[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 451-515]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 451]]

 

                                Rule XI.


                   RULES OF PROCEDURES FOR COMMITTEES.


                               In General



Sec. 703a. Committee procedure.

  1.  (a)(1) The Rules of the 
House are the rules of its committees and subcommittees so far as 
applicable, except that a motion to recess from day to day, and a motion 
to dispense with the first reading (in full) of a bill or resolution, if 
printed copies are available, are nondebatable motions of high privilege 
in committees and subcommittees.



  (2) Each subcommittee of a committee is a part of that committee, and 
is subject to the authority and direction of that committee and to its 
rules so far as applicable.


  Paragraph (a)(1) was first adopted December 8, 1931 (VIII, 2215), and 
amended March 23, 1955, pp. 3569, 3585. In the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144), paragraph (a)(2) was incorporated into the 
rules, together with the reference to subcommittees contained in 
paragraph (a)(1), having been contained in the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140). This clause was amended in 
the 99th Congress to allow a privileged motion in committee and 
subcommittee to dispense with the first reading of a measure where 
printed copies are available (H. Res. 7, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 393). See 
Jefferson's Manual at Sec. 412, supra, for the requirement that a bill 
or resolution be read in full upon demand, prior to being read by 
paragraphs of sections for amendment. Each committee may appoint 
subcommittees (VI, 532), which should include majority and minority 
representation (IV, 4551), and confer on them powers delegated to the 
committee itself (VI, 532) except such powers as are reserved to the 
full committee by the rules of the House; but express authority has also 
been given subcommittees by the House (III, 1754-1759, 1801, 2499, 2504, 
2508, 2517; IV, 4548).


[[Page 452]]
sponsibilities under rule X, and (subject to the adoption of expense 
resolutions as required by clause 5) to incur expenses (including travel 
expenses) in connection therewith.


Sec. 703b. Investigative authority.

  (b)  Each committee is 
authorized at any time to conduct such investigations and studies as it 
may consider necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its re




Sec. 703c. Printing and binding.

  (c)  Each committee is 
authorized to have printed and bound testimony and other data presented 
at hearings held by the committee. All costs of stenographic services 
and transcripts in connection with any meeting or hearing of a committee 
shall be paid from the contingent fund of the House.




Sec. 703d. Activity reports.

  (d)(1)  Each committee shall 
submit to the House not later than January 2 of each odd-numbered year, 
a report on the activities of that committee under this rule and rule X 
during the Congress ending on January 3 of such year.


  (2) Such report shall include separate sections summarizing the 
legislative and oversight activities of that committee during that 
Congress.


  (3) The oversight section of such report shall include a summary of 
the oversight plans submitted by the committee pursuant to clause 2(d) 
of rule X, a summary of the actions taken and recommendations made with 
respect to each such plan, and a summary of any additional oversight 
activities undertaken by that committee, and any recommendations made or 
actions taken thereon.


[[Page 453]]
tee on Rules. Paragraph (c) was also made part of the rules on that 
date. The provisions of paragraph (d)(1) were first made requirements of 
the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144, 
incorporating the provisions of sec. 118(b) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140)), and effective on January 3, 
1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470) exemptions from 
the reporting requirements for the Committees on Appropriations, the 
Budget, House Administration, Rules and Standards of Official Conduct 
were removed, so the paragraph from that point applied to all 
committees. The 104th Congress added subparagraphs (d)(2) and (3) to 
require that activity reports include separate sections on legislative 
and oversight activities, including a summary comparison of oversight 
plans and eventual recommendations and actions (sec. 203(b), H. Res. 6, 
Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  Paragraph (b) was incorporated into the rules under the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), and, together with clauses 2(m) and 2(n) 
of rule XI, eliminated the necessity that each committee obtain such 
authority each Congress by a separate resolution reported from the 
Commit




  Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, effective on January 
1, 1996, or 90 days after appropriations are made available to the 
Congressional Budget Office pursuant to that Act (whichever is earlier), 
the Committee on Rules is required to include in its activity report a 
separate item identifying all waivers of points of order relating to 
Federal mandates, listed by bill or joint resolution number and subject 
matter (sec. 107(b), P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 63).


Adoption of written rules
                             Committee Rules



704a. Committee rules.

  2.  (a) Each standing committee of 
the House shall adopt written rules governing its procedure. Such 
rules--


      (1) shall be adopted in a meeting which is open to the public 
unless the committee, in open session and with a quorum present, 
determines by rollcall vote that all or part of the meeting on that day 
is to be closed to the public;

      (2) shall be not inconsistent with the Rules of the House or with 
those provisions of law having the force and effect of Rules of the 
House; and


[[Page 454]]

Each committee's rules specifying its regular meeting days, and any 
other rules of a committee which are in addition to the provisions of 
this clause, shall be published in the Congressional Record not later 
than thirty days after the committee is elected in each odd-numbered 
year. Each select or joint committee shall comply with the provisions of 
this paragraph unless specifically prohibited by law.

      (3) shall in any event incorporate all of the succeeding 
provisions of this clause to the extent applicable. 

  The requirement that standing committees adopt written rules was first 
incorporated into the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 
1971, p. 144), having been included in the Legislative Reorganization 
Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140). Under the Committee Reform Amendments of 
1974, clause 2(a) became effective in essentially its present form on 
January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). In the 
94th Congress subparagraph (1) was amended to permit a rollcall vote to 
close the committee meeting at which committee rules are adopted only on 
the day of the meeting (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20). In the 102d 
Congress the clause was amended to allow a committee 30 days after the 
election of its members, rather than after the convening of the 
Congress, to publish its rules in the Congressional Record (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). Committees have historically adopted rules under 
which they function (I, 707; III, 1841, 1842; VIII, 2214). Committee 
rules are compiled by the Committee on Rules each Congress as a 
committee print. It is the responsibility of the committees, and not the 
House, to construe and enforce additional committee rules on the calling 
of committee meetings (Speaker Albert, July 22, 1974, pp. 24436-47). A 
Court has interpreted the statute, from which the last two sentences 
derive, providing for publication of committee rules in the 
Congressional Record, to be mandatory: where a Senate committee had 
adopted a rule setting one senator as a quorum for the purpose of taking 
sworn testimony, but had not published that rule in the Record by the 
date of the hearing, the rule was not valid at that time, and there was 
no ``competent'' tribunal before which alleged false testimony was given 
to support a perjury conviction. United States v. Reinecke, 524 F. 2d 
435 (1975).


[[Page 455]]
may in some instances be the basis for a point of order in the House, 
resulting in the recommitment of the bill. But a point of order does not 
ordinarily lie in the House against consideration of a bill by reason of 
defective committee procedures occurring prior to the time the bill is 
ordered reported to the House (Procedure, ch. 17, sec. 11.1).


Sec. 704b. Committee Procedure generally.

  Failure  to follow 
certain procedural requirements imposed on committees by this rule may 
invalidate committee actions. Violation of the requirements as to open 
meetings and hearings and other hearing irregularities improperly 
overruled (see clause 2(g)(5) of rule XI) or the prescribed committee 
procedures for reporting bills and resolutions (clause 2(1) of rule XI) 
or failure to adhere to the prohibition against committees meeting 
without permission while the House is operating under the five-minute 
rule (clause 2(i) of rule XI) 


  Many of the procedures applicable to committees derive from 
Jefferson's Manual, which govern the House and its committees in all 
cases to which they are applicable (rule XLII). A committee may act only 
when together, and not by separate consultation and consent, nothing 
being the report (or recommendation) of the committee except what has 
been agreed to in committee actually assembled (see Jefferson's Manual 
at Sec. 407, supra). A measure before a committee for consideration must 
be read for amendment by section as in the House (see Jefferson's Manual 
at Secs. 412-414), and reading of the measure and of amendments 
thereto must be in full. The procedures applicable in the House as in 
the Committee of the Whole (see Secs. 424 and 427, supra) generally 
apply to proceedings in committees of the House of Representatives, 
except that since a measure considered in committee must be read for 
amendment, a motion to limit debate under the five-minute rule in 
committee must be confined to the portion of the bill then pending. The 
previous question may only be moved on the measure in committee if the 
entire measure has been read, or considered as read, for amendment.

  Committees generally conduct their business under the five-minute rule 
but may employ the ordinary motions which are in order in the House, 
such as under clause 4 of rule XVI, and may also employ the motion to 
limit debate under the five-minute rule on a proposition which has been 
read.
Regular meeting days


[[Page 456]]

Additional and special meetings


705. Committee meetings.

  (b)  Each standing committee of the 
House shall adopt regular meeting days, which shall be not less frequent 
than monthly, for the conduct of its business. Each such committee shall 
meet, for the consideration of any bill or resolution pending before the 
committee or for the transaction of other committee business, on all 
regular meeting days fixed by the committee, unless otherwise provided 
by written rule adopted by the committee. 


  (c)(1) The chairman of each standing committee may call and convene, 
as he or she considers necessary, additional meetings of the committee 
for the consideration of any bill or resolution pending before the 
committee or for the conduct of other committee business. The committee 
shall meet for such purpose pursuant to that call of the chairman.


[[Page 457]]
measure or matter to be considered; and only the measure or matter 
specified in that notice may be considered at that special meeting.
Vice chairman or ranking majority Member to preside in absence of 
  (2) If at least three members of any standing committee desire that a 
special meeting of the committee be called by the chairman, those 
members may file in the offices of the committee their written request 
to the chairman for that special meeting. Such request shall specify the 
measure or matter to be considered. Immediately upon the filing of the 
request, the clerk of the committee shall notify the chairman of the 
filing of the request. If, within three calendar days after the filing 
of the request, the chairman does not call the requested special 
meeting, to be held within seven calendar days after the filing of the 
request, a majority of the members of the committee may file in the 
offices of the committee their written notice that a special meeting of 
the committee will be held, specifying the date and hour of, and the 
measure or matter to be considered at, that special meeting. The 
committee shall meet on that date and hour. Immediately upon the filing 
of the notice, the clerk of the committee shall notify all members of 
the committee that such special meeting will be held and inform them of 
its date and hour and the 

        chairman


  (d) A member of the majority party on any standing committee or 
subcommittee thereof designated by the chairman of the full committee 
shall be vice chairman of the committee or subcommittee, as the case may 
be, and shall preside at any meeting during the temporary absence of the 
chairman. If the chairman and vice chairman of the committee or 
subcommittee are not present at any meeting of the committee or 
subcommittee, the ranking member of the majority party who is present 
shall preside at that meeting.

  Paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) were first adopted on December 8, 1931 
(VIII, 2208), were amended on January 3, 1953 (p. 24), and were revised 
both by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and 
in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). In the 102d 
Congress paragraph (d) was amended to provide that the ranking majority 
Member of each committee and subcommittee be designated as its vice-
chairman (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----). In the 104th Congress 
paragraph (d) was amended to permit the chairman of a full committee to 
designate vice-chairmen of the committee and its subcommittees (sec. 
223(c), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

  A committee scheduled to meet on stated days, when convened on such 
day with a quorum present may proceed to the transaction of business 
regardless of the absence of the chairman (VIII, 2213, 2214).


[[Page 458]]

Committee records
  A committee meeting being adjourned for lack of a quorum, a majority 
of the members of the committee may not, without the consent of the 
chairman, call a meeting of the committee on the same day (VIII, 2213). 



706a. Required records.

  (e)(1)  Each committee shall keep a 
complete record of all committee action which shall include--


      (A) in the case of any meeting or hearing transcript, a 
substantially verbatim account of remarks actually made during the 
proceedings, subject only to technical, grammatical, and typographical 
corrections authorized by the person making the remarks involved; and



Sec. 706b. 
Public availability.

      (B) a record of the votes on any question on which a rollcall vote 
is demanded.
The result of each such rollcall vote shall be made available by the 
committee for inspection by the public at reasonable  times in the offices of the committee. 
Information so available for public inspection shall include a 
description of the amendment, motion, order, or other proposition and 
the name of each Member voting for and each Member voting against such 
amendment, motion, order, or proposition, and the names of those Members 
present but not voting.



[[Page 459]]
the House, no Member of the House (other than a member of such 
committee) shall have access thereto without the specific, prior 
approval of the committee.


Sec. 706c. Committee files.

  (2)  All committee hearings, 
records, data, charts, and files shall be kept separate and distinct 
from the congressional office records of the Member serving as chairman 
of the committee; and such records shall be the property of the House 
and all Members of the House shall have access thereto, except that in 
the case of records in the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
respecting the conduct of any Member, officer, or employee of 



  (3) Each committee shall include in its rules standards for 
availability of records of the committee delivered to the Archivist of 
the United States under rule XXXVI. Such standards shall specify 
procedures for orders of the committee under clause 3(b)(3) and clause 
4(b) of rule XXXVI, including a requirement that nonavailability of a 
record for a period longer than the period otherwise applicable under 
that rule shall be approved by vote of the committee.

