[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 2, Chapters 7 - 9]
[Chapter 7.  The Members]
[A. The Speaker]
[Â§ 2. Seniority and Derivative Rights]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 668-684]
 
                               CHAPTER 7
 
                              The Members
 
                            A. INTRODUCTORY
 
Sec. 2. Seniority and Derivative Rights

    Seniority is a Member's length of service in the House or on a

[[Page 669]]

House committee. The seniority system is the traditional practice 
(12) in the House whereby certain prerogatives and positions 
are made available to those Members with the longest continuous service 
in the House or on committee.(13) However, the seniority 
system as such is nowhere codified and is only mentioned collaterally 
in the House rules; (14) it can be changed by the House or 
modified by the party caucuses.(15)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. For detailed descriptions of the practice and its origins, see 
        Celler, The Seniority Rule in Congress, Western Poll Quar. 
        (Mar. 1961); Goodwin, The Seniority System in Congress, Am. 
        Poll Sci. Rev. (June 1959); Polsby, Gallaher, and Rundquist, 
        The Growth of the Seniority System in the U.S. House of 
        Representatives, Am. Poll Sci. Rev. (Sept. 1969).
            Congressional hearings have focused on the seniority system 
        and proposals for change. Hearings of the Joint Committee on 
        the Organization of Congress, 79th Cong. 1st Sess. (1945); 
        hearings of the Joint Committee on the Organization of 
        Congress, 89th Cong. 1st Sess. (1965); hearings of the Special 
        Subcommittee on Legislative Reorganization of the House 
        Committee on Rules, 91st Cong. 1st Sess. (1970). For a critical 
        analysis of the system by an ex-Member, see 116 Cong. Rec. 
        26034-39. 91st Cong. 2d Sess., July 28, 1970.
13. In assigning office suites, ``longest continuous service'' refers 
        not only to present consecutive service but also to a past 
        period of service interrupted by a period of nonmembership. 
        (See Sec. 2.1, infra).
            In computing committee seniority, the Committee on 
        Committees may credit a Member for past interrupted service on 
        the committee to which he has been assigned (see Sec. 2.2, 
        infra).
14. Rule X clause 4, House Rules and Manual Sec. 672 (1973) provides 
        for the Member next in rank on a standing committee to act as 
        chairman in the latter's absence.
            The House rejected proposed amendments to the Legislative 
        Reorganization Act of 1970 which would have altered and 
        codified seniority as a factor in the selection of committee 
        chairmen (see Sec. 2.4, infra).
15. For demotions in seniority by the House, see Sec. Sec. 2.11, 2.12, 
        infra. For seniority demotions by the party, see 
        Sec. Sec. 2.13-2.16, infra.
            For changes implemented by the majority and minority party 
        caucuses in the 92d and subsequent Congresses modifying strict 
        seniority practices in the selection of committee chairmen, see 
        Ch. 3, supra, and Ch. 17, infra.
            One party has refused to interfere with the prerogative of 
        the opposing party caucus in selecting a committee chairman on 
        the basis of seniority. 117 Cong. Rec. 1709-13, 92d Cong. 1st 
        Sess., Feb. 4, 1971.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    There are two types of seniority--congressional seniority, which 
relates to the length of service in the House, and committee seniority, 
which relates to the length of consecutive service on a particular 
committee.

[[Page 670]]

    Congressional seniority is computed from the official date that a 
Member begins his service. Therefore, seniority ordinarily dates from 
Jan. 3 of the first Congress to which a Member is elected or re-elected 
after a break in service in the House.(16) Where a Member is 
elected to fill a vacancy, his congressional seniority is computed from 
the date of election.(17) An objection to a Member's right 
to be sworn, later resolved in his favor, does not affect his 
congressional seniority.(18)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. Pursuant to the 25th amendment to the Constitution (ratified Feb. 
        6, 1933), the terms of Members begin on Jan. 3 of the odd-
        numbered years.
17. Cf. 2 USC Sec. 37 (salary begins at election for Member to fill 
        unexpired term) and 2 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 1206 (general 
        discussion of terms of Members elected to fill vacancies).
18. See Ch. 2, supra (rights of Members-elect).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Committee seniority is computed from the date a Member is elected 
to a specific committee. Members-elect whose seats in the House are in 
doubt may be excluded from the resolution electing committees and 
fixing rank thereon, pending resolution of any challenges and 
investigations.(19)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. See Sec. Sec. 2.5, infra (election to committee after resolution of 
        contest), and 2.11, infra (Member-elect excluded pending 
        investigation, elected to no committees, and stripped of 
        chairmanship).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Some of the rights derived from congressional seniority are purely 
ceremonial in nature. For example, a senior Member traditionally 
announces the death of a Member from his state and 
party.(20) Where a delegation of Members is appointed by the 
Speaker for the funeral of an ex-Member, Members are listed in the 
order of their congressional seniority.(1) The dean of the 
House, or the Member with the longest continuous service in the House, 
traditionally administers the oath to the Speaker at the beginning of a 
new Congress.(2)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. See Sec. 2.21, infra.
 1. See Sec. 2.22, infra.
 2. See Sec. 2.20, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Congressional seniority determines the priority of assignment to 
office suites in the office buildings.(3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3. Preference is given to those Members with longest continuous 
        service in the House. House Rules and Manual Sec. 985 (1973).
            For computation of ``longest continuous service'' as 
        related to the assignment of offices, see Sec. 2.1, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Committee rank and the election of committee chairmen and 
subcommittee chairmen is largely a matter for determination by the 
political party organizations in the House.(4) In computing 
committee

