[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress]
[105th Congress]
[House Document 104-272]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 694-702]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                               Rule XXII.


            of petitions, memorials, bills, and resolutions.




Sec. 849a. Introduction and reference of 
petitions, memorials, and private bills.

  1. Members having  petitions or memorials or 
bills of a private nature to present may deliver them to the Clerk, 
endorsing their names and the reference or disposition to be made 
thereof; and said petitions and memorials and bills of a private nature, 
except such as, in the judgment of the Speaker, are of an obscene or 
insulting character, shall be entered on the Journal, with the names of 
the Members presenting them, and the Clerk shall furnish a transcript of 
such entry to the official reporters of debates for publication in the 
Record.


  At the first organization of the House in 1789 the rules then adopted 
provided for the presentation of petitions to the House by the Speaker 
and Members, and for the introduction of bills by motion for leave. In 
1842 it was found necessary, in order to save time, to provide that 
petitions and memorials should be filed with the Clerk. In 1870, 1879, 
and 1887 the practice as to petitions was extended to private bills, at 
first as to certain classes and later so that all should be filed with 
the Clerk (IV, 3312, 3365; VII, 1024).


[[Page 695]]

itself. A committee may receive a petition only through the House (IV, 
4557).


Sec. 849b. Duties of Speaker and Members 
in presenting petitions.

  Petitions, memorials,  and other papers addressed to the House may 
be presented by the Speaker as well as by a Member (IV, 3312). Petitions 
from the country at large are presented by the Speaker in the manner 
prescribed by the rule (III, 2030; IV, 3318; VII, 1025). A Member may 
present a petition from people of a State other than his own (IV, 3315, 
3316). The House itself may refer one portion of a petition to one 
committee and another portion to another committee (IV, 3359, 3360), but 
ordinarily the reference of a petition does not come before the House 




Sec. 850. As to division of bills for 
reference.

  The parliamentary  law provides that the House may commit a portion of a bill, 
or a part to one committee and part to another (V, 5558), yet under the 
practice of the House until January 3, 1975, a bill or joint resolution 
could not be divided for reference, although it might contain matters 
properly within the jurisdiction of several committees (IV, 4372, 4376). 
On that date, the Speaker was given authority over referral of bills as 
prescribed in clause 5 of rule X.





Sec. 851. Fraudulent introduction of a 
bill.

  The fraudulent  introduction of a bill involves a question of privilege, and a 
bill so introduced was ordered stricken from the files (IV, 3388). As 
the result of the unauthorized introduction of several bills without the 
knowledge of the Members listed as sponsors, the Speaker directed that 
all bills and resolutions must be signed by the prime sponsor thereof in 
order to be accepted for introduction (Speaker Albert, Feb. 3, 1972, p. 
2521).




Sec. 852. Certain private and commemorative 
bills prohibited.

  2. (a) No private  bill or resolution (including so-called omnibus 
claims or pension bills), and no amendment to any bill or resolution, 
authorizing or directing (1) the payment of money for property damages, 
for personal injuries or death for which suit may be instituted under 
the Tort Claims Procedure as provided in Title 28, United States Code, 
or for a pension (other than to carry out a provision of law or treaty 
stipulation); (2) the construction of a bridge across a navigable 
stream; or (3) the correction of a military or naval record, shall be 
received or considered in the House.


  (b)(1) No bill or resolution, and no amendment to any bill or 
resolution, establishing or expressing any commemoration may be 
introduced or considered in the House.


[[Page 696]]

bration, or recognition for any purpose through the 
designation of a specified period of time.

  (2) For purposes of this paragraph, the term ``commemoration'' means 
any remembrance, cele-


  Paragraph (a) derives from section 131 of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 812) and was made a part of the 
standing rules January 3, 1953 (p. 24). The 104th Congress added the 
prohibition against commemorative legislation and directed the Committee 
on Government Reform and Oversight to consider alternative means for 
establishing commemorations, including the creation of an independent or 
Executive branch commission for such purpose, and to report to the House 
any recommendations thereon (sec. 216, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----
). The prohibition in paragraph (a) relating to correction of a miltary 
record does not apply to a private bill that changes the computation of 
retired pay for a former member of the armed services (after exhaustion 
of administrative remedies) but does not directly correct his military 
record (Sept. 18, 1984, p. 25824).




Sec. 853. Correction of errors in reference; 
and relation to jurisdiction.

  3. Any petition  or memorial or bill or resolution 
excluded under this rule shall be returned to the Member from whom it 
was received; and petitions and private bills which have been 
inappropriately referred may, by the direction of the committee having 
possession of the same, be properly referred in the manner originally 
presented; and an erroneous reference of a petition or private bill 
under this clause shall not confer jurisdiction upon the committee to 
consider or report the same.


