[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 331-955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WITH NOTES AND ANNOTATIONS
__________
Rule I
Approval of the Journal
the speaker
| 621. Journal; Speaker's approval. | 1. The Speaker shall take the Chair on every legislative day precisely at the hour to which the House last adjourned and immediately call the House to order. Having examined and approved the Journal of the last day's proceedings, the Speaker shall announce to the House his approval thereof. The Speaker's approval of the Journal shall be deemed agreed to unless a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner demands a vote thereon. If such a vote is decided in the affirmative, it shall not be subject to a motion to reconsider. If such a vote is decided in the negative, then one motion that the Journal be read shall be privileged, shall be decided without debate, and shall not be subject to a motion to reconsider. |
| 623. Speaker's control of the Hall, corridors, and rooms. | 3. Except as otherwise provided by rule or law, the Speaker shall have general control of the Hall of the House, the corridors and passages in the part of the Capitol assigned to the use of the House, and the disposal of unappropriated rooms in that part of the Capitol. |
| 624. Speaker's signature to acts, warrants, subpoenas, etc. | 4. The Speaker shall sign all acts and joint resolutions passed by the two Houses and all writs, warrants, and subpoenas of, or issued by order of, the House. The Speaker may sign enrolled bills and joint resolutions whether or not the House is in session. |
| Sec. 625. Signing of enrolled bills. | Enrolled bills are signed first by the Speaker (IV, 3429). For precedents relevant to the signing of enrolled bills before this clause was amended to permit the Speaker to sign at any time, see IV, 3458, and V, 5705. Before the adoption of clause 2(d)(2) of rule II (enabling the Clerk to examine enrolled bills), the House authorized the Speaker to sign an enrolled bill before the Committee on Enrolled Bills could attest to its accuracy (IV, 3452). In cases of error the House has permitted the Speaker's signature to be vacated (IV, 3453, 3455-3457; VII, 1077-1080). Under the modern practice, the Committee of the Whole may rise informally without motion to enable the Speaker to assume the Chair and to sign an enrolled bill and lay it before the House (Jan. 28, 1980, p. 888; Apr. 30, 1980, p. 9505). |
| Sec. 626. Signing of warrants, subpoenas, etc. | Warrants, subpoenas, etc., during recesses of Congress are signed only by authority specially given (III, 1753, 1763, 1806). The issuing of warrants must be specially authorized by the House (I, 287) or pursuant to a standing rule (clause 6 of rule XX; Sec. 1026, infra). Instance wherein the House authorized the Speaker to warrant for the arrest of absentees (VI, 638). The Speaker also signs the articles, replications, etc., in impeachments (III, 2370, 2455; e.g., H. Res. 611, Dec. 19, 1998, p. 28112); and certifies cases of contumacious witnesses for action by the courts (III, 1691, 1769; VI, 385; 2 U.S.C. 194). A subpoena validly issued by a committee authorized by the House under clause 2(m) of rule XI to issue subpoenas need only be signed by the chairman of that committee, whereas when the House issues an order or warrant, the Speaker must issue the summons under his hand and seal, and it must be attested by the Clerk (III, 1668; see H. Rept. 96-1078, p. 22). |
| 627. Questions of order. | 5. The Speaker shall decide all questions of order, subject to appeal by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner. On such an appeal a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not speak more than once without permission of the House. |
| Sec. 628. Practice governing the Speaker in deciding points of order. | The Speaker may require that a question of order be presented in writing (V, 6865). When enough of a proposition has been read to show that it is out of order, the question of order may be raised without waiting for the reading to be completed (V, 6886, 6887; VIII, 2912, 3378, 3437), though the Chair may decline to rule until the entire proposition has been read (Dec. 14, 1973, pp. 41716-18). For example, the Chair declined to entertain a point of order that a motion to recommit was not germane before any nongermane portion of the motion had been read (May 9, 2003, p. ----); and a motion to recommit with instructions was ruled out of order before the entire motion had been read as a matter of form where a special order of business precluded instructions (May 6, 2004, p. ----). Questions arising during a division are decided peremptorily (V, 5926), and when they arise out of any other question must be decided before that question (V, 6864). In rare instances the Speaker has declined to rule until he has taken time for examination of the question (III, 2725; VI, 432; VII, 2106; VIII, 2174, 2396, 3475). |
| Sec. 629. Practice, governing appeals. | The right of appeal insures the House against the arbitrary control of the Speaker and cannot be taken away from the House (V, 6002). While a decision of the Chair on a point of order is subject to appeal on demand of any Member, a Member cannot secure a recorded vote on a point of order absent an appeal and the Chair's putting the question thereon (June 20, 1996, p. 14847). |
| 630. Putting of the question by the Speaker. | 6. The Speaker shall rise to put a question but may state it sitting. The Speaker shall put a question in this form: ``Those in favor (of the question), say `Aye.' ''; and after the affirmative voice is expressed, ``Those opposed, say `No.' ''. After a vote by voice under this clause, the Speaker may use such voting procedures as may be invoked under rule XX. |
| 631. The Speaker's vote. Tie vote. | 7. The Speaker is not required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings, except when his vote would be decisive or when the House is engaged in voting by ballot. |
| 632. Speaker pro tempore. | 8. (a) The Speaker may appoint a Member to perform the duties of the Chair. Except as specified in paragraph (b), such an appointment may not extend beyond three legislative days. |
| Sec. 634. Election, oath, and designation of Speaker pro tempore. | The right of the House to elect a Speaker pro tempore in the absence of the Speaker was exercised before the rule was adopted (II, 1405), although the House sometimes preferred to adjourn (I, 179). An elected Speaker pro tempore in the earlier practice was not sworn (I, 229; II, 1386); but the Senate and sometimes the President were notified of his election (II, 1386-1389, 1405-1412; VI, 275). On August 31, 1961 (p. 17765), the House adopted House Resolution 445, electing Hon. John W. McCormack as Speaker pro tempore in the absence and terminal illness of Speaker Rayburn. The resolution provided that the Clerk notify the President and the Senate. The chairman of the Democratic Caucus then administered the oath. The Speaker has appointed a Speaker pro tempore to perform the duties of the Chair for a fourth consecutive day on account of illness (Speaker Hastert, Feb. 26, 2001, p. 2192). Elected Speakers pro tempore have signed enrolled bills, appointed select committees, administered the oath of office to a Member-elect (Mar. 17, 1998, p. 3836), etc., functions |
| 635. Drug testing in the House. | 9. The Speaker, in consultation with the Minority Leader, shall develop through an appropriate entity of the House a system for drug testing in the House. The system may provide for the testing of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House, and otherwise shall be comparable in scope to the system for drug testing in the executive branch pursuant to Executive Order 12564 (Sept. 15, 1986). The expenses of the system may be paid from applicable accounts of the House for official expenses. |
| Sec. 635a. Former Term limit. | Clause 9 formerly was occupied by a prohibition against the Speaker serving for more than four consecutive Congresses, which was added in the 104th Congress (sec. 103(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 462) and repealed in the 108th Congress (sec. 2(b), H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 2003, p. ----). Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, the former term-limit rule and current clause 8 occupied a single clause (formerly clause 7) (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). |
| 636. Travel authority. | 10. The Speaker may designate a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House to travel on the business of the House within or without the United States, whether the House is meeting, has recessed, or has adjourned. Expenses for such travel may be paid from applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(j)(1) of rule X on vouchers approved and signed solely by the Speaker. |
| 637. Select and conference committees. | 11. The Speaker shall appoint all select, joint, and conference committees ordered by the House. At any time after an original appointment, the Speaker |
| 638. Short recess authority. | 12. (a) To suspend the business of the House for a short time when no question is pending before the House, the Speaker may declare a recess subject to the call of the Chair. |
| Sec. 639. Emergency recess and reconvening authority. | (b) To suspend the business of the House when notified of an imminent threat to its safety, the Speaker may declare an emergency recess subject to the call of the Chair. |
| 640. Election, oath, and removal of officers. | 1. There shall be elected at the commencement of each Congress, to continue in office until their successors are chosen and qualified, a Clerk, a Sergeant-at-Arms, a Chief Administrative Officer, and a Chaplain. Each of these officers shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and for the true and faithful exercise of the duties of his office to the best of his knowledge and ability, and to keep the secrets of the House. Each of these officers shall appoint all of the employees of his department provided for by law. The Clerk, Sergeant-at- Arms, and Chief Administrative Officer may be removed by the House or by the Speaker. |
| 641. Clerk; commencement of first session. | 2. (a) At the commencement of the first session of each Congress, the Clerk shall call the Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioner to order and proceed to record their presence by States in alphabetical order, either by call of the roll or by use of the electronic voting system. Pending the election of a Speaker or Speaker pro tempore, the Clerk shall preserve order and decorum and decide all questions of order, subject to appeal by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner. |
| Sec. 642. Other duties of the Clerk. | Various administrative duties, similar to those specified in this clause, are imposed on the Clerk by law (I, 253; Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, 60 Stat. 812); and the law also makes it his duty to furnish stationery, blank books, etc., to the committees and officers of the House (V, 7322); to exercise discretionary authority as to reprinting of bills and documents (V, 7319); to receive the testimony taken in election contests (I, 703, 705; see also Federal Contested Election Act, P.L. 91-138, 83 Stat. 284), to serve as an ex officio member of the Federal Election Commission established pursuant to Public Law 94-283; 2 U.S.C. 437c; and to make certain reports on receipts and expenditures (2 U.S.C. 102, 103, 113; see Sec. 655, infra). Instance of Clerk serving temporarily also as Sergeant-at-Arms (July 8, 1953, p. 8242). |
| Sec. 643. Clerk's duties at organization. | As rules are not usually adopted until after the election of the Speaker, this paragraph is not in force at the time of organization of a new House. The procedure at organization does, however, follow a practice conforming to the terms of the paragraph (I, 81), although the House may depart from it. Since the 97th Congress, for example, the House has permitted by unanimous consent the alphabetical roll call of Members by States to be conducted by electronic device to establish a quorum (Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 93-96). For a discussion of procedure in the House before the adoption of rules, including the procedure by which the Clerk conducts the election of the Speaker, see Sec. Sec. 27, 60, supra. The Clerk, in presiding before the election of the Speaker, recognizes Members (I, 74). The Members-elect have, before the election of the Speaker or adoption of rules, authorized the Clerk and Sergeant-at-Arms of the last House to preserve order (I, 101); but usually such action has not been taken, although an occasion might arise to make it necessary (I, 76, 77). |
| Sec. 644. The roll of Memberselect. | The roll of Members is made up by the Clerk from the credentials, in accordance with a provision of law (I, 14-62; VI, 2; 2 U.S.C. 26). A certificate of election in due form having been filed, the Clerk placed the name of the Member-elect on the roll, although he was subsequently advised that a State Supreme Court had issued a writ restraining the Secretary of State from issuing such certificate (Jan. 3, 1949, p. 8). The call of the roll may not be interrupted, especially by one not on that roll (I, 84), and a person not on the roll may not be recognized (I, 86). A motion to proceed to the election of the Speaker is of higher privilege than a motion to correct the roll (I, 19-24). The House has declined to permit enrollment by the Clerk to be final as to prima facie right (I, 376, 589, 592). |
| Sec. 645. Clerk as presiding officer at organizations. | In early years the authority of the Clerk to decide questions of order pending the election of a Speaker was questioned (I, 65). The Clerks often declined to make decisions (I, 68-72; V, 5325). However, in 1855 and 1997 the Clerk decided a question of order; and in 1997 the Clerk was sustained on appeal (I, 91; Jan. 7, 1997, pp. 115, 116). During the existence of a rule that applied the rules of a prior House to a successor House (1860 through 1890) (I, 64; V, 6743-6747) the Clerks made several rulings (I, 76, 77; VI, 623). |
