[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 108th Congress]
[108th Congress]
[House Document 107-284]
[Front Matter]
[Pages i-xviii]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
[[Page i]]
107th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - House Document No. 107-284
______________________________________________________________________
CONSTITUTION
JEFFERSON'S MANUAL
AND
RULES OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
CHARLES W. JOHNSON
[GRAPHIC][TIFF]CONGRESS.#13
PARLIAMENTARIAN
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
82-900 WASHINGTON : 2003
________________________________________________________________________
Office
[[Page ii]]
Washington, DC 20402
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HOUSE RESOLUTION 614
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
November 14, 2002.
Resolved, That a revised edition of the Rules and Manual of the
House of Representatives for the One Hundred Eighth
Congress be printed as a House document, and that three thousand
additional copies shall be printed and bound for the use of the House of
Representatives, of which nine hundred copies shall be bound in leather
with thumb index and delivered as may be directed by the Parliamentarian
of the House.
Attest:
Jeff Trandahl,
Clerk.
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(III)
PREFACE
The House Rules and Manual contains the fundamental source material
for parliamentary procedure used in the House of Representatives: the
Constitution of the United States; applicable provisions of Jefferson's
Manual; Rules of the House (as of the date of this preface); provisions
of law and resolutions having the force of Rules of the House; and
pertinent decisions of the Speakers and other presiding officers of the
House and Committee of the Whole interpreting the rules and other
procedural authority used in the House of Representatives.
The rules for the One Hundred Eighth Congress were
adopted on January 7, 2003, when the House agreed to House
Resolution 5. In addition to a series of changes to various standing
rules, House Resolution 5 included separate free-standing orders
constituting procedures to be followed in the One Hundred
Eighth Congress. Explanations of the changes to the
standing rules appear in the annotations following each rule in the text
of this Manual.
In the One Hundred Sixth Congress, the House adopted a
recodification of the Rules of the House. For an explanation of the
recodified format, see the Preface and other introductory matter for the
House Rules and Manual for the One Hundred Sixth Congress (H. Doc. 105-
358).
The substantive changes in the standing rules made by House
Resolution 5 of the 108th Congress included:
(1) directive to the Speaker to submit to the Clerk a list of
Members in the order in which each shall act as Speaker pro tempore in
the case of a vacancy in the Office of Speaker until the election of a
Speaker or a Speaker pro tempore (clause 8 of rule I);
(2) elimination of the limit on number of terms a person may serve
as Speaker (rule I);
(3) authorization for the Speaker to declare an emergency recess
subject to the call of the Chair when notified of an imminent threat to
the safety of the House (clause 12 of rule I);
[[Page vi]]
convening or to reconvene before the time previously appointed solely to
declare the House in recess (each within the constitutional three-day
limit) (clause 12 of rule I);
(4) authorization for the Speaker, during any recess or adjournment
of not more than three days and in consultation with the Minority
Leader, to postpone the time for re
(5) extension of the privileges of the floor to staff of the
respective party leaderships when so assigned with the approval of the
Speaker (clause 2 of rule IV);
(6) inclusion of a member of the Committee on Rules in the
composition of the Committee on the Budget (clause 5(a) of rule X);
(7) elimination of the limit on the number of terms a chairman or
ranking minority member may serve on the Committee on the Budget
(subjecting a chairman of the committee only to the term limit
applicable to all standing committees described in clause 5(c)(2) of
rule X) (clause 5(a) of rule X);
(8) elimination of the limit on the number of terms a chairman or
ranking minority member of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence may serve on that committee (clause 11(a) of rule X);
(9) clarification that, although the professional staff of the
Committee on Appropriations are subject to the same rules regarding
their duties as the professional staff of all other committees, the
associate or shared staff of that committee are not subject to the
review of the Committee on House Administration in connection with the
reporting of committee expense resolutions (clause 9(b) of rule X);
(10) authorization for committees to adopt a rule permitting the
chairman of a committee or subcommittee to postpone a recorded vote on
the question of approving a measure or matter or on adopting an
amendment and to resume proceedings on a postponed question at any time
after reasonable notice, provided that such rule permits, when
proceedings resume on a postponed question and notwithstanding any
intervening order for the previous question, further debate or amendment
to the same extent as when the question was postponed (clause 2(h) of
rule XI);
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(11) codification of free-standing directives to the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct originally established and twice
reaffirmed by simple resolution (H. Res. 168, 105th Cong., Sept. 18,
1997, p. ----, reaffirmed for the 106th Congress by sec. 2(c), H. Res.