  This clause of the rule was first adopted in 1880, although the 
portion relating to the return of certain petitions and bills was 
adapted from an older rule of 1842 (IV, 3312, 3365). In the 104th 
Congress it was amended to conform to the new prohibition against 
commemorative legislation (sec. 216, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).


[[Page 697]]

order may not be raised as to jurisdiction 
(IV, 4390, 4391; VII, 2131). The Speaker may correct the erroneous 
referral of a bill as private by referring it to the appropriate (Union) 
calendar as a public bill when reported (June 1, 1988, p. 13184).

  Errors in reference of petitions, memorials, or private bills are 
corrected at the Clerk's table, without action by the House, at the 
suggestion of the committee holding possession (IV, 4379). As provided 
in the rule, the erroneous reference of a private House bill does not 
confer jurisdiction, and a point of order is good when the bill comes up 
for consideration either in the House or in Committee of the Whole (IV, 
4382-4389). But in cases wherein the House itself refers a private House 
or Senate bill a point of 



Sec. 854. Introduction, reference, and change of 
reference of public bills, memorials, and resolutions.

  4. (a) All  other bills, 
memorials, and resolutions may, in like manner, be delivered, endorsed 
with the names of Members introducing them, to the Speaker, to be by him 
referred, and the titles and references thereof and of all bills, 
resolutions, and documents referred under the rules shall be entered on 
the Journal and printed in the Record of the next day, and correction in 
case of error of reference may be made by the House, without debate, in 
accordance with rule X on any day immediately after the reading of the 
Journal, by unanimous consent, or on motion of a committee claiming 
jurisdiction, or on the report of the committee to which the bill has 
been erroneously referred. Two or more Members may introduce jointly any 
bill, or resolution to which this paragraph applies.



[[Page 698]]

  (b)(1) The name of any Member shall be added as a sponsor of any bill 
or resolution to which paragraph (a) applies, and shall appear as a 
sponsor in the next printing of that bill or resolution: Provided, That 
a request signed by such Member is submitted by the first sponsor to the 
Speaker (in the same manner as provided in paragraph (a)) no later than 
the day on which the last committee authorized to consider and report 
such bill or resolution reports it to the House.

  (2) The name of any Member listed as a sponsor of any such bill or 
resolution may be deleted by unanimous consent, but only at the request 
of such Member, and such deletion shall be indicated in the next 
printing of the bill or resolution (together with the date on which such 
name was deleted). Such consent may be granted no later than the day on 
which the last committee authorized to consider and report such bill or 
resolution reports it to the House: Provided, however, That the Speaker 
shall not entertain a request to delete the name of the first sponsor of 
any bill or resolution.

  (3) The addition of the name of any Member, or the deletion of any 
name by unanimous consent, of a sponsor of any such bill or resolution 
shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Record of that day.


  (4) Any such bill or resolution shall be reprinted (A) if the Member 
whose name is listed as the first sponsor submits to the Speaker a 
written request that it be reprinted, and (B) if twenty or more Members 
have been added as sponsors of that bill or resolution since it was last 
printed.

  The rule of 1789 provided that all bills should be introduced on 
report of a committee or by motion for leave. By various modifications 
it was first provided that all classes of private bills should be 
introduced by filing them with the Clerk, and in 1890 this system was by 
this rule extended to all public bills (IV, 3365). In the 105th Congress 
paragraph (a) was amended to effect a technical correction (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----).


[[Page 699]]

the rule if the original reference was not erroneous 
(VII, 2125). The motion may be amended, but the amendment, like the 
original motion, is subject to the requirement that it be authorized by 
the committee (VII, 2127). The motion must apply to a single bill and 
not to a class of bills (VII, 2125).
  The motion for a change of reference and subsidiary motions take 
precedence over motions to go into the Committee of the Whole for the 
consideration of appropriation bills and the consideration of conference 
reports (VII, 2124), and may not be debated (VII, 2126-2128). But the 
motion is not in order on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 2117), and is not 
privileged under 

  According to the later practice the erroneous reference of a public 
bill, if it remain uncorrected, in effect gives jurisdiction to the 
committee receiving it (IV, 4365-4371; VII, 1489, 2108-2113; VIII, 
2312). And it is too late to move a change of reference after such 
committee has reported the bill (VII, 2110; VIII, 2312), but the Speaker 
may, pursuant to authority granted him by clause 5 of rule X effective 
January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), refer 
a bill sequentially to other committees. All bills and resolutions must 
be signed by the prime sponsor thereof (Speaker Albert, Feb. 3, 1972, p. 
2521).