| Sec. 646. Clerk furnishes a list of reports. | (b) At the commencement of every regular session of Congress, the Clerk shall make and cause to be delivered to each Member, Delegate, and the Resident Commissioner a list of the reports that any officer or Department is required to make to Congress, citing the law or resolution in which the requirement may be contained and placing under the name of each officer the list of reports he is required to make. |
| Sec. 647. Clerk's duty as to Journal and documents. | (1) note all questions of order, with the decisions thereon, the record of which shall be appended to the Journal of each session; |
| Sec. 648. Attests and seals process and certifies passage of bills; oversees engrossment and enrollment process. | (d)(1) The Clerk shall attest and affix the seal of the House to all writs, warrants, and subpoenas issued by order of the House and certify the passage of all bills and joint resolutions. |
| Sec. 649. Calendars distributed. | (e) The Clerk shall cause the calendars of the House to be distributed each legislative day. |
| Sec. 650. Documents. | (1) retain in the library at the Office of the Clerk for the use of the Members, Delegates, Resident Commis |
| Sec. 651. Official to act as Clerk upon designation. | (g) The Clerk shall provide for his temporary absence or disability by designating an official in the Office of the Clerk to sign all papers that may require the official signature of the Clerk and to perform all other official acts that the Clerk may be required to perform under the rules and practices of the House, except such official acts as are provided for by statute. Official acts performed by the designated official shall be under the name of the Clerk. The designation shall be in writing and shall be laid before the House and entered on the Journal. |
| Sec. 652. Authority to receive messages. | (h) The Clerk may receive messages from the President and from the Senate at any time when the House is not in session. |
| Sec. 653. Administration of vacant Member's office. | (i)(1) The Clerk shall supervise the staff and manage the office of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who has died, resigned, or been expelled until a successor is elected. The Clerk shall perform similar duties in the event that a vacancy is declared by the House in any congressional district because of the incapacity of the person representing such district or other reason. Whenever the Clerk is acting as a supervisory authority over such staff, he shall have authority to terminate employees and, with the approval of the Committee on House Administration, may appoint such staff as is required to operate the office until a successor is elected. |
| Sec. 655. Cooperation with others. | (k) The Clerk shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits of financial records and administrative operations. |
| 656. SergeantatArms enforces authority of House. | 3. (a) The Sergeant-at-Arms shall attend the House during its sittings and maintain order under the direction of the Speaker or other presiding officer. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall execute the commands of the House, and all processes issued by authority thereof, directed to him by the Speaker. |
| Sec. 658. Doorkeeping. | (c) The Sergeant-at-Arms shall enforce strictly the rules relating to the privileges of the Hall of the House and be responsible to the House for the official conduct of his employees. |
| Sec. 660. Cooperation with others. | (f) The Sergeant-at-Arms shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits of financial records and administrative operations. |
| 661. Duties. | 4. (a) The Chief Administrative Officer shall have operational and financial responsibility for functions as assigned by the Committee on House Administration and shall be subject to the oversight of the Committee on House Administration.- |
| Sec. 662. Semiannual reports. | (b) In addition to any other reports required by the Committee on House Administration, the Chief Administrative Officer shall report to the Committee on House Administration not later than 45 days following the close of each semiannual period ending on June 30 or December 31 on the financial and operational status of each function under the jurisdiction of the Chief Administrative Officer. Each report shall include financial statements and a description or explanation of current operations, the implementation of new policies and procedures, and future plans for each function. |
| Sec. 663. Cooperation with others. | (c) The Chief Administrative Officer shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and persons in the perform |
| Sec. 663a. Former Office of Doorkeeper. | Before the 104th Congress (sec. 201(c), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 463), rule V enumerated the duties of the Doorkeeper, who enforced the rules relating to the privileges of the Hall of the House. The earlier form of the rule was adopted in 1838 and amended in 1869, 1880 (I, 260), and 1890 (V, 7295). By law the Doorkeeper was assigned certain administrative duties (I, 262), including certain housekeeping functions. Through his employees and appointees, the Doorkeeper also discharged various duties not enumerated in the law or in the rules, such as announcing at the door of the Hall of the House all messengers from the President and the Senate (V, 6591). The Clerk having died, and the Sergeant-at-Arms having been absent, the Doorkeeper of the 79th Congress presided at the organization of the 80th Congress (Jan. 3, 1947, p. 33). In the 78th Congress, the House adopted a resolution on the death of the Doorkeeper and appointed a committee to attend his funeral (Jan. 28, 1943, pp. 421- 22).- |
| Sec. 664. Former Director of Nonlegislative and Financial Services. | The Chief Administrative Officer supplanted the Director of Non-legislative and Financial Services formerly provided for under clause 1 of rule VI in the 103d Congress, which corresponded to an erstwhile rule LII of the 102d Congress. Certain functions and entities formerly within the purview of elected officers were transferred to the Director of Non-legislative and Financial Services pursuant to section 7 of the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, Apr. 9, 1992, p. 9040). Section 7(b) of that resolution vested the Committee on House Administration with authority to prescribe regulations providing for the orderly transfer of such functions and entities and any other transfers necessary for the improvement of non-legislative and financial services in the House, so long as not transferring a function or entity within the jurisdiction of the committee under rule X. Section 13 of the resolution provided that |
| 665. Duties of the Chaplain. | 5. The Chaplain shall offer a prayer at the commencement of each day's sitting of the House. |
| 667. Inspector General. | 6. (a) There is established an Office of Inspector General. |
| Sec. 668. Former Office of the Postmaster. | Until the 102d Congress, former rule VI provided for an Office of the Postmaster, who superintended the post offices of the House and the delivery of its mail. The earlier form of the rule was adopted in 1838 and amended in 1880 (I, 270), 1911 (VI, 34), 1971 (H. Res. 5, 92d Cong., p. 144), and 1972 (H. Res. 1153, 92d Cong., pp. 36013-15). The Office of the Postmaster was abolished during the 102d Congress by sections 2 and 5 of the House Administrative Reform Resolution of 1992 (H. Res. 423, Apr. 9, 1992, p. 9040). |
| 669. Historian. | 7. There is established an Office of the Historian of the House of Representatives. The Speaker shall appoint |
| 670. General Counsel. | 8. There is established an Office of General Counsel for the purpose of providing legal assistance and representation to the House. Legal assistance and representation shall be provided without regard to political affiliation. The Office of General Counsel shall function pursuant to the direction of the Speaker, who shall consult with a Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which shall include the majority and minority leaderships. The Speaker shall appoint and set the annual rate of pay for employees of the Office of General Counsel. |
| 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. |
| 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). |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 677. Use of the Hall of the House. | 1. The Hall of the House shall be used only for the legislative business of the House and for caucus and con |
| Sec. 678. Persons and officials admitted to the floor during sessions of the House. | 2. (a) Only the following persons shall be admitted to the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto: |
| Sec. 679. Admission to the floor when the House is not sitting. | 3. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), all persons not entitled to the privilege of the floor during the session shall be excluded at all times from the Hall of the House and the cloakrooms. |
| Sec. 680. Former Members and officers. | 4. (a) Former Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioners; former Parliamentarians of the House; and former elected officers and minority employees nominated as elected officers of the House shall be entitled to the privilege of admission to the Hall of the House and rooms leading thereto only if-- |
| Sec. 681. Members' staff. | 5. A person from the staff of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may be admitted to the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto under clause 2 only upon prior notice to the Speaker. Such persons, and persons from the staff of committees admitted under clause 2, may not engage in efforts in the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto to influence Members with regard to the legislation being amended. Such persons shall remain at the desk and are admitted only to advise the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or committee responsible for their admission. A person who violates this clause may be excluded during the session from the Hall of the House and rooms leading thereto by the Speaker. |
| 682. The various galleries and admission thereto. | 6. (a) The Speaker shall set aside a portion of the west gallery for the use of the President, the members of the Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, foreign ministers and suites, and the members of their respective families. The Speaker shall set aside another portion of the same gallery for the accommodation of persons to be admitted on the cards of Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner. |
| 683. Prohibition on distribution of campaign contributions. | 7. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House, or any other person entitled to admission to the Hall of the House or rooms leading thereto by this rule, may not knowingly distribute a political cam |
| Sec. 684. Broadcasting of House proceedings. | 1. The Speaker shall administer a system subject to his direction and control for closed-circuit viewing of floor proceedings of the House in the offices of all Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and committees and in such other places in the Capitol and the House Office Buildings as he considers appropriate. Such system may include other telecommunications functions as the Speaker considers appropriate. Any such telecommunications shall be subject to rules and regulations issued by the Speaker. |
| 685. Reporters of debates and committee stenographers. | 1. Subject to the direction and control of the Speaker, the Clerk shall appoint, and may remove for cause, the official reporters of the House, includ |
| Sec. 686. Rules relating to Congressional Record. | The arrangement, style, etc., of the Congressional Record is prescribed by the Joint Committee on Printing pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 901, 904 (see also VIII, 3500). The rules of the Joint Committee on Printing governing publication of the Congressional Record are as follows: |
| Sec. 687. Substantially verbatim account. | The requirement of rule 7 of the supplemental rules that the Congressional Record be a substantially verbatim account of remarks actually rendered was included in clause 8(a) of rule XVII (formerly clause 9 of rule XIV) in the 104th Congress, with the prescription that that rule constitute a standard of conduct under former clause 3(a)(2) of rule XI (formerly clause 4(e)(1)(B) of rule X) (sec. 213, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 468). Under that clause remarks actually delivered may not be deleted and remarks inserted must appear in distinctive type (Jan. 4, 1995, p. 541). The Speaker has instructed the Official Reporters of Debates to adhere strictly to the requirement of rule 7 of the supplemental rules (Mar. 2, 1988, p. 2963; Feb. 3, 1993, p. 1980). |
| Sec. 688. Relations of the Committee of the Whole to the Congressional Record. | As a general rule the Committee of the Whole has no control over the Congressional Record (V, 6986); but the Chairman in the preservation of order, may direct the exclusion of disorderly words spoken by a Member after he has been called to order (V, 6987). In a case wherein the Committee conceived that a letter read in Committee involved a breach of privilege, it reported the matter to the House for action, and the House struck the letter from the Record (V, 6986). The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole does not determine the privileges of a Member under a general leave to print in the Record, that being for the House alone (V, 6988). Neither may the Committee of the Whole grant a general leave to print, although for convenience it does permit individual Members to extend their remarks (V, 7009, 7010; VIII, 3488- 3490; Aug. 31, 1965, p. 22385), nor may the Committee of the Whole permit the inclusion of extraneous material (Jan. 23, 1936, p. 950; Feb. 1, 1937, p. 656; Sept. 19, 1967, p. 26032). |
