[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 4, Chapters 15 - 17]
[Chapter 17. Committees]
[B. Committee Chairmen, Members, and Employees]
[Â§ 11. Seniority Considerations]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 2648-2651]
 
                               CHAPTER 17
 
                               Committees
 
             B. COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN, MEMBERS, AND EMPLOYEES

Sec. 11. Seniority Considerations (3)
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 3. See also Ch. 7, Sec. 2, supra.
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Order of Members' Names on Resolution as Showing Seniority

Sec. 11.1 Committee seniority is shown by the order in which the 
    Members' names are listed in the resolution electing them to a 
    committee; and where an error was made in the order of names in a 
    resolution, the House, by unanimous consent, vacated the 
    proceedings, reconsidered the matter, and agreed to a corrective 
    amendment putting the names in proper order.

    On Feb. 3, 1969,(4) Speaker John W. McCormack, of 
Massachusetts, recognized Mr. Gerald R. Ford, of Michigan, who sought
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 4. 115 Cong. Rec. 2433, 91st Cong. 1st Sess.
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[[Page 2649]]

unanimous consent to vacate the proceedings whereby the House had 
agreed to a resolution (H. Res. 176) on Jan. 29, 1969; and he requested 
the immediate reconsideration of the resolution with an amendment which 
he sent to the desk.

    House Resolution 176 provided that upon its adoption, the Members 
listed therein would be elected members of those standing committees 
which preceded their names. Among the committees and list of names was 
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, as to which the resolution read as 
follows: (5)
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 5. Id. at p. 2434.
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        Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Charles M. Teague, California; 
    E. Ross Adair, Indiana; William H. 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.

    There was no objection to the unanimous-consent 
request.(6) Accordingly, the Clerk read Mr. Ford's proposed 
amendment,(7) a few moments later, as follows:
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 6. Id. at p. 2433.
 7. Id. at p. 2434
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        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;''

    The Congressman was then afforded an opportunity to explain the 
proposal which he did:

        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.

    Immediately thereafter, the Ford amendment was agreed to, and House 
Resolution 176, as amended, was agreed to.

Demotions in Seniority as Affecting Other Members

Sec. 11.2 Where, as a matter of party policy, the Democratic Caucus 
    instructed the Committee on Committees to assign the ``last 
    position'' on a committee to a particular Member (for party 
    disciplinary reasons), and the House agreed to a resolution with a 
    new listing of electees, other Members, subsequently elected to the 
    same committee, rank junior to him in committee seniority.

    On Jan. 18, 1965,(8) the House adopted a resolution (H. 
Res. 120) electing Members to 18 standing

[[Page 2650]]

committees. The last name (and thus, by custom, the committee member of 
least seniority) on the list of electees for the Committees on the 
District of Columbia and Interstate and Foreign Commerce was Mr. John 
Bell Williams, of Mississippi. Mr. Williams' reduction in rank on these 
committees was mandated by the Democratic Caucus which, for party 
disciplinary reasons,(9) had directed the Democrats' 
Committee on Committees to assign Mr. Williams to the ``last position'' 
on each of the two committees.
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 8. 111 Cong. Rec. 809, 810, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
 9. Mr. Williams had endorsed the Republican Presidential candidate of 
        1964.
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    On Oct. 18, 1966,(10) a resolution (H. Res. 1066) 
providing for the election of Mr. Richard L. Ottinger, of New York, to 
the Committee on interstate and Foreign Commerce was under 
consideration. The measure had been offered by Wilbur D. Mills, of 
Arkansas, in his capacity as Chairman of the Democrats' Committee on 
Committees.(11) This situation prompted Mr. Williams to 
initiate the following exchange:
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10. 112 Cong. Rec. 2748G, 89th Cong. 2d Sess.
11. See Ch. 3, supra, for information on party organizations.
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        I want to ask this question. Since the gentleman from New York 
    [Mr. Ottinger] is a freshman Member, will he go above or below me 
    in our standing on the committee?
        Mr. Mills: I am delighted to advise my friend, the gentleman 
    from Mississippi, that the gentleman from New York will go at the 
    bottom of the committee.
        Mr. Williams: Well, now, may I say to the gentleman that this 
    is the second time the committee has discriminated against freshman 
    Members to fill two vacancies below my position on the committee.
        As the senior member of the committee, Mr. Speaker, I feel that 
    I should be either at the bottom of the committee or in the chair.

    Speaker John W. McCormack, of Massachusetts, then put the question 
on the resolution, it was adopted, and Mr. Ottinger was ranked junior 
to Mr. Williams in committee seniority.

Amending Resolution to Adjust Seniority Rankings

Sec. 11.3 By unanimous consent, the House vacated the proceedings 
    whereby it had, on a preceding day, agreed to a resolution electing 
    minority members of the Committee on Rules; the resolution was then 
    amended to adjust the seniority of the two ranking members on that 
    committee.

    On Jan. 26, 1973,(12) Speaker Carl Albert, of Oklahoma, 
recog
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12. 119 Cong. Rec. 2313, 93d Cong. 1st Sess.
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[[Page 2651]]

nized Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford, of Michigan, after which the 
following exchange ensued:

        Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to vacate the proceedings 
    whereby the House agreed to House Resolution 99 on January 6, 1973, 
    and ask for its immediate consideration.
        The Speaker: Is there objection to the request of the gentleman 
    from Michigan?
        There was no objection.
        The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                                   H. Res. 99

            Resolved, That the following named Members be, and they are 
        hereby elected members of the standing committee of the House 
        of Representatives on Rules:
            John B. Anderson, Illinois; Dave Martin, Nebraska; James H. 
        Quillen, Tennessee; Delbert L. Latta, Ohio.

        Mr. Gerald R. Ford: Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Amendment offered by Mr. Gerald R. Ford: On line 4, strike 
        out ``John B. Anderson, Illinois; Dave Martin, Nebraska;'' and 
        insert ``Dave Martin, Nebraska; John B. Anderson, Illinois;''

    Mr. Ford's amendment was promptly agreed to; and the resolution, as 
amended, was agreed to.
    Parliamentarian's Note: Upon being elected chairman of the 
Republican Conference, a Member was required, under the rules of that 
conference, to relinquish his position as ranking minority member of 
the Committee on Rules. Thus, while Mr. Anderson had had longer 
consecutive service on the Committee on Rules than had Mr. Martin, the 
former Member's election to the chairmanship of the Republican 
Conference had obligated him to relinquish his ranking position on the 
committee.