[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 1, Chapters 1 - 6]
[Chapter 6.  Officers, Officials, and Employees]
[C. House Officers]
[Â§ 19. Duties of the Sergeant at Arms]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 600-606]
 
                               CHAPTER 6
 
                   Officers, Officials, and Employees
 
                           C. HOUSE OFFICERS
 
Sec. 19. Duties of the Sergeant at Arms

    This section describes and discusses the duties of the Sergeant at 
Arms.(4)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. See other chapters for discussions of those functions and duties of 
        the Sergeant at Arms relating to House facilities and Capitol 
        grounds (Ch. 4, supra), subpenas served on him (Ch. 11, infra), 
        contempt proceedings (Ch. 13, infra), investigations and 
        inquiries (Ch. 15, infra), and calls of the House (Ch. 20, 
        infra).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The general duties of the Sergeant at Arms are prescribed by the 
House rules (Rule IV clause 1) and by statute. Under these provisions, 
the Sergeant at Arms maintains order, including execution of arrest 
warrants for persons cited for contempt of the House or a committee, 
and keeps accounts for the pay mileage and pays Members, Delegates, and 
the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. The symbol of his office is 
a mace, which is borne by him while enforcing order on tire 
floor.(5)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5. Rule IV clause 2, House Rules and Manual Sec. 650 (1973); 2 USCA 
        Sec. 79.
            Collateral reference: Johnson, Zeake W., Jr., The Mace of 
        the House of Representatives of the United States, 7th ed., 
        Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. (1969).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Other rules and statutes impose specific duties to maintain order. 
As the officer charged with enforcing the authority of the House, the 
Sergeant at Arms, under the rules, strictly enforces the prohibition 
against Members walking across or out of the Hall of the House while 
the Speaker addresses the House,(6) appoints officers to 
send for and arrest absent Members when so ordered by the Speaker after 
a call of the House by 15 Members including the Speaker,(7) 
and brings absent Members before the House.(8~)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6. Rule XIV clause 7, House Rules and Manual Sec. 763 (1973).
 7. Rule XV clause 2, House Rules and Manual Sec. 768 (1973).
 8. Rule XV clause 4, House Rules and Manual Sec. 773 (1973).
            During a call of the House, the Sergeant at Arms is 
        required to arrest absent Members wherever they may be found (4 
        Hinds' Precedents Sec. 3017), detains those who are present, 
        and brings in absentees (4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 3045-
        3048). Pursuant to a proper motion, he reports progress in 
        securing a quorum (6 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 770).
            By order of the House, after a Member's complaint of 
        unlawful arrest, the Sergeant at Arms on one occasion 
        investigated and amended the return of his warrant (4 Hinds' 
        Precedents Sec. 3021). See also 6 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 686, 
        form of resolution for the arrest of Members absent without 
        leave; and 4 Hinds Precedents Sec. 3043, form of warrant and 
        discussion of authority to issue warrants.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 601]]

    It should also be noted that the Speaker, under Rule I clauses 2 
and 3 (requiring the Speaker to preserve order and have general control 
of the Hall, corridors, and passages of the House), may impose certain 
additional duties on the Sergeant at Arms. For example, at the 
direction of the Speaker, the Sergeant at Arms has enforced order with 
the mace,(9) cleared the galleries,(10) and, on 
one occasion, arrested a spectator and confined him 
briefly.(11)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9. See  Cannon's Precedents Sec. 258.
10. 2 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 1352.
11. 2 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 1605.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Sergeant at Arms has been granted statutory authority to 
preserve order outside the Hall of the House. He is one of those who 
sits on the Capitol Police Board, which directs the activities of the 
Capitol Police.(12) With the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, 
he develops regulations to preserve the peace and to secure the Capitol 
from defacement; and he may arrest and detain any person violating 
these regulations until such person can be brought before the proper 
authorities for trial.(13)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. 40 USCA Sec. 212a. In this capacity the Sergeant at Arms controls 
        the regulation of vehicular traffic (40 USCA Sec. 2121 ; 
        selects officers (40 USCA Sec. 206 and 206a); pays salaries (40 
        USCA Sec. 207); selects uniforms (40 USCA Sec. 210); and 
        approves suspensions made by the captain (40 USCA Sec. 208).
13. 40 USCA Sec. 193.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Several statutes deal with the duty of the Sergeant at Arms to keep 
the accounts and pay Members.(14~) Continuity of 
disbursement is ensured by statute. For example, to prevent an 
interruption in disbursement after a Congress adjourns, the Sergeant at 
Arms remains in office until his successor is chosen.(15) In 
case of the disability of the Sergeant at Arms, the Treasurer of the 
United States disburses the pay of Members, Delegates, and the Resident 
Commissioner from Puerto Rico.(16) The Sergeant at Arms is 
authorized to purchase insurance to protect the funds of his office. 
The premiums are paid out of the contingent fund of the House until 
otherwise provided by law.(17) He may not receive additional 
com