[[Page 671]]

seniority, a party organization may credit not only the present 
consecutive service of a committee member, but also prior interrupted 
service on the same committee.(5)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. For party organization, see Ch. 3, supra. For committee election 
        and organization, see Ch. 17, infra.
            When an attempt was made by certain members of the majority 
        party to unseat a committee chairman in the 92d Congress, they 
        urged support from the minority party on the floor of the 
        House, in departing from ``the custom of the House, which is 
        that the majority party in the enclaves of their caucus make 
        the determinations and the minority party accepts those 
        decisions.'' 117 Cong. Rec. 1709, 92d Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 4, 
        1971 (address of Mr. Jerome Waldie [Calif.]). The minority 
        party refused to support the attempt. Id. at p. 1713. During 
        debate on Mr. Waldie's proposal, Mr. James O'Hara (Mich.) 
        stated that ``each party should be free to make its own 
        decisions without hindrance from the other.'' Id. at p. 1711. 
        Mr. James Fulton (Pa.), of the minority party, stated: ``It has 
        been the custom that each party shall select its own people and 
        set the seniority and that they shall select the membership of 
        the various committees and their own officers and that the 
        other party would do the same.'' Id. at p. 1709.
 5. See Sec. 2.2, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Relative committee rank is indicated by the order in which the 
names of Members appear in the resolution which names Members to a 
standing committee.(6) When the committee seniority of a 
Member is not yet determined, or if election contests over his seat are 
pending, vacancies may be left open in the resolution pending the 
determination of such matters.(7)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6. See Sec. 2.3, infra.
 7. See Sec. 2.7, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A Member may be stripped of his congressional seniority or his 
committee seniority for certain improprieties.(8) Thus, in 
the 91st Congress, the House punished a Member for improper conduct in 
past Congresses by reducing his seniority to that of a first-term 
Representative.(9)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8. See Ch. 12, infra.
 9. See Sec. 2.12, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                 Forms

        Form of resolution electing a Member to committee and fixing 
    his rank thereon.

            Resolved, That J. Edward Roush, of Indiana, be, and is 
        hereby elected a Member of the standing committee of the House 
        of Representatives on Science and Astronautics and to rank No. 
        10 thereon.(10)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. 107 Cong. Rec. 10391, 87th Cong. 1st Sess., June 14, 1961.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                            Cross References
Seniority and party organization, see Ch. 3, supra.
Committee organization and seniority, see Ch. 17, infra.
Conference appointments and seniority, see Ch. 33 infra.

                         Collateral References
Celler, The Seniority Rule in Congress, Western Political Quarterly 
    (Mar. 1961).

[[Page 672]]

Goodwin, The Seniority System in Congress, American Political Science 
    Review (June 1959).
Hearings of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, 79th 
    Cong. 1st Sess. (Wash. 1945); Hearings of the Joint Committee on 
    the Organization of Congress, 89th Cong. 1st Sess. (Wash. 1965); 
    Hearings of the Special Subcommittee on Legislative Reorganization 
    of the House Committee on Rules, 91st Cong. 1st Sess. (Wash. 1970).
Polsby, The Growth of the Seniority System in the United States House 
    of Representatives, American Political Science Review (Sept. 1969).
Bolling, Power in the House, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. (N.Y. 1968).
Democratic Study Group, The Seniority System in the United States House 
    of Representatives, Special Report (Feb. 25, 
    1970).                          -------------------

Computing Seniority

Sec. 2.1 In computing seniority for the assignment of office suites, 
    ``longest continuous service'' is interpreted as the longest period 
    of uninterrupted service as a Member.