| Sec. 689. Correction of the Congressional Record. | While the House controls the Congressional Record, the Speaker with the assent of the House laid down the principle that words spoken by a Member in order might not be changed by the House, as this would be determining what a Member should utter on the floor (V, 6974; VI, 583; VIII, 3469, 3498). Neither should one House strike out matter placed in the Record by permission of the other House (V, 6966). But the House may correct the speech of one of its Members so that it may record faithfully what he actually said (V, 6972). Similarly, a motion to correct the Record has been entertained to allow a Member to print in subsequent edition of the daily Record the correct text of an amendment which he had offered on a previous day and which had been substantially misprinted in the daily Record for the day on which it was offered (Deschler, ch. 5, Sec. 18.6). In addition, privileged motions have been permitted to correct the Record as follows: (1) striking unparliamentary words inserted in the Record (Deschler, ch. 5, Sec. 17); (2) correcting the Record where the remarks of one Member have been attributed to another (Deschler, ch. 5, Sec. Sec. 18.1, 18.2); (3) correcting the Record where a Member has improperly altered his remarks during an exchange of colloquy with another Member (Deschler, ch. 5, Sec. 18.9). Mere typographical errors in the Record or ordinary revisions of a Member's remarks do not give rise to privileged motions for the correction of the Record (Apr. 25, 1985, p. 9419), since such changes for the permanent edition of the Record may be made without the permission of the House (Deschler, ch. 5, Sec. 19) (subject to clause 8 of rule XVII). The House does not change the Record merely to show what a Member should have said during debate (Deschler, ch. 5, Sec. 18). |
| Sec. 690. Unparliamentary remarks and the Congressional Record. | Where a Member had uttered disorderly words on the floor without objection, the House yet decided that it was not precluded from action when the words, after being withheld for revision, appeared in the Record, and struck them out (V, 6979, 6981; VI, 582; VIII, 2538, 3463, 3472). The House also has ordered stricken from the Record printed speeches condemned as unparliamentary for reflections on Members, committees of the House, the House itself (V, 7017), and the Senate (V, 5129). In the 101st Congress a resolution presented as a question of privilege was adopted which directed the Committee on House Administration to report with respect to certain unauthorized deletions from the Record. A task force of that committee recommended that deletion of unparliamentary remarks be permitted only by consent of the House and not by the Member uttering the words under authority to revise and extend (Oct. 27, 1990, p. 37124). That recommendation has been incorporated into the Rules of the House (clause 8(b) of rule XVII). In debating a resolution to strike from the Record disorderly language a Member may not read the language (V, 7004); but it was held that as part of a personal explanation relating to matter excluded as out of order a Member might read the matter, subject to a point of order if the reading should develop anything in violation of the rules of debate (V, 5079). A resolution to omit from the Congressional Record certain remarks merely declared by the Member offering the resolution to be out of order is not privileged (V, 7021). A motion to strike unparliamentary words from the Record is privileged (see Sec. 961, infra), although a question of privilege may not subsequently arise therefrom (V, 7023; VI, 596). |
| Sec. 692. ``Leave to print'' in the Congressional Record. | The practice of inserting in the Congressional Record speeches not actually delivered on the floor has developed by consent of the House as the membership has increased and it has become difficult at times for every Member to express at length on the floor his reasons for his attitude on public questions (V, 6990-6996, 6998-7000). The House, in granting such leave to print, does not permit it to be exercised without unreasonable freedom (V, 7002, 7003). For example: (1) a Member with permission to insert one matter may not insert another (V, 7001; VIII, 3462, 3479, 3480); (2) a Member may not insert statements and letters of others unless the leave granted specifies such matter as extraneous (VIII, 3475, 3481), whether the extension be under general leave for all Members or individually; (3) a Member may not insert that which would not have been in order if uttered on the floor, and the House may exclude such insertion in whole or in part (V, 7004-7008; VIII, 3495; Oct. 2, 1992, p. 30709; Sept. 27, 1996, p. 25633); (4) a Member may not insert in the Record the individual votes of Members on a question of which the yeas and nays have not been entered on the Journal (V, 6982). The principle that a Member shall not be called to order for words spoken in debate if business has intervened does not apply to a case where leave to print has been violated |
| 693. Unofficial reporters in the press gallery and on the floor. | 2. A portion of the gallery over the Speaker's chair as may be necessary to accommodate representatives of the press wishing to report debates and proceedings shall be set aside for their use. Reputable reporters and correspondents shall be admitted thereto under such regulations as the Speaker may prescribe from time to time. The Standing Committee of Correspondents for the Press Gallery, and the Executive Committee of Correspondents for the Periodical Press Gallery, |
| Sec. 694. Unofficial reporters in the radio gallery and on the floor. | 3. A portion of the gallery as may be necessary to accommodate reporters of news to be disseminated by radio, television, and similar means of transmission, wishing to report debates and proceedings, shall be set aside for their use. Reputable reporters and correspondents shall be admitted thereto under such regulations as the Speaker may prescribe. The Executive Committee of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries shall supervise such gallery, including the designation of its employees, subject to the direction and control of the Speaker. The Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may prescribe, one representative |
| 695. Duties of Clerk and committees as to custody of papers before committees. | 1. (a) At the end of each Congress, the chairman of each committee shall transfer to the Clerk any noncurrent records of such committee, including the subcommittees thereof. |
| 696. Custody of papers in the files of the House. | 7. A memorial or other paper presented to the House may not be withdrawn from its files without its leave. If withdrawn certified copies thereof shall be left in the Office of the Clerk. When an act passes for the settlement of a claim, the Clerk may transmit to the officer charged with the settlement thereof the papers on file in his office relating to such claim. The Clerk may lend tem |
| Sec. 697. Response to subpoenas. | 1. When a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House is properly served with a judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial order directing appearance as a witness relating to the official functions of the House or for the production or disclosure of any document relating to the official functions of the House, such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee shall comply, consistently with the privileges and rights of the House, with the judicial or administrative subpoena or judicial order as hereinafter provided, unless otherwise determined under this rule. |
| Sec. 698. Definition of questions of privilege. | 1. Questions of privilege shall be, first, those affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings; and second, those affecting the rights, reputation, and conduct of Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner, individually, in their representative capacity only. |
| Sec. 699. Precedence of questions of privilege. | 2. (a)(1) A resolution reported as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered from the floor by the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered as privileged under clause 1, section 7, article I of the Constitution, shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn. A resolution offered from the floor by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner other than the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a question of the privileges of the House shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn only at a time or place, designated by the Speaker, in the legislative schedule within two legislative days after the day on |
| Sec. 700. Questions of privileges of the House. | The body of precedent relating to questions of the privileges of the House includes rulings that span the adoption of standing rule IX in 1880. The rule was adopted ``to prevent the large consumption of time which resulted from Members getting the floor for all kinds of speeches under the pretext of raising a question of privilege'' (III, 2521). In a landmark decision on constitutional assertions of privilege, Speaker Gillett placed significant reliance on the history of rule IX by observing that it ``was obviously adopted for the purpose of hindering the extension of constitutional or other privilege'' (VI, 48). Under House practice, a resolution offered as a question of privilege is read in full by the Clerk (Oct. 10, 1998, p. 25420). |
| Sec. 701. Questions relating to organization. | The privileges of the House include questions relating to its organization (I, 22-24, 189, 212, 290), and the title of its Members to their seats (III, 2579- 2587), which may be raised as questions of the privileges of the House even though the subject has been previously referred to committee (I, 742; III, 2584; VIII, 2307). Such resolutions include those: (1) to declare prima facie right to a seat, or to declare a vacancy, where the House has referred the questions of prima facie and final rights to an elections committee for investigation (H. Res. 1, Jan. 3, 1985, p. 381; H. Res. 52, Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2220; H. Res. 97, Mar. 4, 1985, p. 4277; H. Res. 121, Apr. 2, 1985, p. 7118; H. Res. 148, Apr. 30, 1985, p. 9801); (2) to raise various questions incidental to the right to a seat (I, 322, 328, 673, 742; II, 1207; III, 2588; VII, 2316), such as a resolution to declare a vacancy in the House because a Member-elect is unable to take the oath of office and to serve as a Member or to expressly resign the office due to an incapacitating illness (H. Res. 80, Feb. 24, 1981, p. 2916); (3) to declare neither of two claimants seated pending a committee report and decision of final right to the seat by the House (Jan. 3, 1961, pp. 23-25; Jan. 3, 1985, p. 381), including incidental provisions providing compensation for both claimants and office staffing by the Clerk (Jan. 3, 1985, p. 381) and to direct temporary seating of a certified Member-elect pending determination of final right notwithstanding prior House action declining to seat either claimant (Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2220; Mar. 4, 1985, p. 4277); and (4) to propose directly to dispose of a contest over the title to a seat in the House (Nov. 8, 1997, p. 25294; Nov. 9, 1997, p. 25721; Jan. 28, 1998, p. 175) or to dispose of such contest upon the expiration of a specified day (Oct. 23, 1997, p. 23231; Oct. 29, 1997, p. 23695; Oct. 30, 1997, p. 23959; Nov. 5, 1997, p. 24645). |
| Sec. 702. Questions relating to constitutional prerogatives. | The privileges of the House, as distinguished from that of the individual Member, include questions relating to its constitutional prerogatives in respect to revenue legislation and appropriations (see, e.g., II, 1480-1501; VI, 315; Nov. 8, 1979, p. 31517; Oct. 1, 1985, p. 25418; June 16, 1988, p. 14780; June 21, 1988, p. 15425; Aug. 12, 1994, p. 21655). For a more thorough record of revenue bills returned to the Senate, see Sec. 102, supra. Such a question of privilege may be raised at any time when the House is in possession of the papers (June 20, 1968, Deschler, ch. 13, Sec. 14.2; Aug. 19, 1982, p. 22127), but not otherwise (Apr. 6, 1995, p. 10701). Such a question of privilege includes a resolution asserting that a conference report accompanying a House bill originated revenue provisions in derogation of the sole constitutional prerogative of the House and |
| Sec. 703. Questions relating to official conduct. | The privileges of the House include certain questions relating to the conduct of Members, officers, and employees (see, e.g., I, 284, 285; III, 2628, 2645-2647). Under that standard, the following resolutions have been held to constitute questions of the privileges of the House: (1) a resolution directing the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate illegal solicitation of political contributions in the House Office Buildings by unnamed sitting Members (July 10, 1985, p. 18397); (2) a resolution establishing an ad hoc committee to investigate allegations of ``ghost'' employment in the House (Apr. 9, 1992, p. 9029); (3) a resolution directing a committee to further investigate the conduct of a Member on which it has reported to the House (Aug. 5, 1987, p. 22458); (4) a resolution directing the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to report to the House the status of an investigation pending before the committee (Nov. 17, 1995, p. 33846; Nov. 30, 1995, p. 35075); (5) a resolution appointing an outside counsel (Sept. 19, 1996, p. 23851; Sept. 24, 1996, p. 24525); (6) a resolution to commit other matters to an outside counsel already appointed by the committee (June 27, 1996, p. 15917); (7) a resolution directing the committee to release the report of an outside counsel (Sept. 19, 1996, p. 23852; Sept. 24, 1996, p. 24526); (8) a resolution making allegations concerning the propriety of responses by officers of the House to court subpoenas for papers of the House without notice to the House, and directions to a committee to investigate such allegations (Feb. 13, 1980, p. 2768); (9) a resolution making allegations of improper representation by counsel of the legal position of Members in a brief filed in the Court and directions for withdrawal of the brief (Mar. 22, 1990, p. 4996); (10) a resolution making allegations of unauthorized actions by a committee employee to intervene in judicial proceedings (Feb. 5, 1992, p. 1601); (11) a resolution directing the Clerk to notify interested parties that the House regretted the use of official resources to present to the Supreme Court of Florida a legal brief arguing the unconstitutionality of congressional term limits, and that the House had no position on that question (Nov. 4, 1991, p. 29968); (12) a resolution alleging a chronology of litigation relating to the immunity of a Member from civil liability for bona fide official acts and expressing the views of the House thereon (May 12, 1988, p. 10574); (13) a resolution directing the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to establish an investigative subcommittee and appoint outside counsel to investigate certain allegations against a Member (Oct. 8, 2004, p. ----); (14) a resolution alleging, among other things, the improper and unilateral firing of nonpartisan staff of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and directing the Speaker to appoint a bipartisan task force to address the efficacy of that committee so as to restore public confidence in the ethics process (Mar. 15, 2005, p. ----; Apr. 14, 2005, p. ----) and directing the committee to appoint nonpartisan professional staff (June 9, 2005, p. ----). For a discussion |
