[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 7, Chapters 22 - 25]
[Chapter 23. Motions]
[E. Motions to Refer or Recommit]
[Â§ 28. Offering the Motion; Procedure]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 4679-4684]
 
                               CHAPTER 23
 
                                Motions
 
                    E. MOTIONS TO REFER OR RECOMMIT
 
Sec. 28 Offering the Motion; Procedure

Oral or Written Motions

Sec. 28.1 Motions to recommit must be sent to the Speaker's desk and 
    are required to be in writing.

    On June 16, 1949,(3) the House was considering H.R. 
4963, providing for the appointment of additional circuit and district 
judges. After the Speaker, Sam Rayburn, of Texas, announced that the 
question was on the passage of the bill, Mr. Carl T. Curtis, of Ne
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 3. 95 Cong. Rec. 7855, 7856, 81st Cong. 1st Sess.
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[[Page 4680]]

braska, offered a motion to recommit:

        Mr. Curtis: Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.
        The Speaker: Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
        Mr. Curtis: I am, Mr. Speaker.
        The Speaker: The gentleman qualifies. The Clerk will report the 
    motion.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Mr. Curtis moves to recommit the report back with the 
        Keating amendment. . . .

        Mr. [Emanual] Celler [of New York]: Mr. Speaker, I make a point 
    of order against the motion to recommit that in that form, it is 
    not in order.
        The Speaker: The point of order is sustained.
        Mr. Curtis: Mr. Speaker, I move that the bill be recommitted 
    and reported back with this amendment:

            That not more than two-thirds of the total number of 
        circuit judges or district judges authorized hereunder first 
        appointed pursuant hereto shall be members of the same 
        political party.

        The Speaker: Will the gentleman send the motion to the desk? 
    The motion has to be in writing.(4)
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 4. See also 97 Cong. Rec. 12863, 82d Cong. 1st Sess., Oct. 9, 1951.
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Form of Instructions

Sec. 28.2 A motion to recommit a bill with instructions to report it 
    back with the ``Keating amendment'' (an amendment rejected in the 
    Committee of the Whole) was held not to be in proper form inasmuch 
    as the House has no knowledge of amendments rejected in the 
    Committee of the Whole and not reported therefrom.

    On June 16, 1949,(5) the House was considering H.R. 
4963, providing for appointment of additional federal judges. The 
following occurred:
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 5. 95 Cong. Rec. 7855, 7856, 81st Cong. 1st Sess.
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        The Speaker: (6) The question is on the passage of 
    the bill.
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 6. Sam Rayburn (Tex.).
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        Mr. [Carl T.] Curtis [of Nebraska]: Mr. Speaker, I offer a 
    motion to recommit.
        The Speaker: Is the gentleman opposed to the bill?
        Mr. Curtis: I am, Mr. Speaker.
        The Speaker: The gentleman qualifies. The Clerk will report the 
    motion.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Mr. Curtis moves to recommit the report back with the 
        Keating amendment.

        The Speaker: The House certainly has no knowledge of what the 
    Keating amendment is. That was acted on in the Committee of the 
    Whole. We are in a different jurisdiction now.

Correcting Language

Sec. 28.3 The use of incorrect language in a motion to recommit is not 
    within the control

[[Page 4681]]

    of the Chair after the previous question has been ordered.

    On May 19, 1939,(7) the House was considering H.R. 6392, 
providing appropriations for the Departments of Justice, State, 
Commerce, and the Judiciary. Mr. Charles Hawks, Jr., of Wisconsin, was 
then recognized:
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 7. 84 Cong. Rec. 5856, 76th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. Hawks: Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.
        The Speaker: (8) Is the gentleman opposed to the 
    bill?
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 8. William B. Bankhead (Ala.).
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        Mr. Hawks: Yes.
        The Speaker: The gentlemen qualifies. The Clerk will report the 
    motion to recommit.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Mr. Hawks moves to recommit the bill to the committee with 
        instructions to report it back forthwith with the following 
        amendment: At the end of the bill insert a new paragraph, as 
        follows:
            ``No part of the funds appropriated in this bill shall be 
        used for the purpose of purchasing any foreign dairy or other 
        competitive foreign agricultural products which are not 
        produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet 
        domestic needs.''. . .

