[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 7, Chapters 22 - 25]
[Chapter 23. Motions]
[F. Motions to Reconsider]
[Â§ 33. In General]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[Page 4716-4719]
 
                               CHAPTER 23
 
                                Motions
 
                        F. MOTIONS TO RECONSIDER
 
Sec. 33. In General


    The motion to reconsider is provided for by House 
rule.(3) It is the procedural device which permits the House 
to review its actions on a given proposition. Indeed, it has been said 
that the vote of the House on a proposition ``is not final and 
conclusive upon the House itself until there has been an opportunity to 
reconsider it,'' (4) and that ''. . . neither a bill nor an 
amendment is passed or adopted until the motion to reconsider is 
disposed of. The Speaker is not allowed to sign a bill during the 
pendency of a motion to reconsider. . . .'' (5) While 
pending, the motion serves to suspend the original 
proposition.(6) When the motion is agreed to, the question 
immediately recurs on the proposition to be reconsidered.(7)
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 3. ``When a motion has been made and carried or lost, it shall be in 
        order for any member of the majority, on the same or succeeding 
        day, to move for the reconsideration thereof, and such motion 
        shall take precedence of all other questions except the 
        consideration of a conference report or a motion to adjourn, 
        and shall not be withdrawn after the said succeeding day 
        without the consist of the House, and thereafter any Member may 
        call it up for consideration: Provided, That such motion, if 
        made during the last six days of a session, shall be disposed 
        of when made.'' Rule XVIII clause 1, House Rules and Manual 
        Sec. 812 (1981).
 4. Speaker John G. Carlisle (Ky.), Jan. 31, 1889, cited in Cannon's 
        Procedure (86th Cong.), p. 319.
 5. Speaker Thomas B. Reed (Maine), Feb. 19, 1898, 31 Cong. Rec. 1944, 
        55th Cong. 2d Sess.
 6. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5704.
 7. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5703.

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    The motion is privileged for consideration,(8) but if it 
relates to business which is in order only on certain days, it may be 
called up for consideration only when that class of business is in 
order.(9)
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 8. 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2787.
 9. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5677-5681; 8 Cannon's Precedents 
        Sec. Sec. 2785, 2796.
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    Rule XVIII clause 1 (10) provides that the motion to 
reconsider may be entered by any Member who voted with the majority on 
a particular question, and then may be called up for consideration by 
any Member. ``Majority'' has been construed as meaning the prevailing 
side, as it has applied to those Members voting ``nay'' on a 
proposition defeated by a tie vote,(11) and to those 
Members, though a minority, whose votes defeated a proposition that 
required a two-thirds vote for approval.(12) However, when a 
vote is taken viva voce, or by division or tellers, and not recorded, 
any Member, regardless of how he voted, may enter the 
motion.(13)
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10. House Rules and Manual Sec. 812 (1981).
11. See Sec. 35.2, infra.
12. 12. See 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5617, 5618.
13. 13. See Sec. 35.3, infra.
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    Ordinarily, the motion is debatable only if the proposition sought 
to be reconsidered was debatable.(14) Recent precedent 
suggests that debate on the motion is in order only if the previous 
question has not been ordered.(15) Early precedents held 
that a vote on a proposition divested it of the previous question, so 
that a motion to reconsider the proposition would be 
debatable.(16)
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14. Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5694-5699; 8 Cannon's Precedents 
        Sec. Sec. 2437, 2792.
15. See Sec. 41, infra.
16. See 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5491, 5492, 5494.
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    In general, the motion to reconsider cannot be agreed to in the 
House in the absence of a quorum when the vote to be reconsidered 
required a quorum.(17)
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17. House Rules and Manual Sec. 812 (1981). Compare Sec. 37.1, infra.
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    The motion to reconsider occurs most frequently in conjunction with 
the motion to lay on the table. In most instances, the motion to 
reconsider is followed immediately by a motion to table the motion to 
reconsider, although quite frequently a unanimous-consent request is 
the method by which the motion to reconsider is laid on the 
table.(18)
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18. See generally Sec. Sec. 34, 39, infra.
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    A unanimous-consent request may be in order to vacate proceedings 
wherein the motion to reconsider has been laid on the 
table,(19) and on at least one occasion a unanimous-consent 
request to vacate the proceedings has
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19. See Sec. 38.5, infra.
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[[Page 4718]]

