[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 4, Chapters 15 - 17]
[Chapter 17. Committees]
[E. Committee on Rules]
[Â§ 54. Committee Procedure]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 3073-3080]
 
                               CHAPTER 17
 
                               Committees
 
                         E. COMMITTEE ON RULES
 
Sec. 54. Committee Procedure

    The rules expressly grant privileged status to certain actions of 
the Committee on Rules. It may sit, without special leave, even while 
the House is reading a measure for amendment under the five-minute 
rule.
    While the Committee on Rules is unique among the House's standing 
committees, it is subject to most of the rules' provisions affecting 
them.
    The committee is completely exempt, however, from a number of 
provisions affecting most standing committees. Thus, the Committee on 
Rules is not obliged to provide time for, or even to include at all, in 
its reports any supplemental, minority, or additional views of its 
members.(14) Similarly, the committee is under no obligation 
under House rules ``to make public announcement of the date, place, and 
subject matter of any hearing'' it plans to conduct.(15) 
Moreover, the committee is exempt from certain rule provisions which 
pertain solely to standing committees with legislative jurisdiction. 
For example, the requirements of Rule XIII clause 7 (16) 
pertaining to the inclusion, in reports accompanying public bills, of

[[Page 3074]]

certain estimates of costs arising under said bills are specifically 
made inapplicable to the Committee on Rules. Similarly, privileged 
reports from the Committee on Rules are exempted from the provisions of 
Rule XI clause (2)(l)(6) (17) requiring that measures 
reported by committees not be considered in the House until the third 
calendar day on which the committee report on such measure has been 
available to Members.
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14. See Rule XI clause 2(1)(5), House Rules and Manual Sec. 714 (1979).
15. See Rule XI clause 2(g)(3), House Rules and Manual Sec. 708 (1979).
16. House Rules and Manual Sec. 748(b) (1979).
17. House Rules and Manual Sec. 715 (1979).
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Committee Rules

Sec. 54.1 The Committee on Rules having adopted rules of procedure, the 
    chairman of the committee inserted them in the Record.

    On Feb. 28, 1967,(18) Speaker John W. McCormack, of 
Massachusetts, recognized William M. Colmer, of Mississippi, Chairman 
of the Committee on Rules, who then stated:
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18. 113 Cong. Rec. 4774, 4775, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. Speaker, rule XI of the House provides that all committees 
    of the House of Representatives other than the Committee on 
    Appropriations shall have regular meeting days during the sessions 
    of the Congress.
        The same rule also provides that the committees of the House 
    may adopt additional rules not inconsistent with the rules of the 
    House.
        In conformity with and carrying out the provisions of rule XI, 
    the Committee on Rules today unanimously adopted the following 
    rules of procedure for the Committee on Rules:

        Rules for the Committee on Rules, Adopted Unanimously February 
                                    28, 1967

                                rule 1. meetings

            The Committee on Rules shall meet at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday 
        of each week while the Congress is in session. Meetings shall 
        be called to order and presided over by the Chairman or, in the 
        absence of the Chairman, by the ranking Majority Member of the 
        Committee present as acting chairman.
            Meetings and hearings of the Committee shall be open to the 
        public except when a majority of the Committee determine that 
        testimony received may bear upon matters affecting the national 
        security. Executive sessions of the Committee shall be closed.
            For the purpose of hearing testimony, a majority of the 
        Committee shall constitute a quorum.
            A printed transcript of any hearing or public meeting of 
        the Committee may be had if the Chairman decides it is 
        necessary, or if a majority of the Members request it.
            A Tuesday meeting of the Committee may be dispensed with 
        where, in the judgment of the Chairman, there is no need 
        therefor, and additional meetings may be called by the Chairman 
        or by written request of a majority of the Committee duly filed 
        with the counsel of the Committee.

                                 rule 2. voting

            No measure or recommendation shall be reported or tabled by 
        the Committee unless a majority of the Committee is actually 
        present.

[[Page 3075]]

            A roll call vote of the Members of the Committee may be had 
        upon the request of any Member.

                               rule 3. reporting

            Whenever the Committee authorizes the favorable reporting 
        of a bill or resolution from the Committee, the Chairman or 
        acting Chairman shall report the same or designate some Member 
        of the Committee to report the same to the House, as provided 
        in the Rules of the House.