| Sec. 704. Questions relating to integrity of proceedings. | The privileges of the House include questions relating to the integrity of its proceedings, including the processes by which bills are considered (III, 2597-2601, 2614; IV, 3383, 3388, 3478), such as the constitutional question of the vote required to pass a joint resolution extending the State ratification period of a proposed constitutional amendment (Speaker O'Neill, Aug. 15, 1978, p. 26203). Privileges of the House also include: (1) resignation of a Member from a select or standing committee (Speaker Albert, June 16, 1975, p. 19054; Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 8, 1977, pp. 6579-82); (2) newspaper charges affecting the honor and dignity of the House (VII, 911); and (3) the conduct of representatives of the press (II, 1630, 1631; III, 2627; VI, 553). |
| Sec. 705. Questions relating to comfort and convenience. | The privileges of the House include questions relating to the comfort and convenience of Members and employees (III, 2629-2636), such as resolutions concerning the proper attire for Members in the Chamber when the temperature is uncomfortably warm (July 17, 1979, p. 19008); as well as questions relating to safety, such as resolutions requiring an investigation into the safety of Members in view of alleged structural deficiencies in the West Front of the Capitol (July 25, 1980, pp. 19762- 64); and directing the appointment of a select committee to inquire into alleged fire safety deficiencies in the environs of the House (May 10, 1988, p. 10286). |
| Sec. 706. May not effect change in rules. | A motion to amend the Rules of the House does not present a question of privilege (Speaker Cannon, sustained by the House, thereby overruling the decision of March 19, 1910 (VIII, 3376), which held such motion privileged (VIII, 3377)), and a question of the privileges of the House may not be invoked to effect a change in the rules or standing orders of the House or their interpretation (Speaker O'Neill, Dec. 6, 1977, pp. 38470-73; Sept. 9, 1988, p. 23298; July 30, 1992, p. 20339; Jan. 31, 1996, p. 1887), including directions to the Speaker infringing upon his discretionary power of recognition under |
| Sec. 707. As distinct from privileged questions. | The clause of the rule giving questions of privilege precedence over all other questions except a motion to adjourn is a recognition of a well- established principle in the House, for it is an axiom of the parliamentary law that such a question ``supersedes the consideration of the original question, and must be first disposed of'' (III, 2522, 2523; VI, 595). As the business of the House began to increase it was found necessary to give certain important matters a precedence by rule, and such matters are called ``privileged questions.'' But as they relate merely to the order of business under the rules, they are to be distinguished from ``questions of privilege'' which relate to the safety or efficiency of the House itself as an organ for action (III, 2718). It is evident, therefore, that a question of privilege takes precedence over a matter merely privileged under the rules (III, 2526-2530; V, 6454; VIII, 3465). Certain matters of business, arising under provisions of the Con |
| Sec. 708. Questions of personal privilege. | The privilege of the Member rests primarily on the Constitution, which gives to him a conditional immunity from arrest (Sec. 90, supra) and an unconditional freedom of debate in the House (III, 2670, Sec. 92, supra). A menace to the personal safety of Members from an insecure ceiling in the Hall was held to involve a question of the highest privilege (III, 2685); and an assault on a Member within the Capitol when the House was not in session, from a cause not connected with the Member's representative capacity, was also held to involve a question of privilege (II, 1624). But there has been doubt as to the right of the House to interfere for the protection of Members, who outside the Hall, get into difficulties not connected with their official duties (II, 1277; III, 2678; footnote). Charges against the conduct of a Member are held to involve privilege when they relate to his representative capacity (III, 1828- 1830, 2716; VI, 604, 612; VIII, 2479); but when they relate to conduct at a time before he became a Member they have not been entertained as of privilege (II, 1287; III, 2691, 2723, 2725). While questions of personal privilege normally involve matters touching on a Member's reputation, a Member may be recognized for a question of personal privilege based on a violation of his rights as a Member, such as unauthorized printed alterations in his statements made during a subcommittee hearing in a prior Congress (since the second phrase of this clause speaks to the ``rights, reputation, and conduct of Members, individually'') (June 28, 1983, p. 17674). A printed characterization by an officer of the House of a Mem |
| Sec. 709. Precedence of questions of privileges of the House. | The body of precedent relating to the precedence of questions of privilege spans both the adoption of standing rule IX in 1880 and its amendment to require notice in certain cases in 1993. |
| Sec. 711. Precedence of questions of personal privilege. | When a Member proposes merely to address the House on a question of personal privilege, and does not bring up a resolution affecting the dignity or integrity of the House for action, the practice as to precedence is somewhat different. Thus, a Member rising to a question of personal privilege may not interrupt a call of the yeas and nays (V, 6051, 6052, 6058, 6059; VI, 554, 564), or take from the floor another Member who has been recognized for debate (V, 5002; VIII, 2459, 2528; Sept. 29, 1983, p. 26508; July 23, 1987, p. 20861), but he may interrupt the ordinary legislative business (III, 2531). A Member may address the House on a question of personal privilege even after the previous question has been ordered on a pending bill (VI, 561; VIII, 2688). Under modern practice, a question of personal privilege may not be raised in the Committee of the Whole (Sept. 4, 1969, p. 24372; Dec. 13, 1973, p. 41270), the proper remedy being that a demand that words uttered in the Committee of the Whole be taken down pursuant to clause 4 of rule XVII (formerly clause 5 of rule XIV); yet a breach of privilege occurring in the Committee of the Whole relates to the dignity of the House and is so treated (II, 1657). A question of per |
| Sec. 712. Questions of privilege in relation to quorum. | During a call of the House in the absence of a quorum, only such questions of privilege as relate immediately to those proceedings may be presented (III, 2545). See also Sec. 1024, infra. |
| 714. Number and jurisdiction of standing committees. | 1. There shall be in the House the following standing committees, each of which shall have the jurisdiction and related functions assigned by this clause and clauses 2, 3, and 4. All bills, resolutions, and other matters relating to subjects within the jurisdiction of the standing committees listed in this clause shall be referred to those committees, in accordance with clause 2 of rule XII, as follows: |
| Sec. 715. Agriculture. | (1) Adulteration of seeds, insect pests, and protection of birds and animals in forest reserves. |
| Sec. 716. Appropriations. | (1) Appropriation of the revenue for the support of the Government. |
| Sec. 717. Responsibilities under Budget Act. | Effective July 12, 1974, special Presidential messages on rescissions and deferrals of budget authority submitted pursuant to sections 1012 and 1013 of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 683, 684), as well as rescission bills and impoundment resolutions defined in section 1011 (2 U.S.C. 682) and required in section 1017 (2 U.S.C. 688) to be referred to the appropriate committee, are referred to the Committee on Appropriations if the proposed rescissions or deferrals involve funds already appropriated or obligated. Also effective July 12, 1974, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (sec. 404(a)) added to the committee's jurisdiction, and later perfected by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), subparagraphs (2), (3), and (4). |
| Sec. 718. Armed Services. | (1) Ammunition depots; forts; arsenals; and Army, Navy, and Air Force reservations and establishments. |
| Sec. 719. Budget. | (1) Concurrent resolutions on the budget (as defined in section 3(4) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974), other matters required to be referred to the committee under titles III and IV of that Act, and other measures setting forth appropriate levels of budget totals for the United States Government. |
| Sec. 720. Education and the Workforce. | (2) Gallaudet University and Howard University and Hospital. |
| Sec. 721. Energy and Commerce. | (2) Consumer affairs and consumer protection. |
| Sec. 722. Financial Services. | (2) Economic stabilization, defense production, renegotiation, and control of the price of commodities, rents, and services. |
| Sec. 723. Government Reform. | (1) Federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel; and the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement. |
| Sec. 723a. Homeland Security. | (1) Overall homeland security policy. |
| Sec. 723b. Former Select Committees on Homeland Security. | In the 107th Congress the House established a Select Committee on Homeland Security (H. Res. 449, June 19, 2002, p. ----). Its mission was to develop recommendations on such matters that relate to the establishment of a department of homeland security as may be referred to it by the Speaker and on recommendations submitted to it by standing committees to which the Speaker referred a bill establishing the department and to report its recommendation to the House on such bill. It was terminated after final disposition of the specified bill (Nov. 25, 2002, p. |
| Sec. 724. House Administration. | (1) Appropriations from accounts for committee salaries and expenses (except for the Committee on Appropriations); House Information Resources; and allowance and expenses of Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, officers, and administrative offices of the House. |
| Sec. 725. House facilities. | The Committee has jurisdiction over measures relating to the House Restaurant (2 U.S.C. 2041), which was first under the jurisdiction of the former Committee on Accounts, then under the supervision of the Architect of the Capitol (H. Res. 590, 76th Cong., Sept. 5, 1940, p. 11552, as made permanent law by P.L. 76- 812), and then under the supervision of the Select Committee on the House Restaurant (H. Res. 472, 91st Cong., July 10, 1969, p. 19080; H. Res. 111, 93d Cong., Feb. 7, 1973, p. 3680), which was not reestablished after the 93d Congress. |
| Sec. 727. Library. | Under the Reorganization Act the committee has jurisdiction of some of the subjects formerly within the jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on the Library, such as matters relating to the Library of Congress and the House Library, statuary and pictures, acceptance or purchase of works of art for the Capitol, the Botanic Gardens, management of the Library of Congress, purchase of books and manuscripts, matters relating to the Smithsonian Institution, and the incorporation of similar institutions. Excepted are measures relating to the construction or reconstruction, maintenance, and care of the buildings and grounds of the Botanic Gardens, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation (now Transportation and Infrastructure). The House Members of the Joint Committee on the Library, provided for by law (2 U.S.C. 132b), are elected by resolution each Congress. |
| Sec. 728. Congressional Record. | The Committee has jurisdiction of matters relating to printing and correction of the Congressional Record, formerly within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Printing. The House Members of the Joint Committee on Printing, provided for by law (44 U.S.C. 1), are elected by resolution each Congress. |
| Sec. 729. International Relations. | (1) Relations of the United States with foreign nations generally. |
| Sec. 730. Judiciary. | (1) The judiciary and judicial proceedings, civil and criminal. |
| Sec. 731. Internal Security. | (19) Subversive activities affecting the in- ternal security of the United States. |
| Sec. 732. Resources. | (1) Fisheries and wildlife, including research, restoration, refuges, and conservation. |
| Sec. 733. Rules. | (1) Rules and joint rules (other than those relating to the Code of Official Conduct) and the order of business of the House. |
