[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 5, Chapters 18 - 20]
[Chapter 19. The Committee of the Whole]
[F. Rising of the Committee of the Whole]
[Â§ 24. Offering the Motion]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 3473-3475]
 
                               CHAPTER 19
 
                       The Committee of the Whole
 
                F. RISING OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
 
Sec. 24.--Offering the Motion

    A Member with the floor generally yields for debate only, since in 
yielding for a motion or amendment he may lose the floor. The principle 
that a Member may not, in time yielded for debate, make a motion to 
rise is based on the consideration that, if amendments or motions were 
allowed in time yielded for debate, control would shift and the Chair 
would be deprived of his power of recognition.

[[Page 3474]]

The subject of yielding time in debate and what may be accomplished 
during yielded time is taken up in greater detail in the chapter on 
Consideration and Debate, Ch. 29, 
infra.
                          -------------------

During Offering of Amendment

Sec. 24.1 A Member recognized to offer and debate an amendment may, 
    during his five minutes, move that the Committee rise.

    On Nov. 15, 1967,(3) during consideration of S. 2388, 
the Economic Opportunity Act Amendments of 1967, a Member recognized to 
offer and debate an amendment was permitted, during his five minutes, 
to move that the Committee of the Whole rise.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3. 113 Cong. Rec. 32694, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. [Paul C.] Jones of Missouri:
        Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Amendment offered by Mr. Jones of Missouri: On page 219 
        strike out all of line 17 through line 24.

        Mr. Jones of Missouri: Mr. Chairman, I make a parliamentary 
    inquiry at this time.
        The Chairman: (4) The gentleman will state it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4. John J. Rooney (N.Y.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. Jones of Missouri: Would I be in order to make a motion 
    that the Committee do now rise so that if we could get back into 
    the House I could make a motion to adjourn?
        The Chairman: A motion that the Committee do now rise is a 
    privileged motion.
        Mr. Jones of Missouri: Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee 
    do now rise.
        The Chairman: The question is on the motion offered by the 
    gentleman from Missouri.
        The motion was rejected.

During Yielded Time

Sec. 24.2 A Member may not in time yielded him for general debate move 
    that the Committee of the Whole rise, nor may a Member who has been 
    yielded time for debate yield to another for that motion. (The 
    Chair was sustained on appeal.)

    On Feb. 22, 1950, Calendar Wednesday,(5) during 
consideration of H.R. 4453, the Federal Fair Employment Practice Act, 
Chairman Francis E. Walter, of Pennsylvania, ruled that a Member could 
not in time yielded to him for general debate move that the Committee 
of the Whole rise. It was also ruled that a Member who had been yielded 
general debate time could not yield to another for that motion.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5. 96 Cong. Rec. 2178, 81st Cong. 2d Sess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Mr. [Adam C.] Powell [Jr., of New York]: Mr. Chairman, I yield 
    the

[[Page 3475]]

    minute that the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kelley] yielded 
    back to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Smith] for debate.
        Mr. [Howard W.] Smith of Virginia: Mr. Chairman, we have been 
    in session for a long time. It is now almost 7 o'clock, and it is 
    obvious this bill cannot be seriously considered and concluded 
    during this session of the House. I think most of the Members are 
    very tired. It is about time we were getting away from here. I 
    think a good many of them are ready to get away.
        Mr. [Franklin D.] Roosevelt [Jr., of New York]: Mr. Chairman, 
    will the gentleman yield?
        Mr. Smith of Virginia: I yield to the gentleman from New York.
        Mr. Roosevelt: I would like to ask the gentleman if he realizes 
    I am feeling very wide awake and I have no desire to leave until we 
    complete the business of the day.
        Mr. Smith of Virginia: The gentleman is a good deal younger 
    than some of us and I congratulate him. I admire him, I like to see 
    him up here jumping around and going on. But I think it is about 
    time we quit. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move the Committee do now 
    rise.
        Mr. Powell: Mr. Chairman, a point of order.
        The Chairman: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Powell: Mr. Chairman, I yielded 1 minute to the gentleman 
    from Virginia only for debate.
        Mr. Smith of Virginia: Mr. Chairman, I ask recognition on my 
    own to offer a preferential motion.
        The Chairman: The gentleman from New York yielded to the 
    gentleman from Virginia for a particular purpose. The motion 
    offered by the gentleman from Virginia is not in order at this 
    time.
        Mr. Smith of Virginia: Mr. Chairman, I now move, on my own 
    time, that the Committee do now rise.
        The Chairman: The gentleman from Virginia has no time. The 
    gentleman from New York and the gentleman from Pennsylvania have 
    control of the time.
        Mr. Powell: Mr. Chairman, I now yield 4 minutes to the 
    gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Sims] for debate.
        Mr. Smith of Virginia: Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
        Mr. [Hugo S.] Sims [Jr., of South Carolina]: I yield to the 
    gentleman from Virginia.
        Mr. Smith of Virginia: Mr. Chairman, having some time of my 
    own, I now move that the Committee do now rise.
        The Chairman: The gentleman from South Carolina was yielded 4 
    minutes time for debate. He in turn yielded to the gentleman from 
    Virginia but he cannot yield to the gentleman from Virginia for the 
    purpose of offering that motion.

    An appeal was then taken from the ruling of the Chair and the 
ruling was sustained on a teller vote.