  The first sentence of paragraph (e)(1) was rewritten entirely in the 
104th Congress (sec. 206, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). Its 
predecessor, requiring a complete record of all committee actions, 
including votes on any question on which a roll call was demanded, was 
enacted as section 133(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 
(60 Stat. 812) and made part of the standing rules on January 3, 1953 
(p. 24). The requirement that committee roll calls be subject to public 
inspection was added by section 104(b) of the Legislative Reorganization 
Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and made a part of the rules in the 92d 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). Effective on January 3, 
1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), the requirement 
that proxy votes in committee be made available for public inspection 
was eliminated from this paragraph since proxies were prohibited as of 
that date, but in the 94th Congress clause 2(f) of rule XI was amended 
to permit proxies in committee, and this paragraph was likewise amended 
to reinsert the requirement of availability for public inspection (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20). When proxy voting was again eliminated in 
the 104th Congress, the reference thereto in the third sentence of 
paragraph (e)(1) was deleted (sec. 104(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----).


[[Page 460]]

  Paragraph (e)(2) derives from section 202(d) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), was made a part of the rules 
in the 83d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1953, p. 24), and was amended in 
the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70) to restrict the 
access of Members to certain records of the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct. Paragraph (e)(3) was added in the 101st Congress (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72). 

  A Member's right to access to committee records under this clause does 
not entitle him to make photostatic copies of such records (Speaker 
Rayburn, Aug. 14, 1957, pp. 14737-39), and such records may not be 
brought into the well of the House if the committee has not authorized 
such action (Speaker Rayburn, June 3, 1960, p. 11820). Furthermore, such 
access allows a Member to examine executive session materials only in 
committee rooms and does not permit a Member to copy or to take personal 
notes from such materials, to keep such notes or copies in his personal 
office files, or to release such materials to the public without the 
consent of the committee or subcommittee under clause 2(k)(7) of rule XI 
(Speaker O'Neill, Dec. 6, 1977, pp. 38470-73). This clause allowing all 
Members access to committee records and materials which are the property 
of the House does not necessarily apply to records within the possession 
of the executive branch which the members of the committee have been 
allowed to examine under limited conditions at the discretion of the 
executive agency in possession of such materials (Speaker O'Neill, July 
31, 1980, p. 20765). Compare this clause with clause 7(c) of rule 
XLVIII, which only permits access of non-members of the Select Committee 
on Intelligence to classified information in the possession of that 
committee when authorized by that committee.

  While all Members have access to committee records under this clause, 
testimony or evidence taken in executive sessions of a committee is 
under the control and subject to the regulation of the committee and, 
under clause 2(k)(7) of rule XI (Sec. 712, infra), cannot be released 
without the consent of the committee (Speaker pro tempore Mills, June 
26, 1961, p. 11233; see also Procedure, ch. 17, sec. 15).


Prohibition against proxy voting
  In implementing clause 2(e)(2), committees may prescribe regulations 
to govern the manner of access to their records, such as requiring 
examination only in committee rooms. See the rules of the Committees on 
the Budget, International Relations, and National Security, as compiled 
by the Committee on Rules.




707. Ban on proxies.

  (f)  No vote by any member of any 
committee or subcommittee with respect to any measure or matter may be 
cast by proxy.


  The 104th Congress adopted paragraph (f) in this form (sec. 104, H. 
Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). An earlier form of the provision was 
enacted as section 106(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 
(84 Stat. 1140) and made part of the standing rules in the 92d Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144).


[[Page 461]]
them and specifying the measures or matters to which they applied. 
Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470), proxies in committee were prohibited, but in the 94th Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20), the rule was amended to permit 
proxies in committees with additional restrictions requiring an 
assertion that the grantor was absent on official business or otherwise 
unable to attend, requiring the Member to sign and date the proxy, and 
permitting general proxies for procedural matters.
Open meetings and hearings
  The original form of this paragraph permitted committees to adopt 
written rules permitting proxies in writing, designating the persons to 
execute 


[[Page 462]]



708.

  (g)(1)  Each meeting for the transaction of business, 
including the markup of legislation, of each standing committee or 
subcommittee thereof shall be open to the public, including to radio, 
television, and still photography coverage, except as provided by clause 
3(f)(2), except when the committee or subcommittee, in open session and 
with a majority present, determines by rollcall vote that all or part of 
the remainder of the meeting on that day shall be closed to the public 
because disclosure of matters to be considered would endanger national 
security, would compromise sensitive law enforcement information, would 
tend to defame, degrade or incriminate any person, or otherwise would 
violate any law or rule of the House: Provided, however, That no person 
other than members of the committee and such congressional staff and 
such departmental representatives as they may authorize shall be present 
at any business or markup session which has been closed to the public. 
This paragraph does not apply to open committee hearings which are 
provided for by clause 4(a)(1) of rule X or by subparagraph (2) of this 
paragraph. 


  (2) Each hearing conducted by each committee or subcommittee thereof 
shall be open to the public, including to radio, television, and still 
photography coverage, except when the committee or subcommittee, in open 
session and with a majority present, determines by rollcall vote that 
all or part of the remainder of that hearing on that day shall be closed 
to the public because disclosure of testimony, evidence, or other 
matters to be considered would endanger the national security, would 
compromise sensitive law enforcement information, or would violate any 
law or rule of the House of Representatives. Notwithstanding the 
requirements of the preceding sentence, a majority of those present, 
there being in attendance the requisite number required under the rules 
of the committee to be present for the purpose of taking testimony,

          (A) may vote to close the hearing for the sole purpose of 
discussing whether testimony or evidence to be received would endanger 
the national security, would compromise sensitive law enforcement 
information, or violate clause 2(k)(5) of rule XI; or


[[Page 463]]
series of hearings on a particular article of legislation or on a 
particular subject of investigation, to close its hearings to Members by 
the same procedures designated in this subparagraph for closing hearings 
to the public: Provided, however, That the committee or subcommittee may 
by the same procedure vote to close one subsequent day of hearing except 
that the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on National 
Security, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the 
subcommittees therein may, by the same procedure, vote to close up to 
five additional consecutive days of hearings.
          (B) may vote to close the hearing, as provided in clause 
2(k)(5) of rule XI.
No Member may be excluded from nonparticipatory attendance at any 
hearing of any committee or subcommittee, with the exception of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, unless the House of 
Representatives shall by majority vote authorize a particular committee 
or subcommittee, for purposes of a particular 

  (3) The chairman of each committee of the House (except the Committee 
on Rules) shall make public announcement of the date, place, and subject 
matter of any committee hearing at least one week before the 
commencement of the hearing. If the chairman of the committee, with the 
concurrence of the ranking minority member, determines there is good 
cause to begin the hearing sooner, or if the committee so determines by 
majority vote, a quorum being present for the transaction of business, 
the chairman shall make the announcement at the earliest possible date. 
Any announcement made under this subparagraph shall be promptly 
published in the Daily Digest and promptly entered into the committee 
scheduling service of the House Information Systems.


[[Page 464]]
of his or her appearance) a written statement of the proposed testimony 
and to limit the oral presentation at such appearance to a brief summary 
of his or her argument.
  (4) Each committee shall, insofar as is practicable, require each 
witness who is to appear before it to file with the committee (in 
advance 

  (5) No point of order shall lie with respect to any measure reported 
by any committee on the ground that hearings on such measure were not 
conducted in accordance with the provisions of this clause; except that 
a point of order on that ground may be made by any member of the 
committee which reported the measure if, in the committee, such point of 
order was (A) timely made and (B) improperly overruled or not properly 
considered.


  (6) The preceding provisions of this paragraph do not apply to the 
committee hearings which are provided for by clause 4(a)(1) of rule X.


[[Page 465]]
3, 1983, p. 34). In the 104th Congress subparagraphs (1) and (2) were 
amended to require that meetings and hearings open to the public also be 
open to broadcast and photographic media; subparagraph (1) was further 
amended to permit closed meetings only on specified conditions and to 
delete an exception for meetings relating to internal budget or 
personnel matters; and subparagraph (2) was further amended to specify a 
new condition (sensitive law enforcement information) for closing 
hearings (sec. 105, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). Subparagraph (2) 
was also amended to reflect the new name of the Committee on National 
Security (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  Subparagraphs (1) and (2) relating to open committee meetings and 
hearings, were first made part of the rules on March 7, 1973 (H. Res. 
259, 93d Cong., pp. 6713-20). They were amended in the 94th Congress (H. 
Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20), to limit to one day (in case of a 
committee meeting) or to one day plus one subsequent day (in the case of 
a hearing) the period during which a committee may close its session. 
They were again amended in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, 
pp. 53-70), to require that a majority (rather than a quorum) be present 
when a committee or subcommittee votes to close a meeting or hearing and 
to provide that a non-committee Member cannot be excluded from a hearing 
except by a vote of the House. However, subparagraph (2) was amended in 
the 96th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, p. 8) to permit a majority 
of those present under the rules of the committee for the purpose of 
taking testimony (not less than two Members as provided in clause 
2(h)(1) of rule XI) to vote to close a hearing either to discuss whether 
the testimony would endanger national security or would violate clause 
2(k)(5) of this rule, or to proceed to close the hearing as provided by 
clause 2(k)(5). In the 98th Congress subparagraph (2) was amended 
further to permit the Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services (now 
National Security), and Intelligence and their subcommittees, when 
voting in open session with a quorum present, to close a hearing on that 
particular day and for up to five additional days, for a total of not to 
exceed six days (H. Res. 5, Jan. 

  Subparagraphs (3)-(6) derive from sections 111(b), 113(b), 115(b), and 
242(c) respectively of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 
Stat. 1140) and became part of the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), these provisions were inadvertently 
omitted from the rules, and were therefore reinserted in the 94th 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20). Subparagraph (3) was amended 
in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113) to add the 
requirement of prompt entering of public notice of committee meetings 
into the committee scheduling service of the House Information Systems. 
Subparagraph (3) was again amended in the 104th Congress to permit the 
calling of a hearing on less than seven days' notice upon a 
determination of good cause either by the committee or subcommittee or 
by its chairman, with the concurrence of its ranking minority member (H. 
Res. 43, Jan. 31, 1995, p. ----).
Quorum for taking testimony and certain other action-



709. Quorum of two; of onethird.

  (h)(1)  Each committee may 
fix the number of its members to constitute a quorum for taking 
testimony and receiving evidence which shall be not less than two.



  (2) Each committee (except the Committee on Appropriations, the 
Committee on the Budget, and the Committee on Ways and Means) may fix 
the number of its members to constitute a quorum for taking any action 
other than the reporting of a measure or recommendation which shall be 
not less than one-third of the members.



[[Page 466]]
pp. 53-70) subparagraph (2) was added to authorize committees to fix a 
quorum less than a majority for certain other action. Under clause 2(g) 
of this rule, a majority of a committee or subcommittee must be present 
when a committee or subcommittee votes to close a meeting or hearing, 
under clause (m) of this rule a majority of a committee or subcommittee 
must be present to authorize and issue a subpoena, and under clause 
2(l)(2)(A) of this rule, a majority of a committee or subcommittee must 
be present to order a measure or recommendation reported.
  This paragraph when adopted on March 23, 1955, pp. 3569, 3585, only 
related to the authority of a committee to fix quorum of not less than 
two for taking testimony. In the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, 

  By unanimous consent the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
was authorized to receive evidence and take testimony before a quorum of 
one of its Members for the remainder of the second session of the 100th 
Congress (Oct. 13, 1988, p. 30467).
Limitation on committees' sittings



710. Committees not to sit.

  (i)(1)  No committee of the 
House (except the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on the 
Budget, the Committee on Rules, the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct, and the Committee on Ways and Means) may sit, without special 
leave, while the House is reading a measure for amendment under the 
five-minute rule. For purposes of this paragraph, special leave will be 
granted unless ten or more Members object; and shall be granted upon the 
adoption of a motion, which shall be highly privileged if offered by the 
majority leader, granting such leave to one or more committees.



  (2) No committee of the House may sit during a joint session of the 
House and Senate or during a recess when a joint meeting of the House 
and Senate is in progress.


[[Page 467]]
nization Act of 1970 (sec. 117(b); 84 Stat. 1140) and this revision was 
made part of the standing rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 
1971, p. 14). Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470), the committees exempted from this clause were 
Appropriations, Budget, and Rules; and in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
was also exempted. The Committee on Ways and Means was traditionally 
permitted to sit during proceedings under the five-minute rule by 
unanimous consent granted each Congress (Jan. 29, 1975, p. 1677) until 
it was exempted from the rule in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 
1981, pp. 98-113). A provision that special leave to sit be granted if 
ten Members did not object was added to the clause in the 95th Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70). An exemption for the Committee on 
House Administration and the prohibition against committee meetings 
during joint meetings or joint sessions were added in the 101st Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72). In the 103d Congress the prohibition 
against sitting during proceedings under the five-minute rule was 
stricken altogether (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----), but in the 104th 
Congress the former rule was reinstated with exemptions for the 
Committees on Appropriations, the Budget, Rules, Standards of Official 
Conduct, and Ways and Means, and also with the provision for a 
privileged motion by the Majority Leader (sec. 208, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 
1995, p. ----). The majority leader controls one hour of debate on the 
privileged motion provided under this rule (Jan. 23, 1995, p. ----).
  A clause regulating when committees could sit had its origin in 1794. 
It was omitted from rule XI in the adoption of rules for the 80th 
Congress but remained effective as part of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946, the applicable provisions of which were 
continued as a part of the rules of the House. While the rule formerly 
prohibited committees from sitting at any time when the House was in 
session, it was narrowed to proscribe sittings during the five-minute 
rule by the Legislative Reorga

  At the organization of the 104th Congress, the Speaker reiterated 
policies first enunciated on March 3, 1983, concerning the entertainment 
and disposition of requests for leave to sit under this paragraph, to 
wit: (1) unanimous consent is required to grant permission for a day for 
which the legislative program has not been announced; (2) no request is 
entertained on a day when no vote is scheduled except one for hearings 
only, by unanimous consent, and with the concurrence of the ranking 
minority member; (3) no request is entertained during the 1-minute 
period except with the concurrence of the ranking minority member; (4) 
no request is entertained after the completion of legislative business 
for the day, i.e., after leaves of absence have been laid down or 
unanimous consent requests from the majority and minority tables have 
been entertained at the end of the day; and (5) after objection by 10 
Members, a request may not be renewed on the same day without assurance 
that the objections have been withdrawn (Speaker Gingrich, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----).


