    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
    [104th Congress]
    [House Document 103-342]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 709-719]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 709]]

                                   Rule XXVII.

                         CHANGE OR SUSPENSION OF RULES.

    Sec. 902. Motions to suspend the rules.

      1. No rule  shall be
    suspended except by a vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum
    being present; nor shall the Speaker entertain a motion to suspend the
    rules except on Mondays and Tuesdays, and during the last six days of a
    session.

      This rule has been built up gradually on an old rule of 1794, which
    provided that no rule should be rescinded without one day's notice. In
    1822 a clause was added that no rule should be suspended except by a
    two-thirds vote; and in 1828 it was provided that the ``order of
    business, as established by the rules,'' should not be changed except by
    a two-thirds vote. This rule marks the great purpose of the motion,
    which was to give a means of getting consideration for bills which could
    not get forward under the rule for the order of business. Originally in
    order on any day, the motion was, in 1847, restricted to Mondays of each
    week, and, in 1880, to the first and third Mondays of each month. In
    1874 the old limit of 10 days at the end of the session was reduced to 6
    days. In the 93d Congress, the rule was amended to permit the Speaker to
    recognize for such motions on the first and third Mondays and on the
    Tuesdays immediately following those days and to eliminate the
    distinction between days on which committees and individuals has
    preference (H. Res. 6, Jan. 3, 1973, pp. 26, 27); and in the 95th
    Congress, the rule was amended to permit the Speaker to recognize for
    such motions on every Monday and Tuesday (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, 95th
    Cong., pp. 53-70). Originally of great use in establishing the order of
    business, when the older and more defective rules for the order of
    business existed, the use of the motion has changed since the House in
    1890 adopted rules for the order of business which enables the House on
    any day to go to any public bills on its calendars. Also about the same
    time the perfection of the process of getting bills before the House out
    of order by a majority vote through a report from the Committee on Rules
    still further diminished the importance of the motion to suspend the
    rules (V, 6790).

    [[Page 710]]
    tion may not be amended (V, 5322, 5405, 6858; Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43251-
    63; June 4, 1985, pp. 13983, 13986, 13989), postponed (V, 5322), or laid
    on the table (V, 5405), and the motion to reconsider may not be applied
    to a negative vote on the motion (V, 5645, 5646; VIII, 2781). The motion
    to refer may not be applied to the bill which it is proposed to pass
    under suspension of the rules (V, 6860). The motion to suspend the rules
    applied to the parliamentary law of Jefferson's Manual as well as to the
    other rules of the House (V, 6796), and may even be used to deny the
    right to have read a paper on which the House is to vote (V, 5278-5284).
    While it has been held that the right of a Member to have read the paper
    on which he is called to vote is not changed by the fact that the
    procedure is by suspension of the rules (V, 5277; VIII, 3400), the
    precedents are not uniform in this regard, and in earlier instances the
    separate motion to suspend the rules and dispense with reading of
    pendings bills, amendments and Senate amendments was held in order (V,
    5278-84). Under the modern practice, only the motion ``to suspend the
    rules and pass'' is itself read and is held to suspend all rules
    inconsistent with its purposes, including a rule requiring that a recess
    be taken (V, 5752), or that a quorum be present when a bill is reported
    from committee (Sept. 22, 1992, p. ----). Thus only the title of the
    bill is normally read by the Clerk, and amendments included in the
    motion are not reported separately, but the Chair may, in his
    discretion, where objection is made to that procedure, require the
    reading of an amendment which is not printed or otherwise available
    (July 17, 1950, pp. 10448-49). Where a motion to suspend the rules and
    agree to a resolution which provided for concurring in a Senate
    amendment with an amendment consisting of the text of a bill introduced
    in the House, the Speaker ruled that reading of the resolution itself
    was sufficient and that it could be re-read to the House only by
    unanimous consent (Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43251-63). It may be used also to
    change a rule (V, 6862), or to make a new rule, as was more frequently
    done in the earlier years of the House when it was the only way for
    making a special order except by unanimous consent (IV, 3152-3162). In
    the later practice special orders may still be made on motion to suspend
    the rules (IV, 3154); but usually they are made by majority vote of the
    House on a report from the Committee on Rules (IV, 3169). The motion to
    suspend may include a series of actions, as the discharge of a committee
    from consideration of a bill and the passage of it (V, 6850), the
    reconsideration of the vote passing a bill, amendment of it, and passage
    again (V, 6849), the permission to a committee to report several bills
    (V, 6857), an order to the Clerk to incorporate in the engrossment of a
    general appropriation bill a provision not otherwise in order (IV,
    3845), an authorization to the House to entertain a specified motion to
    suspend the rules on a future day, not a suspension day (IV, 3845), a
    motion to take a bill (V, 6288; VIII, 3425), or a motion to reconsider,
    from the table (V, 5640). A motion to suspend the rules may provide for
    the passage of a bill regardless of whether it has been reported or
    referred to any calendar or even previously introduced (VIII, 3421), may
    include