                           rule 4. committee staffing

            The professional and clerical staffs of the Committee shall 
        be under the general supervision and direction of the Chairman, 
        who shall establish and assign the duties and responsibilities 
        of the members of the staffs and delegate such authority as the 
        Chairman deems appropriate, with the exception of the Minority 
        staff, who shall be selected by and under the general 
        supervision and direction of the Ranking Minority Member of the 
        Committee.

                             rule 6. miscellaneous

            The Committee shall prepare, maintain, and publish for the 
        Members of the Committee, so far as practicable, a calendar 
        listing all matters formally before it. Information on the 
        Calendar shall include the numbers of the bills or resolutions, 
        a brief description of a bill's contents, including the 
        legislative committee reporting it and the name of the 
        principal sponsoring Member. For purposes of this rule, matters 
        formally before the Committee include: bills or resolutions 
        over which the Committee has original jurisdiction, and bills 
        or resolutions from other committees concerning which the 
        chairman or designated member of such committee has requested a 
        hearing in writing and forwarded to the Committee on Rules a 
        copy of such bill or resolution as reported, together with the 
        final printed committee report.
            Upon adoption of the rules and procedures of the Committee 
        at the opening of each Congress, the Chairman may have these 
        rules and procedures printed in an early issue of The 
        Congressional Record.

Calling Meetings

Sec. 54.2 The Chairman of the Committee on Rules is under no obligation 
    to call a meeting thereof, but where he declines to call a meeting, 
    a majority of the committee members may do so pursuant to those 
    rules applicable to all standing committees.

    On May 27, 1946,(19) the House received a message from 
the Senate to the effect that that body had passed an amended version 
of the so-called Case bill (H.R. 4908), which was entitled, ``An act to 
provide additional facilities for the mediation of labor disputes, and 
for other purposes.'' The message also requested House concurrence in 
the Senate's amended version of the bill.
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19. 92 Cong. Rec. 5848, 79th Cong. 2d Sess.
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    Later in the day, Speaker Sam Rayburn, of Texas, recognized Mr. 
Howard W. Smith, of Virginia, a member of the Committee on Rules, who 
asked the following question: (20)
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20. Id. at p. 5863.

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[[Page 3076]]

        Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Rules all day long has been 
    seeking to get a meeting of that committee. This morning I made the 
    unanimous-consent request that the Committee on Rules be given 
    until tomorrow night to file its report on the so-called Case bill. 
    Objection was made by the gentleman from New York to that request. 
    So that the situation now is that unless the committee meets this 
    afternoon it will not be possible to carry out the previously 
    agreed upon schedule of the House to take up the Case bill on 
    Wednesday morning. My parliamentary inquiry is whether when the 
    chairman of the Committee on Rules absents himself from the floor 
    of the House and from the office of the committee and declines to 
    call a meeting of the committee to transact important business for 
    the country it is within the province of a majority of the members 
    of the committee to themselves call a meeting and report whatever 
    legislation they desire to the floor of the House.

    The Speaker responded by stating:

        The Chair will read clause 48 of rule XI: (1)
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 1. This provision has changed very little in substance since 1946. The 
        1979 rules [Rule XI clause 2(c)(2), House Rules and Manual 
        Sec. 705 (1979)], require that the committee chairman be 
        notified of the filing of a request for the meeting and that he 
        be provided with three calendar days within which to call it 
        himself, before the committee majority may file its notice 
        mandating such a meeting.
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            A standing committee of the House shall meet to consider 
        any bill or resolution pending before it: (1) on all regular 
        meeting days selected by the committee; (2) upon the call of 
        the chairman of the committee; (3) if the chairman of the 
        committee, after 3 days' consideration, refuses or fails, upon 
        the request of at least three members of the committee, to call 
        a special meeting of the committee within 7 calendar days from 
        the date of said request, then, upon the filing with the clerk 
        of the committee of the written and signed request of a 
        majority of the committee for a called special meeting of the 
        committee, the committee shall meet on the day and hour 
        specified in said written request. It shall be the duty of the 
        clerk of the committee to notify all members of the committee 
        in the usual way of such called special meeting.

        That is the answer of the Chair to the parliamentary inquiry of 
    the gentleman from Virginia.

