    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 108th Congress]
    [108th Congress]
    [House Document 107-284]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 199-200]
    [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    be withdrawn but by leave of the House.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.

      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    XVI provides further that a motion may be withdrawn before decision or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; 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).

    [[Page 200]]

    ing 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.

    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 call

      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.