5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----, and reaffirmed for the 107th Congress with an
exception by sec. 3(a), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. ----) (clause 3 of
rule XI);
(12) authority for the Speaker, when referring a matter to
committee, to designate more than one committee as primary under
extraordinary circumstances (clause 2(c) of rule XII);
(13) replacement of provision authorizing a report of the Committee
on Ways and Means on major tax legislation to include a dynamic estimate
of the effect of such legislation on Federal revenues with a requirement
that a report of that committee proposing to amend the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 include a macroeconomic impact analysis or a statement why
such analysis is not calculable (clause 3(h) of rule XIII);
(14) relaxation of prohibition against any personal electronic
office equipment on the floor of the House, confining the prohibition to
wireless telephones and personal computers (clause 5 of rule XVII);
(15) codification of long-standing House practice that the death,
resignation, explusion, disqualification, or removal of a Member results
in an adjustment of the whole number of the House, which the Speaker
shall announce to the House and which shall not be subject to appeal
(clause 5 of rule XX);
(16) clarification that a motion to adjourn retains its normal
privilege and is in order during a call of the House under clause 6 of
rule XX (clause 6 of rule XX);
(17) expansion of the Speaker's authority to reduce the minimum time
for electronic voting following a fifteen-minute vote to include all
succeeding votes provided no other business intervenes and notice of
possible five-minute voting is given (clause 9 of rule XX);
(18) replacement of the standard for determining whether an
amendment proposing a limitation on funds in a general appropriation
bill violates clause 5(a) of rule XXI from a determination that the
provision inevitability and with certainty impacts revenue collections
or tax statuses or liabilities to a determination of a textual
relationship between the amendment and the administration of a tax or
tariff (clause 5(a) of rule XXI);
(19) extension of time before further motions to instruct conferees
may be offered from 20 calendar days to 20 calendar days but not less
than 10 legislative days (clause 7 of rule XXII);
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sional services involving a fiduciary relationship (clause 2 of rule
XXV);
(20) exemption for the practice of medicine from the prohibition
against receiving compensation for affiliating with, or being employed
by, an entity that provides profes
(21) particularization of the application of the gift rule to
perishable food, providing that the value of perishable food sent to an
office shall be allocated among the individual recipients and not solely
to the Member (clause 5 of rule XXV);
(22) relaxation of the prohibition against accepting reimbursement
for transportation and lodging expenses in connection with a charity
event to permit such reimbursement where the net proceeds of the event
go to a qualified charity, the expenses are paid by the charity, and the
invitation of free attendance is issued by the charity (clause 5 of rule
XXV); and
(23) restoration of automatic House passage of joint resolution
increasing the statutory limit on the public debt when the two Houses
agree to a concurrent resolution on the budget that requires such an
increase (rule XXVII).
Section 4 of House Resolution 5 also established a Select Committee
on Homeland Security with oversight and legislative jurisdiction over
matters relating to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which reorganized
the Federal Government to create a new Department of Homeland Security
(see Sec. 1112a, infra). The recently published second edition of House
Practice took into account the creation of the new select committee but
was finalized before the Committee on Appropriations reorganized its
subcommittees to reflect the new department (see House Practice,
�MDBU/ch. 4, Sec. 6). The Committee on Appropriations created a new
subcommittee on Homeland Security and combined the subcommittees on
Transportation and Treasury, Postal Service and General Government. The
reorganization of subcommittees is in compliance with clause 5(d)(2) of
rule X, which prohibits the Committee on Appropriation from having more
than 13 subcommittees (see Sec. 762, infra).
Deputy Parliamentarians John Sullivan and Tom Duncan, and Assistant
Parliamentarians Muftiah McCartin, Tom Wickham, and Ethan Lauer worked
diligently to annotate the decisions of the Chair and
other parliamentary precedents of the 107th and 108th
Congress to date of publication. Gay Topper, Deborah Khalili, and Brian
Cooper contributed their clerical skills to the preparation of this
edition. All of their contributions, especially those of Muftiah
McCartin in the preparation of this Manual, are gratefully acknowledged.
