    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 109th Congress]
    [109th Congress]
    [House Document 108-241]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 373-377]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                    Rule III

    Voting
        the members, delegates, and resident commissioner of puerto rico

    671. Personal interest.

      1.  Every Member shall be present
    within the Hall of the House during its sittings, unless excused or
    necessarily prevented, and shall vote on each question put, unless he
    has a direct personal or pecuniary interest in the event of such
    question.

      When the House recodified its rules, it consolidated former rule VIII,
    rule XII, and clause 6(h) of rule X under rule III, except that viable
    provisions of former clause 2 of rule VIII were transferred to current
    clause 3 of rule XX. This clause was adopted initially in 1789, with
    amendment in 1890 (V, 5941). Before the House recodified its rules in
    the 106th Congress, this clause was found in former clause 1 of rule
    VIII (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47).

    [[Page 374]]

    3011, footnote; VI, 30, 198), its general application is not practical
    under modern conditions. Form of resolution for the arrest of Members
    absent without leave (VI, 686).
      Leaves of absence are presented pending the motion to adjourn (IV,
    3151), and are usually granted by unanimous consent, but sometimes are
    opposed or even refused (II, 1142-1145). Application for leave of
    absence is properly presented by filing with the Clerk the printed form
    to be secured at the desk rather than by oral request from the floor
    (VI, 199). Whether or not they are privileged is a matter of doubt (II,
    1146, 1147). Excuses for absence, as distinguished from leaves of
    absence, may be granted by less than a quorum (IV, 3000-3002). The
    statutes provide that deductions may be made from the salaries of
    Members who are absent without sufficient excuse (II, 1149, 1150); and
    while this law has been enforced (IV,

    Sec. 672. Member's control of his own vote.

      It  has been
    found impracticable to enforce the provision requiring every Member to
    vote (V, 5942-5948), and such question, even if entertained, may not
    interrupt a pending record vote (V, 5947). The weight of authority also
    favors the idea that there is no authority in the House to deprive a
    Member of the right to vote (V, 5937, 5952, 5959, 5966, 5967; VIII,
    3072). In one or two early instances the Speaker decided that because of
    personal interest, a Member should not vote (V, 5955, 5958); but on all
    other occasions and in the later practice the Speaker has held that the
    Member himself and not the Chair should determine this question (V,
    5950, 5951; VIII, 3071; Speaker Albert, Dec. 2, 1975, p. 38135; Speaker
    O'Neill, Mar. 1, 1979, p. 3748; July 30, 1996, p. 19952), and the
    Speaker has denied his own power to deprive a Member of the
    constitutional right to vote (V, 5956; Speaker Albert, Dec. 2, 1975, p.
    38135; Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 1, 1979, p. 3748). Members may not vote in
    the House by proxy (VII, 1014). Instance where a Member submitted his
    resignation from a committee on grounds of disqualifying personal
    interest (VIII, 3074).

      The House has frequently excused Members from voting in cases of
    personal interest (III, 2294; V, 5962; Aug. 2, 1949, pp. 10591, 10592;
    Oct. 20, 1951, p. 13746; July 21, 1954, p. 11262; July 28, 1955, p.
    11930; July 12, 1956, p. 12566).

    Sec. 673. Nature of disqualifying personal interest.

      It  is a
    principle of ``immemorial observance'' that a Member should withdraw
    when a question concerning himself arises (V, 5949); but it has been
    held that the disqualifying interest must be such as affects the Member
    directly (V, 5954, 5955, 5963), and not as one of a class (V, 5952;
    VIII, 3071, 3072; Speaker Bankhead, May 31, 1939, p. 6359; Speaker
    Albert, Dec. 2, 1975, p. 38135). In a case where question affected the
    titles of several Members to their seats, each refrained from voting in
    his own case, but did vote on the identical cases of his associates (V,
    5957, 5958). While a Member should not vote on the direct questions
    affecting himself, he has sometimes voted on incidental questions (V,
    5960, 5961).

    Sec. 674. Voting.

      2.  (a) A Member may not authorize any
    other person to cast his vote or record his presence in the House or the
    Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

    [[Page 375]]

    the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

      (b) No other person may cast a Member's vote or record a Member's
    presence in the House or

    Delegates and the Resident Commissioner
      Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
    clause was found in former clause 3 of rule VIII (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6,
    1999, p. 47). The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct recommended
    this addition to the rules in its May 15, 1980, report on voting
    anomalies which had occurred in the House (H. Rept. 96-991), and the
    House adopted the rule in the 97th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981,
    pp. 98-113). Even before the addition of this clause, however, ``ghost
    voting'' was considered unethical (VII, 1014; Dec. 18, 1987, p. 36274).

    675. Committee service.

      3.  (a) Each Delegate and the
    Resident Commissioner shall be elected to serve on standing committees
    in the same manner as Members of the House and shall possess in such
    committees the same powers and privileges as the other members of the
    committee.

      Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
    provision was found in former rule XII (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47).
    Paragraph (a) resumed basically this form in the 104th Congress (sec.
    212, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 462). The first form of paragraph (a)
    was adopted in 1871, and it was perfected by amendments in 1876, 1880,
    1887, and 1892 (II, 1297). Reference to the Resident Commissioner was
    first found in 1904 (II, 1306). Paragraph (a) was again amended on
    January 2, 1947 (Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946), August 2, 1949
    (p. 10618), February 2, 1951 (p. 883), January 22, 1971 (H. Res. 5, 92d
    Cong., p. 144), January 3, 1973 (H. Res. 6, 93d Cong., p. 26), and
    January 3, 1991 (H. Res. 5, 102d Cong., p. 39). Paragraph (a) was
    completely revised in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. 49)
    to provide that each of the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner be
    elected to committees of the House on the same bases, vote in any
    committees on which they serve, and vote on questions arising in the
    Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. The latter power
    was affected by former clause 2(d) of rule XXIII (providing for
    immediate reconsideration in the House of questions resolved in the
    Committee of the Whole by a margin within which the votes of Delegates
    and the Resident Commissioner were decisive; see Sec. 984, infra).