    [[Page 711]]
    an amendment without the formality of committee approval (June 22,
    1992, p.  ----), and may provide for agreeing to a conference report
    which has been ruled out of order by the Speaker (Dec. 20, 1974, p.
    41860). One motion to suspend the rules having been rejected, the
    Speaker may recognize for a similar motion (Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43270-
    81).

    Sec. 903. Nature of the motion to suspend the
    rules.

      While originally  the motion was used to suspend the rule on the order of
    business in order to consider a particular bill (V, 6852, 6853), in the
    later practice it is more usual to move ``to suspend the rules and
    pass'' the bill (V, 6846, 6847), and a division of the question may not
    be demanded, either as to the two branches of the motion or as to
    distinct substantive propositions in the subject of the motion (V, 6141-
    6143). The mo

    [[Page 712]]
    Speaker's denial of recognition (II, 1425), and no advance notice to
    Members of bills to be called up under suspension of the rules is
    required (Mar. 20, 1978, pp. 7535-36), but the rules forbid the Speaker
    to entertain a motion to suspend the rules relating to the privilege of
    the floor (Sec. 919; V, 7283; VIII, 3634), the use of the Hall of the
    House (Sec. 918; V, 7270) or prohibiting the introduction of persons in
    the galleries (Sec. 764; VI, 197).

    Sec. 904. Precedence of the motion to suspend the
    rules.

      In the  early practice, when the motion to suspend the rules was used
    to enable a matter to be taken up for consideration out of order, it was
    not admitted when a subject was already before the House (V, 5278, 6836,
    6837, 6852, 6853). A bill taken up under this early practice might be
    amended (V, 6842, 6856) by the House, or withdrawn by the mover, in
    which case another Member might not present it (V, 6854, 6855). In the
    later practice, where the motion includes both suspension of the rules
    and action on the subject it is admitted, although another matter be
    pending (V, 6834), although the yeas and nays may have been demanded on
    another highly privileged motion (V, 6835), or although the previous
    question may have been ordered or moved on another matter (V, 6827; see
    also Sept. 17, 1990, p. ----; V, 6831-6833; VIII, 3418). Earlier
    rulings, however, did not, while a series of Senate amendments were
    pending, permit a motion to suspend the rules in order to permit a vote
    to be taken on the amendments in gross (V, 6828, 6830). But in the
    earlier practice, also, while a matter was pending a motion to suspend
    the rules in order to dispense with the reading otherwise required was
    admitted (V, 5278). The motion to suspend the rules has been ruled out
    of order when the House is considering a bill under a special order (V,
    6838); and when a question of high privilege under rule IX is before the
    House a motion to suspend the rules and consider another matter is not
    in order (V, 6825, 6826; VI, 553, 565). But the motion to suspend the
    rules has been held of equal privilege with the motion to instruct
    conferees after 20 days of conference, which under clause 1(c) of rule
    XXVIII is ``of the highest privilege'' (Mar. 1, 1988, pp. 2749, 2751,
    2754). A motion to suspend the rules and approve the Journal was held in
    order, although the Journal had not been read and the then highly
    privileged motion to fix the day to which the House should adjourn was
    pending (IV, 2758). While the motion is of high privilege, it may be
    superseded by a question of the privilege of the House (III, 2553; VI,
    565). Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XVI the Speaker may entertain one
    motion to adjourn pending a motion to suspend the rules, but after that
    vote shall not entertain any other motion until the vote is taken on the
    motion to suspend the rules. Moreover, in the absence of a motion to
    suspend, the ordinary motions relating to business of the House may be
    made on suspension days as on other days (IV, 3080). The motion to
    suspend the rules may be made on days other than suspension days by
    unanimous consent (V, 6795) or by adoption of a resolution reported by
    the Rules Committee. On ``suspension days'' the motion to suspend the
    rules has been admitted at the discretion of the Speaker since 1881 (V,
    6791-6794, 6845; VIII, 3402-3404), and no appeal may be taken from the