[[Page 468]]

Calling and interrogation of witnesses
  Leave for a committee to sit during sessions of the House does not 
release its members from liability to arrest during a call of the House 
(IV, 3020). The Speaker declared a committee meeting void and directed a 
bill stricken from the calendar where it was shown that the committee 
reporting it had sat and ordered it reported during the session of the 
House without permission (Apr. 20, 1934, p.7057). 



711.

  (j)(1)  Whenever any hearing is conducted by any 
committee upon any measure or matter, the minority party Members on the 
committee shall be entitled, upon request to the chairman by a majority 
of them before the completion of the hearing, to call witnesses selected 
by the minority to testify with respect to that measure or matter during 
at least one day of hearing thereon.



  (2) Each committee shall apply the five-minute rule in the 
interrogation of witnesses in any hearing until such time as each member 
of the committee who so desires has had an opportunity to question each 
witness.

  Paragraph (j)(1) was contained in section 114(b) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and was made a part of the 
rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). Paragraph 
(j)(2) was added to the rules on that latter date. While a majority of 
the minority members of a committee are entitled to call witnesses 
selected by the minority for at least one day of hearings, no rule of 
the House requires the calling of witnesses on opposing sides of an 
issue (Oct. 14, 1987, p. 27921).
Investigative hearing procedures



712.

  (k)(1)  The chairman at an investigative hearing shall 
announce in an opening statement the subject of the investigation.


  (2) A copy of the committee rules and this clause shall be made 
available to each witness.


[[Page 469]]

  (3) Witnesses at investigative hearings may be accompanied by their 
own counsel for the purpose of advising them concerning their 
constitutional rights. 

  (4) The chairman may punish breaches of order and decorum, and of 
professional ethics on the part of counsel, by censure and exclusion 
from the hearings; and the committee may cite the offender to the House 
for contempt.

  (5) Whenever it is asserted that the evidence or testimony at an 
investigatory hearing may tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any 
person,

          (A) such testimony or evidence shall be presented in executive 
session, notwithstanding the provisions of clause 2(g)(2) of this rule, 
if by a majority of those present, there being in attendance the 
requisite number required under the rules of the committee to be present 
for the purpose of taking testimony, the committee determines that such 
evidence or testimony may tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any 
person; and

          (B) the committee shall proceed to receive such testimony in 
open session only if a majority of the members of the committee, a 
majority being present, determine that such evidence or testimony will 
not tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person.
In either case the committee shall afford such person an opportunity 
voluntarily to appear as a witness, and receive and dispose of requests 
from such person to subpoena additional witnesses.


[[Page 470]]
shall dispose of requests to subpoena additional witnesses.
  (6) Except as provided in subparagraph (5), the chairman shall receive 
and the committee 

  (7) No evidence or testimony taken in executive session may be 
released or used in public sessions without the consent of the 
committee.

  (8) In the discretion of the committee, witnesses may submit brief and 
pertinent sworn statements in writing for inclusion in the record. The 
committee is the sole judge of the pertinency of testimony and evidence 
adduced at its hearing.


  (9) A witness may obtain a transcript copy of his testimony given at a 
public session or, if given at an executive session, when authorized by 
the committee.


[[Page 471]]

Committee procedures for reporting bills and resolutions
  The provisions of paragraph (k) were first incorporated into the rules 
on March 23, 1955, pp. 3569, 3585. The requirement of paragraph (k)(2) 
that a copy of committee rules be furnished to each witness was added in 
the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144), and the former 
requirement of paragraph (k)(9) that a witness must pay the cost of a 
transcript copy of his testimony was eliminated under the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Paragraph (k)(5) was amended in the 96th 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16) to permit a committee to 
hear testimony asserted to be defamatory in executive session upon a 
determination by a majority of those present that such testimony is 
indeed defamatory, degrading, or incriminating. The requirements of 
clause 2(g)(1) and (2) and of 2(m)(2)(A) of this rule that a majority of 
the committee or subcommittee shall constitute a quorum for the purposes 
of closing meetings or hearings or issuing subpoenas have been construed 
to require, under clause 2(k)(7) of this rule, that a majority shall 
likewise constitute a quorum to release or make public any evidence or 
testimony received in any closed meeting or hearing and any other 
executive session record of the committee or subcommittee. See also 
clauses 3(a) and 7(c)(2) of rule XLVIII, which provide that executive 
session material transmitted by the Intelligence Committee to another 
committee of the House becomes the executive session material of the 
recipient committee by virtue of the nature of the material and the 
injunction of clauses 7(c), (d), and (e) of that rule which prohibit 
disclosure of information provided to committees or Members of the House 
except in a secret session. 



713a. Chairman's duty.

  (l)(1)(A)  It shall be the duty of 
the chairman of each committee to report or cause to be reported 
promptly to the House any measure approved by the committee and to take 
or cause to be taken necessary steps to bring the matter to a vote.





Sec. 713b. Filing by majority of Committee.

  (B)  In any 
event, the report of any committee on a measure which has been approved 
by the committee shall be filed within seven calendar days (exclusive of 
days on which the House is not in session) after the day on which there 
has been filed with the clerk of the committee a written request, signed 
by a majority of the members of the committee, for the reporting of that 
measure. Upon the filing of any such request, the clerk of the committee 
shall transmit immediately to the chairman of the committee notice of 
the filing of that request. This subdivision does not apply to a report 
of the Committee on Rules with respect to the rules, joint rules, or 
order of business of the House or to the reporting of a resolution of 
inquiry addressed to the head of an executive department.



[[Page 472]]
section 307 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 313), 
requiring the Committee on Appropriations to strive to complete 
committee action on all regular appropriation bills before reporting any 
of them to the House, and to submit a report comparing specified 
spending levels, but was repealed by section 232(e) of the Balanced 
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, Dec. 12, 
1985). An obsolete reference in subdivision (B) to the former 
subdivision (C) was deleted in the 104th Congress (sec. 223(f), H. Res. 
6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  Subdivision (1)(A) is from section 133(c) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812) and was made a part of the 
standing rules on January 3, 1953 (p. 24). It is sufficient authority 
for the chairman to call up a bill on Calendar Wednesday (Speaker 
Rayburn, Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2162). Subdivision (1)(B) is derived from 
section 105 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 
1140) and was made part of the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). A subdivision (1)(C) was added by the Committee 
Reform Amendments of 1974, effective Jan. 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d 
Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), to incorporate 


  Committee reports must be submitted while the House is in session 
(with the exception of reports on certain budget resolutions under 
section 310(a) of the Congressional Budget Act (Sec. 1007, infra), and 
that requirement may be waived by unanimous consent only, and not by 
motion (Dec. 17, 1982, p. 31951).



Sec. 713c. Requirement of quorum.

  (2)(A)  No measure or 
recommendation shall be reported from any committee unless a majority of 
the committee was actually present.





Sec. 713d. Vote on reporting.

  (B)  With respect to each 
rollcall vote on a motion to report any measure or matter of a public 
character, and on any amendment offered to the measure or matter, the 
total number of votes cast for and against, and the names of those 
members voting for and against, shall be included in the committee 
report on the measure or matter.



[[Page 473]]
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. ----), but in the 104th Congress both of 
those features were deleted from the rule (sec. 207, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 
1995, p. ----).
  Subparagraph (2)(A) is from section 133(d) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812) and was made a part of the 
rules on January 3, 1953 (p. 24). The point of order that a bill was 
reported from a committee without a formal meeting and a quorum present 
comes too late if debate has started on a bill in the House (VIII, 2223; 
Feb. 24, 1947, p. 1374). No committee report is valid unless authorized 
with a quorum of the committee actually present at the time the vote is 
taken (IV, 4584; VIII, 2211, 2212, 2221, 2222), and while Speakers have 
indicated that committee members may come and go during the course of 
the vote if the roll call indicates that a quorum was present (VIII, 
2222), where it is admitted that a quorum was not in the room at any 
time during the vote and the committee transcript does not show a quorum 
acting as a quorum, the Chair will sustain the point of order (VIII, 
2212). In the 103d Congress, clause 2(l)(2)(A) was amended to provide 
that responses to roll calls in committee be deemed contemporaneous and 
to require that a point of no quorum with respect to a committee report 
be timely asserted in committee or considered waived 

  Where the committee transcript was not conclusive and the manager of 
the bill gave absolute assurance that a majority of the full committee 
was actually present when the bill was ordered reported the Speaker 
overruled a point of order made under subparagraph (2)(A) (Oct. 22, 
1987, p. 28807). A point of no quorum pending a committee vote on 
ordering a measure reported may provoke a quorum call requiring a 
majority of the committee to be present in the committee room. A 
committee may act only when together, nothing being the report of the 
committee except what has been agreed to in committee actually assembled 
(see Jefferson's Manual at Sec. 407, supra).

  The requirement of subparagraph (2)(B) was contained in section 104(b) 
of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140), was 
incorporated into the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 
1971, p. 144), and was restated in the 104th Congress to require that 
reports also reflect the total number of votes cast for and against any 
public measure or matter and any amendment thereto and the names of 
those voting for and against (sec. 209, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----
). If the accompanying report erroneously reflects information required 
by this paragraph, a bill would be subject to a point of order against 
its consideration; however, a point of order would not lie if the error 
was introduced by the Government Printing Office (Jan. 19, 1995, p. ----
).


[[Page 474]]
the total estimated funding level for the relevant program (or 
programs) to the appropriate levels under current law; (C) the estimate 
and comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office under section 403 of such Act, separately set out and clearly 
identified, whenever the Director (if timely submitted prior to the 
filing of the report) has submitted such estimate and comparison to the 
committee; and (D) a summary of the oversight findings and 
recommendations made by the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight 
under clause 4(c)(2) of rule X separately set out and clearly identified 
whenever such findings and recommendations have been submitted to the 
legislative committee in a timely fashion to allow an opportunity to 
consider such findings and recommendations during the committee's 
deliberations on the measure.



Sec. 713e. Content of reports.

  (3)  The report of any 
committee on a measure which has been approved by the committee shall 
include (A) the oversight findings and recommendations required pursuant 
to clause 2(b)(1) of rule X separately set out and clearly identified; 
(B) the statement required by section 308(a)(1) of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974, separately set out and clearly identified, if the 
measure provides new budget authority (other than continuing 
appropriations), new spending authority described in section 401(c)(2) 
of such Act, new credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures, except that the estimates with respect to 
new budget authority shall include, when practicable, a comparison of 




[[Page 475]]

  The provisions of subparagraph (3) became effective January 3, 1975 
(H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The subparagraph was 
amended in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), to 
correct a cross-reference, and in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 
1993, p. ----) to correct the typographical transposition of a phrase. 
Subdivisions (B) and (C) are requirements of sections 308(a) and 403 of 
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 297). Subdivision (B) was 
amended in the 99th Congress by section 232(f) of the Balanced Budget 
and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-177, Dec. 12, 1985) 
to include new entitlement and credit authority in conformity with 
section 308(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended by 
that law. It was again amended in the 104th Congress to require 
estimates of new budget authority, when practicable, to compare the 
total estimated funding for the program to the appropriate level under 
current law (sec. 102(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). At the same 
time it was also amended to reflect the new name of the Committee on 
Government Reform and Oversight (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----).




Sec. 713f. Inflationary impact.

  (4)  Each report of a 
committee on each bill or joint resolution of a public character 
reported by such committee shall contain a detailed analytical statement 
as to whether the enactment of such bill or joint resolution into law 
may have an inflationary impact on prices and costs in the operation of 
the national economy.



  Subparagraph (4) became a part of the rules under the Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., 
Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). If a point of order were sustained under this 
paragraph, the measure would be recommitted to the reporting committee 
(Feb. 13, 1995, p. ----).




Sec. 713g. Application of laws to Legislative 
branch.

  Under  the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, each report 
accompanying a bill or joint resolution relating to terms and conditions 
of employment or access to public services or accommodations must 
describe the manner in which the provisions apply to the Legislative 
branch or a statement of the reasons the provisions do not apply, and 
any Member may raise a point of order against the consideration of a 
bill or joint resolution not complying with this requirement (sec. 
102(b)(3), P.L. 104-1; 109 Stat. 6).





