[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 7, Chapters 22 - 25]
[Chapter 23. Motions]
[A. Introductory]
[Â§ 1. In General]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 4525-4530]
 
                               CHAPTER 23
 
                                Motions
 
                             A. INTRODUCTORY
 
Sec. 1. In General



    The term ``motion'' refers generally to any formal proposal made 
before a deliberative assembly. This chapter covers the general and 
more frequently used motions, which are often referred to as secondary 
motions. Secondary motions are those motions that are used to dispose 
of the main proposition under consideration. The motion to adjourn 
(including the motion to adjourn to a day certain) which enjoys the 
highest privilege in the House, and certain procedural motions, such as 
the motion to discharge a committee, and the motion to suspend the 
rules, are treated in other chapters in this work.(1)
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 1. See Ch. 18 (Motions to Discharge Committees), Ch. 21 (Motions to 
        Suspend the Rules), supra; and Ch. 27 (Motions to Strike, and 
        to Strike Out and Insert), Ch. 32 (Motions regarding House-
        Senate Relations), Ch. 33 (Motions to Instruct House 
        conferees), and Ch. 40 (Motions to Adjourn), infra.
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    Secondary motions are dependent on a main question or proposition 
for their existence and therefore may be offered only when a question 
is under consideration or debate.(2)
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 2. Rule XVI clause 4, House Rules and Manual Sec. 782 (1981).
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    All motions must conform to all procedural requirements set forth 
in the House rules. Thus, a Member offering a motion must rise to his 
feet and address the Chair; and a motion must be reduced to writing 
when so demanded by a Member.(3)
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 3. Rule XVI clause 1, House Rules and Manual Sec. 775 (1981).
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    A motion may be withdrawn in the House or in the House as in 
Committee of the Whole as a matter of right unless the House has taken 
some action thereon, such as ordering the yeas and nays, or demanding 
or ordering of the previous question, or adopting an amendment 
thereto.(4) Withdrawal of a motion in the Committee of the 
Whole generally requires unanimous consent.(5)
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 4. See Rule XVI clause 2, House Rules and Manual Sec. 776 (1981).
 5. See Sec. 2.10, infra.
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    Under the current practice of the House, after a motion is for

[[Page 4526]]

mally pending all modifications of the motion, if in order at all, must 
be approved by the House. There is one narrow exception to this general 
principle, discussed in more detail in Chapter 21, section 28, supra, 
where a resolution is offered as a question of privilege and can be 
withdrawn by the offeror at any time before action is taken thereon and 
again offered as privileged immediately thereafter. Precedent 
(6) indicates that in that context the offeror can accept 
certain ``friendly amendments'' or modifications of his resolution 
without the concurrence of the House. This simply reflects the unique 
circumstances which adhere to a resolution raising a question of 
privilege: the resolution can be withdrawn at will, modified and 
resubmitted if still privileged, and the House has recognized the right 
of the proponent to modify the resolution while it is pending.
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 6. See 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5358.
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    In most cases, however, the right of withdrawal and resubmission in 
a modified form does not exist. A resolution, if a privileged report, 
may not be modifiable except by direction of the reporting committee or 
with concurrence of the House. In the case of a motion, the proponent 
may not be guaranteed the right to immediately reoffer the motion, 
especially where it is a secondary motion under Rule XVI clause 4 
(7) which may properly be offered only at certain times, as 
when a main question is pending. Thus, while an amendment to a motion 
pending in the House may be withdrawn by the Member offering the 
amendment before it is acted upon, he is not guaranteed the right to 
reoffer that amendment, and therefore he does not have the right to 
modify the amendment without the consent of the House. In the Committee 
of the Whole amendments can be withdrawn only by unanimous consent, so 
the doctrine of modification is never applicable in that forum. Other 
secondary motions to postpone to a day certain or to refer, while 
susceptible to modification, and capable of withdrawal prior to action 
thereon, may for the same reason not be modified without the consent of 
the House. The other secondary motions specified under Rule XVI clause 
4 are not susceptible to modification--such as the motions to lay on 
the table, for the previous question, and to postpone indefinitely. The 
motion to adjourn to a day and time certain is only in order at the 
Speaker's dis

[[Page 4527]]

cretion and is therefore subject to modification by the offeror only 
with the consent of the House.
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 7. House Rules and Manual Sec. 782 
        (1981).
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Effect of House Agreement to Motion

Sec. 1.1 Where a motion not in order under the rules of the House is, 
    without objection, considered and agreed to, it controls the 
    procedure of the House until carried out, unless the House takes 
    affirmative action to the contrary.