    Mr. Smith then elaborated on his initial inquiry, prompting the 
following exchange: (2)
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 2. 92 Cong. Rec. 5863, 5864, 79th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. Smith of Virginia: Mr. Speaker, may I submit a further 
    inquiry?
        Under those circumstances, is it possible for the chairman of 
    the committee of his own volition to prevent the House from taking 
    action on legislation vital to the Nation until the time set forth 
    in the rule has elapsed?
        The Speaker: Under the rules of the House, the chairman of a 
    committee does not have to call a meeting of the committee. The 
    answer to the question as to how the committee can get together if 
    the chairman does not desire

[[Page 3077]]

    to call the committee together or refuses to call them together is 
    contained in the rule just read.

Sec. 54.3 Any Member may request that the Chairman of the Committee on 
    Rules call a meeting of that committee to consider reporting a 
    resolution making in order the disposition of a House bill with 
    Senate amendments thereto.

    On Aug. 13, 1957,(3) Speaker Sam Rayburn, of Texas, 
recognized Mr. Kenneth B. Keating, of New York, who requested unanimous 
consent to take a civil rights bill (H.R. 6127), from the Speaker's 
desk, with Senate amendments thereto, and to disagree to the amendments 
of the Senate and ask for a conference. This request being objected to, 
Mr. Emanuel Celler, of New York, asked unanimous consent that the House 
concur in the Senate amendments--a request to which Mr. Keating 
objected.
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 3. 103 Cong. Rec. 14568, 85th Cong. 1st Sess.
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    Thereafter, the following exchange took place:

        Mr. Keating: Would the Speaker recognize me to move to send the 
    bill to the Rules Committee?
        The Speaker: The Chair would not. It is not necessary to do 
    that.
        Mr. Keating: Mr. Speaker, a further parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Keating: Would the Speaker advise what action is necessary 
    now in order to get the bill to the Committee on Rules?
        The Speaker: Anyone can make the request of the chairman of the 
    Committee on Rules to call a meeting of the committee to consider 
    the whole matter.
        Mr. Keating: Mr. Speaker, a further parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.

        Mr. Keating: Mr. Speaker, if that were done, would the bill 
    which is now on the Speaker's desk be before the Rules Committee?
        The Speaker: It would not be before the Committee on Rules. The 
    Committee on Rules could consider the matter of what procedure to 
    recommend to the House for the disposition of this whole matter.

Absence of a Quorum

Sec. 54.4 The Chairman of the Committee on Rules has withdrawn a report 
    presented from the floor where a question arose as to whether a 
    quorum of the committee was present at the time the resolution was 
    ordered reported.

    On Feb. 2, 1951,(4) Mr. Adolph J. Sabath of Illinois, a 
member of
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 4. 97 Cong. Rec. 876, 82d Cong. 1st Sess.
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[[Page 3078]]

the Committee on Rules, sought to file a privileged report (H. Res. 
95), authorizing the Committee on the Judiciary to conduct studies and 
investigations relating to matters within its jurisdiction.

    Shortly thereafter, Mr. Clarence J. Brown, of Ohio, made the point 
of order that the resolution was not properly reported by the committee 
whereupon the following exchange took place:

        Mr. Brown of Ohio: I think an inquiry by the Chair will 
    determine there was not a quorum present, and that the resolution 
    was not before the committee at that time.
        Mr. [Edward E.] Cox [of Georgia]: That is right. That is a 
    correct statement.
        Mr. Brown of Ohio: I must protest, Mr. Speaker, and I must make 
    the point of order inasmuch as I regret to do so.
        Mr. Sabath: Mr. Speaker, even if a quorum was not present, no 
    point of order has been made. But a quorum was present, and I can 
    give you the names of the seven Members who were present. They were 
    Mr. Cox, Mr. Colmer, Mr. Madden, Mr. Delaney, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. 
    Latham, and myself. Seven of twelve makes a quorum. But I withheld 
    it because the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown] objected due to some 
    misunderstanding with the gentleman from New York [Mr. Celler]. 
    Since that time I have learned that the gentleman from New York 
    [Mr. Celler] has agreed with the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown] on 
    the assignment of committees and because the gentleman from New 
    York [Mr. Celler] assured me that an agreement has been reached 
    with the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown] as to the number of 
    subcommittees, I present it today. A quorum was present. The 
    committee had jurisdiction.
        Mr. Cox: Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield there, the 
    gentleman will recall that the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Smith] 
    and the gentleman from Texas were not present. There was not a 
    single Republican present.
        Mr. Sabath: There was a Republican present.
        Mr. Cox: Not a single Republican was present. This was not on 
    the agenda but it was called up after the Republicans left, and 
    there was not the majority present.

    Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sabath withdrew the report.

Presumption of Procedural Regularity

Sec. 54.5 A point of order against a special rule, presumably reported 
    at a properly convened meeting of the Committee on Rules, will not 
    lie on the ground that the measure made in order by the special 
    rule was not properly reported by a standing committee and was the 
    subject of misrepresentations before the Committee on Rules.

    On July 23, 1942,(5) Speaker Sam Rayburn, of Texas, 
recog

[[Page 3079]]

nized Adolph J. Sabath, of Illinois, Chairman of the Committee on 
Rules, who called up House Resolution 528. The resolution provided for 
a special rule, the adoption of which would enable the House to resolve 
itself into the Committee of the Whole to consider a bill (H.R. 7416), 
providing a means to vote for wartime servicemen absent from their 
states of residence.
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 5. 88 Cong. Rec. 6542, 77th Cong. 2d Sess.
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    Immediately after the Clerk's reading, the following exchange took 
place:

        Mr. [John E.] Rankin [of Mississippi]: Mr. Speaker, I make a 
    point of order against the rule.
        I make the point of order, Mr. Speaker, that this rule was 
    obtained by fraud; that it was represented to the Rules Committee 
    that the Committee on Election of [the] President, Vice President, 
    and Representatives in Congress [now, the Committee on House 
    Administration] had held a meeting and reported this bill. No such 
    meeting was ever held. The chairman of the committee was in New 
    York, sick, and a majority of the rest of the members was not even 
    notified that any such meeting was contemplated. Fraud vitiates 
    everything, and I cannot believe that the Rules Committee would 
    report this rule out knowing that they were being defrauded. If 
    they did not know it, the fraud vitiates the rule. That is a well-
    known legal maxim that every lawyer is familiar with. So I make the 
    point of order, Mr. Speaker, that this proposition is not legally 
    before the House because it was never legally reported. The members 
    of the Rules Committee were misled into believing it had been 
    reported and therefore were defrauded into reporting this rule, 
    which vitiates the whole proceeding.
        The Speaker: The only thing that interests the Chair is whether 
    or not the Committee on Rules had a formal meeting and reported 
    this resolution. The Chair has no right, as the Chair thinks, in 
    the absence of some evidence to the contrary, to assume that the 
    Committee on Rules had anything but a formal session and reported 
    this special rule. Therefore the Chair overrules the point of order 
    of the gentleman from Mississippi.

Three-day Rule for Filing Reports

Sec. 54.6 The Committee on Rules must present to the House reports 
    concerning rules, joint rules, and orders of business within three 
    legislative days of the time when ordered reported by the 
    committee.

    On Jan. 25, 1944,(6) Speaker Sam Rayburn, of Texas, 
recognized Mr. John E. Rankin, of Mississippi, who initiated the 
following exchange in the course of asking a parliamentary inquiry:
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 6. 90 Cong. Rec. 675, 78th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. Speaker, on day before yesterday the Committee on Rules 
    voted, I understand unanimously, to report to the

[[Page 3080]]

    House a rule on the soldiers' vote bill, S. 1285. This rule has not 
    been reported to the House.
        My parliamentary inquiry is whether if the chairman of the 
    Committee on Rules declines further, or delays further, to report 
    this rule to the House so we may proceed with this legislation, 
    some other member of the Committee on Rules may do so without a 
    resolution.

        I may say to the Chair that it is my definite understanding 
    that unless the chairman of the Committee on Rules does report it, 
    a motion will be in order under the privilege of the House to 
    require the resolution to be brought to the floor of the House, but 
    what I am trying to find out is whether or not some other member of 
    the committee would have the right to report this rule and let us 
    proceed with the legislation.
        The Speaker: The rule provides that the Committee on Rules 
    shall present to the House reports concerning joint resolutions and 
    other business within 3 legislative days of the time when ordered 
    reported by the committee.(7)
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 7. See Rule XI clause 4(c), House Rules and Manual Sec. 730 (1979).
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        The Chair does not feel it necessary at this time to answer the 
    parliamentary inquiry further because the Chair believes that 
    action will provide the answer.