        Mr. Thomas S. McMillan [of South Carolina]: Mr. Speaker, I move 
    the previous question on the motion to recommit.

        The previous question was ordered.

    Mr. James W. Mott, of Oregon, was then recognized.

        Mr. Mott: Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Mott: May I inquire whether the apparent inaccuracy or 
    error to which attention was called by the gentleman from South 
    Dakota has been corrected? There was a double negative in there as 
    I heard the amendment read.
        The Speaker: That is not a matter within the control of the 
    Chair, the previous question having been ordered.
        Mr. [Francis H.] Case of South Dakota: Mr. Speaker, a 
    parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: The gentleman will state it.
        Mr. Case of South Dakota: Mr. Speaker, some of us are under the 
    impression that the wording of the amendment as it is on the 
    Clerk's desk is not in the form in which it was read. May I ask as 
    a parliamentary inquiry whether the amendment upon which we will 
    vote is as it was read to the House or if the words ``may not be'' 
    are changed to ``can''?
        The Speaker: There is no amendment pending before the House.
        Mr. Case of South Dakota: I refer to the motion to recommit.
        The Speaker: The motion to recommit has been reduced to writing 
    and has been read from the Clerk's desk. It speaks for itself.

Sec. Sec. 28.4 A motion that the Committee of the Whole rise and report 
    a bill back to the House with the enacting clause be stricken out 
    and

[[Page 4682]]

    the bill ``returned'' to a committee with instructions to remove a 
    provision permitting the government to manfacture rum was held not 
    to be in proper form.

    On May 5, 1949,(9) the Committee of the Whole was 
considering H.R. 2989, dealing with the Virgin Islands Corporation. The 
following occurred:
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 9. 95 Cong. Rec. 5705, 81st Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. [Robert F.] Rich [of Pennsylvania]: Mr. Chairman I offer a 
    preferential motion.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Mr. Rich moves that the Committee now rise and report the 
        bill back to the House with the recommendation that the 
        enacting clause be stricken and the bill be returned to the 
        Committee on Public Lands with instructions to remove the 
        provision permitting the Government to manufacture rum.

        The Chairman: (10) The Chair will state that the 
    motion as presented by the gentleman from Pennsylvania is not in 
    proper form for a preferential motion.
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10. Wilbur D. Mills (Ark.).
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    Parliamentarian's Note: It is inconsistent to move that the 
Committee of the Whole recommend to the House both that the enacting 
clause of a measure be stricken and that the measure be ``returned'' 
(recommitted) to a committee. Concurrence by the House in the former 
constitutes a rejection of the measure and precludes recommittal. In 
the event that the House disagrees to the recommendation to strike the 
enacting clause, recommittal to the Committee of the Whole is 
automatic. Pending a vote in the House on agreeing to the 
recommendation to strike the enacting clause, a motion to recommit is 
in order. Rule XXIII clause 7, House Rules and Manual Sec. 875 (1983).

Rereading Motion

Sec. 28.5 A motion to recommit read by the Clerk may again be read by 
    unanimous consent.

    On May 19, 1939,(11) the House was considering H.R. 
6392, appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, State, Justice, 
and for the Judiciary. After the Clerk read a motion to recommit 
offered by Mr. Charles Hawks, Jr., of Wisconsin, and after the Chair 
overruled a point of order against the motion, Mr. Francis H. Case, of 
South Dakota, was recognized.
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11. 84 Cong. Rec. 5856, 76th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. Case of South Dakota: Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary inquiry.
        The Speaker: (12) The gentleman will state it.
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12. William B. Bankhead (Ala.).
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[[Page 4683]]

        Mr. Case of South Dakota: May the motion again be read? I think 
    there was an error in it.
        The Speaker: It may be read by unanimous consent.
        Is there objection to the reading of the motion?
        Mr. [John] Lesinski [of Michigan]: Mr. Speaker, I object.

Form for Recommittal of Resolution

Sec. 28.6 The House considered a motion to recommit a resolution with 
    instructions to a standing committee to hold open hearings thereon.

