[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
[105th Congress]
[House Document 104-272]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 146-155]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                   sec. xii.--committee of the whole.


[[Page 147]]

principles are digested in the form of resolutions, which are 
debated and amended till they get into a shape which meets the 
approbation of a majority. These being reported and confirmed by the 
House are then referred to one or more select committees, according as 
the subject divides itself into one or more bills. Scob., 36, 44. 
Propositions for any charge on the people are especially to be first 
made in a Committee of the Whole. 3 Hats., 127. The sense of the whole 
is better taken in committee, because in all committees everyone speaks 
as often as he pleases. Scob., 49. * * *



Sec. 326. Parliamentary usage as to Committee of the 
Whole.

  The  speech, messages, and other matters of great concernment are 
usually referred to a Committee of the Whole House (6 Grey, 311), where 
general 


  This provision is largely obsolete, the House of Representatives 
having by its rules and practice provided specifically for procedure in 
Committee of the Whole, and having also by its rules for the order of 
business left no privileged status for motions to go into Committee of 
the Whole on matters not already referred to that committee. The 
Committee of the Whole no longer originates resolutions or bills, but 
receives such as have been formulated by standing or select committees 
and referred to it; and when it reports, the House usually acts at once 
on the report without reference to select or other committees (IV, 
4705). The practice of referring annual messages of the President to 
Committee of the Whole, to be there considered and reported with 
recommendations for the reference of various portions to the proper 
standing or select committees (V, 6621, 6622), was discontinued in the 
64th Congress (VIII, 3350). The current practice is to refer the annual 
message to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union 
and order it printed (Jan. 14, 1969, p. 651). Executive communications 
submitted to implement the proposals contained in the State of the Union 
Message are referred by the Speaker to the various committees having 
jurisdiction over the subject matter therein.


[[Page 148]]



Sec. 327. Selection of Chairman of Committee of the 
Whole.

  * * *  They generally acquiesce in the chairman named by the Speaker; 
but, as well as all other committees, have a right to elect one, some 
member, by consent, putting the question, Scob., 36; 3 Grey, 301. * * *



  The House of Representatives (by clause 1 of rule XXIII) gives the 
authority to appoint the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to the 
Speaker (IV, 4704).




Sec. 328. Form of going into Committee of the 
Whole.

  * * *  The form of going from the House into committee, is for the 
Speaker, on motion, to put the question that the House do now resolve 
itself into a Committee of the Whole to take into consideration such a 
matter, naming it. If determined in the affirmative, he leaves the chair 
and takes a seat elsewhere, as any other Member; and the person 
appointed chairman seats himself at the Clerk's table. Scob., 36. * * *



  This is the form in the House of Representatives, except that the 
Chairman of the Committee of the Whole seats himself in the Speaker's 
chair. In the 97th Congress, clause 1(b) was added to rule XXIII to 
authorize the Speaker, when no other business is pending, to declare the 
House resolved into Committee of the Whole to consider a measure at any 
time after the House has adopted a special order providing for 
consideration of such measure, unless the resolution specifies otherwise 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).




Sec. 329. Quorum in Committee of the Whole.

  * * *  Their 
quorum is the same as that of the House; and if a defect happens, the 
chairman, on a motion and question, rises, the Speaker resumes the chair 
and the chairman can make no other report than to inform the House of 
the cause of their dissolution. * * *



[[Page 149]]

  Until 1890 a quorum of the Committees of the Whole was the same as the 
quorum of the House; but in 1890 the rule (clause 2 of rule XXIII) fixed 
it at one hundred (IV, 2966). Clause 2 of rule XXIII and clauses 2 and 5 
of rule XV provide the procedures that are followed in Committees of the 
Whole in case of failure of a quorum.




Sec. 330. Rising of committee for reception of 
messages.

  * * *  If a message is announced during a committee, the Speaker 
takes the chair and receives it, because the committee can not. 2 Hats., 
125, 126.



  In the House of Representatives, the committee rises informally to 
receive a message, or to enable the Speaker to sign and lay before the 
House an enrolled bill, at the direction of the Chairman without a 
formal motion from the floor (IV, 4786, footnote; Jan. 28, 1980, p. ----
; Feb. 8, 1995, p. ----); but at this rising the House may not have the 
message read or transact other business except by unanimous consent (IV, 
4787-4791).




Sec. 331. Quarrels in Committee of the Whole, and duty of 
the Speaker in relation thereto.