    Sec. 905. Individual and committee motions to suspend
    the rules.

      Prior to  the 93d Congress, the rule gave to individuals preference
    on the first Monday of the month for making motions to suspend the
    rules, and preference on the third Mondays for committees to make the
    motion (V, 6790). In rare instances the Speaker has called the
    committees
    in regular order for motions to suspend the rules, but this method is
    not required (V, 6810, 6811). In the earlier practice the committee
    motion must have been formally and specifically authorized by the
    committee (V, 6805-6807); but after the motion was seconded and debate
    had begun it was too late to raise a question as to the authorization
    (V, 6808). Under the later practice authorization by a committee is not
    required (VIII, 3410). The committee may not present a bill which has
    not been referred to it (V, 6813) and is not within its jurisdiction (V,
    6848). A bill offered on a committee suspension day, in the early
    practice, could carry with it only such amendments as were authorized by
    a committee (V, 6812), but in the modern practice the formality of
    committee approval is not required (June 22, 1992, p. ----). If on a
    committee day an individual motion was made and seconded, it was then
    too late to make a point of order (V, 6809).

    [[Page 713]]
    clause 4 of rule XV the yeas and nays were ordered (IV, 3053-3055; Dec.
    21, 1973, pp. 43251-63). Where the Chair allocates the time in
    opposition to the motion to the ranking minority member of the reporting
    committee, a challenge that that member does not qualify by being
    opposed, in order to control such time, must be made when the time is
    allocated by the Chair (May 15, 1984, p. 12215; Speaker Wright, June 2,
    1987, p. 14223). The motion to suspend the rules may be withdrawn at any
    time before the Chair puts the question and a voice vote is taken
    thereon (July 27, 1981, p. 17563).

    Sec. 906. The second of the motion to suspend the
    rules.

      Prior to  the 102d Congress, certain motions to suspend the rules were
    required to be seconded, if demanded, by a majority by tellers, but this
    requirement was eliminated from the rule in the 102d Congress (H. Res.
    5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). This requirement for a second was adopted in
    1874, was rescinded two years later, but was again adopted in 1880. The
    object of it was to prevent consumption of the time of the House by
    forcing consideration of undesirable propositions (V, 6797). The
    requirement (formerly clause 2) was amended in the 96th Congress (H.
    Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16) so that a second was not required where
    printed copies of the proposed measure were available. Copies of reports
    on bills considered under suspension are not required to be available in
    advance. The Constitutional right of a Member to demand the yeas and
    nays, or the right of a Member under clause 5(a) of rule I to demand a
    recorded vote, did not exist on the question of ordering a second under
    the former clause 2, which only permited the ordering of a second by
    tellers if a quorum was present (V, 6032-6036; VIII, 3109; Dec. 16,
    1981, p. 31851). The fact that a majority of the Members of the House
    did not pass between the tellers on the question of ordering a second
    did not conclusively show that a quorum was not present in the Chamber,
    and the Speaker could count the House to determine whether a quorum was
    actually present (Dec. 16, 1981, p. 31851). But where a quorum failed on
    the vote for a second, under

    Sec. 907. The forty minutes of debate on motion to
    suspend the rules.