    On the legislative day of Oct. 8, 1968,(8) the House had 
continued into the next calendar day due to 33 quorum calls, the effect 
of which had been to delay the reading and approval of the Journal. 
After Mr. Carl Albert, of Oklahoma, moved still another call of the 
House, a Member moved that those not present be sent for and compelled 
to remain present until the completion of pending business:
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 8. 114 Cong. Rec. 30212-14, 90th Cong. 2d Sess., Oct. 9, 1968 
        (Calendar Day). For a further discussion of quorum calls, see 
        Ch. 20, supra.
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        Mr. [Brock] Adams [of Washington]: Mr. Speaker, as part of the 
    motion of a call of the House, I further move under rule 
    II,(9) under which a call of the House is in order, that 
    a motion be made for the majority here that those who are not 
    present be sent for wherever they are found and returned here on 
    the condition that they shall not be allowed to leave the Chamber 
    until such time as the pending business before this Chamber on this 
    legislative day shall have been completed.
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 9. Mr. Adams apparently intended to cite clause 2 of Rule XV, not Rule 
        II.
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        The Speaker: (10) The question is on the motion 
    offered by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Adams).
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10. John W. McCormack (Mass.).
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        The motion was agreed to.
        The Clerk proceeded to call the roll.
        Mr. [Lester L.] Wolff [of New York]: Mr. Speaker, a point of 
    order.
        The Speaker: The Chair will state to the gentleman from New 
    York that there is a quorum call underway and it cannot be 
    interfered with.
        Mr. Wolff: Mr. Speaker, I make a point of order on the quorum 
    call.
        The Speaker: The gentleman makes a point of order?
        Mr. Wolff: Yes, Mr. Speaker. The doors are not locked.
        The Speaker: The Sergeant at Arms will lock the doors, and the 
    Clerk will call the roll.
        The Clerk called the roll. . . .
        The Speaker: On this rollcall 222 Members have answered to 
    their names, a quorum.
        Mr. Albert: Mr. Speaker, I move that further proceedings under 
    the call be dispensed with.
        The Speaker: The question is on the motion offered by the 
    gentleman from Oklahoma.
        The motion was agreed to. . . .

        Mr. [William E.] Brock [3d, of Tennessee]: Mr. Speaker, a 
    parliamentary inquiry.

[[Page 4528]]

        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Brock: Am I to understand, if further proceedings under the 
    call have been dispensed with, according to the last motion, it is 
    correct that the doors of the House are now open?
        The Speaker: The Chair is awfully glad the gentleman made that 
    parliamentary inquiry, because the Chair intended to read for the 
    benefit of the Members the motion made by the gentleman from 
    Washington [Mr. Adams]:

            Mr. Speaker, as a part of the motion of a call of the 
        House, I further move under rule II, under which a call of the 
        House is in order, that a motion be made for the majority here 
        that those who are not present be sent for wherever they are 
        found and returned here on the condition that they shall not be 
        allowed to leave the Chamber until such time as the pending 
        business before this Chamber on this legislative day shall have 
        been completed.

        The motion was adopted; and in accordance with that motion no 
    Member can leave the Chamber until the pending business before the 
    House has been disposed of; and the pending business is the reading 
    and approval of the Journal of the preceding session.
        Mr. Gerald R. Ford [of Michigan]: Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary 
    inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state his parliamentary 
    inquiry.
        Mr. Gerald R. Ford: Let me repeat the language of the motion of 
    the gentleman from Washington:

            That a motion be made for the majority here that those who 
        are not present be sent for wherever they are found and 
        returned here on the condition that they shall not be allowed 
        to leave the Chamber until such time as the pending business 
        before this Chamber on this legislative day shall have been 
        completed.

        Mr. Speaker, I respectfully argue that in the language used by 
    the gentleman from Washington in the motion that he made, he says 
    very specifically and very categorically that those who are not 
    here are the ones who must be kept in the Chamber.
        Mr. [John D.] Dingell (of Michigan): Mr. Speaker, I demand the 
    regular order.
        The Speaker: The regular order is that the gentleman is making 
    a parliamentary inquiry.
        Mr. Gerald R. Ford: And I am indicating, Mr. Speaker, in my 
    parliamentary inquiry, that the doors to the Chamber shall not be 
    closed to those Members who were here at the time of the call for 
    the quorum.
        The Speaker: The Chair, in response to the parliamentary 
    inquiry of the distinguished minority leader, feels in construing 
    the motion, that a part of the construction is the happenings of 
    the last 10 or 12 or more hours and the intent and purpose of the 
    gentleman from Washington in making the motion.
        It seems to the Chair, in response to the parliamentary 
    inquiry--and the Chair makes such a response--that the motion 
    offered by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Adams) meant that any 
    Member who answered the last quorum call cannot leave the Chamber 
    until the pending business has been disposed of; and the doors will 
    be kept closed.
        The Chair might observe in relation to any future points of 
    order that a quorum is not present that apparently