Sec. 713h. Unfunded mandates.

  The  Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to 
title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) 
that, effective on January 1, 1996, or 90 days after appropriations are 
made available to the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to the 1995 
Act (whichever is earlier), imposes several requirements on committees 
with respect to measures effecting ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 
2 U.S.C. 659b-c) and establishes points of order to enforce those 
requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d). See Sec. 1007, infra.



[[Page 476]]
Sundays, and legal holidays) in which to file such views, in writing 
and signed by that member, with the clerk of the committee. All such 
views so filed by one or more members of the committee shall be included 
within, and shall be a part of, the report filed by the committee with 
respect to that measure or matter. The report of the committee upon that 
measure or matter shall be printed in a single volume which--


Sec. 714. Minority views.

  (5)  If, at the time of approval of 
any measure or matter by any committee, other than the Committee on 
Rules, any member of the committee gives notice of intention to file 
supplemental, minority, or additional views, that member shall be 
entitled to not less than three calendar days (excluding Saturdays, 


          (A) shall include all supplemental, minority, or additional 
views which have been submitted by the time of the filing of the report, 
and

          (B) shall bear upon its cover a recital that any such 
supplemental, minority, or additional views (and any material submitted 
under subdivisions (C) and (D) of subparagraph (3)) are included as part 
of the report.
This subparagraph does not preclude--

          (i) the immediate filing or printing of a committee report 
unless timely request for the opportunity to file supplemental, 
minority, or additional views has been made as provided by this 
subparagraph; or


          (ii) the filing by any such committee of any supplemental 
report upon any measure or matter which may be required for the 
correction of any technical error in a previous report made by that 
committee upon that measure or matter.


[[Page 477]]
(B) was added under the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective 
January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470).

-  (6) <> A measure or matter 
reported by any committee (except the Committee on Rules in the case of 
a resolution making in order the consideration of a bill, resolution, or 
other order of business), shall not be considered in the House until the 
third calendar day, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays on 
which the report of that committee upon that measure or matter has been 
available to the Members of the House, or as provided by section 
305(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 in the case of a 
concurrent resolution on the budget: Provided, however, That it shall 
always be in order to call up for consideration, notwithstanding the 
provisions of clause 4(b) of rule XI, a report from the Committee on 
Rules specifically providing for the consideration of a reported measure 
or matter notwithstanding this restriction. If hearings have been held 
on any such measure or matter so reported, the committee reporting the 
measure or matter shall make every reasonable effort to have such 
hearings printed and available for distribution to the Members of the 
House prior to the consideration of such measure or matter in the House.
This subparagraph shall not apply to--
  Subparagraph (5) was originally included in section 107 of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and was 
incorporated into the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 
1971, p. 144). Subdivision 

          (A) any measure for the declaration of war, or the declaration 
of a national emergency, by the Congress; or


[[Page 478]]
come or continue to be, effective unless disapproved or otherwise 
invalidated by one or both Houses of Congress.
For the purposes of the preceding sentence, a Government agency includes 
any department, agency, establishment, wholly owned Government 
corporation, or instrumentality of the Federal Government or the 
government of the District of Columbia.

          (B) any decision, determination, or action by a Government 
agency which would be

  Subparagraph (6) was originally contained in section 108 of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and was 
incorporated into the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 
1971, p. 144). The rule was amended on October 13, 1972 (H. Res. 1153, 
92d Cong., pp. 36013-23), on January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., 
Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), and in the 94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 
1975, p. 20). In the 94th Congress it was amended to require that 
reports and reported measures be available for two hours but to permit 
the immediate consideration of a resolution reported from the Committee 
on Rules waiving this layover requirement (H. Res. 868, Feb. 26, 1976, 
p. 4625). In the 95th Congress it was amended to permit consideration of 
a measure on the third day of availability rather than on the third day 
following availability (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70). In the 96th 
Congress it was amended to require that copies of a committee report be 
available for three calendar days rather than two hours before the 
beginning of consideration of the reported measure (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 
1979, p. 8). In the 102d Congress it was amended to clarify the 
availability requirements for reported measures, including concurrent 
resolutions on the budget (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. ----).


[[Page 479]]
pursuant to legislative veto provisions in laws having the effect of 
approving or invalidating the actions of any government agency (and not 
just agencies of the executive branch). That exception allows the 
consideration of a measure disapproving an executive branch decision 
pursuant to statute within three days of the expiration of the 
congressional review period, notwithstanding the three-day availability 
requirement (concurrent resolution disapproving a regulation of the 
Federal Trade Commission pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission 
Improvements Act, P.L. 96-252) (May 26, 1982, pp. 12027-30). A report 
from a committee which raises a question of the privileges of the House, 
such as a report relating to the contemptuous conduct of a witness 
before the committee, may be considered notwithstanding the availability 
requirements of this clause (Speaker Albert, July 13, 1971, pp. 24720-
23; see also Deschler's Precedents, vol. 3, ch. 14, sec. 7.4, fn. 10, 
with respect to impeachment reports).

-  With <> respect to the committee 
expense resolutions reported by the Committee on House Oversight 
pursuant to clause 5 of rule XI, the requirement of that clause for the 
one-day availability of printed copies, rather than the three-day 
requirement of this rule, is applicable, but other privileged 
resolutions reported from that committee are now subject to this clause 
(Speaker Albert, Mar. 6, 1975, p. 5537).

  The availability requirement is not applicable to privileged reports 
from the Committee on Rules or to bills before the House which have not 
been reported from committee (Speaker Albert, Aug. 10, 1976, p. 26793), 
and the exception from the three-day availability requirement for 
certain reports from the Committee on Rules must be read in light of the 
broader authority, contained in clause 4(b) of this rule, conferred on 
that committee to call up other reports after one day of availability. 
The Committee on Rules has the authority under clause 4(a) of rule XI to 
report a special order making in order the text of an introduced bill as 
a substitute original text for a reported bill, and no point of order 
lies that such introduced text has not been available for three days 
under this rule, which only applies to the consideration of reported 
measures themselves (Oct. 9, 1986, p. 29973). The exceptions from the 
three-day layover requirement provided in the last two sentences of this 
paragraph were expanded in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, 
p. 98) to include resolutions called up 




Sec. 717.

  (7)  If, within seven calendar days after a measure 
has, by resolution, been made in order for consideration by the House, 
no motion has been offered that the House consider that measure, any 
member of the committee which reported that measure may be recognized in 
the discretion of the Speaker to offer a motion that the House shall 
consider that measure, if that committee has duly authorized that member 
to offer that motion.



[[Page 480]]

Power to sit and act; subpoena power
  Subaragraph (7) was contained in section 109 of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and became part of the rules 
in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). This 
subparagraph should be read in light of clause 1(b) of rule XXIII, which 
provides for the House resolving into the Committee of the Whole by 
declaration of the Speaker pursuant to a special order of business 
rather than by adoption of a motion. 



718. Administration of oaths to witnesses.

  (m)(1)  For the 
purpose of carrying out any of its functions and duties under this rule 
and rule X (including any matters referred to it under clause 5 of rule 
X), any committee, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized (subject 
to subparagraph (2)(A) of this paragraph)--


          (A) to sit and act at such times and places within the United 
States, whether the House is in session, has recessed, or has adjourned, 
and to hold such hearings, and

          (B) to require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and 
testimony of such witnesses and the production of such books, records, 
correspondence, memorandums, papers, and documents
as it deems necessary. The chairman of the committee, or any member 
designated by such chairman, may administer oaths to any witness.


[[Page 481]]

  (2)(A) A subpoena may be authorized and issued by a committee or 
subcommittee under subparagaph (1)(B) in the conduct of any 
investigation or series of investigations or activities, only when 
authorized by a majority of the members voting, a majority being 
present. The power to authorize and issue subpoenas under subparagraph 
(1)(B) may be delegated to the chairman of the committee pursuant to 
such rules and under such limitations as the committee may prescribe. 
Authorized subpoenas shall be signed by the chairman of the committee or 
by any member designated by the committee. 


  (B) Compliance with any subpoena issued by a committee or subcommittee 
under subparagraph (1)(B) may be enforced only as authorized or directed 
by the House.

  Prior to the adoption of clause 2(m) under the Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., 
Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), only the Committees on Appropriations, the 
Budget, Government Operations, Internal Security, and Standards of 
Official Conduct were permitted by the standing rules to perform the 
functions as specified in subparagraphs (1)(A) and (1)(B), and other 
standing and select committees were given those authorities by separate 
resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules each Congress. In the 
94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20), subparagraph (2)(A) was 
amended to require authorized subpoenas to be signed by the chairman of 
the full committee or any member designated by the committee; and in the 
95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70) the clause was 
altered to permit subcommittees, as well as full committees, to 
authorize subpoenas and to allow the delegation of such authority to the 
chairman of the full committee. A subpoena issued under this clause need 
only be signed by the chairman of the committee or by any member 
designated by the committee, whereas when the House issues an order or 
warrant the Speaker must under clause 4 of rule I issue the summons 
under his hand and seal, and it must be attested by the Clerk pursuant 
to clause 3 of rule III (III, 1668; see H. Rept. 96-1078, p. 22). 
Pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 191, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives, or a chairman of any joint committee 
established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of 
Congress, or of a committee of the whole, or of any committee of either 
House of Congress, is empowered to administer oaths to witnesses in any 
case under their examination, and any member of either House of Congress 
may administer oaths to witnesses in any matter depending in either 
House of Congress of which he is a Member, or any committee thereof.


[[Page 482]]

Use of committee funds for travel
  While under this clause the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
may issue subpoenas in investigating the conduct of a Member, officer or 
employee of the House (the extent of the committee's jurisdiction under 
rule X), where the House mandates a possible investigation by that 
committee of other persons not directly associated with the House, the 
committee's jurisdiction is thereby enlarged and a broader subpoena 
authority must be conferred on the committee (Mar. 3, 1976, p. 5165). 
Subparagraph (2)(B) has been interpreted to require authorization by the 
full House before a subcommittee chairman could intervene in a law suit 
in order to gain access to documents subpoenaed by the subcommittee. In 
re Beef Industry Antitrust Litigation, 589 F.2d 786 (5th Cir. 1979). 

  (n)(1) Funds authorized for a committee under clause 5 are for 
expenses incurred in the committee's activities; however, local 
currencies owned by the United States shall be made available to the 
committee and its employees engaged in carrying out their official 
duties outside the United States, its territories or possessions. No 
appropriated funds, including those authorized under clause 5, shall be 
expended for the purpose of defraying expenses of members of the 
committee or its employees in any country where local currencies are 
available for this purpose; and the following conditions shall apply 
with respect to travel outside the United States or its territories or 
possessions:



Sec. 719a. Committee Travel.

      (A)  No member or employee 
of the committee shall receive or expend local currencies for 
subsistence in any country for any day at a rate in excess of the 
maximum per diem set forth in applicable Federal law, or if the Member 
or employee is reimbursed for any expenses for such day, then the lesser 
of the per diem or the actual, unreimbursed expenses (other than for 
transportation) incurred by the Member or employee during that day.



[[Page 483]]
pended for any other official purpose and shall summarize in these 
categories the total foreign currencies and/or appropriated funds 
expended. All such individual reports shall be filed no later than sixty 
days following the completion of travel with the chairman of the 
committee for use in complying with reporting requirements in applicable 
Federal law and shall be open for public inspection.


Sec. 719b. Travel reports.

      (B)  Each member or employee 
of the committee shall make to the chairman of the committee an itemized 
report showing the dates each country was visited, the amount of per 
diem furnished, the cost of transportation furnished, any funds ex


  (2) In carrying out the committee's activities outside the United 
States in any country where local currencies are unavailable, a member 
or employee of the committee may not receive reimbursement for expenses 
(other than for transportation) in excess of the maximum per diem set 
forth in applicable Federal law, or if the member or employee is 
reimbursed for any expenses for such day, then the lesser of the per 
diem or the actual, unreimbursed expenses (other than for 
transportation) incurred, by the Member or employee during any day.

  (3) A member or employee of a committee may not receive reimbursement 
for the cost of any transportation in connection with travel outside of 
the United States unless the member or employee has actually paid for 
the transportation.


[[Page 484]]
vision of these Rules of the House of Representatives.
  (4) The restrictions respecting travel outside of the United States 
set forth in subparagraphs (2) and (3) shall also apply to travel 
outside of the United States by Members, officers, and employees of the 
House authorized under clause 8 of rule I, clause 1(b) of this rule, or 
any other pro

  (5) No local currencies owned by the United States may be made 
available under this paragraph for the use outside of the United States 
for defraying the expenses of a member of any committee after--

          (A) the date of the general election of Members in which the 
Member has not been elected to the succeeding Congress; or


          (B) in the case of a Member who is not a candidate in such 
general election, the earlier of the date of such general election or 
the adjournment sine die of the last regular session of the Congress.

