[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 281-285]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

<>   
Messages between the Houses are to be sent only while both Houses are 
sitting. 3 Hats., 15. * * *

                         SEC. XLVII.--MESSAGES.


<>   * * * They are 
received during a debate without adjourning the debate. 3 Hats., 22.

  Formerly this rule was observed (V, 6603, 6604), but since the 62d 
Congress messages have been received by the House when the Senate was 
not in session (VIII, 3338). Clause 5 of rule III was added in the 97th 
Congress to authorize the Clerk to receive messages from the President 
and the Senate at any time that the House is not in session (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 5, 1981, p. 98).


  In the House of Representatives messages are received during debate, 
the Member having the floor yielding on request of the Speaker.


[[Page 282]]
rors difficult to be corrected. So arranged June 15, 1798.



Sec. 562. Reception of messages during voting, in 
absence of a quorum, etc.

  In Senate  the messengers are introduced in any state 
of business, except: 1. While a question is being put. 2. While the yeas 
and nays are being called. 3. While the ballots are being counted. The 
first case is short; the second and third are cases where any 
interruption might occasion er



  In the House of Representatives messages are not received while a 
question is being put or during a division by rising vote. However, they 
are received during the call of the yeas and nays, during consideration 
of a question of privilege (V, 6640-6642), during a call of the House 
(V, 6600, 6650; VIII, 3339), during debate on a motion to approve the 
Journal (Sept. 13, 1965, p. 23607), and before the organization of the 
House (V, 6647-6649). But the Speaker exercises his discretion about 
interrupting the pending business (V, 6602).




Sec. 563. Informal rising of Committee of the Whole to 
receive a message.

  In the  House of Representatives, as in Parliament, if the 
House be in committee when a messenger attends, the Speaker takes the 
chair to receive the message, and then quits it to return into committee 
without any question or interruption. 4 Grey, 226.
<>   
Messengers are not saluted by the Members, but by the Speaker for the 
House. 2 Grey, 253, 274.



  The practice of the House of Representatives as to reception of 
messages is founded on this paragraph of the parliamentary law and on 
the former joint rules (V, 6591-6595). The Speaker, with a slight 
inclination, addresses the messenger, by his title, after the messenger, 
with an inclination, has addressed ``Mr. Speaker'' (V, 6591).


[[Page 283]]
The Secretary was sent to the other House to correct his mistake, the 
correction was received, and the two amendments acted on de novo.



Sec. 565. Correction and return of messages.

  If  messengers 
commit an error in delivering their message, they may be admitted or 
called in to correct their message. 4 Grey, 41. Accordingly, March 13, 
1800, the Senate having made two amendments to a bill from the House of 
Representatives, their Secretary, by mistake, delivered one only, which 
being inadmissible by itself, that House disagreed, and notified the 
Senate of their disagreement. This produced a discovery of the mistake. 



  The request of the Senate that its Secretary be allowed to correct an 
error in a message was granted by order of the House (V, 6605), and in a 
similar case, when the House directed its clerk to correct an error in a 
message to the Senate, the Senate agreed to the correction (V, 6607). In 
the House a proposition to correct an error in a message to the Senate 
is received as a question of privilege (III, 2613; Oct. 1, 1982, p. 
27172). One House sometimes asks of the other the return of a message 
(V, 6609-6611; Nov. 16, 1989, p. ----).




Sec. 566. Disposal of messages after reception.

  As soon  as 
the messenger who has brought bills from the other House has retired, 
the Speaker holds the bills in his hand; and acquaints the House ``that 
the other House have by their messenger sent certain bills,'' and then 
reads their titles, and delivers them to the Clerk to be safely kept 
till they shall be called for to be read. Hakew., 178.



  In the House of Representatives the message goes to the Speaker's 
table, but the Speaker does not acquaint the House, as they have already 
heard the message. From the Speaker's table messages are disposed of 
under clause 2 of rule XXIV.




Sec. 567. Information by message as to bills 
passed.

  It is not  the usage for one House to inform the other by what numbers a 
bill is passed. 10 Grey, 150. Yet they have sometimes recommended a 
bill, as of great importance, to the consideration of the House to which 
it is sent. 3 Hats., 25. * * *




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  The Houses of Congress do not communicate by what numbers a bill is 
passed, or otherwise recommend their bills.



Sec. 568. Information by message as to 
rejection of bills.

  * * * Nor when  they have rejected a bill from the other House, 
do they give notice of it; but it passes sub silentio, to prevent 
unbecoming altercations. 1 Blackst., 183.



  But in Congress the rejection is notified by message to the House in 
which the bill originated.


  In the two Houses of Congress the fact of the rejection of a bill is 
messaged to the House in which the bill originated, as in the days of 
Jefferson, although the joint rule requiring it has disappeared (IV, 
3422; V, 6601). And in a case wherein the House had stricken out the 
enacting words of a Senate bill, the Senate was notified that the bill 
had been rejected (IV, 3423; VII, 2638; Oct. 4, 1972, pp. 33785-87).




Sec. 569. Questions asked by conference, not by 
message.

  A question  is never asked by the one House of the other by way of 
message, but only at a conference; for this is an interrogatory, not a 
message. 3 Grey, 151, 181.



  In 1798 the House of Representatives asked of the Senate a question by 
way of conference, but this appears to be the only instance (V, 6256).




Sec. 570. Messages as to neglected bills.

  When a  bill is 
sent by one House to the other, and is neglected, they may send a 
message to remind them of it. 3 Hats., 25; 5 Grey, 154. But if it be 
mere inattention, it is better to have it done informally by 
communication between the Speakers or Members of the two Houses.



  It does not appear that either House of Congress has by message 
reminded the other of a neglected bill.


[[Page 285]]
communication should be made to both on the same day. But where a 
message was accompanied with an original declaration, signed by the 
party to which the message referred, its being sent to one House was not 
noticed by the other, because the declaration being original, could not 
possibly be sent to both Houses at the same time. 2 Hats., 260, 261, 
262.


Sec. 571. Messages from the President of the two 
Houses.

  Where the  subject of a message is of a nature that it can properly be 
communicated to both Houses of Parliament, it is expected that this 



  The King having sent original letters to the Commons afterward desires 
they may be returned, that he may communicate them to the Lords. 1 
Chandler, 303.




  A message of the President of the United States is usually 
communicated to both Houses on the same day when its nature permits (V, 
6590); but an original document accompanying can, of course, be sent to 
but one House (V, 6616, 6617). The President having by inadvertence 
included certain papers in a message, was allowed to withdraw them (V, 
6651). In the House of Representatives the Speaker has the discretion, 
which he rarely exercises, to suspend a roll call in order to receive a 
message from the President.