[[Page 4529]]

    a quorum is present because the last one disclosed 222 Members and 
    the Chair is justified in assuming that the 222 Members are still 
    here. The doors will remain locked until the present business is 
    disposed of.
        Mr. Brock: Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Brock: Is it not so that the rules of the House provide for 
    the highly unusual procedure of calling in absent Members only in 
    the case of the establishment of a nonquorum? Is that not true? And 
    was the motion not illegal and improper on its face, having been 
    made prior to the establishment of no quorum?
        The Speaker: The Chair will observe that we can always attempt 
    to have Members attend who are not present at this time or actually 
    in the Chamber at some particular time. Further, the Chair might 
    also observe that every effort is being made on the Democratic side 
    in connection with notifying Members of the situation that has 
    existed for the past 12 or so hours.
        Mr. Brock: But the parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker, was to 
    the question of whether or not the motion was in fact outside the 
    normal rules of the House.
        Mr. Albert: Mr. Speaker, will the Chair yield?
        The Speaker: Does the gentleman from Oklahoma desire to be 
    heard on the parliamentary inquiry of the gentleman from Tennessee?
        Mr. Albert: The gentleman from Oklahoma would only suggest if a 
    point of order would have been eligible as against the motion made 
    by the distinguished gentleman from Washington, it certainly has 
    come too late in view of the action of the House.
        The Speaker: The Chair will state without passing on the 
    question as to whether or not a point of order would lie if made at 
    the proper time when the gentleman from Washington made his motion, 
    that after the motion had been adopted no point of order was made. 
    Therefore, the motion expressing the will of the majority of the 
    Members present will be adhered to.
        Does the gentleman from Ohio have a point of order?
        Mr. [Robert] Taft [Jr., of Ohio]: Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary 
    inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Taft: As has just been pointed out by the gentleman from 
    Tennessee, the provisions for restricting the freedom of Members 
    under the House rules is solely under the rules relating to a 
    situation in which there is no quorum, I believe. My inquiry is 
    this: If the House attempts in any other circumstances, 
    circumstances not necessary to the business of the House, to 
    restrict the freedom of the Members to pass in or out of the 
    Chamber or anywhere else that they care to pass, do they not under 
    the Constitution and the laws of the United States constitute a 
    violation of the civil liberties of the Members?
        The Speaker: The Chair could observe that there are civil 
    liberties of others involved. The House has acted. A majority of 
    the House has spoken for this motion and, without getting into any 
    long discussion, the motion on the pending business which is before 
    the House is binding on the Speaker and the Members of the House.

[[Page 4530]]

Effect of Defeat of Essential Motion

Sec. 1.2 When an essential motion made by the Member in charge of a 
    bill or resolution is decided adversely the right to prior 
    recognition passes to the Member leading the opposition to the 
    motion.

    On Feb. 20, 1952,(11) James P. Richards, of South 
Carolina, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, offered House 
Resolution 514, dealing with agreements or understandings between the 
President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain. 
The following took place:
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11. 98 Cong. Rec. 1205-07, 1215, 1216, 82d Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. Richards: Mr. Speaker, I move that the resolution be laid 
    on the table. . . .
        The Speaker: (12) . . . The question is on the 
    motion of the gentleman from South Carolina.
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12. Sam Rayburn (Tex.).
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        The question was taken, and the Speaker announced that the noes 
    appeared to have it.
        Mr. Richards: Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
        The yeas and nays were ordered.
        The question was taken; and there were--yeas 150, nays 184, not 
    voting 97. . . .
        So the motion was rejected. . . .
        Mr. [John M.] Vorys [of Ohio]: Mr. Speaker----
        The Speaker: For what purpose does the gentleman from Ohio 
    rise?
        Mr. Vorys: Mr. Speaker, I ask for recognition on the 
    resolution, House Resolution 514.
        The Speaker: The gentleman is recognized for 1 hour.
        Mr. Richards: Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield for a 
    parliamentry inquiry?
        Mr. Vorys: Gladly.
        Mr. Richards: Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Richards: Would the Speaker explain the parliamentary 
    situation as to who is in charge of the time?
        The Speaker: The gentleman from Ohio is in charge of the time, 
    the gentleman being with the majority in this instance, and on that 
    side of the issue which received the most votes. The gentleman from 
    Ohio is recognized.(13)
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13. See also 72 Cong. Rec. 9912-14, 71st Cong. 2d Sess., June 2, 1930.
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