  Prior to the adoption of clause (n) and of clause 1(b) of rule XI 
under the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 
(H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), each committee was 
given separate authority to incur expenses in connection with their 
investigations and studies, and certain committees were authorized to 
use local currencies for foreign committee travel, in resolutions 
reported from the Committee on Rules in each Congress. This clause was 
amended in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70) to 
clarify the availability of local currencies for travel outside the 
United States and its territories and possessions, to require reports 
within 60 days for use in complying with statutory reporting 
requirements, and to authorize the Committee on House Administration 
(now House Oversight) to recommend in expense resolutions expenses for 
foreign as well as domestic travel. Clause (n)(1)(A) was further amended 
on March 2, 1977 (H. Res. 287, 95th Cong., pp. 5933-53) to limit all 
travel expenses to the maximum per diem rate or actual, unreimbursed 
expenses, whichever is less. As indicated in clause 1(b), the authority 
to incur expenses (including travel expenses) is subject to the adoption 
of expense resolutions reported from the Committee on House Oversight as 
required by clause 5 of rule XI.


[[Page 485]]
terly basis, and individual reports required within 30 days after the 
travel involved, must be forwarded to the Clerk of the House and 
published in the Congressional Record.



  Under section 502(b) of the Mutual Security Act of 1954 (22 U.S.C. 
1754, as amended by sec. 22, P.L. 95-384), foreign local currencies 
owned or purchased by the United States may be used for foreign travel 
expenses by members or employees of standing or select committees when 
authorized by the chairman thereof, and by other Members or employees 
when authorized by the Speaker. Consolidated committee reports prepared 
on a quar


                   Broadcasting of Committee Hearings



Sec. 720.

  3.  (a) It is the purpose of this clause to provide 
a means, in conformity with acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, 
and decorum, by which committee hearings, or committee meetings, which 
are open to the public may be covered, by television broadcast, radio 
broadcast, and still photography, or by any of such methods of 
coverage--


      (1) for the education, enlightenment, and information of the 
general public, on the basis of accurate and impartial news coverage, 
regarding the operations, procedures, and practices of the House as a 
legislative and representative body and regarding the measures, public 
issues, and other matters before the House and its committees, the 
consideration thereof, and the action taken thereon; and

      (2) for the development of the perspective and understanding of 
the general public with respect to the role and function of the House 
under the Constitution of the United States as an organ of the Federal 
Government.


[[Page 486]]

  (b) In addition, it is the intent of this clause that radio and 
television tapes and television film of any coverage under this clause 
shall not be used, or made available for use, as partisan political 
campaign material to promote or oppose the candidacy of any person for 
elective public office.



Sec. 721. Media coverage.

  (c)  It is, further, the intent of 
this clause that the general conduct of each meeting (whether of a 
hearing or otherwise) covered, under authority of this clause, by 
television broadcast, radio broadcast, and still photography, or by any 
of such methods of coverage, and the personal behavior of the committee 
members and staff, other Government officials and personnel, witnesses, 
television, radio, and press media personnel, and the general public at 
the hearing or other meeting shall be in strict conformity with and 
observance of the acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, courtesy, 
and decorum traditionally observed by the House in its operations and 
shall not be such as to--


      (1) distort the objects and purposes of the hearing or other 
meeting or the activities of committee members in connection with that 
hearing or meeting or in connection with the general work of the 
committee or of the House; or

      (2) cast discredit or dishonor on the House, the committee, or any 
Member or bring the House, the committee, or any Member into disrepute.


[[Page 487]]

  (d) The coverage of committee hearings and meetings by television 
broadcast, radio broadcast, or still photography shall be permitted and 
conducted only in strict conformity with the purposes, provisions, and 
requirements of this clause.



Sec. 722. When permitted.

  (e)  Whenever a hearing or meeting 
conducted by any committee or subcommittee of the House is open to the 
public, those proceedings shall be open to coverage by television, 
radio, and still photography, except as provided in paragraph (f)(2). A 
committee or subcommittee chairman may not limit the number of 
television or still cameras to fewer than two representatives from each 
medium (except for legitimate space or safety considerations, in which 
case pool coverage shall be authorized).




Sec. 723. Committee rules.

  (f)  The written rules which may 
be adopted by a committee under paragraph (e) of this clause shall 
contain provisions to the following effect:


      (1) If the television or radio coverage of the hearing or meeting 
is to be presented to the public as live coverage, that coverage shall 
be conducted and presented without commercial sponsorship.


[[Page 488]]

      (2) No witness served with a subpoena by the committee shall be 
required against his or her will to be photographed at any hearing or to 
give evidence or testimony while the broadcasting of that hearing, by 
radio or television, is being conducted. At the request of any such 
witness who does not wish to be subjected to radio, television, or still 
photography coverage, all lenses shall be covered and all microphones 
used for coverage turned off. This subparagraph is supplementary to 
clause 2(k)(5) of this rule, relating to the protection of the rights of 
witnesses. 

      (3) The allocation among the television media of the positions of 
the number of television cameras permitted by a committee or 
subcommittee chairman in a hearing or meeting room shall be in 
accordance with fair and equitable procedures devised by the Executive 
Committee of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries.

      (4) Television cameras shall be placed so as not to obstruct in 
any way the space between any witness giving evidence or testimony and 
any member of the committee or the visibility of that witness and that 
member to each other.

      (5) Television cameras shall operate from fixed positions but 
shall not be placed in positions which obstruct unnecessarily the 
coverage of the hearing or meeting by the other media.

      (6) Equipment necessary for coverage by the television and radio 
media shall not be installed in, or removed from, the hearing or meeting 
room while the committee is in session.


[[Page 489]]
erage of the hearing or meeting at the then current state of the art of 
television coverage.
      (7) Floodlights, spotlights, strobelights, and flashguns shall not 
be used in providing any method of coverage of the hearing or meeting, 
except that the television media may install additional lighting in the 
hearing or meeting room, without cost to the Government, in order to 
raise the ambient lighting level in the hearing or meeting room to the 
lowest level necessary to provide adequate television cov



Sec. 724. Press photographers.

      (8)  In the allocation of 
the number of still photographers permitted by a committee or 
subcommittee chairman in a hearing or meeting room, preference shall be 
given to photographers from Associated Press Photos and United Press 
International Newspictures. If requests are made by more of the media 
than will be permitted by a committee or subcommittee chairman for 
coverage of the hearing or meeting by still photography, that coverage 
shall be made on the basis of a fair and equitable pool arrangement 
devised by the Standing Committee of Press Photographers.


      (9) Photographers shall not position themselves, at any time 
during the course of the hearing or meeting, between the witness table 
and the members of the committee.

      (10) Photographers shall not place themselves in positions which 
obstruct unnecessarily the coverage of the hearing by the other media.



Sec. 725. Accreditation.

      (11)  Personnel providing 
coverage by the television and radio media shall be then currently 
accredited to the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries.



[[Page 490]]

      (12) Personnel providing coverage by still photography shall be 
then currently accredited to the Press Photographers' Gallery. 


      (13) Personnel providing coverage by the television and radio 
media and by still photography shall conduct themselves and their 
coverage activities in an orderly and unobtrusive manner.




  The rule permitting broadcasting of committee hearings was contained 
in section 116(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 
Stat. 1140) and became part of the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). In the 93d Congress (H. Res. 1107, July 22, 
1974, p. 24447), the rule was amended to permit committees to adopt 
rules allowing coverage of committee meetings as well as hearings. 
Paragraphs (e), (f)(3), (f)(5), and (f)(8) of this clause were amended 
in the 99th Congress to remove the limit on the number of television 
cameras (previously four) and press photographers (previously five) 
covering committee proceedings, and to provide the committee or 
subcommittee chairman with the discretion to determine the appropriate 
number (H. Res. 7, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 393). In the 104th Congress 
paragraph (d) was amended to delete the former characterization of 
broadcast and photographic coverage of committee meetings and hearings 
as ``a privilege made available by the House,'' and paragraph (e) was 
amended to eliminate the requirement that a committee vote to permit 
broadcast and photographic coverage of open hearings and meetings and to 
prohibit chairmen from limiting coverage to less than two 
representatives from each medium, except where space or safety 
considerations warrant pool coverage (sec. 105, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, 
p. ----).


                    Privileged Reports and Amendments


[[Page 491]]
tested elections, and all matters referred to it of printing for the 
use of the House or the two Houses, and on all matters of expenditure of 
the contingent fund of the House, and on all matters relating to 
preservation and availability of noncurrent records of the House under 
rule XXXVI; the Committee on Rules--on rules, joint rules, and the order 
of business; and the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct--on 
resolutions recommending action by the House of Representatives with 
respect to an individual Member, officer, or employee of the House of 
Representatives as a result of any investigation by the committee 
relating to the official conduct of such Member, officer, or employee of 
the House of Representatives.



Sec. 726.

  4.  (a) The following committees shall have leave 
to report at any time on the matters herein stated, namely: The 
Committee on Appropriations--on general appropriation bills and on joint 
resolutions continuing appropriations for a fiscal year if reported 
after September 15 preceding the beginning of such fiscal year; the 
Committee on the Budget--on the matters required to be reported by such 
committee under Titles III and IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974; the Committee on House Oversight--on enrolled bills, con



[[Page 492]]
House records. In the 104th Congress it was amended to reflect the new 
name of the Committee on House Oversight (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 
4, 1995, p. ----).
  The origins of this rule appear as early as 1812, but it was in 1886 
that the various provisions were consolidated in one rule. The rule was 
amended by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), on 
February 2, 1951 (p. 883), and by the Committee Reform Amendments of 
1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, 
p. 34470). On the latter date the privileges given to the Committee on 
Interior and Insular Affairs on bills for the forfeiture of land grants 
to railroad and other corporations, preventing speculation in the public 
lands and reserving public lands for the benefit of actual and bona fide 
settlers, and for the admission of new States, to the Committee on 
Public Works on bills authorizing the improvement of rivers and harbors, 
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs on general pension bills, and to 
the Committee on Ways and Means on bills raising revenue, were 
eliminated from the rule. In the 94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 
1975, p. 20), the rule was further amended to reinsert ``contested 
elections'' under the authority of the Committee on House Administration 
(now House Oversight), a matter inadvertently omitted by the 93d 
Congress (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). The rule was amended in 
the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113) to permit joint 
resolutions continuing appropriations to be privileged if reported after 
a certain date. In the 101st Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72), 
the rule was amended to include under the authority of the Committee on 
House Administration (now House Oversight) all matters relating to 
preservation and availability of noncurrent 

  At the time these privileges originated all reports were made on the 
floor, and often with great difficulty because of the pressure of 
business (IV, 4621), and by giving this privilege the most important 
matters of business were greatly expedited. In 1890 a rule was adopted 
providing that reports should be made by filing with the Clerk, but 
privileged reports must still be made from the floor (IV, 3146; VIII, 
2230). A privileged report from the Committee on Rules may be filed at 
any time when the House is in session, including during special order 
speeches (Oct. 14, 1986, p. 30861). Prior to the original adoption of 
the provisions contained in clause 2(l)(6) of the rule XI in the 92d 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144), the right of reporting at 
any time was held to give the right of immediate consideration by the 
House (IV, 3131, 3132, 3142-47; VIII, 2291, 2312). However, from that 
date until the effective date of the present provisions of clause 
2(l)(6) on January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470), only the Committees on House Administration (now House 
Oversight), Rules (subject to the two-thirds vote requirement of clause 
4(b) of rule XI), and Standards of Official Conduct could call up a 
matter in the House for immediate consideration as soon as the report 
was filed. Now only reports from the Committee on Rules on rules, joint 
rules, and the order of business, under clause 4(b) of this rule, 
reports from the Committee on House Oversight on committee expense 
resolutions, under clause 5(a) of this rule, and reports constituting 
questions of privilege (see generally Deschler's Precedents, vol. 3, ch. 
14, sec. 7.4, fn. 10, discussing ruling of Speaker Albert, July 13, 
1971, on a reported contempt) are exempt from the requirements of clause 
2(l)(6) (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Other 
committees enumerated in this clause may still utilize the privilege 
after the report on the bill or resolution has been available for at 
least three calendar days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal 
holidays). Once called up for consideration, the matter so reported 
remains privileged until disposed of (IV, 3145). The House proceeds to 
the consideration of privileged questions only on motion directed to be 
made by the several committees reporting such questions (VIII, 2310). 
Privileged questions reported adversely have the same status so far as 
their privilege is concerned as those reported favorably (VI, 413; VIII, 
2310).


[[Page 493]]



Sec. 727. Privileged reports defined.

  The  matters reported 
under the provisions of this clause are denominated ``privileged 
reports'' or ``privileged questions,'' and since the privilege relates 
merely to the order of business under the rules, they must be 
distinguished from ``questions of privilege'' which relate to the safety 
or dignity of the House itself defined in rule IX (III, 2718). 
Therefore, ``questions of privilege'' take precedence over these matters 
which are privileged under the rules (III, 2426-2530; V, 6454; VIII, 
3465). 


  Privileged questions interrupt the regular order of business as 
established by rule XXIV, but when they are disposed of it continues on 
from the point of interruption (IV, 3070, 3071). But the Speaker has 
declined to allow a call of committees to be interrupted by a privileged 
report (IV, 3132). The presence of matter not privileged with privileged 
matter destroys the privileged character of a bill (IV, 4622, 4624, 
4633, 4640, 4643; VIII, 2289; Speaker Rayburn, May 21, 1958, pp. 9212-
16), or resolution (VIII, 2300), and when the text of a bill contains 
nonprivileged matter, privilege may not be created by a committee 
amendment in the nature of a substitute not containing the nonprivileged 
matter (IV, 4623).