[[Page ix]]
Citations in this edition refer to:
(1) Hinds' Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United
States (volumes I through V) and Cannon's Precedents of the House of
Representatives of the United States (volumes VI through VIII), by
volume and section (e.g., V, 5763; VIII, 2852);
(2) Deschler's Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives
(volumes 1 through 9) and the Deschler-Brown Precedents of the U.S.
House of Representatives (volumes 10 through 16), by
volume, chapter, and section (e.g., Deschler, ch. 26, Sec. 79.7;
Deschler-Brown, ch. 28, Sec. 4.26);
(3) the Congressional Record, by date and page (e.g., Jan. 29, 1986,
p. 684);
(4) House Practice (2003), by chapter and
section (e.g., House Practice, ch. 1, Sec. 2);
(5) Deschler-Brown Procedure in the U.S. House of Representatives
(4th edition and 1987 supplement), by chapter and section (e.g.,
Procedure, ch. 5, Sec. 8.1);
(6) the United States Code, by title and section (e.g., 2 U.S.C.
287); and
(7) the United States Reports, by volume and page (e.g., 395 U.S.
486).
Readers are invited to refer to the prefaces of Hinds', Cannon's,
and Deschler's Precedents (Volumes I, VI, and 1, respectively) for
comprehensive overviews by those editors of the procedural history of
the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1976.
[[Page xi]]
Charles W. Johnson
July 25, 2003
CONTENTS
__________
THE CONSTITUTION
Page
Preamble.......................................................... 3
Article I.--The legislative power..................... 4
II.--The executive power....................... 64
III.--The judicial power........................ 76
IV.--Obligations, duties, etc., of the States.. 78
V.--Amendments to............................. 80
VI.--Law of the land, etc...................... 82
VII.--Ratification of........................... 86
Amendments ratified....................... 89
JEFFERSON'S MANUAL
Section I.--Importance of adhering to rules........... 125
III.--Privilege................................. 128
VI.--Quorum.................................... 147
VII.--Call of the House......................... 148
IX.--Speaker................................... 148
X.--Address................................... 151
XI.--Committees................................ 151
XII.--Committee of the Whole.................... 155
XIII.--Examination of witnesses.................. 164
XIV.--Arrangement of business................... 169
XV.--Order..................................... 171
XVI.--Order respecting papers................... 172
XVII.--Order in debate........................... 172
XVIII.--Orders of the House....................... 194
XIX.--Petition.................................. 198
XX.--Motions................................... 199
XXI.--Resolutions............................... 200
XXIII.--Bills, leave to bring in.................. 202
XXIV.--Bills, first reading...................... 203
XXV.--Bills, second reading..................... 203
XXVI.--Bills, commitment......................... 204
[[Page xii]]
XXVII.--Report of committee....................... 215
Page
Section XXVIII.--Bill, recommitment........................ 216
XXIX.--Bills, reports taken up................... 217
XXX.--Quasi-committee........................... 219
XXXI.--Bill, second reading in the House......... 223
XXXII.--Reading papers............................ 225
XXXIII.--Privileged questions...................... 227
XXXIV.--The previous question..................... 240
XXXV.--Amendments................................ 242
XXXVI.--Division of the question.................. 251
XXXVII.--Coexisting questions...................... 254
XXXVIII.--Equivalent questions...................... 255
XXXIX.--The question.............................. 258
XL.--Bills, third reading...................... 258
XLI.--Division of the House..................... 262
XLII.--Titles.................................... 268
XLIII.--Reconsideration........................... 268
XLIV.--Bills sent to the other House............. 271
XLV.--Amendments between the Houses............. 272
XLVI.--Conferences............................... 282
XLVII.--Messages.................................. 295
XLVIII.--Assent.................................... 299
XLIX.--Journals.................................. 302
L.--Adjournment............................... 304
LI.--A session................................. 306
LII.--Treaties.................................. 309
LIII.--Impeachment............................... 313
RULES OF THE HOUSE
Rule I.--The Speaker............................... 333
II.--Other Officers and Officials.............. 353
III.--The Members, Delegates, and Resident
Commissioner of Puerto Rico............... 373
IV.--The Hall of the House..................... 377
V.--Broadcasting the House.................... 384
VI.--Official Reporters and News Media
Galleries................................. 387
VII.--Records of the House...................... 398
VIII.--Response to Subpoenas..................... 402
IX.--Questions of Privilege.................... 406
X.--Organization of Committees................ 423
XI.--Procedures of Committees and Unfinished
Business.................................. 529
