    [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 615-619]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                    Rule XIX.

                                 OF AMENDMENTS.

    [[Page 616]]

    Sec. 822. Amendments to text and to title.

      When  a motion or
    proposition is under consideration a motion to amend and a motion to
    amend that amendment shall be in order, and it shall also be in order to
    offer a further amendment by way of substitute, to which one amendment
    may be offered, but which shall not be voted on until the original
    matter is perfected, but either may be withdrawn before amendment or
    decision is had thereon. Amendments to the title of a bill or resolution
    shall not be in order until after its passage, and shall be decided
    without debate.

      This rule was adopted in 1880, with an amendment adding the portion in
    relation to the title in 1893. The rule of 1880, however, merely stated
    in form of rule what had been the practice of the House for many years
    (V, 5753).

    [[Page 617]]
    changes in the bill rather than in the amendment is not a proper
    perfecting amendment, but may if germane be offered as a substitute for
    the amendment (Apr. 26, 1984, p. 10213). Where, pursuant to a special
    rule, a committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, printed in
    the bill, is being read as original text for purpose of amendment, there
    may be pending to that text the four stages of amendment permitted by
    this rule (Apr. 23, 1969, p. 10066). An amendment in the nature of a
    substitute may be proposed before amendments to the pending portion of
    original text have been acted on, but may not be voted on until such
    amendments have been disposed of (V, 5753, 5787). When a bill is
    considered by sections or paragraphs an amendment in the nature of a
    substitute is properly offered after the reading for amendment is
    concluded (V, 5788). But when it is proposed to offer a single
    substitute for several paragraphs of a bill that is being considered by
    paragraphs, the substitute may be moved to the first paragraph, with
    notice that, if agreed to, motions will be made to strike out the
    remaining paragraphs (V, 5795; VIII, 2898, 2900-2903; July 29, 1969, pp.
    21218-19). The substitute amendment, as well as the original
    proposition, may be perfected by amendments before the vote on it is
    taken (V, 5786). Where there is pending an amendment in the nature of a
    substitute, it is in order to offer a perfecting amendment to the
    pending portion of original text (VIII, 2861; Apr. 27, 1976, p. 11411;
    see also Procedure, ch. 27, sec. 13.8). An amendment in the nature of a
    substitute having been agreed to, the vote is then taken on the original
    proposition as amended (II, 983; V, 5799, 5800), and no further
    amendment is in order (Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 26, 1985, pp. 6274-75). The
    substitute provided for in this rule has been construed as a substitute
    for the amendment and not as a substitute for the original text (VIII,
    2883). If a perfecting amendment to an amendment in the nature of a
    substitute, striking out all after the short title and inserting a new
    text, is agreed to, further amendments to the text so perfected are not
    in order, but amendments are in order to add new language at the end of
    the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended (May 16, 1979, p.
    11420). An amendment offered as a substitute and rejected may again be
    offered as an original amendment without presenting an equivalent
    question, since in the first case the question is the relationship
    between the substitute and the amendment to which offered and in the
    second case the question is the relationship between the original
    amendment and the text of the bill (V, 5797; VIII, 2843), and an
    amendment considered with others en bloc and rejected may be offered
    separately at a subsequent time (Deschler's Precedents, vol. 9, ch. 27,
    sec. 35.15; Nov. 4, 1991, p. ----). Thus, while an amendment that is
    amended by a substitute and then adopted as amended may not be reoffered
    in its original form if it would directly change the amended portion of
    the bill, where an amendment inserting new language in a bill is amended
    by a substitute inserting language in a different part of the bill and
    then adopted as amended, the original amendment may again be offered to
    the bill notwithstanding its displacement by the substitute,

    [[Page 618]]
    as the vote on the amendment as amended by the substitute is not
    equivalent to a direct vote on the original amendment (June 25, 1987, p.
    17416). Under a ``modified closed'' rule permitting only amendments
    printed in the report accompanying the rule, the Chair will permit an
    amendment to be offered in the form actually submitted for printing
    rather than requiring that it be offered in the erroneous form printed
    (Mar. 10, 1994, p. ----).

    Sec. 823. Conditions of the motion to amend.