      2. When a  motion to suspend the rules has been submitted to
    the House, it shall be in order, before the final vote is taken thereon,
    to debate the proposition to be voted upon for forty minutes, one-half
    of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and one-half to debate
    in opposition to, such proposition; and the same right of debate shall
    be allowed whenever the previous question has been ordered on any
    proposition on which there has been no debate.

      Formerly clause 3, this provision was amended and redesignated in the
    102d Congress to conform to the repeal of the former clause 2, relating
    to the requirement of a second (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----).
    Before the adoption of this clause in 1880 (V, 6821) the motion to
    suspend the rules was not debatable (V, 5405, 6820). The 40 minutes of
    debate is divided between the mover and a Member opposed to the bill,
    unless it develops that the mover is opposed to the bill, in which event
    some Member in favor is recognized for debate (VIII, 3416). Where
    recognition for the 20 minutes in opposition is contested, the Speaker
    will accord priority first on the basis of true opposition, then on the
    basis of committee membership, and only then on the basis of party
    affiliation, the latter preference inuring to the minority party (VIII,
    3415; Nov. 18, 1991, p. ----). When the mover and the opponent divide
    their time with others, the practice as to alternation of recognitions
    is not insisted on so rigidly as in other debate (II, 1442). Debate
    should be confined to the object of the motion and may not range to the
    merits of a bill not scheduled for suspension on that day (Nov. 23,
    1991, p. ----).

    [[Page 714]]
    (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), and amended further in the 96th
    Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16). The paragraph was deleted
    entirely in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113) when
    all of the Speaker's postponing authorities were consolidated into
    clause 5 of rule I.
      This clause formerly included a paragraph (b) dealing with the
    Speaker's authority to postpone further proceedings on motions to
    suspend the rules and pass bills or resolutions. Paragraph (b) was added
    in the 93d Congress (H. Res. 998, Apr. 9, 1974, pp. 10195-99), amended
    in the 95th Congress

    Sec. 907a. The forty minutes of debate on other
    propositions.

      The last  provision of this clause allows 40 minutes of debate
    when the previous question is ordered on a proposition on which there
    has been no debate (V, 6821; Mar. 22, 1990, p. ----). However, any
    previous debate on the merits of the main proposition precludes the 40
    minutes (V, 5499-5502). The demand for 40 minutes of debate: must come
    before the vote is taken on the main question (V, 5496); is not
    available when the question on which the previous question is ordered is
    otherwise nondebatable, such as the motion to close debate (VIII, 2555,
    2690); is not available on an undebated amendment where the motion for
    the previous question covers both the amendment and the original
    proposition, which has been debated (V, 5504); and is not available on
    incidental motions (V, 5497-5498), on propositions previously debated in
    Committee of the Whole (V, 5505), on conference reports accompanying
    measures that were debated before being sent to conference (V, 5506-
    5507), or on ancillary measures, such as a concurrent resolution to
    correct an enrolled bill (V, 5508). Debate allowed under this provision
    is equally divided and controlled between the person demanding the time
    and a Member representing the opposition (Sept. 13, 1965, pp. 23602-06;
    May 8, 1985, p. 11073). Priority in recognition for time in opposition
    is accorded to a Member truly opposed (VIII, 2689).