[[Page 602]]

pensation for performing his duties.(18)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. Pay and mileage to be paid to Members (2 USC Sec. Sec. 78, 80); 
        statement of sums disbursed (2 USC Sec. 84); adjustment of 
        accounts during a fixed fiscal year (2 USC Sec. 81). See also 2 
        USC Sec. 39, which provides for deduction of salary for absence 
        from House; 2 USC Sec. 40a, which provides for deduction from 
        salary for delinquent indebtedness; and 2 USC Sec. 80a, which 
        provides for disbursement of gratuity appropriations.
15. 2 USC  83.
16. 31 USC Sec. 148.
17. 2 USC Sec. 81c. See also Sec. 19.4, infra.
18. 2 USC Sec. 77.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Sergeant at Arms, at the commencement of each regular session, 
submits to the House a written statement of sums drawn and disbursed 
and periodically reports accounts to the General Accounting 
Office,(19) which receives and examines his accounts and 
certifies to him balances arising thereon according to the character of 
the account.(20~) And he conducts on the-spot audits of the 
appropriated and trust funds of his office not less frequently than 
once each six months.(1) Amounts necessary to adjust for 
incorrect payments resulting from errors not caused by bad faith or 
lack of due care in the trust fund account of the Sergeant at Arms may 
be paid out of the contingent fund of the House on vouchers authorized 
and approved by the Committee on House Administration.(2)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. 31 USC Sec. Sec. 496, 497.
20. 31 USC Sec. 72. See Sec. 19.3, infra, for discussion of Romney v 
        United States, 167 F2d 521 (D.C. Cir. 1948), cert. denied 334 
        U.S. 847 (1948), which held that 31 USC Sec. 72, 496, and 497, 
        apply to the Sergeant at Arms.
 1. 2 USC Sec. 81a.
 2. 2 USC Sec. 81b.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition to his major duties of preserving order and keeping 
accounts of pay and mileage, the Sergeant at Arms has several other 
duties imposed by rules, statutes, and precedents. He has a duty, in 
the absence of the Clerk, (1) to preside until a Speaker is 
elected,(3) (2) to prepare the roll of Members-elect prior 
to the commencement of a Congress,(4) and (3) to send a 
certificate of the number of Representatives to which each state is 
entitled to the Governors following each decennial 
census.(5) The Sergeant at Arms secures suitable office 
space in home districts of Members,(6) ensures that a 
monument is erected whenever a deceased Member is interred in the 
Congressional Cemetery,(7) and, with the Architect of the 
Capitol and the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, serves on the Capitol 
Guide Board which oversees the Capitol Guide Service.(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3. As a ``duty imposed by law or custom relative to the organization 
        of the House'', presiding before the election of a Speaker is a 
        statutory responsibility imposed by 2 USC Sec. 26.
            See also Sec. 20.8, infra, in which the Doorkeeper presided 
        because the Clerk had died and the Sergeant at Arms was absent.
 4. 2 USC Sec. 26.
 5. 2 USC Sec. 2a(b).
 6. 2 USC Sec. 122.
 7. 2 USC Sec. 51.
 8. 40 USC Sec. 851.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 603]]

                          -------------------Keeping Accounts of Pay 
    and Mileage

Sec. 19.1 The House by resolution has authorized the Sergeant at Arms 
    to transfer funds from balances available to him in several 
    accounts under his administrative control to meet Members' payrolls 
    pending enactment of an appropriations bill carrying funds for that 
    purpose.