  The House may give a committee leave to report at any time only by the 
process of changing the rules (III, 1770).


[[Page 494]]
sidered as adopted in the House when the bill is under consideration 
(Feb. 24, 1993, p. ----; July 27, 1993, p. ----). The Committee on Rules 
has also reported as privileged a joint resolution repealing a statutory 
joint rule (mandatory July adjournment, section 132 of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946) (July 27, 1990, p. ----). The Committee on 
Rules has reported as privileged a special order of business nearly 
identical to one previously rejected by the House, but held not to 
constitute ``another of the same substance'' within the meaning of 
Jefferson's section XLIII (reconsideration) because it provided a 
different scheme for general debate (July 27, 1993, p. ----).


Sec. 728. The privilege of individual committees for 
reports.

  The  privilege given by this clause to the Committee on Rules is 
confined to ``action touching rules, joint rules, and order of 
business'' and this committee may not report as privileged a concurrent 
resolution providing for a Senate investigating committee (VIII, 2255), 
or provide for the appointment of a clerk (VIII, 2256); but the 
privilege has been held to include the right to report special orders 
for the consideration of individual bills or classes of bills (V, 6774), 
or the consideration of a specified amendment to a bill and prescribing 
a mode of considering such amendment (VIII, 2258). A special rule 
providing for the consideration of a bill is not invalidated by the fact 
that at the time the rule was reported, the bill was not on the Calendar 
(VIII, 2259; Speaker McCormack, Aug. 19, 1964, pp. 20212-13). The 
authority to report special orders of business includes authority to 
recommend consideration of measures and amendments thereto the subject 
of which might be separately pending before a standing committee (Apr. 
15, 1986, p. 7531); to make in order the consideration of the text of an 
introduced bill as original text in a reported bill (Oct. 9, 1986, p. 
29973); to permit consideration of a previously unnumbered and 
unsponsored measure which comes into existence by virtue of adoption by 
the House of the special order (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 16, 1986, p. 
7610); to recommend a ``hereby'' resolution, e.g., that a concurrent 
resolution correcting the enrollment of a bill be considered as adopted 
by the House upon the adoption of the special order (Speaker Wright, May 
4, 1988, p. 9865), or that a Senate amendment pending at the Speaker's 
table and otherwise requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole 
under clause 1 of rule XX be ``hereby'' considered as adopted upon 
adoption of the special order (Deschler's Precedents, vol. 6, ch. 21, 
sec. 16.11; Feb. 4, 1993, p. ----); to provide that an amendment 
containing an appropriation in violation of clause 5(a) of rule XXI be 
considered as adopted in the House when the reported bill is under 
consideration (Feb. 24, 1993, p. ----); to provide that an amendment 
containing an appropriation in violation of clause 2 of rule XXI be 
considered as adopted in the House when the reported bill is under 
consideration (July 27, 1993, p. ----); and to provide that a nongermane 
amendment otherwise in violation of clause 7 of rule XVI be con


  A resolution consisting solely of privileged matter, albeit in two 
separate jurisdictions empowered to report at any time under clause 
4(a), has been referred to a primary committee, reported therefrom as 
privileged, referred sequentially, and reported as privileged from the 
sequential committee as well (H. Res. 258, 102d Cong., Nov. 8, 1991, p. 
----, Nov. 19, 1991, p. ----).

  The right of the Committee on Appropriations to report at any time is 
confined strictly to general appropriation bills (IV, 4629-4632; VIII, 
2282-2284) and does not include appropriations for specific purposes 
(VIII, 2285). Before privilege was extended to continuing appropriation 
bills (in 1981), the rule was not construed to extend to resolutions 
extending appropriations (VIII, 2282-2284).


  Reports from the Committee on House Administration (now House 
Oversight) authorizing appropriations from the Treasury directly for 
compensation of employees (IV, 4645) or fixing the salaries of employees 
are not privileged (VIII, 2302).


[[Page 495]]
fully disposed of. The Committee on Rules shall not report any rule or 
order which provides that business under clause 7 of rule XXIV shall be 
set aside by a vote of less than two-thirds of the Members present; nor 
shall it report any rule or order which would prevent the motion to 
recommit from being made as provided in clause 4 of rule XVI, including 
a motion to recommit with instructions to report back an amendment 
otherwise in order (if offered by the minority leader or a designee), 
except with respect to a Senate bill or resolution for which the text of 
a House-passed measure has been substituted.



Sec. 729a. Reports from Committee on Rules.

  (b)  It shall 
always be in order to call up for consideration a report from the 
Committee on Rules on a rule, joint rule, or the order of business 
(except it shall not be called up for consideration on the same day it 
is presented to the House, unless so determined by a vote of not less 
than two-thirds of the Members voting, but this provision shall not 
apply during the last three days of the session), and, pending the 
consideration thereof, the Speaker may entertain one motion that the 
House adjourn; but after the result is announced the Speaker shall not 
entertain any other dilatory motion until the report shall have been 


  The Committee on Rules, ``by uniform practice of the House,'' 
exercised the privilege of reporting at any time as early as 1888. The 
right to report at any time is confined to privileged matters (VIII, 
2255). This was probably the survival of a practice which existed as 
early as 1853 of giving the privilege of reporting at any time to this 
committee for a session (IV, 4650). In 1890 the committee was included 
among the committees whose reports were privileged by rule. The present 
rule was adopted in 1892 (IV, 4621), amended on March 15, 1909, the 
matter in parentheses was adopted January 18, 1924 (pp. 1139, 1141), and 
the rule was further amended by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, 
effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470), to limit its application to reports from the Committee on Rules 
on rules, joint rules and orders of business. In the 104th Congress the 
last sentence of paragraph (b) was amended to restrict the authority of 
the Committee on Rules to recommend a rule or order that would prevent a 
motion by the Minority Leader or his designee to recommit with 
instructions to report back an amendment otherwise in order to the case 
of a Senate bill or resolution for which the text of a House-passed 
measure is being substituted (sec. 210, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----
). For rulings under the earlier form of the rule, see Sec. 729c, infra.


[[Page 496]]
and then meets again that day, or convenes for two legislative days on 
the same calendar day, any report filed on the first legislative day may 
be called up on the second without the question of consideration being 
raised (Speaker O'Neill, Dec. 16, 1985, p. 36755; Speaker Wright, Oct. 
29, 1987, p. 29937). This paragraph does not require that a privileged 
resolution, and the report thereon, from the Committee on Rules be 
printed before it is called up for consideration (Speaker O'Neill, Feb. 
2, 1977, p. 3344).
  Pursuant to this clause, a privileged report from the Committee on 
Rules may be considered on the same legislative day only by a two-thirds 
vote, but a report properly filed by the committee at any time prior to 
the convening of the House on the next legislative day may be called up 
for immediate consideration without the two-thirds requirement (Speaker 
Albert, July 31, 1975, p. 26243), including a report filed during 
special order speeches after legislative business on that prior 
legislative day (Oct. 14, 1986, p. 30861), and if the House continues in 
session into a second calendar day 

  In the case of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on 
Rules, the two-thirds vote requirement for consideration on the same day 
reported does not apply. Clause 2(l)(6) of rule XI provides for the 
immediate consideration of a resolution from the Rules Committee waiving 
the requirement that copies of reports and reported measures be 
available for three days before their consideration, and clauses 2(a) 
and (b) of rule XXVIII provide for the immediate consideration of a 
resolution from the Rules Committee waiving the requirement that copies 
of conferences reports or amendments reported from conference in 
disagreement be available for two hours before their consideration (see 
Aug. 10, 1984, p. 23978).

  Although highly privileged, a report from the Committee on Rules 
yields to questions of privilege (VIII, 3491; Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403), 
and is not in order after the House has voted to go into Committee of 
the Whole (V, 6781). Also a conference report has precedence of it, even 
when the yeas and nays and previous question have been ordered (V, 
6449). Formerly if a report from the Committee on Rules contained 
substantive propositions, a separate vote could be had on each 
proposition (VIII, 2271, 2272, 2274, 3167); but these decisions were 
nullified by the adoption of the proviso to clause 6 of rule XVI. A 
report from the Committee on Rules takes precedence over a motion to 
consider a measure which is ``highly privileged'' pursuant to a statute 
enacted as an exercise in the rulemaking authority of the House, 
acknowledging the Constitutional authority of the House to change it 
rules at any time (Speaker Wright, Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403). Before the 
House adopts rules, the Speaker may recognize a Member to offer for 
immediate consideration a special order providing for the consideration 
of a resolution adopting the rules (V, 5450; Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 497]]
or provides special procedures for its consideration, where no law 
constituting a rule of the House prohibits consideration of such a 
resolution (resolution providing for consideration of a budget 
resolution, where a statute, Public Law 96-389, reaffirmed Congressional 
commitment to balanced Federal budgets but did not dictate what 
legislation could be considered or otherwise constitute a rule of the 
House) (June 10, 1982, p. 13353).
  The Committee on Rules may report and call up as privileged 
resolutions temporarily waiving or altering any rule of the House, 
including statutory provisions enacted as an exercise of the House's 
rule-making authority which would otherwise prohibit the consideration 
of a bill being made in order by the resolution. (Speaker Albert, Mar. 
20, 1975, p. 7676; Mar. 24, 1975, p. 8418), or which would otherwise 
establish an exclusive procedure for consideration of a particular type 
of measure (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 16, 1986, p. 7610; Speaker Wright, 
Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403). No rule of the House precludes the Committee on 
Rules from reporting a special order making in order specified 
amendments that have not been preprinted as otherwise required by an 
announced policy of that committee (Oct. 23, 1991, p. ----). No point of 
order lies against a resolution reported from the Committee on Rules 
that waives points of order against a measure 

  The Chair has declined to entertain a unanimous consent request to 
alter a special order previously adopted by the House to admit an 
additional (nongermane) amendment during further consideration of a bill 
unless assured of certain clearances, consistent with the Speaker's 
announced policy (see Sec. 757, infra) of conferring recognition for 
unanimous consent requests for the consideration of unreported bills and 
resolutions only when assured that the majority and minority floor and 
committee leaderships have no objection (Nov. 14, 1991, p. ----).


[[Page 498]]
day, and debate resumes from the point where interrupted (Sept. 27, 
1993, p. ----; Sept. 28, 1993, p. ----).


Sec. 729b. Dilatory motions not permitted.

  In  the later 
practice it has been held that the question of consideration may not be 
raised against a report from the Committee on Rules (V, 4961-4963; VIII, 
2440, 2441). The clause forbidding dilatory motions has been construed 
strictly  (V, 5740-5742), and in the later practice the motion to commit 
after the ordering of the previous question has been excluded (V, 5593-
5601; VIII, 2270, 2750; Feb. 22, 1984, p. 2965), as has an appeal 
(though not a motion to reconsider the vote on ordering the previous 
question) (V, 5739), and the motion to postpone to a day certain (Oct. 
9, 1986, p. 29972). Before debate has begun on a report from the 
Committee on Rules, a question of the privileges of the House takes 
precedence (VIII, 3491; Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403). In the event that the 
previous question is rejected on a privileged resolution from the 
Committee on Rules, the provisions of clause 4(b) prohibiting 
``dilatory'' motions no longer strictly apply; the resolution is subject 
to amendment, further debate, or a motion to table or refer, and the 
Member who lead the opposition to the previous question has the prior 
right to recognition (Oct. 19, 1966, pp. 27713, 27725-29; May 29, 1980, 
pp. 12667-78), subject to being preempted by a preferential motion 
offered by another Member (Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). The 
member of the Committee on Rules calling up a privileged resolution on 
behalf of the Committee may offer an amendment, and House rules do not 
require a specific authorization from the Committee (Sept. 25, 1990, p. 
----). A motion to table such a pending amendment is dilatory and not in 
order under clause 4(b) of rule XI, but the motion to reconsider the 
vote on ordering the previous question on the rule and amendment thereto 
is not (see V, 5739; Sept. 25, 1990, p. ----), and may be laid on the 
table without carrying with it the resolution itself (Sept. 25, 1990, p. 
----). The motion to adjourn is admissible during the consideration of a 
report from the Committee on Rules, though not when another Member has 
the floor (Sept. 27, 1993, p. ----). Where the House adjourns during the 
consideration of a report from the Committee on Rules, further 
consideration of the report becomes the unfinished business on the 
following 


  A motion to recommit a special rule from the Committee on Rules is not 
in order (VIII, 2270, 2753).



Sec. 729c. Restrictions on authority of Committee on 
Rules.