    [[Page 376]]

    ``revote'' where votes cast by Delegates had been decisive rendered
    their votes merely symbolic and not an investment of true legislative
    power (Michel v. Anderson, 14 F.3d 623 (D.C. Cir. 1994)). The changes
    effected in the 103d Congress were revoked in the 104th Congress (sec.
    212, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 462).
      The constitutionality of granting to Delegates the right to vote in
    the Committee of the Whole under the former rule, as circumscribed by
    former clause 2(d) of rule XXIII, was upheld based on the premise that
    immediate

      The Office of Delegate was established by ordinance of the Continental
    Congress and confirmed by a law of Congress (I, 400, 421). The nature of
    the office has been the subject of much discussion (I, 400, 403, 473);
    and except as provided by law (I, 431, 526) the qualifications of the
    Delegate also have been a matter of discussion (I, 421, 423, 469, 470,
    473). A territory or district must be organized by law before the House
    will admit a Delegate (I, 405, 407, 411, 412). The Office of Delegate
    from the District of Columbia was established by Public Law 91-405 (84
    Stat. 845). The Offices of Delegate from the Territories of Guam and the
    Virgin Islands were established by Public Law 92-271 (86 Stat. 118). The
    Office of Delegate from American Samoa was established by Public Law 95-
    556 (92 Stat. 2078) and was first filled by the general Federal election
    of 1980. The Office of Resident Commissioner was established (with a
    four-year term) by the Act of March 2, 1917 (39 Stat. 963; 48 U.S.C.
    891). The Act of May 17, 1932, changed the name of Porto Rico to Puerto
    Rico (48 U.S.C. 731a).

      Under an earlier practice, Delegates did not vote in committee (VI,
    243); but this had not always been so (II, 1301). The Resident
    Commissioner, who under the rules of the 91st and earlier Congresses,
    was designated as an additional member of the Committees on Agriculture,
    Armed Services, and Interior and Insular Affairs, is now elected to
    committees in the same fashion as are other Members and may exercise in
    those committees on which he serves the same powers as other members,
    including the right to vote.

    [[Page 377]]

    of a Delegate in parliamentary matters are not limited to legislation
    affecting his own territory (VI, 240).
      The law provides that on the floor of the House a Delegate may debate
    (II, 1290), and he may in debate call a Member to order (II, 1295). He
    may make any motion which a Member may make except the motion to
    reconsider (II, 1291, 1292). A Delegate may make a point of order (VI,
    240). A Delegate has even moved an impeachment (II, 1303). However, a
    resolution offered from the floor to permit the Delegate of the District
    of Columbia to vote on the articles of impeachment against the President
    was held not to constitute a question of the privileges of the House
    under rule IX (Dec. 18, 1998, p. 27825). He may be appointed a teller
    (II, 1302); but the law forbids him to vote (II, 1290). He has been
    recognized to object to the consideration of a bill (VI, 241), to a
    unanimous-consent request to concur in a Senate amendment (June 29,
    1984, p. 20267), and has made reports for committees (July 1, 1958, p.
    12870). A discharge petition may not be signed by a Delegate or the
    Resident Commissioner, even by unanimous consent (Oct. 1, 2003, p. ----)
    because the phrase in clause 2 of rule XV ``a majority of the total
    membership of the House'' is construed to mean 218 Members (Speaker
    Byrns, Apr. 15, 1936, p. 5509), not including Delegates or the Resident
    Commissioner. The rights and prerogatives

      At the organization of the House, the Delegates and Resident
    Commissioner are sworn (I, 400, 401); but the Clerk does not put them on
    the roll (I, 61, 62; Jan. 6, 1999, p. 41). In the 103d Congress on
    recorded votes in the Committee of the Whole, their names were listed
    alphabetically with the names of Members (Feb. 3, 1993, p. 2035).

      A Delegate resigns in a communication addressed to the Speaker (II,
    1304). He may be arrested and censured for disorderly conduct (II,
    1305), but there has been disagreement as to whether he should be
    expelled by a majority or two-thirds vote (I, 469).

      The privileges of the floor with the right to debate were extended to
    Resident Commissioners in the 60th Congress (VI, 244). Before the
    independence of the Philippines it was represented in the House by a
    Resident Commissioner (Deschler, ch. 7, Sec. 3.3).

    Sec. 676. Appointment to select and conference
    committees.

        (b) The Delegates and the Resident Commissioner may be
    appointed to any select committee and to any conference committee.

      Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, paragraph
    (b) was found in former clause 6(h) of rule X (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999,
    p. 47). Paragraph (b), effective January 3, 1975, initially authorized
    the appointment of Delegates and the Resident Commissioner to certain
    conferences (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470). Paragraph
    (b) was amended in the 96th Congress to authorize their appointment to
    select committees (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16), and again in the
    103d Congress to authorize their appointment to any conference (H. Res.
    5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. 49).

      Before the adoption and refinement of this paragraph, a Delegate or
    the Resident Commissioner could not be appointed to a conference
    committee (Sept. 18, 1973, p. 30144; July 20, 1973, p. 25201); and they
    could be appointed to a select committee only with the permission of the
    House (Sept. 21, 1976, p. 31673).