    On Mar. 2, 1967,(11) the Chairman of the House Office 
Building Commission, Speaker John W. McCormack, of Massachusetts, 
announced a determination as to the meaning of the term ``longest 
continuous service'' in relation to seniority for assignment of office 
suites.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. 113 Cong. Rec. 5218, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. McCormack: Mr. Speaker, for the information of the Members, 
    I include an action recently taken by the House Office Building 
    Commission:

                  Assignment of Rooms, House Office Buildings

        In connection with assignment of rooms to Members of the House 
    of Representatives in the House Office Buildings, 40 U.S.C. 178 
    provides, in part, as follows:
        ``If two or more requests are made for the same vacant room, 
    preference shall be given to the Representative making the request 
    who has been longest in continuous service as a Member and Member-
    elect of the House of Representatives.''
        The question was raised before the House Office Building 
    Commission as to whether the wording ``longest continuous service'' 
    should refer to any period of continuous service whether or not 
    such continuous service occurred before or after a break in service 
    in the House.
        At meeting of February 27, 1967, the House Office Building 
    Commission unanimously ruled on this point, as follows:
        ``The term `longest continuous service' as used in 40 U.S.C. 
    178, governing seniority in assignment of rooms in the House Office 
    Buildings, is held to refer to the longest period of uninterrupted 
    service as a Member and Member-elect of the House of 
    Representatives (not necessarily the last period of uninterrupted 
    service as held

[[Page 673]]

    in Cannon's Precedents, Vol. 8, page 981, Sec. 3651).''
        This ruling is effective February 27, 1967 and is being 
    submitted as a matter of record for the information of all Members 
    of the House of Representatives.

Sec. 2.2 In computing committee seniority, a party may credit a Member 
    for prior interrupted service in the House.

    In the 89th Congress, Mr. Glenn R. Davis, of Wisconsin, was elected 
to the Committee on Appropriations, to rank fifth from the 
bottom.(12) Mr. Davis began service in the 89th Congress 
after a break in service extending from the 85th Congress to the 88th 
Congress; prior to that break he had served in the House from the 80th 
Congress through the 84th Congress.(13)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. 111 Cong. Rec. 991, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 21, 1965.
13. Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1971, S. Doc. 
        No. 92-8, 92d Cong. 1st Sess. (1971).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Mr. Davis was elected to higher committee rank in the 89th Congress 
than four Members each of whom had served for at least one term 
immediately preceding the 89th Congress.(14)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. 111 Cong. Rec. 991, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 21, 1965. For the 
        prior service of those Members listed below Mr. Davis, see the 
        Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1971, S. 
        Doc. No. 92-8, 92d Cong. 1st Sess. (1971).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.3 Committee rank is indicated by the order in which the names of 
    Members appear in the resolution electing them to a standing 
    committee.

    On Feb. 3, 1969,(15) the House made a correction in the 
election of Members to the standing Committee on Veterans' Affairs, 
since the original resolution which was adopted contained an error in 
the order in which names were listed:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. 115 Cong. Rec. 2433, 2434, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. Gerald R. Ford [of Michigan]: Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
    consent to vacate the proceedings whereby the House agreed to House 
    Resolution 176 on January 29, and ask for its immediate 
    consideration with an amendment which I send to the desk.
        The Speaker: (16) Is there objection to the request 
    of the gentleman from Michigan?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. John W. McCormack (Mass.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        There was no objection.
        The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                                H. Res. 176

            Resolved, That the following named Members be, and they are 
        hereby, elected members of the following standing committees of 
        the House of Representatives: . . .

                       Committee on Veterans' Affairs

            Charles M. Teague, California; E. Ross Adair, Indiana; 
        William H.

[[Page 674]]

        Ayres, Ohio; John P. Saylor, Pennsylvania; Seymour Halpern, New 
        York; John J. Duncan, Tennessee; John Paul Hammerschmidt, 
        Arkansas; William L. Scott, Virginia; Margaret M. Heckler, 
        Massachusetts; John M. Zwach, Minnesota; Robert V. Denney, 
        Nebraska. . . .

                  amendment offered by mr. gerald r. ford

        The Clerk read as follows:

            Amendment offered by Mr. Gerald R. Ford: On page 7, lines 5 
        and 6, strike out ``E. Ross Adair, Indiana; William H. Ayres, 
        Ohio;'' and insert: ``William H. Ayres, Ohio; E. Ross Adair, 
        Indiana;''

        Mr. Gerald R. Ford: Mr. Speaker, my amendment, which has just 
    been read by the Clerk, will correct the seniority standing of the 
    gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ayres) on the Committee on Veterans' 
    Affairs.
        The amendment was agreed to.