been permitted in lieu of the motion to reconsider in the Committee of 
the Whole which is not in order.(1)
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 1. See Sec. 38.6, infra.
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    The motion to reconsider is in order on measures that have passed 
both Houses (2) and on measures sent to the Senate or the 
President.(3) It is in order on a vote ordering the yeas and 
nays (4) (but if the House votes by a majority to reconsider 
the calling of the yeas and nays, they may again be ordered by one-
fifth of the Members),(5) and on a vote refusing the yeas 
and nays.(6)
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 2. 4 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 3466-3469.
 3. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5666-5668.
 4. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 6029; 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2790.
 5. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5689-5691.
 6. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5692.
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    Reconsideration is also in order on an affirmative vote to lay on 
the table (7) and on a negative vote to lay on the 
table.(8) However, it is not in order to reconsider the vote 
whereby the House tabled another motion to reconsider.(9) 
The vote to lay on the table an appeal from a decision of the Speaker 
may be reconsidered.(10)
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 7. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5628, 5695, 6288; 8 Cannon's 
        Precedents Sec. 2785; Sec. 39.3, infra. Thus the motion to 
        reconsider provides a third method (in addition to suspension 
        of the rules and requests for unanimous consent) whereby 
        matters laid on the table may be brought back for 
        consideration.
 8. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5629.
 9. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5632-5640.
10. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5630.
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    It has been held in order to reconsider an action predicated on a 
request for unanimous consent, on the theory that such a request is in 
effect a motion.(11)
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11. 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2794.
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    Reconsideration is in order once on a vote ordering the previous 
question,(12) but may not be applied to a vote ordering the 
previous question which has been partially executed.(13) 
However, on two occasions the motion to reconsider was applied to 
partially executed orders of the House.(14)
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12. 15 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5655.
13. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5653, 5654.
14. 3 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 2028; 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5665.
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    Recent precedents indicate that the motion to reconsider may be 
applied to a vote on a conference report,(15) or to a vote 
on recommitting a conference report.(16)
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15. See Sec. 39.4, infra.
16. See Sec. 39.5, infra.
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    The motion to reconsider is not in order on a negative vote to 
adjourn,(17) on a negative vote for a recess,(18) 
or on a negative vote on going into the Committee of the Whole which is 
akin to the ques
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17. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5620-5622.
18. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5625.
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[[Page 4719]]

tion of consideration, which is also immune to the 
motion,(19) though it has been admitted on an affirmative 
vote to go into the Committee of the Whole.(20)
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19. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5641.
20. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5368.
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    Reconsideration is not in order on a negative vote on a motion to 
suspend the rules (1) nor on a vote to override a 
Presidential veto.(2)
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 1. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5645, 5646; 8 Cannon's Precedents 
        Sec. 2781.
 2. House Rules and Manual, Jefferson's Manual Sec. 109 (1981); 5 
        Hinds' Precedents Sec. 5644; 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2778.
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    The motion to reconsider may not be applied to the vote by which 
the House decided a question of parliamentary procedure (3) 
nor on a vote on the reference of a bill to a committee.(4)
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 3. 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2776.
 4. 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2782.
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    A proposition once reconsidered may not be reconsidered again 
(5) unless the nature of the proposition has been changed by 
amendment.(6)
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 5. See Sec. 39.16, infra (Senate).
 6. 5 Hinds' Precedents Sec. Sec. 5685-5688; 8 Cannon's Precedents 
        Sec. 2788.
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    To entertain a motion to reconsider the vote on an amendment to an 
amendment, for example, it is first necessary to vote to reconsider the 
vote by which the original amendment, as amended, was disposed of. Thus 
is it proper to reconsider various questions in reverse order until 
proceedings return, in effect, to the original position in which the 
question which is to be reconsidered was pending.
    The purpose of reconsideration is to allow the House to reflect on 
the wisdom of its action on a given proposition. Since a vote taken in 
the Committee of the Whole is not binding on the House until ratified 
there, reconsideration is not in order in the Committee of the Whole. 
The precedents are in conflict as to whether or not the motion to 
reconsider may be entered by unanimous consent in the Committee of the 
Whole (7) but the Chair would normally decline to entertain 
such a request. However, the motion is in order in the House as in the 
Committee of the Whole.(8)
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 7. See Sec. 39, infra.
 8. 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2793.
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    In committees, the motion to reconsider may be entered on the same 
day on which the action is taken to which it is proposed to be applied, 
or on the next day thereafter on which the committee convenes with a 
quorum present at a properly scheduled meeting at which business of 
that class is in order.(9)
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 9. See 8 Cannon's Precedents Sec. 2213.

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