      It  is not in
    order to offer more than one motion to amend of the same nature at a
    time (V, 5755; VIII, 2831), and two independent amendments may be voted
    on at once only by unanimous consent of the House (V, 5779). Amendments
    en bloc, once pending, are open to perfecting amendment at any point
    (June 12, 1991, p. ----). An amendment must contain instructions to the
    Clerk as to the portion of the bill it seeks to amend and is subject to
    a point of order if not in proper form (Oct. 3, 1985, pp. 25970-71). A
    Member may not amend or modify his own amendment except by unanimous
    consent (Oct. 1, 1985, p. 25453); and where the Chair recognizes the
    proponent of an amendment to propound such a unanimous consent request
    before commencing debate, the Chair does not charge time consumed under
    a reservation of objection against the proponent's time for debate on
    the amendment (Feb. 3, 1993, p. ----; May 27, 1993, p. ----). Discrete
    propositions to strike out and insert provisions on diverse pages and
    lines of a bill and to insert a new section on a separate subject may
    constitute separate amendments which may be offered en bloc only by
    unanimous consent, even when the bill has been considered as read and
    open to amendment at any point (Sept. 16, 1981, Deschler's Precedents,
    vol. 9, ch. 27, sec. 11.26). But the four motions specified by the rule
    may be pending at one and the same time (V, 5793; VIII, 2883, 2887).
    Once a perfecting amendment to an amendment is disposed of, the original
    amendment, as amended or not, remains open to further perfecting
    amendment (June 20, 1991, p. ----), and all such amendments are disposed
    of prior to voting on substitutes for the original amendment and
    amendments thereto (July 26, 1984, p. 21253). An amendment in the third
    degree is not specified by the rule and is not permissible (V, 5754;
    VIII, 2580, 2888, 2891), even when the third degree is in the nature of
    substitute for an amendment to a substitute (V, 5791; VIII, 2889).
    However, a substitute amendment may be amended by striking out all after
    its first word and inserting a new text (V, 5793, 5794), as this, while
    in effect a substitute, is not technically so, for the substitute always
    proposes to strike out all after the enacting or resolving words in
    order to insert a new text (V, 5785, footnote) or to replace all the
    words of an amendment; and the Chair will not look behind the form of
    the amendment in determining whether it is a perfecting amendment or a
    substitute (June 13, 1994, p. ----). To qualify as a substitute an
    amendment must treat in the same manner the same subject carried by the
    amendment for which offered (VIII, 2879), and for an amendment inserting
    new text in a bill, a proposition not only inserting similar language
    but also striking out original text of the bill is not in order as a
    substitute (VIII, 2880; Sept. 8, 1976, pp. 29237-38). To an amendment
    adding a new section, an amendment making perfecting

    Sec. 823a. Relation of point of order to motion to
    amend.

      A  point of order against an amendment is timely if made or
    reserved prior to formal recognition of the proponent to commence debate
    thereon (July 16, 1991, p. ----), but thereafter comes too late (V,
    6894, 6898-6899). To preclude a point of order, debate should be on the
    merits of the proposition (V, 6901). When enough of an amendment has
    been read to show that it is out of order, a point of order may be
    raised without waiting for the reading to be completed (V, 6886-6887;
    VIII, 2912, 3437), though the Chair may decline to rule until the entire
    proposition has been read (Dec. 14, 1973, pp. 41716-18). A timely
    reservation of a point of order by one Member inures to the benefit of
    any other Member who desires to press a point of order (V, 6906; July
    18, 1990, p. ----).

    Sec. 824. Withdrawal of the motion to amend.

      While  the rule
    provides that either an ordinary or substitute amendment may be
    withdrawn in the House (V, 5753) or ``in the House as in Committee of
    the Whole'' (IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21315), it may not be withdrawn
    or modified in Committee of the Whole except by unanimous consent (V,
    5221; VIII, 2564, 2859).

    [[Page 619]]

    Sec. 825. Precedence of the motion to amend.

      Pursuant  to
    clause 4 of rule XVI, the motion for the previous question takes
    precedence of a motion to amend (Nov. 8, 1971, p. 39944); and if the
    previous question is not ordered, the motion to refer also has
    precedence of the motion to amend (V, 5555; VI, 373). Amendments
    reported by a committee are acted on before those offered from the floor
    (V, 5773; VIII, 2862, 2863), but a floor amendment to the text of a
    pending section is considered before a committee amendment adding a new
    section at the end of the pending section (Oct. 4, 1972, pp. 33779-82),
    and there is a question as to the extent to which the chairman of the
    committee reporting a bill should be recognized to offer amendments to
    perfect it in preference to other Members (II, 1450). Amendments may not
    be offered by proxy (VIII, 2830). The motion to strike out the enacting
    clause has precedence of the motion to amend, and may be offered while
    an amendment is pending (V, 5328-5331; VIII, 2622-2624); but the motion
    to amend takes precedence over a motion that the Committee of the Whole
    rise and report the bill with the recommendation that it pass (July 27,
    1937, p. 7699).

    Sec. 826. Relation of the motion to amend to other
    motions.

      With  some exceptions an amendment may attach itself to secondary
    and privileged motions (V, 5754). Thus, the motions to postpone, refer,
    amend, for a recess, and to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn
    may be amended (V, 5754; VIII, 2824). But the motions for the previous
    question, to lay on the table, to adjourn (V, 5754) and to go into
    Committee of the Whole to consider a privileged bill may not be amended
    (IV, 3078, 3079; VI, 723-725).

      An amendment to the title of a bill is not in order in Committee of
    the Whole (Jan. 29, 1986, p. 682).