Seniority Considerations in Selecting Chairmen

Sec. 2.4 During consideration of a legislative reorganization act, the 
    House rejected two amendments proposing that seniority need not be 
    the sole consideration in the selection of committee chairmen.

    On July 28, 1970, during consideration of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1970,(17) the House rejected an 
amendment and a substitute amendment proposing that the House consider 
other factors in addition to seniority in the selection of committee 
chairmen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. 116 Cong. Rec. 26044, 91st Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The primary amendment had been offered by Mr. Henry S. Reuss, of 
Wisconsin, on July 27, 1970.(18) His amendment read as 
follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. Id. at p. 25831.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Sec. 119 Clause 3 of rule X of the rules of the House of 
    Representatives is amended to read as follows:

            3. At the commencement of each Congress, the House shall 
        elect as chairman of each standing committee one of the Members 
        thereof, who need not be the Member with the longest 
        consecutive service on the Committee; in the temporary absence 
        of the Chairman the Member next in rank in the order named in 
        the election of the committee, and so on, as often as the case 
        shall happen, shall act as chairman; and in case of a permanent 
        vacancy in the chairmanship of any such committee the House 
        shall elect another chairman.

    The substitute amendment, offered as a substitute to Mr. Reuss' 
amendment, was offered by Mr. Frederick Schwengel, of Iowa, and read as 
follows: (19)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. Id. at p. 25832.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Sec. 120. Clause 3 of Rule X of the Rules of the House of 
    Representatives is amended to read as follows:

            3. (a) As soon as possible after the commencement of each 
        Congress, the senior member of the majority party on each 
        standing committee shall call an organization meeting of all

[[Page 675]]

        the members of the committee for the purpose of electing the 
        chairman of the committee and the minority leader for the 
        committee. . . .
            (d) The first order of business at any such organization 
        meeting shall be the election of the chairman of the committee. 
        The three most senior members of the committee who are members 
        of the majority party shall be regarded as having been 
        nominated for the office of chairman. Tellers shall be 
        appointed by the temporary chairman, one from among the members 
        of the committee who are members of the majority party and two 
        from among the other members of the committee. Voting shall be 
        confined to members of the majority party, and shall be by 
        secret written ballot.
            (e) After the chairman of the committee has been elected 
        and installed, the next order of business shall be the election 
        of a minority leader for the committee, which shall be 
        accomplished in the same manner as in the case of the election 
        of the chairman except that (1) the tellers shall be appointed 
        by the chairman, two from among the members of the committee 
        who are members of the majority party and one from among the 
        other members of the committee, and (2) voting shall be 
        confined to members of the committee who
        are not members of the majority party. . . .

    After these amendments were of I Bred, and before they were 
rejected by the House, there ensued lengthy debate on the seniority 
system in the House and on possible alternatives to the current 
practice.(20)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. See the Congressional Record insert at 116 Cong. Rec. 26034-39, 
        91st Cong. 2d Sess., July 28, 1970, of a paper written by ex-
        Member John V. Lindsay (N.Y.) on the seniority system in 
        current practice and on proposals for change.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fixing Committee Seniority

Sec. 2.5 When the House has determined the right of a Member to his 
    seat after the organization of the House, the House elects such 
    Member to committee and designates his rank thereon by resolution.

    On June 29, 1961,(1) pursuant to the determination by 
the House on June 14, 1961, that Mr. J. Edward Roush, of Indiana, was 
entitled to a seat,(2) the House adopted the following 
resolution:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 107 Cong. Rec. 11797, 87th Cong. 1st Sess.
 2. 107 Cong. Rec. 10391, 87th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Resolved, That J. Edward Roush, of Indiana, be, and he is 
    hereby elected a Member of the standing committee of the House of 
    Representatives on Science and Astronautics and to rank No. 10 
    thereon.

Sec. 2.6 Where a senior Member was assigned to the last position on a 
    committee for disciplinary purposes by his party caucus, the House 
    was advised that junior Members subsequently elected to the 
    committee would be placed below the punished Member in rank.