| Sec. 734. Special orders of business. | Since 1883 the Committee on Rules has reported special orders providing times and methods for consideration of individual bills or classes of bills, thereby enabling the House by majority vote to forward particular legislation, instead of being forced to use for the purpose the motion to suspend the rules, which requires a two-thirds vote (IV, 3152; V, 6870; for forms of, IV, 3238-3263). |
| Sec. 735. Science. | (1) All energy research, development, and demonstration, and projects therefor, and all federally owned or operated nonmilitary energy laboratories. |
| Sec. 736. Small Business. | (1) Assistance to and protection of small business, including financial aid, regulatory flexibility, and paperwork reduction. |
| Sec. 737. Standards of Official Conduct. | In the 90th Congress the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct was established as a standing committee (H. Res. 418, Apr. 13, 1967, p. 9425). Its precursor was the Select Committee on Standards and Conduct, created in the 89th Congress (H. Res. 1013, Oct. 19, 1966, pp. 27713-30). At various times in its history, the legislative jurisdiction of the committee has included jurisdiction over measures relating to (1) financial disclosure by Members, officers, and employees of the House (H. Res. 1099, 90th Cong., Apr. 3, 1968, p. 8776); (2) the raising, reporting, and use of campaign contributions for candidates for the House (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470); and (3) lobbying activities (H. Res. 1031, 91st Cong., July 8, 1970, p. 23141). However, legislative jurisdiction over measures relating to financial disclosure was transferred to the Committee on Rules in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70); legislative jurisdiction over measures relating to campaign contributions for candidates for the House was transferred to House Administration, and legislative jurisdiction over measures relating to lobbying activities was removed from the committee (thereby devolving on the Committee on the Judiciary) in the 94th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 14, 1975, p. 20). Clerical and stylistic changes were effected when the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, including the deletion of a redundant undesignated recitation of general and special functions (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). |
| Sec. 738. Former Select Committees on Ethics. | In the 95th Congress, the House established a Select Committee on Ethics and granted it exclusive legislative jurisdiction over bills that incorporated into permanent law provisions of House rules addressing financial ethics of Members, officers, and employees (H. Res. 383, Mar. 9, 1977, pp. 6811-16). The Select Committee was also granted jurisdiction to promulgate implementing regulations and to issue advisory opinions. The resolution creating the Select Committee provided that it would expire on December 31, 1977, but the committee and its functions ultimately were extended through the completion of its official business (H. Res. 871, Oct. 31, 1977, p. 35957). The advi |
| Sec. 739. Transportation and Infrastructure. | (1) Coast Guard, including lifesaving service, lighthouses, lightships, ocean derelicts, and the Coast Guard Academy. |
| Sec. 740. Veterans' Affairs. | (2) Cemeteries of the United States in which veterans of any war or conflict are or may be buried, whether in the United States or abroad (except cemeteries administered by the Secretary of the Interior). |
| Sec. 741. Ways and Means. | (1) Customs revenue, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery. |
| 742. General oversight. | 2. (a) The various standing committees shall have general oversight responsibilities as provided in paragraph (b) in order to assist the House in-- |
| Sec. 743. Oversight subcommittees. | (2) Each committee to which subparagraph (1) applies having more than 20 members shall establish an oversight subcommittee, or require its subcommittees to conduct oversight in their respective jurisdictions, to assist in carrying out its responsibilities under this clause. The establishment of an oversight subcommittee does not limit the responsibility of a subcommittee with legislative jurisdiction in carrying out its oversight responsibilities. |
| 744. Special oversight. | 3. (a) The Committee on Appropriations shall conduct such studies and examinations of the organization and operation of executive departments and other executive agencies (including an agency the majority |
| 745. Committee on Appropriations; budget hearings. | 4. (a)(1)(A) The Committee on Appropriations shall, within 30 days after the transmittal of the Budget to Congress each year, hold hearings on the Budget as a whole with particular reference to-- |
| Sec. 746. Procedure for budget hearings. | (C) A hearing under subdivision (A), or any part thereof, shall be held in open session, except when the committee, in open session and with a quorum present, determines by record vote that the testimony to be taken at that hearing on that day may be related to a matter of national security. The committee may by the same procedure close one sub |
| Sec. 748. Budget. | (1) review on a continuing basis the conduct by the Congressional Budget Office of its functions and duties; |
| Sec. 749. Government Reform. | (c)(1) The Committee on Government Reform shall-- |
| Sec. 750. House Administration. | (d)(1) The Committee on House Administration shall-- |
| Sec. 752. Direction of officers. | (A) provide policy direction for the Inspector General and oversight of the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Inspector General; |
| Sec. 753. Acceptance of gifts. | (B) have the function of accepting on behalf of the House a gift, except as otherwise provided by law, if the gift does not involve a duty, burden, or condition, or is not made dependent on some future performance by the House; and |
| Sec. 754. Approval of certain settlements. | (2) An employing office of the House may enter into a settlement of a complaint under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 that provides for the payment of funds only after receiving the joint approval of the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on House Administration concerning the amount of such payment. |
| Sec. 755. Annual appropriations. | (e)(1) Each standing committee shall, in its consideration of all public bills and public joint resolutions within its jurisdiction, ensure that appropriations for continuing programs and activities of the Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia will be made annually to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the nature, requirement, and objective of the programs and activities involved. In this subparagraph programs and activities of the Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia includes programs and activities of any department, agency, establishment, wholly owned Government corporation, or instrumentality of the Federal Government or of the government of the District of Columbia. |
| 756. Concurrent resolution on Budget. | (f)(1) Each standing committee shall submit to the Committee on the Budget not later than six weeks after the President submits his budget, or at such time as the Committee on the Budget may request-- |
| 757. Electing committees. | 5. (a)(1) The standing committees specified in clause 1 shall be elected by the House within seven calendar days after the commencement of each Congress, from nominations submitted by the respective party caucus or conference. A resolution proposing to change the composition of a standing committee shall be privileged if offered by direction of the party caucus or conference concerned. |
| Sec. 758. Budget, composition of. | (2)(A) The Committee on the Budget shall be composed of members as follows: |
| Sec. 759. Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. | (3)(A) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall be composed of 10 members, five from the majority party and five from the minority party. |
| Sec. 760. Party membership as basis for election. | (b)(1) Membership on a standing committee during the course of a Congress shall be contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus or conference that nominated the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner concerned for election to such committee. Should a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner cease to be a member of a particular party caucus or conference, that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall automatically cease to be a member of each standing committee to which he was elected on the basis of nomination by that caucus or conference. The chairman of the relevant party caucus or conference shall notify the Speaker whenever a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner ceases to be a member of that caucus or conference. The Speaker shall notify the chairman of each affected committee that the election of such Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to the committee is automatically vacated under this subparagraph. |
| Sec. 761. Committee chairmen. | (c)(1) One of the members of each standing committee shall be elected by the House, on the nomination of the majority party caucus or conference, as chairman thereof. In the temporary absence of the chairman, the member next in rank (and so on, as often as the case shall happen) shall act as chairman. Rank shall be determined by the order members are named in resolutions electing them to the committee. In the case of a permanent vacancy in the elected chairmanship of a committee, the House shall elect another chairman. |
| Sec. 762. Requirement for subcommittees. | (d)(1) Except as permitted by subparagraph (2), a committee may have not more than five subcommittees. |
| 763. Primary expense resolution. |
6. (a) Whenever a
committee, commission, or other entity (other than the Committee on
Appropriations) is granted authorization for the payment of its expenses
(including staff salaries) for a Congress, such authorization initially
shall be procured by one primary expense resolution reported by the
Committee on House Administration. A primary expense resolution may
include a reserve fund for unanticipated expenses of committees. An
amount from such a reserve fund may be allocated to a committee only by
the approval of the Committee on House Administration. A primary expense
resolution reported to < |
| Sec. 765. Additional expense resolution. | (b) After the date of adoption by the House of a primary expense resolution for a committee, commission, or other entity for a Congress, authorization for the payment of additional expenses (including staff salaries) in that Congress may be procured by one or more supplemental expense resolutions reported by the Committee on House Administration, as necessary. A supplemental expense resolution reported to the House may not be considered in the House unless a printed report thereon was available on the previous calendar day. For the information of the House, such report shall-- |
| Sec. 766. Exception for certain initial funding. | (1) a resolution providing for the payment from committee salary and expense accounts of the House of sums necessary to pay compensa |
| Sec. 767. Funds for committee staffs; expense resolutions. | (d) From the funds made available for the appointment of committee staff by a primary or additional expense resolution, the chairman of each committee shall ensure that sufficient staff is made available to each subcommittee to carry out its responsibilities under the rules of the committee and that the minority party is treated fairly in the appointment of such staff. |
| 768. Interim funding. | 7. (a) For the period beginning at noon on January 3 and ending at midnight on March 31 in each odd- numbered year, such sums as may be necessary shall be paid out of the committee salary and expense accounts of the House for continuance of necessary investigations and studies by-- |
| 769. Committee travel. | 8. (a) Local currencies owned by the United States shall be made available to the committee and its employees engaged in carrying out their official duties outside the United States or its territories or possessions. Appropriated funds, including those |
| Sec. 770. Travel reports. | (3) Each member or employee of a committee shall make to the chairman of the committee an itemized report showing the dates each country was visited, the amount of per diem furnished, the cost of transportation furnished, and funds expended for any other official purpose and shall summarize in these categories the total foreign currencies or appropriated funds expended. Each report shall be filed with the chairman of the committee not later than 60 days following the completion of travel for use |
| 771. Thirty professional staff. |
9. (a)(1) Subject to
subparagraph (2) and paragraph (f), each standing committee may appoint,
by majority vote, not more than 30 professional staff members to be
compensated from the funds provided for the appointment of committee
staff by primary and additional expense resolutions. Each professional
staff < |
| Sec. 773. Minority. | (2) Subject to paragraph (f) whenever a majority of the minority party members of a standing committee (other than the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct |
| Sec. 774. Consultants and training. | Committees may, with the approval of the Committee on House Administration, procure the temporary or intermittent services of consultants and obtain specialized training for professional staff, subject to expense resolutions, under the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, sections 303 and 304 (2 U.S.C. 72a(i) and (j)). |
| Sec. 775. Staff duties. | (b)(1) The professional staff members of each standing committee-- |