  Joint sponsorship of public bills by not more than 25 Members was 
authorized in the 90th Congress (H. Res. 42, Apr. 25, 1967, p. ----). 
Prior thereto a special committee had reported against this practice and 
the report had been adopted by the House (VII, 1029). Effective January 
3, 1979, (H. Res. 86, 95th Cong., Oct. 10, 1978, p. 34929) clause 4(b) 
was added to allow unlimited co-sponsorship and to provide a mechanism 
for Members to add their names as co-sponsors to bills or resolutions 
which have already been introduced, up until the bill is finally 
reported from committee, and on January 15, 1979, the Speaker announced 
his directive for the processing of lists of co-sponsors pursuant to the 
new clause (Speaker O'Neill, Jan. 15, 1979, p. 19).


[[Page 700]]

(Aug. 5, 1987, p. 
22458). A Member may request unanimous consent that his name be deleted 
as a co-sponsor of an unreported bill during its consideration under 
suspension of the rules and prior to a final vote thereon (June 9, 1986, 
p. 12979). An order of the House that no organizational or legislative 
business be conducted on certain days (first by provision of a 
concurrent resolution, but extended by unanimous consent) was considered 
not to deprive Members of the privilege of introducing bills and 
resolutions during pro forma sessions on those days, such measures being 
numbered on the day introduced but not noted in the Record or referred 
to committee until the day on which business was resumed (H. Con. Res. 
260, 102d Cong., Nov. 26, 1991, p. 35840; see Jan. 22 and 28, 1992, pp. 
---- and ----).
  Although paragraph (b)(2) of this clause only permits a co-sponsoring 
Member himself to request unanimous consent for his deletion as a co-
sponsor, the prime sponsor of a measure may be permitted to request 
unanimous consent to delete the name of a co-sponsor he has 
inadvertently or erroneously listed (Feb. 9, 1982). By unanimous consent 
a Member may add his own name as a co-sponsor of an unreported bill 
where the original sponsor is no longer a Member of the House (Aug. 4, 
1983, p. 23188), and a designated Member may be authorized to sign and 
submit lists of additional co-sponsors where the actual first sponsor is 
no longer a Member (June 23, 1989, p. 13271), but the Chair will not 
otherwise entertain a request to add co-sponsors by a Member other than 
the first sponsor, whether to include only himself (Mar. 5, 1991, p. 
5026; Oct. 25, 1995, p. ----) or to include all Members (Dec. 18, 1985, 
p. 37765). The Chair will not entertain a unanimous-consent request to 
list a Member as an additional original co-sponsor as of the date of 
original introduction where his name had been omitted by the original 
sponsor (Jan. 28, 1985, p. 1141; May 23, 1985, p. 13421). Unanimous 
consent requests to delete Members' names as co-sponsors are not 
entertained after the last committee authorized to consider the bill has 
reported to the House (Oct. 8, 1985, p. 26668), and the Speaker has 
vacated unanimous consent orders of the House to delete co-sponsors when 
advised that the bill had already been reported 


  At its organization for the 104th Congress the House resolved that 
each of the first twenty bills and each of the first two joint 
resolutions introduced in the House in that Congress could have more 
than one Member reflected as a first sponsor (sec. 223(g), H. Res. 6, 
Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----); and the Speaker stated that all ``first'' 
sponsors' signatures would be required on the bills (Speaker Gingrich, 
Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----). A Member was subsequently added as a ``first'' 
sponsor by unanimous consent (Jan. 18, 1995, p. ----).




Sec. 855. Resolution of inquiry.

  5. All resolutions  of 
inquiry addressed to the heads of executive departments shall be 
reported to the House within fourteen legislative days after 
presentation.


  The House has exercised the right, from its earliest days, to call on 
the President and heads of departments for information. The first rule 
on the subject was adopted in 1820 for the purpose of securing greater 
care and deliberation in the making of requests. The present form of 
rule, in its essential features, dates from 1879 (III, 1856), while the 
time period for a committee to report was extended from one week to 
fourteen legislative days in the 98th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, 
p. 34).


[[Page 701]]

and are answered by subordinate officers of the Government either 
directly or through the President (III, 1908-1910).


Sec. 856. Forms of resolutions of inquiry and 
delivery thereof.