    On May 28, 1969,(9) a Member, Samuel N. Friedel, of 
Maryland, by direction of the Committee on House Administration, 
offered and the House agreed to the following resolution (H. Res. 425):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9. 115 Cong. Rec. 14165-67, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Resolved, That the Clerk of the House and Sergeant at Arms be 
    and is hereby directed to pay such sum as may be necessary, from 
    the balance available of the 1968 appropriation and the various 
    funds of the 1969 appropriation, where balances may be available, 
    for the House of Representatives to meet the May and June payroll 
    of Members, officers of the House, and employees of the House. 
    Moneys expended from these funds and/or appropriations by the 
    Sergeant at Arms and the Clerk will be repaid to the funds and/or 
    appropriations from the Sergeant at Arms and Clerk's supplemental 
    appropriation upon its approval.(10)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Parliamentarian's Note: This resolution was passed to provide 
        payroll funds because the Committee on House Administration had 
        been advised that funds previously appropriated were exhausted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 19.2 The House by resolution may authorize the payment to the 
    Sergeant at Arms of an amount to cover additional mileage for 
    Members for attendance at a meeting of the Congress at a date 
    earlier than that to which it adjourned.

    On Aug. 7, 1948,(11) a Member, Ralph A. Gamble, of New 
York, offered the following resolution (H. Res. 715):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. 94 Cong. Rec. 10247, 80th Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives is 
    authorized and directed to pay to the Sergeant at Arms of the House 
    of Representatives not to exceed $171,000 out of funds appropriated 
    under the head ``Contingent expenses of the House,'' fiscal year 
    1949, for additional mileage of Members of the House of 
    Representatives, Delegates from Territories, and the Resident 
    Commissioner from Puerto Rico, at the rate authorized by law. . . .
        The Speaker [Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Massachusetts]: . . . 
    The question is on suspending the rules and passing the resolution.
        Two-thirds having voted in favor thereof, the rules were 
    suspended and the resolution was passed.

Sec. 19.3 The Sergeant at Arms must periodically report ac

[[Page 604]]

    counts to the General Accounting Office.

    The alleged embezzlement of funds by a Sergeant at Arms led to a 
judicial review of the applicability of statutes which require accounts 
to be reported to the General Accounting Office.(~12~) 
Applying statutes dealing with duties of the Sergeant at Arms to keep 
accounts for the pay and mileage of Members(13) and draw 
requisitions for the compensation and mileage of 
Members,(14) as well as other statutes,(15) the 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the 
conviction of the former Sergeant at Arms, Kenneth Romney, for 
presenting to the General Accounting Office certain false statements of 
accounts and concealing a shortage by trick, scheme, and device (18 USC 
Sec. 80).(16)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. See Romney v United States, 167 F2d 521 (D.C. Cir. 1948); cert. 
        den. 334 U.S. 847 (1948).
13. 2 USC Sec. 78.
14. 2 USC Sec. 80.
15. These statutes provide for: submitting to the House a statement of 
        disbursements (2 USC Sec. 84); inquiring into compliance with 
        certain statutory provisions by the Committee on [House 
        Administration (2 USC Sec. 91); examining accounts by (2 USC 
        Sec. 72) and submitting accounts to (31 USC Sec. 496, 497) the 
        General Accounting Office.
16. See Romney v United States, 167 F2d 521, at 522, 528 (D.C. Cir. 
        1948); cert. den. 334 U.S. 847 (1948).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In reaching this decision, the court held that a statute requiring 
the General Accounting Office to receive and examine all 
accounts(17) applies to the House and that statutes 
requiring disbursing officers to submit accounts to the General 
Accounting Office monthly(18) or more 
frequently(19) apply to the Sergeant at 
Arms.(20~) Mr. Romney's contention, based on 
statutes(1) and rules,(2~) that these reporting 
duties do not apply to the House because that body acts as its own 
auditor, was rejected.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. 31 USC Sec. 72.
18. 31 USC Sec. 496.
19. 31 USC Sec. 497.
20. See Romney v United States, 167 F2d 521, at 524, 525 (D.C. Cir. 
        1948); cert. den. 334 U.S. 847 (1948).
 1. 2 USC Sec. 84, which requires the Sergeant at Arms to submit to the 
        House a statement of disbursements; 2 USC Sec. 91, which 
        directs the Committee on House Administration to inquire into 
        compliance with certain statutory provisions; and 2 USC 
        Sec. 97, which provides for the establishment of a temporary 
        committee on accounts of the House.
 2. Rule IV clause 1, House Rules and Manual Sec. 648 and 649 (1973) 
        which provides that the Sergeant at Arms keep accounts of pay 
        and mileage of Members.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The court held that, ``Cash in the hands of such an official 
[disbursing officer] manifestly con