  From  1934 until the amendment of clause 4(b) in the 104th Congress 
(sec. 210, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----), it was consistently held 
that the Committee on Rules could recommend a special order that 
limited, but did not totally prohibit, a motion to recommit pending 
passage of a bill or joint resolution, as by precluding the motion from 
containing instructions relating to specified amendments (Speaker 
Rainey, sustained on appeal, Jan. 11, 1934, pp. 479-83); or by omitting 
to preserve the availability of amendatory instructions in the case that 
the bill is entirely rewritten by the adoption of a substitute made in 
order as original text (Speaker Foley, June 4, 1991, p. ----; Speaker 
Foley, Nov. 25, 1991, p. ----); or by expressly allowing only a simple 
(``straight'') motion to recommit (without instructions) (sustained by 
tabling of appeal, Oct. 16, 1990, p. ----; sustained by tabling of 
appeal, Feb. 26, 1992, p. ----; Speaker Foley, sustained by tabling of 
appeal, May 7, 1992, p. ----; Speaker Foley, sustained by tabling of 
appeal, June 16, 1992, p. ----; Nov. 21, 1993, p. ----; Nov. 22, 1993, 
p. ----). A special order providing for consideration of a bill under 
suspension of the rules does not prevent a motion to recommit from being 
made ``as provided in clause 4 of rule XVI,'' i.e., after the previous 
question is ordered on passage, a procedure not applicable to a motion 
to suspend the rules (Speaker Foley, June 21, 1990, p. ----). See 
Deschler's Precedents, vol. 6, ch. 21, sec. 26.11; see generally 
Deschler's Precedents, vol. 7, ch. 23, sec. 25.


  The caveat against including in a special order matter privileged to 
be reported by another committee (Deschler's Precedents, vol. 6, ch. 21, 
sec. 17.13) does not extend to a ``hereby'' resolution (e.g., that a 
concurrent resolution correcting the enrollment of a bill within the 
jurisdiction of another committee be considered as adopted by the House 
upon the adoption of the special order), so long as not precluding the 
motion to recommit a bill or joint resolution (Speaker Wright, May 4, 
1988, p. 9865).


[[Page 499]]
mitted the Senate to act first on the conference report, thereby 
denying the minority of the House any opportunity of making a motion to 
recommit (VIII, 2264).
  A special rule providing that a House bill with Senate amendments be 
taken from the Speaker's table, that the Senate amendments be disagreed 
to, that the Senate's request for a conference be agreed to, and that 
the Speaker appoint conferees without intervening motion, is not in 
violation of clause 4(b) of rule XI, since not precluding a motion to 
recommit after the ordering of the previous question on passage of the 
bill, and since the motion to recommit the conference report would 
remain available (VIII, 2266); but where such a resolution provided for 
the appointment of conferees without intervening motion in the case 
where the House is to ask for a conference, giving the Senate the right 
of first acting on the conference report, it was held in contravention 
of the rule because it both precluded a motion to commit the Senate 
amendment before conference and per

  While the Committee on Rules is forbidden to report special orders 
abrogating the Calendar Wednesday rule or excluding the motion to 
recommit after the previous question, a resolution making possible that 
ultimate result by permitting motions to suspend the rules for a week 
was held in order (VIII, 2267).




Sec. 729d. Unfunded mandates.

  The  Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48 et seq.) added a new part B to 
title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) 
that, effective on January 1, 1996, or 90 days after appropriations are 
made available to the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to the 1995 
Act (whichever is earlier), imposes several requirements on committees 
with respect to ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 658b-c), 
establishes points of order to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 
U.S.C. 658d), and precludes the consideration of a rule or order waiving 
such points of order in the House (sec. 426(a); 2 U.S.C. 658e(a)). See 
Sec. 1007, infra.



[[Page 500]]
consideration by the House of any public bill or joint resolution, on 
days when it shall be in order to call up motions to discharge 
committees it shall be in order for any Member of the House to call up 
for consideration by the House such adverse report, and it shall be in 
order to move the adoption by the House of such resolution adversely 
reported notwithstanding the adverse report of the Committee on Rules, 
and the Speaker shall recognize the Member seeking recognition for that 
purpose as a question of the highest privilege.



Sec. 730. Filing reports.

  (c)  The Committee on Rules shall 
present to the House reports concerning rules, joint rules, and order of 
business, within three legislative days of the time when the bill or 
resolution involved is ordered reported by the committee. If any such 
rule or order is not considered immediately, it shall be referred to the 
calendar and, if not called up by the Member making the report within 
seven legislative days thereafter, any member of the Rules Committee may 
call it up as a question of privilege (but only on the day after the 
calendar day on which such Member announces to the House his intention 
to do so) and the Speaker shall recognize any member of the Rules 
Committee seeking recognition for that purpose. If the Committee on 
Rules makes an adverse report on any resolution pending before the 
committee, providing for an order of business for the 



  Clause 4(c) was initially adopted January 18, 1924, amended December 
8, 1931 (VIII, 2268), January 3, 1949 (p. 16), January 3, 1951 (p. 18), 
January 4, 1965 (p. 24) (inserting the so-called ``21-day rule''), 
January 10, 1967 (H. Res. 7, p. 28) (deleting the ``21-day rule'' in 
effect in the 89th Congress), January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., 
Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). A special order reported from the Committee on 
Rules and not called up within seven legislative days may be called up 
by any member of that Committee, including a minority member (Nov. 13, 
1979, p. 32185; May 6, 1982, p. 8905). In the 100th Congress this 
paragraph was amended to require the member of the Committee on Rules 
calling up a report seven legislative days after its filing to have 
given one calendar day's notice to the House (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1987, 
p. 6).



Sec. 731. Comparative print.

  (d)  Whenever the Committee on 
Rules reports a resolution repealing or amending any of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives or part thereof it shall include in its report 
or in an accompanying document--


      (1) the text of any part of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives which is proposed to be repealed; and


[[Page 501]]
propriate typographical device the omissions and insertions proposed to 
be made.

      (2) a comparative print of any part of the resolution making such 
an amendment and any part of the Rules of the House of Representatives 
to be amended, showing by an ap


  Clause 4(d) was added to the rules under the Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., 
Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), and is similar to the ``Ramseyer Rule'' 
requirements of clause 3 of rule XIII relating to bills and joint 
resolutions repealing or amending existing law. This clause is 
applicable to resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules which 
propose direct permanent repeal or amendment of a rule of the House, but 
does not apply to resolutions providing temporary waivers of rules 
during the consideration of particular legislative business (Speaker 
Albert, Mar. 20, 1975, p. 7676; Mar. 24, 1975, p. 8418), or to a special 
order of business resolution providing for the consideration of a bill 
with textual modifications that would effect certain changes in House 
rules on enactment of the bill into law, but not itself repealing or 
amending any rule (May 27, 1993, p. ----).




Sec. 731a. Specifying waivers.

  (e)  Whenever the Committee on 
Rules reports a resolution providing for the consideration of any 
measure, it shall, to the maximum extent possible, specify in the 
resolution the object of any waiver of a point of order against the 
measure or against its consideration.





  Paragraph (e) was adopted in this form in the 104th Congress (sec. 
211, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). In the 95th and 96th Congresses 
clause 4 included a paragraph (e) relating to the Speaker's authority to 
postpone proceedings on reports from the Committee on Rules, but that 
provision was among those consolidated in clause 5(b)(1) of rule I in 
the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113).


                           Committee Expenses


[[Page 502]]
ported by the Committee on House Oversight. Any such 
primary <> expense resolution 
reported to the House shall not be considered in the House unless a 
printed report on that resolution has been available to the Members of 
the House for at least one calendar day prior to the consideration of 
that resolution in the House. Such report shall, for the information of 
the House--


Sec. 732a. Primary expense resolution.

  5.  (a) Whenever any 
committee, commission, or other entity (except the Committee on 
Appropriations) is to be granted authorization for the payment of its 
expenses (including all staff salaries) for a Congress, such 
authorization initially shall be procured by one primary expense 
resolution re


      (1) state the total amount of the funds to be provided to the 
committee, commission or other entity under the primary expense 
resolution for all anticipated activities and programs of the committee, 
commission or other entity; and


      (2) to the extent practicable, contain such general statements 
regarding the estimated foreseeable expenditures for the respective 
anticipated activities and programs of the committee, commission or 
other entity as may be appropriate to provide the House with basic 
estimates with respect to the expenditure generally of the funds to be 
provided to the committee, commission or other entity under the primary 
expense resolution.


[[Page 503]]
on House Oversight, as necessary. Any such supplemental expense 
resolution reported to the House shall not be considered in the House 
unless a printed report on that resolution has been available to the 
Members of the House for at least one calendar day prior to the 
consideration of that resolution in the House. Such report shall, for 
the information of the House--


Sec. 732c. Additional expense resolution.

  (b) After the date of adoption by the House of any such primary 
expense  resolution 
for any such committee, commission, or other entity for any Congress, 
authorization for the payment of additional expenses (including staff 
salaries) in that Congress may be procured by one or more supplemental 
expense resolutions reported by the Committee 


      (1) state the total amount of additional funds to be provided to 
the committee, commission or other entity under the supplemental expense 
resolution and the purpose or purposes for which those additional funds 
are to be used by the committee, commission or other entity; and


      (2) state the reason or reasons for the failure to procure the 
additional funds for the committee, commission or other entity by means 
of the primary expense resolution.

  (c) The preceding provisions of this clause do not apply to--


[[Page 504]]



Sec. 732cc. Exception for certain initial 
funding.

      (1) any  resolution providing for the payment from committee salary 
and expense accounts of the House of sums necessary to pay compensation 
for staff services performed for, or to pay other expenses of, any 
committee, commission or other entity at any time from and after the 
beginning of any odd-numbered year and before the date of adoption by 
the House of the primary expense resolution providing funds to pay the 
expenses of that committee, commission or other entity for that 
Congress; or 



      (2) any resolution providing in any Congress, for all of the 
standing committees of the House, additional office equipment, airmail 
and special delivery postage stamps, supplies, staff personnel, or any 
other specific item for the operation of the standing committees, and 
containing an authorization for the payment from committee salary and 
expense accounts of the House of the expenses of any of the foregoing 
items provided by that resolution, subject to and until enactment of the 
provisions of the resolution as permanent law.

  Paragraphs (a)-(c) of this clause were originally contained in section 
110(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and 
was added to the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 
144). Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, 
p. 34470), the authority of all committees to incur expenses, including 
travel expenses, was made contingent upon adoption by the House of 
resolutions reported pursuant to this clause (clause 1(b) of rule XI). 
The clause was amended in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, 
pp. 53-70) to extend its applicability to all committees, commissions, 
and entities rather than just to standing committees. Paragraphs (a)-(c) 
were amended in the 104th Congress to institute biennial funding of 
committee expenses and to require that all committee staff salaries and 
expenses (including statutory staff) be authorized by expense resolution 
(sec. 101(c), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

  The Committee on Appropriations is not covered by this clause, but is 
reimbursed by funds in appropriation acts for expenses of examinations 
of estimates of appropriations in the field (31 U.S.C. 22a). An 
exemption from this clause for the Committee on the Budget was effective 
from the enactment of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 through the 
103d Congress.


[[Page 505]]

  Based on the exception stated in paragraph (c), a resolution 
establishing a task force of members of a standing committee and 
providing for the payment of its expenses from the contingent fund of 
the House was held not to be subject to a point of order under clause 
5(a) for lack of report language detailing the funding provided, since 
the resolution was called up at the beginning of the session prior to 
consideration of a primary expense resolution for all committees for 
that calendar year (Feb. 5, 1992, p. ----). 


  Under clause 2(d)(2) of rule X, a committee expense resolution, or an 
amendment thereto, is not in order for a committee that has not 
submitted its oversight plans (see Sec. 692b, supra).




Sec. 732d. Funds for committee staffs; expense 
resolutions.

  (d)  From the funds made available for the appointment of 
committee staff pursuant to any primary or additional expense 
resolution, the chairman of each committee shall ensure that sufficient 
staff is made available to each subcommittee to carry out its 
responsibilities under the rules of the committee, and that the minority 
party is fairly treated in the appointment of such staff.



  Paragraph (d) was adopted in this form in the 104th Congress (sec. 
101(c)(4), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). The preceding form of the 
paragraph, first adopted in the 94th Congress, authorized the chairman 
and ranking minority member of a subcommittee each to appoint one staff 
member to the subcommittee (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20). As adopted 
in the 93d Congress to take effect on the first day of the 94th 
Congress, the paragraph had required that each standing committee, upon 
request of a majority of its minority members, devote one-third of its 
staffing funds to the needs of the minority (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 1974, 
p. 34470). As originally adopted in the 92d Congress, the paragraph had 
required that the minority be accorded fair consideration in the 
appointment of committee staff (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144).



[[Page 506]]



Sec. 732e. Travel by members not 
reelected.

  (e) No primary expense resolution or additional expense resolution of 
a committee may provide for the  payment or reimbursement of expenses incurred by any member 
of the committee for travel by the member after the date of the general 
election of Members in which the Member is not elected to the succeeding 
Congress, or in the case of a Member who is not a candidate in such 
general election, the earlier of the date of such general election or 
the adjournment sine die of the last regular session of the Congress.



  Paragraph (e) was adopted on March 2, 1977 (H. Res. 287, 95th Cong., 
pp. 5933-53).



Sec. 732f. Interim funding.

  (f)(1)  For continuance of 
necessary investigations and studies by--


      (A) each standing committee and select committee established by 
these rules; and

      (B) except as provided in subparagraph (2), each select committee 
established by resolution;
there shall be paid out of committee salary and expense accounts of the 
House such amounts as may be necessary for the period beginning at noon 
on January 3 and ending at midnight on March 31 in each odd-numbered 
year.