| Sec. 776. ``Associate'' or ``shared'' staff. | (2)(A) Subparagraph (1) does not apply to staff designated by a committee as ``associate'' or ``shared'' staff who are not paid exclusively by the committee, provided that the chairman certifies that the compensation paid by the committee for any such staff is commensurate with the work performed for the committee in accordance with clause 8 of rule XXIII. |
| Sec. 777. Pay. | (c) Each employee on the professional or investigative staff of a standing committee shall be entitled to pay at a single gross per annum rate, to be fixed by the chairman and that does not exceed the max |
| Sec. 778. Staff, Committee on Appropriations. | (d) Subject to appropriations hereby authorized, the Committee on Appropriations may appoint by majority vote such staff as it determines to be necessary (in addition to the clerk of the committee and assistants for the minority). The staff appointed under this paragraph, other than minority assistants, shall possess such qualifications as the committee may prescribe. |
| Sec. 779. Detailed employees. | (e) A committee may not appoint to its staff an expert or other personnel detailed or assigned from a department or agency of the Government except with the written permission of the Committee on House Administration. |
| Sec. 780. Nonpartisan staff. | (i) Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(2), a committee may employ nonpartisan staff, in lieu of or in addition to |
| Sec. 781. Reports on staff. | Effective in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 1977, pp. 53-70), former clause 6(j) of rule XI, which was added on January 3, 1953 (p. 24) and which was contained in section 134(b) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1945, was deleted; that clause required committees to report semiannually to the Clerk, for printing in the Congressional Record, on the names, professions, and salaries of committee employees. |
| 782. Party membership as basis for appointment. | 10. (a) Membership on a select or joint committee appointed by the Speaker under clause 11 of rule I during the course of a Congress shall be contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus or conference of which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner concerned was a member at the time of appointment. Should a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner cease to be a member of that caucus or conference, that Member, Delegate, or Resident |
| Sec. 783. Select and joint committee compliance. | (b) Each select or joint committee, other than a conference committee, shall comply with clause 2(a) of rule XI unless specifically exempted by law. |
| Sec. 784. Aging. | A paragraph (i) of former clause 6 of rule X was incorporated into the rules effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), to provide for a permanent Select Committee on Aging. That provision was stricken in the 103d Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. 49). |
| 785. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. | 11. (a)(1) There is established a Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (hereafter in this clause referred to as the ``select committee''). The select committee shall be composed of not more than 21 Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner, of whom not more than 12 may be from the same party. The select committee shall include at least one Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from each of the following committees: |
| Sec. 786. | This clause (formerly rule XLVIII) was adopted in the 95th Congress (H. Res. 658, July 14, 1977, pp. 22932-49) and has had several technical amendments: (1) to change the size of the Select Committee from 13 to 14 members (H. Res. 70, 96th Cong., Jan. 25, 1979, p. 1023); (2) to reflect a change in the name of a committee (H. Res. 89, 96th Cong., Feb. 5, 1979, p. 1848); (3) to change the size to not more than 16 members (H. Res. 33, 99th Cong., Jan. 30, 1985, p. 1271); (4) to change the size to not more than 17 members and to change the cross-reference in clause 7(c)(1) to include paragraph (a) or (b) (H. Res. 5, 100th Cong., Jan. 6, 1987, p. 6); (5) to change the size to not more than 19 members (H. Res. 5, 101st Cong., Jan. 3, 1989, p. 73) and to permit the Speaker to attend meetings and have access to information (H. Res. 268, Nov. 14, 1989, p. 28789); (6) to strike obsolete language relating to tenure restrictions in clause 1 and relating to the requirement for authorizations of appropriations in clause 9 (H. Res. 5, 102d Cong., Jan. 3, 1991, |
| 787. Committee procedure. | 1. (a)(1)(A) The Rules of the House are the rules of its committees and subcommittees so far as applicable. |
| Sec. 788. Investigative authority. | (b)(1) Each committee may conduct at any time such investigations and studies as it considers necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its responsibilities under rule X. Subject to the adoption of expense resolutions as required by clause 6 of rule X, each committee may incur expenses, including travel expenses, in connection with such investigations and studies. |
| Sec. 789. Printing and binding. | (c) Each committee may have printed and bound such testimony and other data as may be presented at hearings held by the committee or its subcommittees. All costs of stenographic services and transcripts in connection with a meeting or hearing of a committee shall be paid from the applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(j)(1) of rule X. |
| Sec. 790. Activity reports. | (d)(1) Each committee shall submit to the House not later than January 2 of each odd-numbered year a report on the activities of that committee under this rule and rule X during the Congress ending at noon on January 3 of such year. |
| 791. Committee rules. | 2. (a)(1) Each standing committee shall adopt written rules governing its procedure. Such rules-- |
| Sec. 792. Committee procedure generally. | Failure to follow certain procedural requirements imposed on committees by this rule may invalidate committee actions. Violation of the requirements as to open meetings and hearings and other hearing irregularities improperly overruled (see clause 2(g)(5) of rule XI) or the prescribed committee procedures for reporting bills and resolutions (clause 2(h) of rule XI) may in some instances be the basis for a point of order in the House, resulting in the recommitment of the bill. However, a point of order does not ordinarily lie in the House against consideration of a bill by reason of defective committee procedures occurring before the time the bill is ordered reported to the House (Procedure, ch. 17, Sec. 11.1). |
| 793. Committee meetings. | (b) Each standing committee shall establish regular meeting days for the conduct of its business, which shall be not less frequent than monthly. Each such committee shall meet for the consideration of a bill or resolution pending before the committee or the transaction of other committee business on all regular meeting days fixed by the committee unless otherwise provided by written rule adopted by the committee. Additional and special meetings |
| 794. Required records. | (e)(1)(A) Each committee shall keep a complete record of all committee action which shall include-- |
| Sec. 795. Public availability. | (B)(i) Except as provided in subdivision (B)(ii) and subject to paragraph (k)(7), the result of each such record vote shall be made available by the committee for inspection by the public at reasonable times in its offices. Information so available for public inspection shall include a description of the amendment, motion, order, or other proposition, the name of each member voting for and each member voting against such amendment, motion, order, or proposition, and the names of those members of the committee present but not voting. |
| Sec. 796. Committee files. | (2)(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B), all committee hearings, records, data, charts, and files shall be kept separate and distinct from the congressional office records of the member serving as its chairman. Such records shall be the property of the House, and each Member, Delegate, and the Resident Commissioner shall have access thereto. |
| 797. Ban on proxies. | (f) A vote by a member of a committee or subcommittee with respect to any measure or matter may not be cast by proxy. |
| 798. Open meetings and hearings. | (g)(1) Each meeting for the transaction of business, including the markup of legislation, by a standing committee or subcommittee thereof (other than the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or its subcommittees) shall be open to the public, including to radio, television, and still photography coverage, except when the committee or subcommittee, in open session and with a majority present, determines by record vote that all or part of the remainder of the meeting on that day shall be in executive session because disclosure of matters to be considered would endanger national security, would compromise sensitive law enforcement information, would tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person, or otherwise would violate a law or rule of the House. Persons, other than members of the committee and such noncommittee Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioner, congressional staff, or departmental representatives as the committee may authorize, may not be present at a business or markup session that is held in executive session. This subparagraph does not apply to open committee hearings, which are governed by clause 4(a)(1) of rule X or by subparagraph (2). |
| 799. Requirement of quorum. | (h)(1) A measure or recommendation may not be reported by a committee unless a majority of the committee is actually present. |
| Sec. 800. Reduced quorum. | (2) Each committee may fix the number of its members to constitute a quorum for taking testimony and receiving evidence, which may not be less than two. |
| Sec. 800a. Postponing votes in committee. | (4)(A) Each committee may adopt a rule authorizing the chairman of a committee or subcommittee-- |
| 801. Committees not to sit. | (i) A committee may not sit during a joint session of the House and Senate or during a recess when a joint meeting of the House and Senate is in progress. |
| 802. Witnesses. | (j)(1) Whenever a hearing is conducted by a committee on a measure or matter, the minority members of the committee shall be entitled, upon request to the chairman by a majority of them before the completion of the hearing, to call witnesses selected by the minority to testify with respect to that measure or matter during at least one day of hearing thereon. |
| 803. Hearing procedure. | (k)(1) The chairman at a hearing shall announce in an opening statement the subject of the hearing. |
| 804. Minority views. | (l) If at the time of approval of a measure or matter by a committee (other than the Committee on Rules) a member of the committee gives notice of intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views for inclusion in the report to the House thereon, that member shall be entitled to not less than two additional calendar days after the day of such notice (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) to file such views, in writing and signed by that member, with the clerk of the committee. |
| 805. Power to sit and to issue subpoenas; oaths. | (m)(1) For the purpose of carrying out any of its functions and duties under this rule and rule X (including any matters referred to it under clause 2 of rule XII), a committee or subcommittee is authorized (subject to subparagraph (3)(A))-- |
| 806. Standards of Official Conduct; additional duties. | 3. (a) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has the following functions: |
| 806a. Standards of Official Conduct; committee rules. | (f) The committee shall adopt rules providing that the chairman shall establish the agenda for meetings of the committee, but shall not preclude the ranking minority member from placing any item on the agenda. Committee staff |
| 807. Coverage of committee proceedings. | 4. (a) The purpose of this clause is to provide a means, in conformity with acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, and decorum, by which committee hearings or committee meetings that are open to the public may be covered by audio and visual means-- |
| Sec. 808. Media coverage. | (c) It is, further, the intent of this clause that the general conduct of each meeting (whether of a hearing or otherwise) |
| Sec. 809. When permitted. | (e) Whenever a hearing or meeting conducted by a committee or subcommittee is open to the public, those proceedings shall be open to coverage by audio and visual means. A committee or subcommittee chairman may not limit the number of television |
| Sec. 810. Committee rules. | (f) Each committee shall adopt written rules to govern its implementation of this clause. Such rules shall contain provisions to the following effect: |
| Sec. 811. Press photographers. | (8) Photographers may not position themselves between the witness table and the members of the committee at any time during the course of a hearing or meeting. |
| Sec. 812. Accreditation. | (11) Personnel providing coverage by still photography shall be currently accredited to the Press Photographers' Gallery. |
| 813. Fees of witnesses before the House or committees. | 5. Witnesses appearing before the House or any of its committees shall be paid the same per diem rate as established, authorized, and regulated by the Committee on House Administration for Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and employees of the House, plus actual expenses of travel to or from the place of examination. Such per diem may not be paid when a witness has been summoned at the place of examination. |
| 814. Resumption of business of a preceding session. | 6. All business of the House at the end of one session shall be resumed at the commencement of the next session of the same Congress in the same manner as if no adjournment had taken place. |
| 815. Entry of messages in the Journal and Record. | 1. Messages received from the Senate, or from the President, shall be entered on the Journal and published in the Congressional Record of the proceedings of that day. |