  In  a Committee of the Whole, the tellers 
on a division differing as to numbers, great heats and confusion arose, 
and danger of a decision by the sword. The Speaker took the chair, the 
mace was forcibly laid on the table; whereupon the Members retiring to 
their places, the Speaker told the House ``he has taken the chair 
without an order to bring the House into order.'' Some excepted against 
it; but it was generally approved as the only expedient to suppress the 
disorder. And every Member was required, standing up in his place, to 
engage that he would proceed no further in consequence of what had 
happened in the grand committee, which was done. 3 Grey, 128.



[[Page 150]]

  In the House of Representatives the Speaker has on several occasions 
taken the chair ``without an order to bring the House into order'' (II, 
1648-1653), but that being accomplished he may yield to the chairman 
that the committee may rise in due form (II, 1349). In one instance, a 
Member having defied and insulted the chairman, he left the chair, and, 
on the chair being taken by the Speaker, reported the facts to the House 
(II, 1653). In several cases Members who have quarrelled have made 
explanation and reconciled their difficulties (II, 1651), or have been 
compelled by the House to apologize ``for violating its privilege and 
offending its dignity'' (II, 1648, 1650).




Sec. 332. Effect of breaking up of Committee of the Whole by 
disorder.

  A  Committee of the Whole being broken up in disorder, and the 
chair resumed by the Speaker without an order, the House was adjourned. 
The next day the committee was considered as thereby dissolved, and the 
subject again before the House; and it was decided in the House, without 
returning into committee. 3 Grey, 130.



  This provision is obsolete, since in the practice of the House of 
Representatives there are but two committees of the whole, which are in 
their nature standing committees, with calendars of business. They are 
never dissolved, and bills remain on their calendars until reported in 
the regular manner after consideration (IV, 4705). When the Speaker 
restores order he usually yields the chair to the chairman, thus 
permitting the committee later to rise in due form (II, 1349).


[[Page 151]]

chair, the chairman informs him that the committee have gone through the 
business referred to them, and that he is ready to make report when the 
House shall think proper to receive it. If the House have time to receive 
it, there is usually a cry of ``now, now,'' whereupon he makes the report; 
but if it be late, the cry is ``to-morrow, to-morrow,'' or ``Monday,'' 
etc., or a motion is made to that effect, and a question put that it be 
received to-morrow, &c. Scob., 38.



Sec. 333. Motions for previous question and to adjourn not 
used in Committee of the Whole.

  No  previous question can be put in a 
committee; nor can this committee adjourn as others may; but if their 
business is unfinished, they rise, on a question, the House is resumed, 
and the chairman reports that the Committee of the Whole have, according 
to order, had under their consideration such a matter, and have made 
progress therein; but not having had time to go through the same, have 
directed him to ask leave to sit again. Whereupon a question is put on 
their having leave, and on the time the House will again resolve itself 
into a committee. Scob., 38. But if they have gone through the 
matter <> referred to them, a member moves that the committee may 
rise, and the chairman report their proceedings to the House; which 
being resolved, the chairman rises, the Speaker resumes the 


  In the practice of the House the previous question and motion to 
adjourn are not admitted in Committee of the Whole; but the rules 
(clauses 5 and 6 of rule XXIII) provide for closing both the general and 
five-minute debate. When the committee rises without concluding a matter 
the chairman reports that they ``have come to no resolution thereon''; 
but leave to sit again is not asked in the modern practice. The 
permission of the House is not asked when the chairman reports a matter 
concluded in committee. The report is made and received as a matter of 
course, and in thereupon before the House for action. When the House has 
vested control of general debate in certain Members, their control may 
not be abrogated during general debate by another Member moving to rise, 
unless they yield for that purpose (May 25, 1967, p. 14121). A Member 
yielded time in general debate may not yield to another for such motion 
(Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2178). The motion that the Committee of the Whole 
rise is privileged during debate under the five-minute rule, and may be 
offered during debate on a pending amendment, except where a Member has 
the floor (Aug. 13, 1986, p. 21215; Mar. 22, 1995, p. ----). The motion 
to rise may not include restrictions on the amendment process or 
limitations on future debate on amendments (June 6, 1990, p. 13234). For 
a further discussion of the motion to rise, see Sec. 864, infra.