XII.--Receipt and Referral of Measures and
Matters................................... 588
XIII.--Calendars and Committee Reports........... 602
XIV.--Order and Priority of Business............ 636
[[Page xiii]]
XV.--Business in Order on Special Days......... 647
Page
Rule XVI.--Motions and Amendments.................... 667
XVII.--Decorum and Debate........................ 718
XVIII.--The Committee of the Whole House on the
state of the Union........................ 746
XIX.--Motions Following the Amendment Stage..... 773
XX.--Voting and Quorum Calls................... 789
XXI.--Restrictions on Certain Bills............. 813
XXII.--House and Senate Relations................ 857
XXIII.--Code of Official Conduct.................. 882
XXIV.--Limitations on Use of Official Funds...... 889
XXV.--Limitations on Outside Earned Income and
Acceptance of Gifts....................... 893
XXVI.--Financial Disclosure...................... 915
XXVII.--Statutory Limit on Public
Debt...................................... 939
XXVIII.--General Provisions........................ 942
Provisions of Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as Amended by the
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, Applicable to Both Houses
Congressional adjournment......................................... 947
Preservation of committee hearings................................ 948
Joint and Select Committees
Economic Committee, Joint......................................... 949
Internal Revenue Taxation, Joint Committee on..................... 949
Library, Joint Committee of Congress on the....................... 950
Printing, Joint Committee on...................................... 950
Inaugural Ceremonies, Joint Congressional Committee on............ 950
Select committees................................................. 951
[[Page xiv]]
House Offices
House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards............... 953
House Office Building Commission.................................. 953
General Accounting Office......................................... 953
Office of Compliance.............................................. 953
Congressional Research Service.................................... 954
Legislative Counsel............................................... 954
Congressional Budget Office....................................... 954
Law Revision Counsel.............................................. 954
Technology Assessment............................................. 954
Office of the Parliamentarian..................................... 954
Office of Floor Assistants........................................ 955
Corrections Calendar Office....................................... 955
House Recording Studio............................................ 955
Page
United States Capitol Preservation Commission..................... 955
Office of General Counsel......................................... 955
Office of Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Operations........ 956
Early organization of House....................................... 957
Miscellaneous Provisions of Congressional Budget Laws
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.................................. 963
Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.................................... 1039
Congressional Disapproval Provisions Contained in Public Laws
Resolutions privileged for consideration in House................. 1045
[[Page xv]]
Index
Index............................................................. 1203
MAJOR RULE CITATION CHANGES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OLD RULE through NEW RULE
105th Cong. -------------------
DESCRIPTION ---------------------
Rule Clause Rule Clause
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postponed votes................ I 5(b) XX 8
Tie vote lost.................. I 6 XX 1(c)
Lame duck travel authority..... I 8 XXIV 10
Broadcasting House proceedings. I 9 V ........
Office of the Historian........ I 10 II 7
Office of the General Counsel.. I 11 II 8
Clerk.......................... III ........ II 2
Sergeant-at-Arms............... IV ........ II 3
Chief Administrative Officer... V ........ II 4
Office of the Inspector General VI ........ II 6
Chaplain....................... VII ........ II 5
Duties of Members.............. VIII ........ III 1-2
Committee on Standards of X 4(e) XI 3
Official Conduct..............
Referral....................... X 5 XII 2
Speaker's appointment of select X 6(f) I 11
and conference committees.....
Committee membership contingent X 6(g) X 10
on party membership...........
Committee reporting procedures. XI 2(l)(1), XIII 2
(2)
Content of reports............. XI 2(l)(3)- XIII 3
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Dilatory motions on suspensions XVI 8 XV 1
Dilatory motions............... XVI 10 XVI 1
Previous question.............. XVII ........ XIX 1
Motion to recommit............. XVII 1 XIX 2
Reconsideration................ XVIII ........ XIX 3
Amendments..................... XIX ........ XVI 6
Senate amendments.............. XX ........ XXII 1-6
Reading of bills............... XXI 1 XVI 8
Content of reports on XXI 3 XIII 3(f)
appropriation bills...........