    [[Page 715]]
    resolution which has remained in a standing committee thirty or more
    days without action: Provided, That said resolution from which it is
    moved to discharge the Committee on Rules has been referred to that
    committee at least seven days prior to the filing of the motion to
    discharge. The motion shall be placed in the custody of the Clerk, who
    shall arrange some convenient place for the signature of Members. A
    signature may be withdrawn by a Member in writing at any time before the
    motion is entered on the Journal. Once a motion to discharge has been
    filed, the Clerk shall make the signatures a matter of public record. -
    The Clerk shall cause the names of the Members who have signed a
    discharge motion during any week to be published in a portion of the
    Congressional Record designated for that purpose on the last legislative
    day of that week. The Clerk shall make available each day for public
    inspection in an appropriate office of the House cumulative lists of
    such names. The Clerk shall devise a means by which to make such lists
    available to offices of the House and to the public in electronic form.
    When a majority of the total membership of the House shall have signed
    the motion, it shall be entered on the Journal, printed with the
    signatures thereto in the Congressional Record, and referred to the
    Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees.

    Sec. 908. Motion to discharge a committee.

      3. A Member  may
    present to the Clerk a motion in writing to discharge a committee from
    the consideration of a public bill or resolution which has been referred
    to it thirty days prior thereto (but only one motion may be presented
    for each bill or resolution). Under this rule it shall also be in order
    for a Member to file a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules from
    further consideration of any resolution providing either a special order
    of business, or a special rule for the consideration of any public bill
    or resolution favorably reported by a standing committee, or a special
    rule for the consideration of a public bill or

    [[Page 716]]
    of the Journal, any Member who has signed a motion to discharge which
    has been on the calendar at least seven days prior thereto, and seeks
    recognition, shall be recognized for the purpose of calling up the
    motion, and the House shall proceed to its consideration in the manner
    herein provided without intervening motion except one motion to adjourn.
    Recognition for the motions shall be in the order in which they have
    been entered on the Journal.
      On the second and fourth Mondays of each month except during the last
    six days of any session of Congress, immediately after the approval

    [[Page 717]]
    and if unfinished before adjournment of the day on which it is called
    up it shall remain the unfinished business until it is fully disposed
    of. Should the House by vote decide against the immediate consideration
    of such bill or resolution, it shall be referred to its proper calendar
    and be entitled to the same rights and privileges that it would have had
    had the committee to which it was referred duly reported same to the
    House for its consideration: Provided, That when any perfected motion to
    discharge a committee from the consideration of any public bill or
    resolution has once been acted upon by the House it shall not be in
    order to entertain during the same session of Congress any other motion
    for the discharge from that committee of said measure, or from any other
    committee of any other bill or resolution substantially the same,
    relating in substance to or dealing with the same subject matter, or
    from the Committee on Rules of a resolution providing a special order of
    business for the consideration of any other such bill or resolution, in
    order that such action by the House on a motion to discharge shall be
    res adjudicata for the remainder of that session: Provided further, That
    if before any one motion to discharge a committee has been acted upon by
    the House there are on the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees
    other motions to discharge committees from the consideration of bills or
    resolutions substantially the same, relating in substance to or dealing
    with the same subject matter, after the House shall have acted on one mo

    [[Page 718]]
    tion to discharge, the remaining said motions shall be stricken from
    the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees and not acted on during
    the remainder of that session of Congress.

      When any motion under this rule shall be called up, the bill or
    resolution shall be read by title only. After twenty minutes' debate,
    one-half in favor of the proposition and one-half in opposition thereto,
    the House shall proceed to vote on the motion to discharge. If the
    motion prevails to discharge the Committee on Rules from any resolution
    pending before the committee, the House shall immediately consider such
    resolution, the Speaker not entertaining any dilatory motion except one
    motion to adjourn, and, if such resolution is adopted, the House shall
    immediately proceed to its execution. If the motion prevails to
    discharge one of the standing committees of the House from any public
    bill or resolution pending before the committee, it shall then be in
    order for any Member who signed the motion to move that the House
    proceed to the immediate consideration of such bill or resolution (such
    motion not being debatable), and such motion is hereby made of high
    privilege; and if it shall be decided in the affirmative, the bill shall
    be immediately considered under the general rules of the House,