[[Page 152]]

(IV, 4909). But a committee may not report a recommendation which, if 
carried into effect, would change a rule of the House (IV, 4907, 4908) 
unless a measure proposing amendments to House rules has initially been 
referred to the Committee of the Whole by the House. When an amendment is 
reported by the committee it may not be withdrawn, and a question as to 
its validity is not considered by the Speaker (IV, 4900). When a committee, 
directed by order of the House to consider certain bills, reported also 
certain other bills, the Speaker held that so much of the report as related 
to the latter bills could be received only by unanimous consent (IV, 4911). 
When a report is ruled out as in excess of the committee's power, the 
accompanying bill stands recommitted (IV, 4784, 4907). A report from a 
Committee of the Whole could not formerly be received in the absence of a 
quorum (VI, 666; see clause 6 of rule XV). The Committee of the <> Whole, like any other committee, 
may amend a proposition either by an ordinary amendment or by a substitute 
amendment (IV, 4899), but these amendments must be reported to the House 
for action. Amendments rejected by the committee are not reported (IV, 
4877). Ordinarily all amendments must be disposed of before the 
committee may report (IV, 4752-4758); but sometimes a special order 
requires a report at a specified time, in which case pending amendments 
are reported (IV, 3225-3228) or not (IV, 4910) as the terms of the order 
may direct. In the 98th Congress, clause 2 of rule XXI was amended to 
give precedence to the motion that the Committee rise and report a 
general appropriation bill at the conclusion of its reading for 
amendment and prior to or between consideration of amendments proposing 
certain limitations or retrenchments (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34). 
The 104th Congress further amended clause 2 to permit only the Majority 
Leader or a designee to offer that motion (sec. 215(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 
4, 1995, p. ----). The 105th Congress elevated the Majority Leader's 
preferential motion in clause 2 to take precedence of any motion to 
amend at that stage (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). The practice of 
the House, based originally on a rule (IV, 4904), requires amendments to 
be reported from the Committee of the Whole in their perfected forms, 
and this holds good even in the case of an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute, which may have been amended freely (IV, 4900-4903). If a 
Committee of the Whole amends a paragraph and subsequently strikes out 
the paragraph as amended, the first amendment fails, and is not reported 
to the House or voted on (IV, 4898; V, 6169; VIII, 2421, 2426), and when 
the Committee of the Whole adopts two amendments that are subsequently 
deleted by an amendment striking out and inserting new text, only the 
latter amendment is reported to the House (June 20, 1967, pp. 16497-98). 
Normally, if the Committee of the Whole perfects a bill by adopting 
certain amendments and then adopts an amendment striking out all after 
section one of the bill and inserting a new text, only the bill, as 
amended by the motion to strike out and insert, is reported to the 
House; but when the bill is being considered under a special rule 
permitting a separate vote in the 

[[Page 153]]

House on any of the amendments adopted 
in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or the committee substitute, 
all amendments adopted in the Committee are reported to the House 
regardless of their consistency (May 26, 1960, pp. 11302-04). Where a 
separate vote is demanded in this type of situation in the House only on 
an amendment striking out a section of a committee substitute, but not 
on perfecting amendments which have been previously adopted in Committee 
of the Whole to that section, rejection in the House of the motion to 
strike the section results in a vote on the committee substitute in its 
original form and not as perfected, since the perfecting amendments have 
been displaced in the Committee of the Whole and have not been revived 
on a separate vote in the House (Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1977, pp. 
33622-24). But where the Committee of the Whole reports a bill to the 
House with an adopted amendment in the nature of a substitute and the 
special order in question does not provide for separate House votes on 
amendments thereto, a separate vote may not be demanded on an amendment 
to such amendment, since only one amendment in its perfected form has 
been reported back to the House (Nov. 17, 1983, p. 33463).


Sec. 335. Duties of Speaker and House as to reception of 
reports of Committee of the Whole.

  The  Speaker recognizes only reports 
from the Committee of the Whole made by the chairman thereof (V, 6987), 
and a matter alleged to have arisen therein but not reported may not be 
brought to the attention of the House (VIII, 2429, 2430) even on the 
claim that a question of privilege is involved (IV, 4912; V, 6987; VIII, 
2430). In one instance, however, the committee reported with a bill a 
resolution relating to an alleged breach of privilege (V, 6986). When a 
bill is reported the Speaker must assume that it has passed through all 
the stages necessary for the report (IV, 4916). When the committee 
reported not only what it had done but by whom it had been prevented 
from doing other things, the Speaker held that the House might not amend 
the report, which stood 



[[Page 154]]

tee of the Whole prior to the Speaker's putting the question thereon, and 
unanimous consent is not required (May 28, 1987, p. 14030). When demand 
is made for separate votes in the House on several amendments adopted in 
the Committee of the Whole, the amendments are voted on in the House in 
the order in which they appear in the bill (July 24, 1968, pp. 23093-95; 
May 28, 1987, p. 14030; June 11, 1997, p. ----), except when amendments 
have been considered under a special rule prescribing the order for 
their consideration where the bill is considered as read, in which case 
they are voted on upon demand in the order in which considered in 
Committee of the Whole (Mar. 11, 1993, p. ----; Mar. 25, 1993, p. ----).


