    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 109th Congress]
    [109th Congress]
    [House Document 108-241]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 147-148]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    * * * * *
                                 sec. vi--quorum

    Sec. 310. Necessity of a quorum during business, including
    debate.

      In  general the chair is not to be taken till a quorum for
    business is present; unless, after due waiting, such a quorum be
    despaired of, when the chair may be taken and the House adjourned. And
    whenever, during business, it is observed that a quorum is not present,
    any member may call for the House to be counted, and being found
    deficient, business is suspended. 2 Hats., 125, 126.

    [[Page 148]]

    immediately to establish a quorum, although the Speaker has the
    authority under clause 7 of rule XX to recognize for a call of the House
    at any time. The question of a quorum is not considered unless properly
    raised (IV, 2733; VI, 624), and it is not in order for the Speaker to
    recognize for a point of no quorum unless he has put the pending
    question or proposition to a vote. While it was formerly the rule that a
    quorum was necessary for debate as well as business (IV, 2935-2949),
    under the procedure put in effect in the 95th Congress such is not the
    case. In the 94th Congress the House by rule restricted the Chair's
    ability to recognize the absence of a quorum (clause 7 of rule XX).
    Clause 5(c) of rule XX permits the House to operate with a ``provisional
    quorum'' where the House is without a quorum due to catastrophic
    circumstances (see Sec. 1024a, infra). Title III of the Legislative
    Branch Appropriations Act, 2006, amended Federal election law to require
    States to hold special elections for the House within 49 days after a
    vacancy is announced by the Speaker in the extraordinary circumstance
    that vacancies in representation from the States exceed 100 (P.L. 109-
    55; 2 U.S.C. 8).

      In the House the Speaker takes the Chair at the hour to which the
    House stood adjourned and there is no requirement that the House proceed