      This clause was adopted December 8, 1931 and amended January 3, 1935
    (VII, 1007). It displaced a rule providing for a motion to instruct a
    committee to report a public bill or resolution. The first discharge
    rule was adopted June 17, 1910, pp. 8439, 8445. It was amended during
    the 62d Congress (Apr. 4-5, 1911, pp. 18, 80). It was further amended in
    the 62d Congress (H. Res. 407, Feb. 3, 1912, p. 1685), the 68th Congress
    (H. Res. 146, Jan. 18, 1924, p. 1143), and the 69th Congress, (H. Res.
    6, Dec. 7, 1925, p. 383). Formerly clause 4, this provision was
    redesignated in the 102d Congress to conform to the repeal of the former
    clause 2, relating to the requirement of a second; it was at the same
    time amended to enable debate on a resolution discharged from the
    Committee on Rules (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). Under the
    previous form of the rule, where the Committee on Rules was discharged
    from further consideration of a resolution the House immediately voted
    on adoption of the resolution (Speaker Rayburn, Jan. 24, 1944, pp. 631-
    32).

      In the 103d Congress, after a successful petition under this clause
    placed on the calendar a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules from
    further consideration of a resolution to require publication of the
    names of Members who had signed pending discharge petitions, the clause
    was so amended (H. Res. 134, Sept. 28, 1993, p. ----). In the 104th
    Congress the clause was once again amended to ensure the periodic
    publication of such names (sec. 219, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
    Before the 103d Congress signatures on a motion to discharge a committee
    were not made public until the requisite number had signed the motion
    (VII, 1008; Apr. 12, 1934, p. 6489).

      The phrase ``a majority of the total membership of the House'' was
    construed to mean 218 Members (Speaker Byrns, Apr. 15, 1936, p. 5509).
    The word ``days'' has been construed to mean ``legislative days''
    (Speaker Bankhead, Dec. 10, 1937, p. 1300). The rule does not authorize
    signature of discharge motions by proxy (VII, 1014).

      The rule does not apply to a bill that has been reported by a
    committee during the interval between the placing of a motion to
    discharge on the calendar and the day when such motion is called up for
    action in the House (Apr. 23, 1934, p. 7156). The Committee on Rules may
    not be discharged from further consideration of a resolution providing
    for an investigating committee (Apr. 23, 1934, p. 7161).

    [[Page 719]]
    Jan. 16, 1950, p. 436). The seven days that the motion must be on the
    calendar before it may be called up begins to run as of the day the
    motion is placed on the calendar (Dec. 14, 1937, p. 1517). A discharge
    petition in the 102d Congress received the requisite number of
    signatures on the same day it was filed (May 20, 1992, p. ----), and
    subsequently by unanimous consent the House dispensed with the motion to
    discharge and agreed to consider the object of the petition (a special
    order of business resolution) on a date certain under the same terms as
    if discharged by motion (June 4, 1992, p. ----). In the 103d Congress a
    discharge petition also received the requisite number of signatures on
    the same day it was filed (Feb. 24, 1994, p. ----).
      The death or resignation of a Member who has signed a motion does not
    invalidate his signature (May 31, 1934, p. 10159). It may be withdrawn
    by his successor (Dec. 7, 1943, p. 10388; Jan. 17, 1946, p. 96; Mar. 5,
    1946, p. 1968; July 30, 1946, pp. 10464, 10491; Mar. 2, 1948, pp. 1993,
    2001;

      The right to close twenty minute debate on a motion to discharge a
    Committee is reserved to the proponents of the motion (VII, 1010a); and
    the chairman of the committee being discharged, if opposed to the
    motion, has been recognized to control the ten minutes in opposition
    (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 27999).

      Where a measure not requiring consideration in the Committee of the
    Whole House on the State of the Union is brought before the House by a
    successful motion to discharge, the Member moving its consideration is
    recognized in the House under the hour rule (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 28004).

      The point of order provided in clause 5(a) of rule XXI does not apply
    to an appropriation in a bill taken away from a committee by the motion
    to discharge (VII, 1019a).