[[Page 676]]

    On Oct. 18, 1966,(3) the House was considering a 
resolution electing a junior Member from New York to the standing 
Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Mr. John B. Williams, of 
Mississippi, who had been assigned the last position on that committee 
by the Democratic Caucus at the convening of the 89th 
Congress,(4) arose to propound an inquiry. He asked whether 
the freshman Member would go above him or below him in committee rank. 
Mr. Wilbur D. Mills, of Arkansas, who had offered the resolution, 
responded that freshmen Members newly elected to the same committee 
would be placed below Mr. Williams.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3. 112 Cong. Rec. 27486, 89th Cong. 2d Sess.
 4. See Sec. 2.13, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.7 The Committee on Committees may report a resolution leaving 
    vacancies on certain standing committees pending further 
    consideration of the assignments and seniority of certain Members.

    On Jan. 23, 1967,(5) the Committee on Committees 
reported House Resolution 165, electing Members to committees but 
leaving certain vacancies on the Committee on Interstate and Foreign 
Commerce.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5. 113 Cong. Rec. 1086, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    One vacancy related to an as yet undecided contested election 
case.(6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6. The right to a seat of Member-elect Benjamin B. Blackburn (Ga.) was 
        challenged on Jan. 10, 1967, 113 Cong. Rec. 14, 90th Cong. 1st 
        Sess., and had not yet been decided.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The other vacancy related to the undetermined status of Mr. John B. 
Williams, of Mississippi, who had, in the 89th Congress, been stripped 
of his committee seniority and assigned to the last majority position 
on said committee.(7) Mr. Williams had requested the 
committee to refrain assigning him to any committee pending a 
determination by his party caucus of his committee seniority in the 
90th Congress.(8)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7. See Sec. 2.13, infra.
 8. See Sec. 2.16, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Correction of Seniority Rankings

Sec. 2.8 The House by unanimous consent fixed the relative rank of two 
    Members on a committee where an error had been made in the original 
    appointment.

    On Jan. 20, 1947,(9) the House agreed by unanimous 
consent to

[[Page 677]]

correct the committee seniority of two members of a committee:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 9. 93 Cong. Rec. 481, 80th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. [Charles A.] Halleck [of Indiana]: Mr. Speaker, in 
    determining seniority on the reorganized Public Lands Committee, 
    into which were merged six previous standing committees of the 
    House, we made an error in the determination of seniority between 
    the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Rockwell] and the gentleman from 
    North Dakota [Mr. Lemke].
        In order to correct that error and to bring that assignment of 
    seniority in line with other similar assignments adopted by the 
    Committee on Committees, I ask unanimous consent to correct the 
    list of members of the Committee on Public Lands by placing the 
    gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Rockwell] No. 4 thereon and the 
    gentleman from North Dakota [Mr. Lemke] No. 5 thereon.
        The Speaker: (10) Is there objection to the request 
    of the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Halleck]?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Joseph W. Martin, Jr. (Mass.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        There was no objection.

Sec. 2.9 On one occasion, the House adopted a resolution electing a 
    Member retroactively to a committee and fixing his rank on such 
    committee accordingly.

    On Nov. 2, 1939,(11) the House adopted the following 
resolution:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. 85 Cong. Rec. 1283, 76th Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Resolved, That E.C. Gathings, of Arkansas, be, and he is 
    hereby, elected a member of the standing committee of the House of 
    Representatives on Claims as of June 2, 1939, and shall take rank 
    accordingly.

    Parliamentarian's Note: The House took such action because the 
Member in question had served on the committee for a period of months 
under the misapprehension, also held by the committee, that he was a 
duly-elected member of that committee.

Sec. 2.10 On motion of the Minority Leader, the House agreed by 
    unanimous consent to vacate past proceedings where by it had agreed 
    to a resolution electing minority members to committees, and then 
    reconsidered the resolution with an amendment changing the order of 
    names in order to correct seniority.

    On Feb. 3, 1969,(12) Gerald R. Ford, of Michigan, the 
Minority Leader of the House, asked unanimous consent to vacate the 
proceedings whereby the House had agreed to House Resolution 176, 
electing Members to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Mr. Ford 
offered an amendment changing the order of the names, and therefore the 
seniority of members, in order to correct the

[[Page 678]]

seniority standing of Mr. William H. Ayres, of Ohio. The resolution as 
amended was agreed to by the House.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. 115 Cong. Rec. 2433, 2434, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Demotions in Committee or Congressional Seniority

Sec. 2.11 Where a Member-elect was excluded from the House pending a 
    determination of his right to his seat, he was stripped of his 
    chairmanship of the Committee on Education and Labor and not named 
    to any committees.

