[Deschler-Brown Precedents, Volume 17, Chapters 34 - 40]
[Ch. 40. Adjournment]
[A. Generally; Adjournments of Three Days or Less]
[Â§ 1. In General]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 779-780]
 
                               CHAPTER 40
 
                              Adjournment
 
            A. Generally; Adjournments of Three Days or Less
 
Sec. 1. In General



    Art. I, Sec. 5 of the United States Constitution, together with 
clause 4 of Rule XVI of the rules of the House,(1) establish 
the fundamental precedence in parliamentary procedure of the House of 
Representatives of the motion to adjourn. Under the Constitution, the 
motion to adjourn is given such primacy that it is one of only two 
motions (the other being the motion to compel the attendance of 
absentees) which can be adopted in the absence of a quorum. Jefferson's 
Manual states ``A motion to adjourn simply takes place of all others; 
for otherwise the House might be kept sitting against its will, and 
indefinitely. Yet this motion cannot be received after another question 
is actually put and while the House is engaged in 
voting.''(2)
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 1. House Rules and Manual Sec. Sec. 911-913 (2007).
 2. Id. at Sec. 439.
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    Adjournments in the House include: (1) adjournments of three days 
or less, which are taken pursuant to motion (or by unanimous consent 
during pro forma sessions when only the Chair is in the 
Chamber);(3) (2) adjournments for more than three days, 
which require the consent of the Senate;(4) and (3) an 
adjournment sine die, which ends each session of a Congress, and 
requires the consent of the Senate or the arrival of the 
constitutionally prescribed end of session on Jan. 3, and which may be 
combined with either single-House or two-House majority leadership 
recall authority (converting a sine die adjournment to adjournment to a 
day certain specified in (or pursuant to) the recall).(5)
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 3. See Division A, infra.
 4. See Division B, infra.
 5. See Division C, infra.
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    Adjournment is to be distinguished from recess.(6) 
Adjournments are normally taken from day to day or to a day certain and 
terminate a legislative day, whereas recesses are taken during a 
legislative day. Following an adjournment, the Mace is removed from the 
upper pedestal at the rostrum in the custody of the Sergeant at Arms 
(rather than remain on the rostrum) and the

[[Page 780]]

House is no longer in a receptive mode for business. The hopper is 
removed and bills may not be introduced nor reports filed through the 
hopper. Restrictions on access to the floor are relaxed for invited 
visitors in periods of adjournment as provided in clause 3 of Rule 
IV,(7) but not during recesses. While under clause 4 of Rule 
XVI the motion to adjourn is of the highest privilege, the declaration 
of a recess for a ``short time'' under clause 12(a) of Rule 
I(8) is in order when no question is pending, such as when a 
Member indicates his desire to offer a motion to adjourn but has not 
yet been recognized by the Chair for that purpose.(9)
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 6. See Ch. 39, infra.
 7. House Rules and Manual Sec. 679 (2007).
 8. Id. at Sec. 638.
 9. See Ch. 39 Sec. 2.22, supra.
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    Beginning in the 108th Congress, declarations of emergency recesses 
pursuant to clause 12(b) of Rule I(10) are in order whenever 
the Speaker is notified of an imminent danger to the safety of the 
House. Such declarations take precedence over pending business and 
could even interrupt a pending motion to adjourn.
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10. House Rules and Manual Sec. 639 (2007).
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    In the 108th Congress, the rules were amended to permit the Speaker 
to alter the time for reconvening during an adjournment period of three 
days or less, if notified by the Sergeant at Arms of the imminent 
impairment of the place of reconvening and after consultation with the 
Minority Leader, either by postponing or advancing the established time 
for reconvening for a duration within the established three-day period, 
and in an advanced reconvening solely to declare a recess within the 
three-day limit.(11)
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11. Compare this formal authority for early reconvening following 
        overnight adjournment with the twice-used Senate practice of 
        unauthorized early reconvening followed by ratification by 
        unanimous consent. See 109 Cong. Rec. 22697-99, 88th Cong. 1st 
        Sess., Nov. 25, 1963; and 147 Cong. Rec. 16865, 107th Cong. 1st 
        Sess., Sept. 12, 2001. The Senate felt that it had no other 
        option in this circumstance than to ``convene and ratify.''
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