[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 214-218]
[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 215]]

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, 
taking 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

  The House may proceed ``in the House as in Committee of the Whole'' 
only by unanimous consent (IV, 4923) or special rule (Dec. 18, 1974, p. 
40858). 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). 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 XVIII), 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.


  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, see Sec. 427, infra.


[[Page 216]]



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 217]]

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 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




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

  In  the modern practice of the House, 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 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, p. 21314). 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).



[[Page 218]]

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).



  The procedures applicable in the House as in the Committee of the 
Whole generally apply to proceedings in committees of the House, 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