| 816. Referral procedures. | 2. (a) The Speaker shall refer each bill, resolution, or other matter that relates to a subject listed under a standing committee named in clause 1 of rule X in accordance with the provisions of this clause. |
| Sec. 816a. Sequential referral procedures. | Under clause 2(c), the Speaker has authority to sequentially refer a bill reported from a committee to other committees for a time certain for consideration of such portions of the bill as fall within their respective jurisdictions (Speaker Albert, Apr. 9, 1976, p. 10265; Speaker Albert, May 17, 1976, p. 14093). Under that authority, the Speaker may limit a sequential referral to matters having a direct effect on subjects within the committee's jurisdiction (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 5, 1982, p. 6580; Speaker O'Neill, June 7, 1983, p. 14699; Speaker Wright, Sept. 9, 1987, p. 23648). For example, the Speaker sequentially referred a bill reported by the Committee on Energy and Commerce to the Committee on the Judiciary for a specified time for consideration of ``such provisions of the bill and amendment recommended by the Committee on Energy and Commerce as propose to narrow the purview of the Attorney General under section 271 of the Communications Act of 1934'' (Speaker Hastert, May 24, 2001, p. ----). The Speaker exercised |
| Sec. 816b. Referral procedures to an ad hoc select committee. | Resolutions authorizing the Speaker to establish an ad hoc committee for the consideration of a particular bill under paragraph (c) of this clause, and extending the reporting date for such a committee, are privileged when offered from the floor at the Speaker's request (Speaker Albert, Apr. 22, 1975, p. 11261; Speaker Albert, Jan. 26, 1976, p. 876; Speaker O'Neill, Jan. 11, 1977, pp. 894-98; Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 21, 1977, pp. 11550-56). |
| Sec. 817. Restriction on the reference of claims. | (d) A bill for the payment or adjudication of a private claim against the Government may not be referred to a committee other than the Committee on International Relations or the Committee on the Judiciary, except by unanimous consent. |
| 818. Introduction and reference of petitions, memorials, and private bills. | 3. If a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner has a petition, memorial, or private bill to present, he shall endorse his name, deliver it to the Clerk, and may specify the reference or disposition to be made thereof. Such petition, memorial, or private bill (except when judged by the Speaker to be obscene or insulting) shall be en |
| Sec. 819. Duties of Speaker and Members in presenting petitions. | Petitions, memorials, and other papers addressed to the House may be presented by the Speaker as well as by a Member (IV, 3312). Petitions from the country at large are presented by the Speaker in the manner prescribed by the rule (III, 2030; IV, 3318; VII, 1025). A Member may present a petition from the people of a State other than his own (IV, 3315, 3316). The House itself may refer one portion of a petition to one committee and another portion to another committee (IV, 3359, 3360), but ordinarily the reference of a petition does not come before the House itself. A committee may receive a petition only through the House (IV, 4557). |
| Sec. 820. As to division of bills for reference. | The parliamentary law provides that the House may commit a portion of a bill, or a part to one committee and part to another (V, 5558), yet under the practice of the House until January 3, 1975, a bill or joint resolution could not be divided for reference, although it might contain matters properly within the jurisdiction of several committees (IV, 4372, 4376). On that date, the Speaker was given authority over referral of bills as prescribed in clause 2 of this rule (formerly clause 5 of rule X). In the 106th Congress the Speaker referred a bill by title to two committees (H.R. 1554, Apr. 26, 1999, p. 7355). |
| Sec. 821. Fraudulent introduction of a bill. | The fraudulent introduction of a bill involves a question of privilege, and a bill so introduced was ordered stricken from the files (IV, 3388). As the result of the unauthorized introduction of several bills without the knowledge of the Members listed as sponsors, the Speaker directed that all bills and resolutions must be signed by the prime sponsor thereof in order to be accepted for introduction (Speaker Albert, Feb. 3, 1972, p. 2521). |
| Sec. 822. Certain private bills prohibited. | 4. A private bill or private resolution (including an omnibus claim or pension bill), or amendment thereto, may not be received or considered in the House if it authorizes or directs-- |
| 823. Commemoratives prohibited. | 5. (a) A bill or resolution, or an amendment thereto, may not be introduced or considered in the House if it establishes or expresses a commemoration. |
| 824. Correction of errors in reference; and relation to jurisdiction. | 6. A petition, memorial, bill, or resolution excluded under this rule shall be returned to the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner from whom it was received. A petition or private bill that has been inappropriately referred may, by direction of the committee having possession of it, be properly referred in the manner originally presented. An erroneous reference of a petition or private bill under this clause does not confer jurisdiction on a committee to consider or report it. |
| 825. Introduction, reference, and change of reference of public bills, memorials, and resolutions. | 7. (a) Bills, memorials, petitions, and resolutions, endorsed with the names of Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner introducing them, may be delivered to the Speaker to be referred. The titles and references of all bills, memorials, petitions, resolutions, and other documents referred under this rule shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Congressional Record. An erroneous reference may be corrected by the House in accordance with rule X on any day immediately after the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag by unanimous consent or motion. Such a motion shall be privileged if offered by direction of a committee to which the bill has been erroneously referred or by direction of a committee claiming jurisdiction and shall be decided without debate. |
| Sec. 826. Introduction of bills, resolutions, or memorials by request. | (5) When a bill or resolution is introduced ``by request,'' those words shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Congressional Record. |
| 827. Reception and reference of executive communications, including estimates. | 8. Estimates of appropriations and all other communications from the executive departments intended for the consideration of any committees of the House shall be addressed to the Speaker for referral as provided in clause 2 of rule XIV. |
| 828. Calendar for reports of committees. | 1. (a) All business reported by committees shall be referred to one of the following three calendars: |
| Sec. 830. Motion to discharge. | (b) There is established a Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees as provided in clause 2 of rule XV. |
| 831. Nonprivileged reports filed with the Clerk. | 2. (a)(1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), all reports of committees (other than those filed from the floor as privileged) shall be delivered to the Clerk for printing and reference to the proper calendar under the direction of the Speaker in accordance with clause 1. The title or subject of each report shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Congressional Record. |
| Sec. 832. Adverse reports. | (2) A bill or resolution reported adversely shall be laid on the table unless a committee to which the bill or resolution was referred requests at the time of the report its referral to an appropriate calendar under clause 1 or unless, within three days thereafter, a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner makes such a request. |
| Sec. 833. Requirement that reports of committees be in writing and be printed. | When the House codified its rules in the 106th Congress, it deleted the portion of clause 2 of rule XVIII that required the printing of reports. That provision was redundant because this provision carries the same requirement (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). Former clause 2 of rule XVIII was adopted in 1880 (V, 5647). |
| Sec. 834. Chairman's duty. | (b)(1) It shall be the duty of the chairman of each committee to report or cause to be reported promptly to the House a measure or matter approved by the committee and to take or cause to be taken steps |
| Sec. 835. Filing by majority of committee. | (2) In any event, the report of a committee on a measure that has been approved by the committee shall be filed within seven calendar days (exclusive of days on which the House is not in session) after the day on which a written request for the filing of the report, signed by a majority of the members of the committee, has been filed with the clerk of the committee. The clerk of the committee shall immediately notify the chairman of the filing of such a request. This subparagraph does not apply to a report of the Committee on Rules with respect to a rule, joint rule, or order of business of the House, or to the reporting of a resolution of inquiry addressed to the head of an executive department. |
| Sec. 836. Filing with minority views. | (c) All supplemental, minority, or additional views filed under clause 2(l) of rule XI by one or more members of a committee shall be included in, and shall be a part of, the report filed by the committee with respect to a measure or matter. When time guaranteed by clause 2(l) of rule XI has expired (or, if sooner, when all separate views have been received), the committee may arrange to file its report with the Clerk not later than one hour after the expiration of such time. This clause and provisions of clause 2(l) of rule XI do not preclude the immediate filing or printing of a committee report in the absence of a timely request for the opportunity to file supplemental, minority, or additional views as provided in clause 2(l) of rule XI. |
| 837. Single volume. | 3. (a)(1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), the report of a committee on a measure or matter shall be printed in a single volume that-- |
| Sec. 838. Technical error. | (2) A committee may file a supplemental report for the correction of a technical error in its previous report on a measure or matter. A supplemental report only correcting errors in the depiction of record votes under paragraph (b) may be filed under this subparagraph and shall not be subject to the requirement in clause 4 or clause 6 concerning the availability of reports. |
| Sec. 839. Vote on reporting. | (b) With respect to each record vote on a motion to report a measure or matter of a public nature, and on any amendment offered to the measure or matter, the total number of votes cast for and against, |
| Sec. 840. Content of reports. | (c) The report of a committee on a measure that has been approved by the committee shall include, separately set out and clearly identified, the following: |
| Sec. 841. Constitutional authority. | (d) Each report of a committee on a public bill or public joint resolution shall contain the following: |
| Sec. 842. Application of laws to legislative branch. | Under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, each report accompanying a bill or joint resolution relating to terms and conditions of employment or access to public services or accommodations must describe the manner in which the provisions apply to the legislative branch or a statement of the reasons the provisions do not apply; and any Member may raise a point of order against the consideration of a bill or joint resolution not complying with this requirement, which may be waived in the House by majority vote (sec. 102(b)(3), P.L. 104-1; 109 Stat. 6). |
| Sec. 843. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that imposes several requirements on committees with respect to measures effecting ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 658b-c) and establishes points of order to permit separate votes on whether to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d). See Sec. 1127, infra. |
| Sec. 844. Estimate of cost. | (2)(A) An estimate by the committee of the costs that would be incurred in carrying out the bill or joint resolution in the fiscal year in which it is reported and in each of the five fiscal years following that fiscal year (or for the authorized duration of any program authorized by the bill or joint resolution if less than five years); |
| Sec. 845. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658b-c) that imposes several requirements on the Director of the Congressional Budget Office and on committees of the House with respect to measures effecting ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 658b-c) and establishes points of order to permit separate votes on whether to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d). See Sec. 1127, infra, and Sec. 843, supra. |
| Sec. 846. ``Ramseyer Rule.'' | (e)(1) Whenever a committee reports a bill or joint resolution proposing to repeal or amend a statute or part thereof, it shall include in its report or in an accompanying document-- |
| Sec. 847. Content of reports on appropriation bills. | (f)(1) A report of the Committee on Appropriations on a general appropriation bill shall include-- |
| Sec. 848. Comparative print. | (g) Whenever the Committee on Rules reports a resolution proposing to repeal or amend a standing rule of the House, it shall include in its report or in an accompanying document-- |
| Sec. 849. Tax complexity analysis. | (h)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint resolution reported by the Committee on Ways and Means that proposes to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 unless-- |