  Resolutions of  inquiry are usually simple rather than concurrent in 
form (III, 1875), and are never joint resolutions (III, 1860). A 
resolution authorizing a committee to request information has been 
treated as a resolution of inquiry (III, 1860). It has been considered 
proper to use the word ``request'' in asking for information from the 
President and ``direct'' in addressing the heads of departments (III, 
1856, footnote, 1895). It is usual for the House in calling on the 
President for information, especially with relation to foreign affairs, 
to use the qualifying clause ``if not incompatible with the public 
interest'' (II, 1547; III, 1896-1901; V, 5759; VI, 436). But in some 
instances the House has made its inquiries of the President without 
condition, and has even made the inquiry imperative (III, 1896-1901). 
Resolutions of inquiry are delivered under direction of the Clerk (III, 
1879) 




Sec. 857. Privileged status of resolutions of 
inquiry.

  The practice of  the House gives to resolution of inquiry a privileged status. 
Thus, they are privileged for report and consideration at any time after 
their reference to a committee (III, 1870; VI, 413, 414), but not before 
(III, 1857), and are in order for consideration only on motion directed 
to be made by the committee reporting the same (VI, 413; VIII, 2310). 
They are privileged for consideration on ``Suspension days'' and took 
precedence of the former Consent Calendar (VI, 409) before its 
abolishment in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. ----), 
but are not in order on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 896-898). And only 
resolutions addressed to the President and the heads of the executive 
departments have the privilege (III, 1861-1864; VI, 406). To enjoy the 
privilege a resolution should call for facts rather than opinions (III, 
1872, 1873; VI, 413, 418-432; July 7, 1971, pp. 23810-11), should not 
require investigations (III, 1872-1874; VI, 422, 427, 429, 432), and 
should not present a preamble (III, 1877, 1878; VI, 422, 427); but if a 
resolution on its face calls for facts, the Chair will not investigate 
the probability of the existence of the facts called for (VI, 422). 
However, a resolution inquiring for such facts as would inevitably 
require the statement of an opinion to answer such inquiry is not 
privileged (Speaker Longworth, Feb. 11, 1926, p. 3805).


  Questions of privilege (as distinguished from privileged questions) 
have sometimes arisen in cases wherein the head of a department has 
declined to respond to an inquiry and the House has desired to demand a 
further answer (III, 1891; VI, 435); but a demand for a more complete 
reply (III, 1892) or a proposition to investigate as to whether or not 
there has been a failure to respond may not be presented as involving 
the privileges of the House (III, 1893).


[[Page 702]]

House (VI, 413; VIII, 2310). The Member calling up a privileged resolution of 
inquiry reported from committee is recognized to control one hour of 
debate and may move to lay the resolution on the table during that time 
(July 7, 1971, pp. 23807-10; Oct. 20, 1971, pp. 37055-57).


Sec. 858. Discharge of a committee from a 
resolution of inquiry.

  Committees are  required to report resolutions of inquiry back 
to the House within one week (now fourteen days) of the reference, and 
this time is construed to be legislative days (VIII, 3368; Speaker 
Rayburn, Feb. 9, 1950, p. 1755) exclusive of either the first or last 
day (III, 1858, 1859). If a committee refuses or neglects to report the 
resolution back, the House may reach the resolution only by a motion to 
discharge the committee (III, 1865). The ordinary motion to discharge a 
committee is not privileged (VIII, 2316); but the practice of the House 
has given privilege to the motion in cases of resolutions of inquiry 
(III, 1866-1870). And this motion to discharge is privileged at the end 
of the time period, though the resolution may have been delayed in 
reaching the committee (III, 1871). The motion to discharge is not 
debatable (III, 1868; VI, 415). However, if the motion is agreed to, the 
resolution is debatable under the hour rule unless the previous question 
is ordered (VI, 416, 417). If a committee reports a privileged 
resolution of inquiry, it may then be called up only by an authorized 
member of the reporting committee and not by another Member of the 





Sec. 859. Resolutions of inquiry as related to 
the Executive.

  The President  having failed to respond to a resolution of inquiry, 
the House respectfully reminded him of the fact (III, 1890). In 1796 the 
House declared that its constitutional requests of the Executive for 
information need not be accompanied by a statement of purposes (II, 
1509). As to the kind of information which may be required, especially 
as to the papers that may be demanded, there has been much discussion 
(III, 1700, 1738, 1888, 1902, 1903; VI, 402, 435). There have been 
several conflicts with the Executive (II, 1534, 1561; III, 1884, 1885-
1889, 1894) over demands for papers and information, especially when the 
resolutions have called for papers relating to foreign affairs (II, 
1509-1513, 1518, 1519).





Sec. 860. Introduction of bills, resolutions, or 
memorials by request.

  6. When a  bill, resolution, or memorial is introduced ``by 
request'', these words shall be entered upon the Journal and printed in 
the Record.


  This rule was adopted in 1888 (IV, 3366).




  It has never been the practice of the House to permit the names of the 
persons requesting the introduction of the bill to be printed in the 
Record.