    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
    [104th Congress]
    [House Document 103-342]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 210-212]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                 SEC. XXXI.--BILL, SECOND READING IN THE HOUSE.

    Sec. 428. Manner of reading a bill the second
    time.

      In  Parliament, after the bill has been read a second time, if on
    the motion and question it be not committed, or if no proposition for
    commitment be made, the speaker reads it by paragraphs, pausing between
    each, but putting no question but on amendments proposed; but when
    through the whole, he puts the question whether it shall be read a third
    time, if it came from the other house, or, if originating with
    themselves, whether it shall be engrossed and read a third time. The
    speaker reads sitting, but rises to put questions. The clerk stands
    while he reads.

    [[Page 211]]

      But the Senate of the United States is so much in the habit of making
    many and material amendments at the third reading that it has become the
    practice not to engross a bill till it has passed--an irregular and
    dangerous practice, because in this way the paper which passes the
    Senate is not that which goes to the other House, and that which goes to
    the other House as the act of the Senate has never been seen in the
    Senate. In reducing numerous, difficult, and illegible amendments into
    the text the Secretary may, with the most innocent intentions, commit
    errors which can never again be corrected.

      In the House of Representatives the Clerk and not the Speaker or
    Chairman of the Committee of the Whole reads bills on second reading.
    After the second reading, which is in full, the bill is open to
    amendment. Clause 1 of rule XXI, as explained in Sec. 831, infra,
    governs first and second readings of bills in the House and in Committee
    of the Whole.

    [[Page 212]]

    Sec. 429. Test of strength on engrossment after
    amendment.

      The  bill being now as perfect as its friends can make it, this
    is the proper stage for those fundamentally opposed to make their first
    attack. All attempts at earlier periods are with disjointed efforts,
    because many who do not expect to be in favor of the bill ultimately,
    are willing to let it go on to its perfect state, to take time to
    examine it themselves and to hear what can be said for it, knowing that
    after all they will have sufficient opportunities of giving it their
    veto. Its two last stages, therefore, are reserved for this--that is to
    say, on the question whether it shall be engrossed and read a third
    time, and, lastly, whether it shall pass. The first of these is usually
    the most interesting contest, because then the whole subject is new and
    engaging, and the minds of the Members having not yet been declared by
    any trying vote the issue is the more doubtful. In this stage,
    therefore, is the main trial of strength between its friends and
    opponents, and it behooves everyone to make up his mind decisively for
    this question, or he loses the main battle; and accident and management
    may, and often do, prevent a successful rallying on the next and last
    question, whether it shall pass.

    <>
    When the bill is engrossed the title is to be indorsed on the back, and
    not within the bill. Hakew, 250.

    Sec. 430. Test of strength on a bill before amending.

      In  the House of Representatives there are two other means of testing
    strength--one by raising the question of consideration when the bill
    first comes up (clause 3 of rule XVI), and the other by moving to strike
    out the enacting words when it is first open to amendment (clause 7 of
    rule XXIII). By these methods an adverse opinion may be expressed
    without permitting the bill to consume the time of the House.

      In the practice of the House of Representatives and the Senate the
    title appears in its proper place in the engrossed bill, and also is
    endorsed, with the number, on the back.