Private claims................. XXI 4 XII 2(d)
Appropriations in legislation.. XXI 5(a) XXI 4
Reappropriations............... XXI 6 XXI 2(a)(2)
Printing of appropriations XXI 7 XIII 4(c)
hearings......................
Reserving points of order on XXI 8 XXI 1
appropriation bills...........
Transportation obligation XXI 9 XXI 3
limitations...................
Cosponsorship.................. XXII 4 XII 7
Resolutions of inquiry......... XXII 5 XIII 7
Committee of the Whole House... XXIII ........ XVIII ........
Order of business.............. XXIV ........ XIV ........
Unfinished business............ XXIV 3 XIV 3
Private Calendar............... XXIV 6 XV 5
Calendar Wednesday............. XXIV 7 XV 7
District business.............. XXIV 8 XV 4
Priority of business........... XXV ........ XIV 6
(5)
Availability of reports........ XI 2(l)(6) XIII 4
Committee travel............... XI 2(n) X 8
Committee broadcast rule....... XI 3 XI 4
Privileged reports............. XI 4 XIII 5
Reports of Rules Committee..... XI 4 XIII 6
Expense resolutions............ XI 5 X 6-7
Committee staff................ XI 6 X 9
Resident Commissioner/Delegates XII ........ III 3
Corrections Calendar........... XIII 4 XV 6
Decorum and debate............. XIV ........ XVII ........
Recognition.................... XIV 2 XVII 2
Voting and quorum calls........ XV ........ XX ........
[[Page xvii]]
Withdrawal of papers........... XXXVII ........ VII 7
Ballot votes................... XXXVIII ........ XX 11
Messages....................... XXXIX ........ XII 1
Executive communications....... XL ........ XII 8
Claims against the Government.. XLI ........ XXV 6
General provisions............. XLII ........ XX 1
Unfinished business in XXVI ........ XI 6
committee.....................
Suspension of the rules........ XXVII 1-2 XV 1
Discharge motions.............. XXVII 3 XV 2
Conference reports............. XXVIII ........ XXII 7-12
Secret sessions................ XXIX ........ XVII 9
Exhibits....................... XXX ........ XVII 6
Hall of the House.............. XXXI ........ IV 1
Admission to the Floor......... XXXII ........ IV 2-5
Admission to the galleries..... XXXIII ........ IV 6
Campaign contributions on Floor XXXII 5 IV 7
Official Reporters and the XXXIV ........ VI ........
media.........................
Pay of witnesses............... XXXV ........ XI 5
Records of the House........... XXXVI ........ VII ........
VIII
[[Page xviii]]
NM
Code of Official Conduct....... XLIII ........ XXIII ........
Financial disclosure........... XLIV ........ XXVI ........
Unofficial office accounts..... XLV ........ XXIV 1-3
Limitation on use of frank..... XLVI ........ XXIV 4-9
Outside earned income.......... XLVII ........ XXV 1-3
Intelligence Committee......... XLVIII ........ X 11
Statutory Limit on Public Debt. XLIX ........ XXVII
Response to subpoenas.......... L ........ VIII ........
Gift rule...................... LI ........ XXV 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
Rule XIV
First. Prayer by Chaplain.
Second. Approval of Journal.
Third. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Fourth. Correction of reference of public bills.
Fifth. Disposal of business on Speaker's table.
Sixth. Unfinished business.
Seventh. The morning hour for the consideration of bills.
Eighth. Motions to go into Committee of the Whole.
Ninth. Orders of the day.
SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
Second and fourth Mondays:
Mondays
Motions to discharge committees. Rule XV, clause 2.
Every Monday:
District of Columbia Business. Rule XV, clause 4.
Motions to suspend rules. Rule XV, clause 1.
First and third Tuesdays:
Tuesdays
Private Calendar. Rule XV, clause 5. Individual private bills
considered on first Tuesday of each month, omnibus private bills
Second and fourth Tuesdays:
may be considered on third Tuesday of each month.
Every Tuesday:
Corrections Calendar. Rule XV, clause 6.
Motions to suspend rules. Rule XV, clause 1.
Call of Committees under Calendar Wednesday. Rule XV, clause 7.
Wednesdays