    On Jan. 23, 1967,(13) the Committee on Committees 
reported a resolution (H. Res. 165) electing Carl D. Perkins, of 
Kentucky, as Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, which 
position had formerly been held by Member-elect Adam C. Powell, of New 
York. Mr. Powell's name was not nominated for election to any 
committee. He had been excluded from House membership pending an 
investigation of his right to a seat.(14)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. 113 Cong. Rec. 1086, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
14. 113 Cong. Rec. 26, 90th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 10, 1967.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.12 In authorizing a challenged Member-elect to take his seat, 
    the House may discipline him for actions in past Congresses by 
    reducing his congressional seniority to that of a first-term 
    Congressman.

    On Jan. 3, 1969, the House authorized Adam C. Powell, Member-elect 
from New York, whose seat had been challenged,(15) to take 
the oath of office and to be seated as a Member of the House by House 
Resolution 2.(16) The resolution provided for deductions 
from Mr. Powell's salary as punishment for past conduct, and also 
provided as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. 115 Cong. Rec. 15, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
16. Id. at p. 33.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        (3) That as further punishment the seniority of the said Adam 
    Clayton Powell in the House of Representatives commence as of the 
    date he takes the oath as a Member of the 91st Congress.

Sec. 2.13 Two Members were stripped of their committee seniority in the 
    89th Congress by their party.

    In the 89th Congress, the Democratic Caucus adopted a resolution on 
Jan. 2, 1965, directing the Committee on Committees to demote in 
committee rank Mr. John B. Williams, of Mississippi, and Mr. Albert W. 
Watson, of South Carolina. (Both of those Members had allegedly 
supported

[[Page 679]]

the Presidential nominee of the Republican Party.) (17)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. See the remarks in the Senate of Senator Strom Thurmond (S.C.) 
        analyzing the action of the House Democratic Caucus and the 
        activities of Mr. Williams and of Mr. Watson which precipitated 
        that party action. 111 Cong. Rec. 758, 759, 89th Cong. 1st 
        Sess., Jan. 15, 1965.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Mr. Williams had ranked second on the Committee on Interstate and 
Foreign Commerce (18) and fifth on the Committee on the 
District of Columbia in the 88th Congress.(19) In the 89th 
Congress, he was demoted in seniority by being elected to the last 
majority position on both of those committees.(20)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. 109 Cong. Rec. 506, 88th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 17, 1963.
19. 109 Cong. Rec. 505, 88th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 17, 1963.
20. 111 Cong. Rec. 809, 810, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 18, 1965.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Mr. Watson had ranked last on the Committee on Post Office and 
Civil Service in the 88th Congress.(1) In the 89th Congress, 
he was elected to the next-to-last position on the Committee on 
Interstate and Foreign Commerce.(2) (Mr. Watson later 
resigned from the House, was re-elected as a Republican, and was 
elected as a minority member of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign 
Commerce.) (3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 109 Cong. Rec. 506, 88th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 17, 1963.
 2. 111 Cong. Rec. 992, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 21, 1965.
 3. See Sec. 2.17, infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.14 A Member who had refused to support the Presidential nominee 
    of his party was reduced in committee seniority by his party in the 
    91st Congress when his name was placed at the bottom of a list of 
    members of his party elected to one of the standing committees.

    On Jan. 29, 1969,(4) the House adopted a resolution 
electing Members to the standing Committee on Agriculture. The name of 
Mr. John R. Rarick, of Louisiana, was placed at the bottom of the list, 
pursuant to the determination of the Democratic Caucus to punish him 
for refusing to support the Presidential nominee of the Democratic 
Party. Under the listing of the resolution, he became the lowest 
ranking majority member of the Committee on Agriculture.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. 115 Cong. Rec. 2083, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.15 On one occasion, the Committee on Committees left a vacancy 
    on a standing committee pending further consideration of the com

[[Page 680]]

    mittee assignments and seniority of a Member whose party had 
    stripped him of committee seniority in the preceding Congress.

    On Jan. 23, 1967,(5) the Committee on Committees 
reported to the House a resolution leaving a vacancy on the Committee 
on Interstate and Foreign Commerce because of the undetermined status 
of Mr. John Bell Williams, of Mississippi, who had, in the previous 
Congress, been stripped of his committee seniority and assigned to the 
last majority position on said committee.(6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5. 113 Cong. Rec. 1086, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
 6. See Sec. 2. 13, Supra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.16 In one instance a Member requested the Committee on 
    Committees to refrain from assigning him to any House committees 
    pending a determination by his party caucus of his committee 
    seniority.

    On Jan. 23, 1967,(7) there was included in the Record a 
letter from Mr. John Bell Williams, of Mississippi, to the Chairman of 
the Democratic Committee on Committees, requesting such committee to 
postpone assigning him to any House committees pending a determination 
by the Democratic Caucus of his seniority status.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7. 113 Cong. Rec. 1087, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Parliamentarian's Note: Mr. Williams had been stripped of his 
committee seniority during the 89th Congress and as of Jan. 23, 1967, 
his committee seniority in the 90th Congress had not yet been acted 
upon by the Democratic Caucus.

