker: The Chair thinks it proper, in order to conform to 
    the established rules of practice in the House with reference to 
    the matter covered by the request of the gentleman from Colorado, 
    to state to the gentleman that in the conference he had with the 
    Chair this morning relative to this matter the information was not 
    disclosed that the request would require a change in the usual 
    format of the Record. The Chair is advised by the Parliamentarian 
    that it would be contrary to the law with reference to printing of 
    the Record to submit the request.
        The Chair would suggest to the gentleman from Colorado that he 
    submit his request subject to the approval of the Joint Committee 
    on Printing.

Mr. Lewis amended the request to incorporate the suggestions of the 
Speaker, but an objection was raised. Later in the same meeting, 
however, a substantially similar request was agreed to by the House 
without objection, and the comparative print was inserted in the 
Record.(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8. 85 Cong. Rec. 641 (appendix), 76th Cong. 2d Sess., Oct. 30, 1939.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type Size

Sec. 15.2 The Speaker will not entertain a unanimous-consent request to 
    permit a letter inserted in the Record to be printed in larger type 
    than that provided in the regulations of the Joint Committee on 
    Printing.

    On Feb. 25, 1936,(9) Mr. Joseph P. Monaghan, of Montana, 
re

[[Page 356]]

quested unanimous consent to have the Record corrected so that the 
letter he had previously inserted would be printed in 7\1/2\-point type 
in the permanent Record, rather than the type size that was specified 
for such documents in the rules of the Joint Committee on 
Printing.(10) The Speaker(11) responded as 
follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9. 80 Cong. Rec. 2767, 74th Cong. 2d Sess.
10. The current rules of the Joint Committee on Printing still require 
        such documents and ``all matter included in the remarks for 
        speeches of Members of Congress, other than their own words,'' 
        to be printed in 6\1/2\-point type. See Rule 2 of the Joint 
        Committee on Printing, effective May 23, 1972.
11. Joseph W. Byrns (Tenn.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The Speaker: The Chair will state to the gentleman that 
    letters, no matter by whom they are written, are printed in small 
    type. The gentleman from Montana made no request that his letter be 
    printed in any other form of type. That is a matter which rests 
    entirely with the Joint Committee on Printing, and that committee 
    has formulated certain rules, and the Chair assumes that the Public 
    Printer is following the rules as laid down by the Joint Committee 
    on Printing. What is the request of the gentleman?
        Mr. Monaghan: I ask unanimous consent that the Record be 
    corrected and that this letter be reprinted in 7\1/2\-point type, 
    inasmuch as aged people are the ones who will read it.
        The Speaker: The Chair does not think he has a right to even 
    recognize the gentleman to make a unanimous consent request on that 
    matter, because that is fixed by law.

Reporters--Insertion of Applause

Sec. 15.3 Demonstrations in the House are not part of the Record, and 
    the reporters are instructed not to insert ``applause'' or ``loud 
    applause.''

    On Mar. 6, 1945,(12) the Speaker,(13) in 
response to a parliamentary inquiry, stated his reasoning for 
instructing the reporters not to insert ``applause'' or ``loud 
applause'' in the Record where such demonstrations have occurred on the 
floor of the House:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. 91 Cong. Rec. 1789, 79th Cong. 1st Sess.
13. Sam Rayburn (Tex.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        In times past there appeared in the Record the word 
    ``Applause'' where a Member spoke. In another place there was 
    ``Loud applause.'' In another place there was ``Loud and prolonged 
    applause.'' In another place there was ``Loud and prolonged 
    applause, the Members rising.'' If I had made a speech and had 
    received ``applause,'' and some Member had followed me immediately 
    and had received ``loud and prolonged applause, the Members 
    rising,'' my opponent in the next primary might have called 
    attention to how insignificant I was because I only received 
    ``applause'' and the other Member had received ``loud and prolonged 
    applause, the Members rising.''

[[Page 357]]

        The Chair has held that demonstrations in the House are not a 
    part of the Record, and shall continue to hold that until the rules 
    of the House are changed.

    Later in the same discussion,(14) Mr. Charles L. 
Gifford, of Massachusetts, called the attention of the House to the 
fact that in the Record of Mar. 1 there appeared an address in which 
the word ``applause'' appeared 20 times, and seemed to be a part of the 
proceedings of the House. Speaker Rayburn responded as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14 91 Cong. Rec. 1790, 79th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The present occupant of the Chair was not here; and, 
    furthermore, that was a joint session of the two Houses of 
    Congress.

Reprints

Sec. 15.4 It is the policy of the Joint Committee on Printing and the 
    Public Printer to request the approval of Members, whose remarks 
    appear in the Record, before those remarks are reprinted and 
    distributed pursuant to the request of another Member. (A Member 
    requesting a reprint sometimes announces to the House that Members' 
    remarks on a particular subject will be included in a reprint 
    unless they register objection.)

    On Feb. 28, 1950,(15) Senator Harry P. Cain, of 
Washington, read to the Members of the Senate a letter from the Public 
Printer to Senator William F. Knowland, of California, dated Aug. 13, 
1946, which explained the policy of the Joint Committee on Printing and 
the Public Printer concerning the reprinting and distribution of 
materials appearing in the Congressional Record. The letter, in 
relevant portion, is as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. 96 Cong. Rec. 2490, 81st Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        In reply, I am pleased to advise that, since the Congressional 
    Record is a public document, it is not copyrighted, and matter 
    appearing in the Record may be reprinted by outside sources without 
    obtaining a clearance from anyone. As to reprints by the Government 
    Printing Office, it has long been the policy of the Joint Committee 
    on Printing and this Office to ask for the approval of the Member 
    whose remarks are to be reprinted before reprinting and 
    distributing the same. . . .
        This is purely for the protection of each individual Member, as 
    it not only protects the Members whose remarks are to be reprinted, 
    but it also protects the Member who would order and distribute the 
    same against charges of abuse of the franking privilege, 
    unauthorized use of Federal funds, and so forth.

    On Mar. 7, 1968,(16) Mr. Daniel J. Flood, of 
Pennsylvania, made

[[Page 358]]

the following announcement on the floor of the House, which illustrates 
a procedure by which the consent of Members, whose remarks are to be 
reprinted, is obtained:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. 114 Cong. Rec. 5764, 90th Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. Speaker, with respect to the 50th anniversary of Ukrainian 
    independence, a private order is being submitted for reprint 
    publication of all statements and other insertions made by Members 
    of the House of Representatives prior, during, and after the 
    January 22, 1968, event, which was observed in the House on January 
    23, 1968.
        If there is no objection from any such Member, his or her 
    statement or insertion will be incorporated in the reprint 
    brochure, which has been requested by the Ukrainian Congress 
    Committee of America.