[[Page 605]]

tinues to be the property of the government until it has actually been 
disbursed by him to persons lawfully entitled to receive it'', and that 
`cash drawn from the Treasury by the Sergeant at Arms is properly 
reported in his accounts current as part of the item styled `Balance 
now due the United States.'''(3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3. See Romney v United States, 167 F2d 521, at 526, 527 (D.C. Cir. 
        1948); cert. den. 334 U.S. 847 (1948). [See also Crain v United 
        States, 25 Ct. Cl. 204 (1890) which held that the Sergeant at 
        Arms was a disbursing officer.]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The court also rejected the appellant's contention that 
falsification of the item of cash on hand did not violate the false 
claims statute [18 USC Sec. 80] because cash ceased to be government 
property and became Members' property at the moment the Sergeant at 
Arms received it from the Treasury. This contention was based on the 
appellant's view that he held the money not as a disbursing officer, 
but as a private person acting as an agent for other private 
persons.(4)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. See Romney at p. 525.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Following this decision, Congress enacted 63 Stat. 482 (codified as 
2 USC Sec. 81a)(5) which authorized the Comptroller General 
to detail employees of the General Accounting Office to make on-the-
spot audits of all receipts and disbursements pertaining to fiscal 
records of the Sergeant at Arms not less frequently than once each six 
months.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5. See 95 Cong. Rec. 9475, 81st Cong. 1st Sess., July 14, 1949 
        (passage in House); 9. Cong. Rec. 9755, 81st Cong. 1st Sess., 
        July 20, 1949 (passage in Senate); 95 Cong. Rec. 10487, 81st 
        Cong. 1st Sess., Aug. 1, 1949 (announcement in House of 
        approval by the President).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Purchasing Insurance

Sec. 19.4 The Sergeant at Arms may protect funds of his office by 
    purchasing insurance out of the contingent fund of the House when 
    authorized by simple resolution.

    On Apr. 1, 1947,(6) Apr. 1, 1949,(7) and July 
24, 1956,(8) the House authorized the Sergeant at Arms to 
protect the funds of his office by purchasing insurance out of the 
contingent fund of the House.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6. 93 Cong. Rec. 2971, 80th Cong. 1st Sess.
 7. 95 Cong. Rec. 3703, 81st Cong. 1st Sess.
 8. 102 Cong. Rec. 14241. 84th Cong.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In each instance, a Member introduced a resolution in the following 
form:

        Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on House 
    Administration, I

[[Page 606]]

    submit a privileged resolution . . . and ask for its immediate 
    consideration.
        The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
        Resolved, That the Sergeant at Arms of the House of 
    Representatives is authorized and directed to protect the funds of 
    his office by purchasing insurance [in stated amounts], providing 
    protection against loss with respect to such funds. Until otherwise 
    provided by law, premiums on such insurance shall be paid out of 
    the contingent fund of the House on vouchers signed by the Sergeant 
    at Arms and approved by the Committee on House Administration.
In each case the resolution was agreed to and a motion to reconsider 
was laid on the table.

Regulation of Parking

Sec. 19.5 The Sergeant at Arms assigns space for outdoor parking of 
    automobiles under direction of the Select Committee to Regulate 
    Parking.

    On June 28, 1967,(9) a select committee charged with 
responsibility for outdoor parking on the House side of the Capitol was 
created.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9. 113 Cong. Rec. 17791, 17792, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. [B. F.] Sisk [of California]: Mr. Speaker, by direction of 
    the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 514 and ask for 
    its immediate consideration.
        The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                                  H. Res. 514

            Resolved, (a) That there is hereby created  select 
        committee to be composed of three Members of the House of 
        Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker, one of whom 
        shall be designated as chairman. Any vacancy occurring in the 
        membership of the committee shall be filled in the same manner 
        in which the original appointment was made.
            (b) The said committee is hereby authorized to exercise 
        direction over the Sergeant at Arms of the House of 
        Representatives in the assignment of space for outdoor parking 
        of automobiles in squares 639, south of 635, and G92, located 
        adjacent to the House Office Buildings, and for all other 
        outdoor parking of automobiles on the House side of the United 
        States Capitol Grounds. . . .

        The resolution was agreed to.