    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 107th Congress]
    [107th Congress]
    [House Document 106-320]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 194-195]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 sec. xx--motion

    Sec. 392. Parliamentary law as to making, withdrawing, and
    reading of motions.

        When a motion has been made, it is not to be put
    to the question or debated until it is seconded. Scob., 21.

      It is then, and not till then, in possession of the House, and can not
    be withdrawn but by leave of the House. It is to be put into writing, if
    the House or Speaker require it, and must be read to the House by the
    Speaker as often as any Member desires it for his information. 2 Hats.,
    82.

    [[Page 195]]

    and clause 1 of the same rule provides that the motion shall be reduced
    to writing on the demand of any Member. In the practice of the House,
    when a paper on which the House is to vote has been read once, the
    reading may not be required again unless the House shall order it read
    (V, 5260).

      The House has long since dispensed with the requirement of a second
    for ordinary motions (clause 1 of rule XVI; V, 5304); and the
    requirement of a second for a motion to suspend the rules was eliminated
    in the 102d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39). Clause 2 of rule
    XVI provides further that a motion may be withdrawn before decision or
    amendment;

    Sec. 393. Interruptions of the Member having the
    floor.

      It  might be asked whether a motion for adjournment or for the
    orders of the day can be made by one Member while another is speaking?
    It can not. When two Members offer to speak, he who rose first is to be
    heard, and it is a breach of order in another to interrupt him, unless
    by calling him to order if he departs from it. And the question of order
    being decided, he is still to be heard through. A call for adjournment,
    or for the order of the day, or for the question, by gentlemen from
    their seats, is <> not a motion. No motion
    can be made without rising and addressing the Chair. Such calls are
    themselves breaches of order, which, though the Member who has risen may
    respect, as an expression of impatience of the House against further
    debate, yet, if he chooses, he has a right to go on.

      The practice of the House has modified the principle that the Member
    who rises first is to be recognized (clause 2 of rule XVII); but in
    other respects the principles of this paragraph of the law of Parliament
    are in force.