[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 208-212]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                       sec. xxx.--quasi-committee.



Sec. 424. Procedure ``in the House as in Committee of the 
Whole.''

  If  on motion and question the bill be not committed, or if no 
proposition for commitment be made, then the proceedings in the Senate 
of the United States and in Parliament are totally different. The former 
shall be first stated.



[[Page 209]]

ing no question but on amendments. When through the whole, they 
consider the quasi-committee as risen, the House resumed without any 
motion, question, or resolution to that effect, and the President 
reports that ``the House, acting as in a Committee of the Whole, have 
had under their consideration the bill entitled, &c., and have made 
sundry amendments, which he will now report to the House.'' The bill is 
then before them, as it would have been if reported from a committee, 
and the questions are regularly to be put again on every amendment; 
which being gone through, the President pauses to give time to the House 
to propose amendments to the body of the bill, and, when through, puts 
the question whether it shall be read a third time?

  The proceeding of the Senate as in a Committee of the Whole, or in 
quasi-committee, is precisely as in a real Committee of the Whole, 
tak-

  In the House of Representatives procedure ``in the House as in 
Committee of the Whole'' is by unanimous consent only, as the order of 
business gives no place for a motion that business be considered in this 
manner (IV, 4923). Where the House grants unanimous consent for the 
immediate consideration of a bill on the Union Calendar, or which would 
belong on the Union Calendar if reported, the bill is considered in the 
House as in the Committee of the Whole (Apr. 6, 1966, p. 7749; Aug. 3, 
1970, p. 26918; Procedure, ch. 22, sec. 1.3, and ch. 29, sec. 21). The 
Committee on Rules may report a resolution providing a special order for 
consideration of a measure in the House as in Committee of the Whole 
(Dec. 18, 1974, p. 40858). In the modern practice of the House an order 
for this procedure means merely that the bill will be considered as 
having been read for amendment and will be open for amendment and debate 
under the five-minute rule (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 28050; clause 5 of rule 
XXIII), without general debate (IV, 4924, 4925; VI, 639; VIII, 2431, 
2432). The Speaker remains in the chair and, when the previous question 
is moved, makes no report but puts the question on ordering the previous 
question and then on engrossment and third reading and on passage.


[[Page 210]]

  For further description of the procedures applicable to the House as 
in the Committee of the Whole, and the application of those procedures 
to committees of the House of Representatives, see Sec. 427, infra.



Sec. 425. Motion to refer admitted ``in the House as in 
Committee of the Whole.''

  After  progress in amending the bill in quasi-
committee, a motion may be made to refer it to a special committee. If 
the motion prevails, it is equivalent in effect to the several votes, 
that the committee rise, the House resume itself, discharge the 
Committee of the Whole, and refer the bill to a special committee. In 
that case, the amendments already made fall. But if the motion fails, 
the quasi-committee stands in status quo.-



[[Page 211]]

proceed to punish. The first and second of these 
peculiarities attach to the quasi-committee of the Senate, as every 
day's practice proves, and it seems to be the only ones to which the 
XXVIIIth rule meant to subject them; for it continues to be a House, 
and, therefore, though it acts in some respects as a committee, in 
others it preserves its character as a House. Thus (3) it is in the 
daily habit of referring its business to a special committee. 4. It 
admits of the previous question. If it did not, it would have no means 
of preventing an improper discussion; not being able, as a committee is, 
to avoid it by returning into the House, for the moment it would resume 
the same subject there, the XXVIIIth rule declares it again a quasi-
committee. 5. It would doubtless exercise its powers as a House on any 
breach of order. 6. It takes a question by yea and nay, as the House 
does. 7. It receives messages from the President and the other House. 8. 
In the midst of a debate it receives a motion to adjourn, and adjourns 
as a House, not as a committee.



Sec. 426. Motions and procedure in quasicommittee in 
Jefferson's time.

  How  far does this XXVIIIth rule [of the Senate] subject 
the House, when in quasi-committee, to the laws which regulate the 
proceedings of Committees of the Whole? The particulars in which these 
differ from proceedings in the House are the following: 1. In a 
committee every member may speak as often as he pleases. 2. The votes of 
a committee may be rejected or altered when reported to the House. 3. A 
committee, even of the whole, cannot refer any matter to another 
committee. 4. In a committee no previous question can be taken; the only 
means to avoid an improper discussion is to move that the committee 
rise; and if it be apprehended that the same discussion will be 
attempted on returning into committee, the House can discharge them, and 
proceed itself on the business, keeping down the improper discussion by 
the previous question. 5. A committee cannot punish a breach of order in 
the House or in the gallery. 9 Grey, 113. It can only rise and report it 
to the House, who may 



[[Page 212]]

read and open for amendment at any point (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 28050), and 
a motion is in order in the House as in Committee of the Whole to close 
debate on the bill or on an amendment (June 26, 1973, pp. 21314-15). An 
amendment may be withdrawn at any time before action has been had on it 
(IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21305). An amendment in the nature of a 
substitute is in order after perfecting amendments have been considered 
(IV, 4933, 4934; V, 5788). The title also is amended after the bill has 
been considered (IV, 3416). A quorum of the House (and not of the 
Committee of the Whole) is required in the House as in the Committee of 
the Whole (VI, 639).


Sec. 427. Motions and procedure ``in the House as in 
Committee of the Whole.''

  In  the modern practice of the House of 
Representatives the rule of Jefferson's Manual is followed to the extent 
that the House, while acting ``in the House as in Committee of the 
Whole'' may deal with disorder, take the yeas and nays, adjourn, refer 
to a committee even though the reading by sections may not have begun 
(IV, 4931, 4932), admit the motion to reconsider (VIII, 2793), receive 
messages (IV, 4923), and use the previous question (VI, 369; Procedure, 
ch. 23, sec. 6.3) (which differs from the previous question of 
Jefferson's time). The previous question may not be moved on a single 
section of a bill (IV, 4930), but it may be demanded on the bill while 
Members yet desire to offer amendments (IV, 4926-4929; VI, 639). 
Formerly a motion to close debate on the pending section of a bill being 
read by section for amendment in the House as in the Committee of the 
Whole was in order (IV, 4935), but under current practice a bill 
considered in the House as in Committee of the Whole is considered as 



  The procedures applicable in the House as in the Committee of the 
Whole generally apply to proceedings in committees of the House of 
Representatives, except that a measure considered in committee must be 
read (by section) for amendment (see Sec. 412, supra). Therefore, in 
committee a motion to limit debate under the five-minute rule must be 
confined to the portion of the measure then pending. Moreover, although 
the previous question may be moved on any pending amendment, it may be 
moved on the measure, itself, only when the entire measure has been read 
for amendment (or considered as read by unanimous consent).