    On Apr. 5, 1967,(13) the House was considering House 
Resolution 221, providing funds for the Committee on Un-American 
Activities. Mr. Don Edwards, of California, offered the following 
motion to recommit:
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13. 113 Cong. Rec. 8441, 8442, 90th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. Edwards of California moves to recommit the resolution (H. 
    Res. 221) to the Committee on House Administration with 
    instructions that open hearings be held on justification for such 
    additional funds of the House Committee on Un-American Activities 
    as provided in House Resolution 221.(14)
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14. See also 111 Cong. Rec. 3664, 3665, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Feb. 25, 
        1965.
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Form for Recommittal of Conference Report With Instructions

Sec. 28.7 The House considered a motion recommitting a conference 
    report with instructions to House conferees.

    On Sept. 15, 1965,(13) the House was considering the 
conference report on H.R. 8283, the Economic Opportunity Act Amendments 
of 1965. Mr. William H. Ayres, of Ohio, offered the following motion to 
recommit:
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15. 111 Cong. Rec. 23928, 23931, 23936, 89th Cong. 1st Sess.
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        Mr. Ayres moves to recommit the conference report on the bill 
    (H.R. 8283) to the committee of conference with instructions to the 
    managers on the part of the House insist on the language of section 
    10 of the House bill, which retains the veto power of State 
    Governors in the form approved by the House.(16)
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16. See also 109 Cong. Rec. 8037, 8043, 88th Cong. 1st Sess., May 8, 
        1963; and 97 Cong. Rec. 8064, 8071, 8072, 82d Cong. 1st Sess., 
        July 12, 1951.
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Form of Motion to Recommit Bill With Instructions

Sec. 28.8 The House considered a motion to recommit a bill with 
    instructions that the committee not report back to the House until 
    certain information is available to it.

[[Page 4684]]

    On Mar. 5, 1970,(17) the House was considering S. 2910, 
additional authorization for the Library of Congress James Madison 
Memorial Building. Mr. Marion G. Snyder, of Kentucky, offered a motion 
to recommit:
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17. 116 Cong. Rec. 6191, 91st Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. Snyder moves to recommit the bill S. 2910 to the Committee 
    on Public Works with the instruction that it not be reported back 
    to the House until all necessary designs, plans, and specifications 
    have been completed.

Reporting Amendment to House Pursuant to Instructions

Sec. 28.9 An amendment is immediately reported to the House pursuant to 
    a motion to recommit with instructions to report back ``forthwith'' 
    with an amendment.

    On Apr. 1, 1948,(18) the House was considering H.R. 
6055, the deficiency appropriation bill of 1948. After the engrossed 
copy of the bill was read and the Speaker, Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of 
Massachusetts, announced that the question was on the passage of the 
bill, Mr. Clarence Cannon, of Missouri, offered the following motion to 
recommit:
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18. 94 Cong. Rec. 3994, 80th Cong. 2d Sess.
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        Mr. Cannon moves to recommit the bill to the Committee on 
    Appropriations with instructions to report the bill back forthwith 
    with an amendment as follows:

            On page 10, line 7, strike out ``$300,000,000'' and insert 
        in lieu thereof ``$400,000,000.''

    After the Clerk announced the vote adopting the motion offered by 
Mr. Cannon, the Chair recognized Mr. John Taber, of New York.

        Mr. Taber: Mr. Speaker, in accordance with the instructions of 
    the House, I report the bill back with an amendment which is at the 
    desk.
        The Speaker: The Clerk will read the amendment.
        The Clerk read as follows:

            Page 10, line 7, strike out ``$300,000,000'' and insert in 
        lieu thereof ``$400,000,000.''

        The Speaker: The question is on the amendment.
        The amendment was agreed to.
        The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time and 
    was read the third time.
        The Speaker: The question is on the passage of the 
    bill.(19)
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19. See also 108 Cong. Rec. 16781, 87th Cong. 2d Sess., Aug. 16, 1962; 
        and 94 Cong. Rec. 448-450, 80th Cong. 2d Sess., Jan. 22, 1948.
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