Effect of Change in Party Affiliation

Sec. 2.17 A Member who was stripped of committee seniority by his party 
    caucus resigned from Congress, joined the opposition party, was re-
    elected to Congress, and was elected to the same committee.

    On Jan. 21, 1965,(8) Mr. Albert W. Watson, of South 
Carolina, was elected to the next-to-last position in rank on the 
Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Mr. Watson had been 
demoted in committee seniority by the House Democratic Caucus because 
of his support of the Republican Presidential candidate.(9)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8. 111 Cong. Rec. 992, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
 9. See Sec. 2.13, supra.
            See also the remarks of Senator Strom Thurmond (S.C.) on 
        Jan. 15, 1965, 111 Cong. Rec. 758, 759, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., 
        explaining the circumstances under which Mr. Watson was 
        stripped of his seniority.

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

[[Page 681]]

    On Jan. 28, 1965,(10) Mr. Watson resigned his 
congressional seat, to become effective Feb. 1, 1965.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. 111 Cong. Rec. 1452, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Mr. Watson joined the Republican Party and was re-elected to the 
Congress as a Republican; he took the oath of office on June 16, 
1965.(11)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. 111 Cong. Rec. 13774, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On June 23, 1965,(12) Mr. Watson was elected to the 
Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on the recommendation of 
the Republican Conference.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. 111 Cong. Rec. 14501, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.18 A change in party affiliation by a Senator might necessitate 
    a change in party ratios on certain committees and a loss of seats 
    on some committees for the other party.

    On Sept. 17, 1964,(13) Majority Leader Michael J. 
Mansfield, of Montana, announced that the change in party affiliation, 
from the majority party to the minority party, by Senator Strom 
Thurmond, of South Carolina, might require a change in party membership 
ratios on certain committees, since ratios on Senate committees reflect 
the relative membership of the two parties in the Senate as a whole. 
Senator Mansfield stated that it would appear that the Republicans 
would be entitled to an additional seat on each of the two committees 
on which Senator Thurmond had formerly sat and that the Democrats would 
lose those seats on those committees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. 110 Cong. Rec. 22369, 88th Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seniority as Affecting Floor Recognition

Sec. 2.19 The order of recognition to offer amendments is within the 
    discretion of the Chair, but precedent indicates that he should 
    recognize members of the committee handling the pending bill in the 
    order of their committee seniority.

    On July 23, 1970,(14) Chairman Chet Holifield, of 
California, ruled, in answer to a parliamentary inquiry, that he would 
recognize members of a committee handling a pending bill to offer 
amendments in the order of their

[[Page 682]]

seniority. He stated that the order in which amendments may be offered 
to a pending paragraph (open to amendment at any point) is not 
determined by the sequence of lines to which the amendments may relate, 
but by the committee rank of those seeking recognition.(15)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. 116 Cong. Rec. 25635 91st Cong. 2d Sess.
15. For full discussion of priorities of recognition, see Ch. 29, 
        infra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seniority Considerations and Ceremonial Functions

Sec. 2.20 The Member of the House with longest consecutive service 
    customarily administers the oath to the Speaker at the convening of 
    a new Congress.(16)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. The Member of longest consecutive service is now the ``Dean'' of 
        the House (113 Cong. Rec. 14, 90th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 10, 
        1967; 115 Cong. Rec. 15, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 3, 1969), 
        although he has sometimes been termed the ``Father'' of the 
        House (2 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 1140; 6 Cannon's Precedents 
        Sec. 6).
            While the Member with longest consecutive service has 
        usually administered the oath to the Speaker in past 
        Congresses, the practice has not always been followed (6 
        Cannon's Precedents Sec. 6).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    At the convening of the 90th Congress the Member with the longest 
consecutive service in the House, Mr. Emanuel Celler, of New York, 
administered the oath to the newly-elected Speaker.(17) Mr. 
Celler likewise administered the oath to the Speaker at the opening of 
the 91st Congress.(18)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. 113 Cong. Rec. 14, 90th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 10, 1967. As of the 
        convening of the 92d Congress, Mr. Celler had amassed service 
        in 24 consecutive Congresses. Biographical Directory of the 
        American Congress 1774-1971, S. Doc. No. 92-8, 92d Cong. 1st 
        Sess. (1971).
18. 115 Cong. Rec. 15, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 3, 1969.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    When Mr. Celler was absent on the opening day of the 92d Congress, 
Wright Patman, of Texas, the Member second to him in consecutive 
service, administered the oath to the Speaker.(19)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. 117 Cong. Rec. 13, 92d Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 21, 1971. As of the 
        beginning of the 92d Congress, Mr. Patman had served for 21 
        consecutive Congresses. Biographical Directory of the American 
        Congress 1774-1971, S. Doc. No. 92-8, 92d Cong. 1st Sess. 
        (1971).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.21 The announcement of the death of a sitting Member is normally 
    the prerogative of the senior Member of the deceased's state party 
    delegation in the House.

