[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 615-619]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

                                Rule XIX.


                             OF AMENDMENTS.



[[Page 616]]



Sec. 822. Amendments to text and to title.

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matter is perfected, but either may be withdrawn before amendment or 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


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


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

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


Sec. 823. Conditions of the motion to amend.

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




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

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




Sec. 824. Withdrawal of the motion to amend.

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



[[Page 619]]



Sec. 825. Precedence of the motion to amend.

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




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

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





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