  (2) In the case of the first session of a Congress, amounts shall be 
made available under this paragraph for a select committee established 
by resolution in the preceding Congress only if--

          (A) a reestablishing resolution for such select committee is 
introduced in the present Congress; and

          (B) no resolution of the preceding Congress provided for 
termination of funding of investigations and studies by such select 
committee at or before the end of the preceding Congress.


[[Page 507]]
available under expense resolutions for such committee in the preceding 
session of Congress.
  (3) Each committee receiving amounts under this paragraph shall be 
entitled, for each month in the period specified in subparagraph (1), to 
9 per centum (or such lesser per centum as may be determined by the 
Committee on House Oversight) of the total annualized amount made 

  (4) Payments under this paragraph shall be made on vouchers authorized 
by the committee involved, signed by the chairman of such committee, 
except as provided in subparagraph (5), and approved by the Committee on 
House Oversight.

  (5) Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule of the House, or other 
authority, from noon on January 3 of the first session of a Congress, 
until the election by the House of the committee involved in that 
Congress, payments under this paragraph shall be made on vouchers signed 
by--

      (A) the chairman of such committee as constituted at the close of 
the preceding Congress; or

      (B) if such chairman is not a Member in the present Congress, the 
ranking majority party member of such committee as constituted at the 
close of the preceding Congress who is a Member in the present Congress.

  (6)(A) The authority of a committee to incur expenses under this 
paragraph shall expire upon agreement by the House to a primary expense 
resolution for such committee.

      (B) Amounts made available under this paragraph shall be expended 
in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Committee on House 
Oversight.


[[Page 508]]
any resolution, reported by the Committee on House Oversight and 
adopted after the date of adoption of these rules.

      (C) The provisions of this paragraph shall be effective only 
insofar as not inconsistent with 

  Paragraph (f) was added to this clause in the 99th Congress, to 
provide automatic interim funding for committees at the beginning of a 
Congress (H. Res. 7, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 393). Resolutions providing such 
interim funding had been routinely adopted at the convening of Congress 
before the adoption of this standing authority. In the 100th Congress, 
paragraphs (f)(1) and (2) were amended to make the automatic committee 
funding mechanism applicable to the first three months of the second 
session of a Congress, as well as the first session, and to authorize 
the Committee on House Administration (now House Oversight) to establish 
interim funding for any committee at a percentage lower than 9 percent 
of the total annualized amount (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1987, p. 6). In the 
104th Congress paragraph (f) was amended to reflect the new name of the 
Committee on House Oversight (sec. 202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----).




  At its organization the 104th Congress suspended the operation of 
paragraph (f) in favor of special provisions for interim funding in 
light of its abolishment of three standing committees, its reduction in 
the overall number of committee staff, and its institution of biennial 
primary expense resolutions (sec. 101(c)(3), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
----).


                            Committee Staffs



Sec. 733a. Thirty professional staff.

  6.  (a)(1) Subject to 
subparagraph (2) and paragraph (f), each standing committee may appoint, 
by majority vote of the committee, not more than thirty professional 
staff members from the funds provided for the appointment of 
committee <> staff pursuant to primary and 
additional expense resolutions. Each professional staff member appointed 
under this subparagraph shall be assigned to the chairman and the 
ranking minority party member of such committee, as the committee 
considers advisable.



[[Page 509]]
mittee (except the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) so request, not more than 
ten persons (or one-third of the total professional committee staff 
appointed under this clause, whichever is less) may be selected, by 
majority vote of the minority party members, for appointment by the 
committee as professional staff members from among the number authorized 
by subparagraph (1) of this paragraph. The committee shall appoint any 
persons so selected whose character and qualifications are acceptable to 
a majority of the committee. If the committee determines that the 
character and qualifications of any person so selected are unacceptable 
to the committee, a majority of the minority party members may select 
other persons for appointment by the committee to the professional staff 
until such appointment is made. Each professional staff member appointed 
under this subparagraph shall be assigned to such committee business as 
the minority party members of the committee consider advisable.



Sec. 733c. Minority.

  (2)  Subject to paragraph (f) of this 
clause, whenever a majority of the minority party members of a standing 
com



[[Page 510]]
on the Budget was included in section 901 of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 330), was later omitted under the Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), and was 
reinserted by the 94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20). Also 
added in 1975 was a requirement that staff positions made available to 
subcommittee chairmen and ranking minority members pursuant to former 
provisions of clause 5 of rule XI be provided from staff positions 
available under clause 6 unless provided in a primary or additional 
expense resolution. The 98th Congress added the Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence to the exception for the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct (H. Res. 58, Mar. 1, 1983, p. 3241). The 
101st Congress added an exemption for the Committee on Rules (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72). The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 struck the anti-
discrimination provisions as redundant (P.L. 101-194, Nov. 30, 1989). 
The 104th Congress eliminated the former distinction between 
professional and clerical staff, set the authorized maximum for 
committee staff under expense resolutions at 30, and set the entitlement 
of the minority within that number at one-third (sec. 101(c)(5), H. Res. 
6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). The 104th Congress also mandated that the 
total number of staff of House committees be at least one-third less 
than the corresponding total in the 103d Congress (sec. 101(a), H. Res. 
6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).
  This clause had its origins in section 202 of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), which allocated up to four 
non-partisan professionals to each committee other than Appropriations 
and specifically provided for clerical staff, and which was incorporated 
into the rules on January 3, 1953 (p. 24). Section 302(b) of the 
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140), which increased 
the authorized maximum for professional staff from four to six and added 
the concept of minority staffing, was incorporated into the rules in the 
92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). In the 93d Congress the 
maximum was increased from six to 18, the minority entitlement within 
that number was increased from two to six, a requirement that 
professional staff be appointed without regard to political affiliation 
was eliminated, and prohibitions against consideration of race, creed, 
sex, or age in the appointment of staff were added (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 
1974, p. 34470). An exemption for the Committee 


   Additional clerks of committees are authorized by the Committee on 
House Oversight and agreed to by the House. There is no legal power to 
fill a vacancy in the clerkship of a committee after one Congress has 
expired and before the next House has been organized (IV, 4539). An 
assault upon the clerk of a committee within the walls of the Capitol 
was held to be a breach of privilege (II, 1629). The pay of clerks has 
been the subject of several decisions (IV, 4536-4538).



Sec. 734a. Staff duties.

  (b)(1)  The professional staff 
members of each standing committee


          (A) may not engage in any work other than committee business 
during congressional working hours; and

          (B) may not be assigned any duties other than those pertaining 
to committee business.


[[Page 511]]
pensation paid by the committee for any such employee is commensurate 
with the work performed for the committee, in accordance with the 
provisions of clause 8 of rule XLIII.


Sec. 734b. ``Associate'' or 
``shared'' staff.

  (2) This paragraph does not apply to any staff designated by a 
committee as ``associate''   or ``shared'' staff who are not paid exclusively by 
the committee, provided that the chairman certifies that the com


  (3) The use of any ``associate'' or ``shared'' staff by any committee 
shall be subject to the review of, and to any terms, conditions, or 
limitations established by, the Committee on House Oversight in 
connection with the reporting of any primary or additional expense 
resolution.


  (4) The foregoing provisions of this clause do not apply to the 
Committee on Appropriations.


  The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 prescribed that staff work be confined 
to committee business during congressional working hours but maintained 
exceptions for the Committees on the Budget and Rules (P.L. 101-194, 
Nov. 30, 1989). The 104th Congress eliminated exceptions by committee in 
favor of exceptions for ``associate'' or ``shared'' staff (sec. 
101(c)(5), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).




Sec. 735. Pay.

  (c)  Each employee on the professional and 
investigative staff of each standing committee shall be entitled to pay 
at a single gross per annum rate, to be fixed by the chairman, which 
does not exceed the maximum rate of pay, as in effect from time to time, 
under applicable provisions of law.



[[Page 512]]
At the beginning of the 101st Congress, the references in clause 6(c) 
to particular levels of the executive schedule were deleted (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72). In the 104th Congress paragraph (c) was amended to 
reflect the elimination of the former distinction between 
``professional'' and ``clerical'' staff (sec. 101(c)(5), H. Res. 6, Jan. 
4, 1995, p. ----).

  This provision was derived from section 477(c) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and was incorporated into the 
rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). Under the 
Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 
988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), the maximum salary was set at 
level V of the Executive Schedule, rather than at the highest rate of 
basic pay under section 5332(a) of Title V, U.S. Code as specified in 
the 1970 Reorganization Act, and effective in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 
5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), the authority for two professional staff to 
be paid at Level IV of the Executive Schedule was added to the clause. 
Under section 311 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1988 (2 
U.S.C. 60a-2a), the maximum salary for staff members is now set by pay 
order of the Speaker. 




Sec. 736. Staff, Committees on Appropriations.

  (d)  Subject 
to appropriations hereby authorized, the Committee on Appropriations may 
appoint such staff, in addition to the clerk thereof and assistants for 
the minority, as it determines by majority vote to be necessary, such 
personnel, other than minority assistants, to possess such 
qualifications as the committee may prescribe.



  Clause 6(d) derives from section 202(b) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812), which was incorporated into 
the rules on January 3, 1953 (p. 24). The exemption was extended to the 
Committee on the Budget by section 901 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974 (88 Stat. 330). The reference to that committee was 
inadvertently omitted by the 93d Congress (H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 1974, p. 
34470) and reinserted by the 94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 
20). The 104th Congress deleted the exemption for the Committee on the 
Budget (sec. 101(c)(5), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).




Sec. 737.

  (e)  No committee shall appoint to its staff any 
experts or other personnel detailed or assigned from any department or 
agency of the Government, except with the written permission of the 
Committee on House Oversight.



  This clause was contained in section 202(f) of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812) and was incorporated into the 
rules on January 3, 1953 (p. 24). In the 104th Congress it was amended 
to reflect the new name of the Committee on House Oversight (sec. 
202(b), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 513]]
nevertheless shall appoint, under paragraph (a), the person selected by 
the minority and acceptable to the committee. The person so appointed 
shall serve as an additional member of the professional staff of the 
committee, and shall be paid from the contingent fund, until such a 
vacancy (other than a vacancy in the position of head of the 
professional staff, by whatever title designated) occurs, at which time 
that person shall be deemed to have been appointed to that vacancy. If 
such vacancy occurs on the professional staff when seven or more persons 
have been so appointed who are eligible to fill that vacancy, a majority 
of the minority party members shall designate which of those persons 
shall fill that vacancy.
  (f) If a request for the appointment of a minority professional staff 
member under paragraph (a) is made when no vacancy exists to which that 
appointment may be made, the committee 

  (g) Each staff member appointed pursuant to a request by minority 
party members under paragraph (a) of this clause, and each staff member 
appointed to assist minority party members of a committee pursuant to an 
expense resolution described in paragraph (a) of clause 5, shall be 
accorded equitable treatment with respect to the fixing of his or her 
rate of pay, the assignment to him or her of work facilities, and the 
accessibility to him or her of committee records.


[[Page 514]]
graph (a)(1) who are satisfactory to a majority of the minority party 
members, are otherwise assigned to assist the minority party members.

  (h) Paragraph (a) shall not be construed to authorize the appointment 
of additional professional staff members of a committee pursuant to a 
request under such paragraph by the minority party members of that 
committee if ten or more professional staff members provided for in para


-  (i) <> Notwithstanding paragraph 
(a)(2), a committee may employ non-partisan staff, in lieu of or in 
addition to committee staff designated exclusively for the majority or 
minority party, upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of 
the majority party and a majority of the members of the minority party.

  Paragraphs (f)-(h) of this clause are derived from section 302(c) of 
the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1140) and were 
incorporated into the rules in the 92d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 22, 
1971, p. 144). Effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 
8, 1974, p. 34470), conforming changes were made in paragraphs (f) and 
(h) to reflect increased minority professional and clerical staff 
permitted to committees under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this clause. In 
the 104th Congress paragraphs (f)-(h) were amended to reflect the 
elimination of the former distinction between ``professional'' and 
``clerical'' staff (sec. 101(c)(5), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). 
The 104th Congress also mandated that the total number of staff of House 
committees be at least one-third less than the corresponding total in 
the 103d Congress (sec. 101(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

  Section 202(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 
812), which was incorporated into the rules on January 3, 1953 (p. 24), 
required committee professional staffs to be appointed on a permanent 
basis without regard to political affiliation. The concept of minority 
staffing was added by section 302(b) of the Legislative Reorganization 
Act of 1970. Under the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective 
January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), 
paragraph (i) was added to permit committees to employ nonpartisan staff 
upon an affirmative vote of the majority of the members of each party. 
In the 104th Congress it was amended to reflect the elimination of the 
former distinction between ``professional'' and ``clerical'' staff (sec. 
101(c)(5), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 515]]
gressional Record, on the names, professions and salaries of committee 
employees.





Sec. 739. Reports on staff.

  Effective  in the 95th Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), former clause 6(j), which was 
added on January 3, 1953 (p. 24) and which was contained in section 
134(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1945, was deleted; that 
clause required committees to report semiannually to the Clerk, for 
printing in the Con