Sec. 337. Committee of the Whole amendments in the 
House.

  All  amendments to a bill reported from the Committee of the Whole 
stand on an equal footing and must be voted on by the House (IV, 4871) 
in the order in which they are reported, although they may be 
inconsistent, one with another (IV, 4881, 4882), and are subject to 
amendment in the House unless the previous question is ordered (VIII, 
2419). Two amendments being reported as distinct were considered 
independently, although apparently one was a proviso attaching to the 
other (IV, 4905); and an entire and distinct amendment may not be 
divided, but must be voted on by the House as a whole (IV, 4883-4892; 
VIII, 2426). It is a frequent practice for the House by unanimous 
consent, to act at once on all the amendments to a bill reported from 
the Committee of the Whole, but it is the right of any Member to demand 
a separate vote on any amendment (IV, 4893, 4894; VIII, 2419). Where a 
special rule permits en bloc consideration of certain amendments in 
Committee of the Whole, those amendments if reported back to the House 
may also be considered en bloc for a separate vote in the House on 
demand of any Member (Speaker O'Neill, Sept. 7, 1978, p. 28425). A 
Member may demand a separate vote in the House on an amendment to a 
committee amendment in the nature of a substitute adopted in the 
Committee of the Whole where the bill is being considered under a 
special rule permitting separate votes in the House on any of the 
amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or 
committee amendment (Sept. 30, 1971, p. 34337), but where a special rule 
``self-executes'' an amendment as a modification of an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute to be considered as an original bill, that 
modification is not separately voted on upon demand in the House 
(Speaker Foley, Feb. 3, 1993, p. ----). A Member may withdraw a demand 
for a separate vote in the House on an amendment reported from Commit-


  Depending on the will of the House as expressed on the question of 
ordering the previous question (IV, 4895; V, 5794; VIII, 2419), when a 
bill is reported with amendments, it is in order to submit additional 
amendments after disposition of the committee amendments (IV, 4872-
4876). However, in modern practice the opportunity to submit amendments 
is normally foreclosed by the ordering of the previous question under a 
special rule. The fact that a proposition has been rejected by the 
Committee of the Whole does not prevent it from being offered as an 
amendment when the subject comes up in the House (IV, 4878-4880; VIII, 
2700). A substitute amendment may be offered to a bill reported from 
committee, and then the previous question may be ordered on the 
substitute, on all other amendments, and on the bill to final passage 
(V, 5472). An amendment in the nature of a substitute reported from 
committee is treated like any other amendment (V, 5341), and if the 
House rejects the substitute the original bill without amendment is 
before the House (VIII, 2426).


[[Page 155]]

following disposition of amendments to the text and pending third reading 
(May 25, 1993, p. ----).


Sec. 338. Bills from Committee of the Whole in the 
House.

  Where  a series of bills are reported from Committee of the Whole, the 
House considers them in the order in which they are reported (IV, 4869, 
4870; VIII, 2417). A proposition reported for action has precedence over 
an independent resolution on the same subject offered by a Member from 
the floor (V, 6986), and where a bill and a resolution relating to an 
alleged breach of privilege were reported together the question was put 
first on the bill (V, 6986). A bill read in full and considered in 
Committee of the Whole (IV, 3409, 3410), or presumed to have been so 
read (IV, 4916), is not read in full again in the House when reported 
and acted on. The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole which reports a 
bill does not become entitled to prior recognition for debate in the 
House (II, 1453); but on an adverse report an opponent is recognized to 
make a motion for disposition of the bill (IV, 4897; VIII, 2430), or for 
debate (VII, 2629). The recommendation of the committee being before the 
House, the motion to carry out the recommendation is usually considered 
as pending without being offered from the floor (IV, 4896), but when a 
bill was reported with a recommendation that it lie on the table, a 
question was raised as to whether or not this motion, which prevents 
debate, should be considered as pending (IV, 4897). The House considers 
an amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole to the preamble of 
a Senate joint resolution 





Sec. 339. Discharge of the Committee of the Whole.

  A  motion 
to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the consideration of a 
matter committed to it is not privileged as against a demand for the 
regular order (IV, 4917). When the committee is discharged from 
consideration of a bill the House, in lieu of the report of the 
chairman, accepts the minutes of the Clerk as evidence of amendments 
agreed to (IV, 4922).
<>   In other things the rules or proceedings are to be the same 
as in the House. Scob., 39.




  The House of Representatives provides by rule (clause 9 of rule XXIII) 
that the rules of proceeding in the House shall apply in Committee of 
the Whole so far as they may be applicable.