    On June 23, 1969,(20) Mr. Silvio O. Conte, of 
Massachusetts, the

[[Page 683]]

senior member of the Republican party state delegation from 
Massachusetts, arose to announce to the House the death of Mr. William 
H. Bates, a Republican from Massachusetts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. 115 Cong. Rec. 16795, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Similarly, the death of Senate Minority Leader, Everett M. Dirksen, 
of Illinois. was announced to the House by the senior member of his 
party in his state's House delegation, Mr. Leslie C. Arends, of 
Illinois, on Sept. 8, 1969.(1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. 115 Cong. Rec. 24634, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sec. 2.22 When the Speaker appoints a funeral delegation for a deceased 
    Member, he lists, following the state delegation, other appointed 
    Members in the order of their seniority.

    On June 23, 1969,(2) Speaker John W. McCormack, of 
Massachusetts, announced his appointments to the funeral delegation for 
the funeral of a deceased Member of the House. After listing the names 
of the Members from the same state as the deceased Member, the Speaker 
listed the names of 45 other Members of the House, listed in order of 
their congressional seniority.(3)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2.  115 Cong. Rec. 16800, 16801, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
 3. For other instances where House funeral delegations were listed in 
        order of congressional seniority, see 115 Cong. Rec. 24695, 
        91st Cong. 1st Sess., Sept. 8, 1969; 116 Cong. Rec. 25866, 91st 
        Cong. 2d Sess., July 27, 1970; 116 Cong. Rec. 43770, 91st Cong. 
        2d Sess., Dec. 29, 1970.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Senate Practice

Sec. 2.23 In the Senate, prerogative according to seniority practice is 
    a custom, not a rule, and is not always followed.

    On Mar. 2, 1956,(4) Senator Wayne L. Morse, of Oregon, 
in opposing the appointment of a senior Senator to the chairmanship of 
the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that the seniority practice in 
the Senate is a customary tradition but is not a rule. Senator Morse 
listed three important precedents in the Senate where the Senate did 
not elevate to the chairmanship of a committee the next Senator in line 
in order of seniority.(5)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. 102 Cong. Rec. 3815, 84th Cong. 2d Sess.
 5. The precedents cited by Senator Morse occurred during the 42d 
        Congress, where Senator Charles Sumner (Mass.) was dropped as 
        Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, during the 68th 
        Congress where Senator Albert B. Cummins (Iowa) was dropped as 
        Chairman of the Committee on Interstate Commerce and during the 
        69th Congress, when Senator Edwin F. Ladd (N.D.) was not 
        designated to the chairmanship of the Committee on Public Lands 
        and Surveys, to which he had seniority under the traditional 
        practice.

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

[[Page 684]]

Sec. 2.24 The Senate may, by unanimous consent, exchange the committee 
    seniority of two Senators pursuant to a request by one of them.

    On Feb. 23, 1955,(6) Senator Styles Bridges, of New 
Hampshire, asked and obtained unanimous consent that his position as 
ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services Committee be 
exchanged for that of Senator Everett Saltonstall, of Massachusetts, 
the next ranking minority member of that committee, for the duration of 
the 84th Congress, with the understanding that that arrangement was 
temporary in nature, and that at the expiration of the 84th Congress he 
would resume his seniority rights.(7)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6. 101 Cong. Rec. 1930, 1931, 84th Cong. 1st Sess.
 7. Mr. Bridges stated he requested the alteration of seniority 
        ``because last year he [Senator Saltonstall] served as Chairman 
        of the Armed Services Committee, and did a very able job in 
        that capacity; and I desire to show him the courtesy of letting 
        him be a rung higher on the ladder, so to speak, temporarily. . 
        . .'' Id. at p. 1931.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the succeeding Congress, on Jan. 22, 1957,(8) Senator 
Bridges reiterated that request for the duration of the 85th Congress.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8. 103 Cong. Rec. 835, 85th Cong. 1st Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It was so ordered by the Senate.