| 850. Threeday layover. | 4. (a)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in order to consider in the House a measure or matter reported by a committee until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which each report of a committee on that measure or matter has been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner. |
| Sec. 851. Oneday layover. | A committee expense resolution reported by the Committee on House Administration pursuant to clause 5 of rule XIII need only be available for one day. However, other resolutions reported from that committee which are privileged (such as a resolution authorizing the printing of material as a House document), but which do not constitute questions of the privileges of the House, are subject to this clause (Speaker Albert, Mar. 6, 1975, p. 5537). |
| Sec. 852. Printed hearings on appropriation bills. | (c) A general appropriation bill reported by the Committee on Appropriations may not be considered in the House until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which printed hearings of the Committee on Appropriations thereon have been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner. |
| 853. Privileged reports. | 5. (a) The following committees shall have leave to report at any time on the following matters, respectively: |
| Sec. 854. Privileged reports defined. | The matters reported under the provisions of this clause are denominated ``privileged reports'' or ``privileged questions,'' and since the privilege relates merely to the order of business under the rules, they must be distinguished from ``questions of privilege'' which relate to the safety or dignity of the House itself defined in rule IX (III, 2718). Therefore, ``questions of privilege'' take precedence over these matters which are privileged under the rules (III, 2426-2530; V, 6454; VIII, 3465). |
| Sec. 855. The privilege of individual committees for reports. | The privilege given by this clause to the Committee on Rules is confined to ``action touching rules, joint rules, and order of business'' and this committee may not report as privileged a concurrent resolution providing for a Senate investigating committee (VIII, 2255), or provide for the appointment of a clerk (VIII, 2256); but the privilege has been held to include the right to report special orders for the consideration of individual bills or classes of bills (V, 6774), or the consideration of a specified amendment to a bill and prescribing a mode of considering such amendment (VIII, 2258). A special rule providing for the consideration of a bill is not invalidated by the fact that at the time the rule was reported, the bill was not on the calendar (VIII, 2259; Speaker McCormack, Aug. 19, 1964, p. 20212). The authority to report special orders of business includes authority to recommend consideration of measures and amendments thereto the subject of which might be separately pending before a standing committee (Apr. 15, 1986, p. 7531); to make in order the consideration of the text of an introduced bill as original text in a reported bill (Oct. 9, 1986, p. 29973); to permit consideration of a previously unnumbered and unsponsored measure which comes into existence by virtue of adoption by the House of the special order (Speaker O'Neill, Apr. 16, 1986, p. 7610); to recommend a ``hereby'' resolution, for example, that a concurrent resolution correcting the enrollment of a bill be considered as adopted by the House upon the adoption of the special order (Speaker Wright, May 4, 1988, p. 9865), or that a Senate amendment pending at the Speaker's table and otherwise requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole under clause 3 of rule XXII (formerly clause 1 of rule XX) be ``hereby'' considered as adopted upon adoption of the special order (Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 16.11; Feb. 4, 1993, p. 2500); to provide that an amendment containing an appropriation in violation of clause 4 of rule XXI (formerly clause 5(a)) be considered as adopted in the House when the reported bill is under consideration (Feb. 24, 1993, p. 3542); to provide that an amendment containing an appropriation in violation of clause 2 of rule XXI be considered as adopted in the House when the reported bill is under consideration (July 27, 1993, p. 17129); and to provide that a nongermane amendment otherwise in violation of clause 7 of rule XVI be considered as adopted in the House when the bill is under consideration (Feb. 24, 1993, p. 3542; July 27, 1993, p. 17129). |
| Sec. 856. Privileged motion for consideration of revenue and appropriation bills. | As early as 1835 the necessity of giving appropriation bills precedence became apparent, and in 1837 former clause 9 of rule XVI was adopted to establish that principle, but was deleted in recodification as redundant to this rule. Former clause 4(a) of rule XI was amended by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, effective January 3, 1975 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470) to eliminate the authority of the Committee on Ways and Means to report as privileged bills raising revenue, and former clause 9 of rule XVI was amended in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 254, Nov. 30, 1995, p. 35077) to delete as obsolete the reference to bills raising revenue (see Sec. 853, supra). However, the privilege to call up general appropriation bills in both rules was retained. When both types of reports were privileged under the rule before the 94th Congress, motions to consider revenue bills and appropriation bills were of equal privilege (IV, 3075, 3076). |
| 857. Reports from Committee on Rules. | 6. (a) A report by the Committee on Rules on a rule, joint rule, or the order of business may not be called up for consideration on the same day it is presented to the House except-- |
| Sec. 858. Dilatory motions not permitted. | In the later practice it has been held that the question of consideration may not be raised against a report from the Committee on Rules (V, 4961-4963; VIII, 2440, 2441). The clause forbidding dilatory motions has been construed strictly (V, 5740-5742), and in the later practice the following have been excluded: (1) the motion to commit after the ordering of the previous question (V, 5593-5601; VIII, 2270, 2750; Feb. 22, 1984, p. 2965); (2) an appeal from the Chair's decision not to entertain the question of consideration or a motion to lay the pending resolution on the table (V, 5739); and (3) the motion to postpone to a day certain (Oct. 9, 1986, p. 29972). A motion to reconsider the vote on ordering the previous question has been held not dilatory (V, 5739). Before debate has begun on a report from the Committee on Rules, a question of the privileges of the House takes precedence (VIII, 3491; Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403). In the event that the previous question is rejected on a privileged resolution from the Committee on Rules, the provisions of clause 6(b) prohibiting ``dilatory'' motions no longer strictly apply; the resolution is subject to proper amendment, further debate, or a motion to table or refer, and the Member who lead the opposition to the previous question has the prior right to recognition (Oct. 19, 1966, pp. 27713, 27725-29; May 29, 1980, pp. 12667-78), subject to being preempted by a preferential motion offered by another Member (Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). The member of the Committee on Rules calling up a privileged resolution on behalf of the committee may offer an amendment, and House rules do not require a specific authorization from the committee (Sept. 25, 1990, p. 25575). A motion to table such a pending amendment is dilatory and not in order under this provision, but the motion to recon |
| Sec. 859. Restrictions on authority of Committee on Rules. | From 1934 until the amendment to this provision in the 104th Congress (sec. 210, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 468), it was consistently held that the Committee on Rules could recommend a special order that limited, but did not totally prohibit, a motion to recommit pending passage of a bill or joint resolution, as by precluding the motion from containing instructions relating to specified amendments (Speaker Rainey, Jan. 11, 1934, pp. 479-83 (sustained on appeal)); or by omitting to preserve the availability of amendatory instructions in the case that the bill is entirely rewritten by the adoption of a substitute made in order as original text (Speaker Foley, June 4, 1991, p. 13170; Speaker Foley, Nov. 25, 1991, p. 34460); or by expressly allowing only a simple (``straight'') motion to recommit (without instructions) (Oct. 16, 1990, p. 29657 (sustained by tabling of appeal); Feb. 26, 1992, p. 3441 (sustained by tabling of appeal); May 7, 1992, p. 10586 (sustained by tabling of appeal); June 16, 1992, p. 14973 (sustained by tabling of appeal); Nov. 21, 1993, p. 31544; Nov. 22, 1993, p. 31815). A special order providing for consideration of a bill under suspension of the rules does not prevent a motion to recommit from being made ``as provided in clause 4 of rule XVI,'' i.e., after the previous question is ordered on passage, a procedure not applicable to a motion to suspend the rules (VIII, 2267; Speaker Foley, June 21, 1990, p. 15229). See Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 26.11; see generally Deschler, ch. 23, Sec. 25. |
| Sec. 860. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that, effective on January 1, 1996, or 90 days after appropriations are made available to the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to the 1995 Act (whichever is earlier), imposes several requirements on committees with respect to ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423, 424; 2 U.S.C. 658b, 658c), establishes points of order to permit separate votes on whether to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d), and permits a vote on the consideration of a rule or order waiving such points of order in the House (sec. 426(a); 2 U.S.C. 658e(a)). See Sec. 1127, infra. |
| Sec. 861. Filing reports. | (d) The Committee on Rules shall present to the House reports concerning rules, joint rules, and the order of business, within three legislative days of the time when they are ordered. If such a report is not considered immediately, it shall be referred to the calendar. If such a report on the calendar is not called up by the member of the committee who filed the report within seven legislative days, any member of the committee may call it up as a privileged question on the day after the calendar day on which the member announces to the House his intention to do so. The Speaker shall recognize a member of the committee who rises for that purpose. |
| Sec. 862. | (f) If the House has adopted a resolution making in order a motion to consider a bill or resolution, and such a motion has not been offered within seven calendar days thereafter, such a motion shall be privileged if offered by direction of all reporting committees having initial jurisdiction of the bill or resolution. |
| Sec. 863. Specifying waivers. | (g) Whenever the Committee on Rules reports a resolution providing for the consideration of a measure, it shall (to the maximum extent possible) specify in the resolution the object of any waiver of a point of order against the measure or against its consideration. |
| 864. Resolution of inquiry. | 7. A report on a resolution of inquiry addressed to the head of an executive department may be filed from the floor as privileged. If such a resolution is not reported to the House within 14 legislative days after its introduction, a motion to discharge a committee from its consideration shall be privileged. |
| Sec. 865. Forms of resolutions of inquiry and delivery thereof. | Resolutions of inquiry are usually simple rather than concurrent in form (III, 1875), and are never joint resolutions (III, 1860). A resolution authorizing a committee to request information has been treated as a resolution of inquiry (III, 1860). It has been considered proper to use the word ``request'' in asking for information from the President and ``direct'' in addressing the heads of departments (III, 1856, footnote, 1895). It is usual |
| Sec. 866. Privileged status of resolutions of inquiry. | The practice of the House gives to resolutions of inquiry a privileged status. Thus, they are privileged for report and consideration at any time after their reference to a committee (III, 1870; VI, 413, 414), but not before (III, 1857), and are in order for consideration only on motion directed to be made by the committee reporting the same (VI, 413; VIII, 2310). They are privileged for consideration on ``Suspension days'' and took precedence of the former Consent Calendar (VI, 409) before its abolishment in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. 16574), but are not in order on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 896- 898). And only resolutions addressed to the President and the heads of the executive departments have the privilege (III, 1861-1864; VI, 406). To enjoy the privilege a resolution should call for facts rather than opinions (III, 1872, 1873; VI, 413, 418-432; July 7, 1971, pp. 23810- 11), should not require investigations (III, 1872-1874; VI, 422, 427, 429, 432), and should not present a preamble (III, 1877, 1878; VI, 422, 427); but if a resolution on its face calls for facts, the Chair will not investigate the probability of the existence of the facts called for (VI, 422). However, a resolution inquiring for such facts as would inevitably require the statement of an opinion to answer such inquiry is not privileged (Speaker Longworth, Feb. 11, 1926, p. 3805). |
| Sec. 867. Discharge of a committee from a resolution of inquiry. | Committees are required to report resolutions of inquiry back to the House within one week (now 14 days) of the reference, and this time is construed to be legislative days (VIII, 3368; Speaker Rayburn, Feb. 9, 1950, p. 1755) exclusive of the day of introduction and the day of discharge (III, 1858, 1859). If a committee refuses or neglects to report the resolution back, the House may reach the resolution only by a motion to discharge the committee (III, 1865). The ordinary motion to discharge a committee is not privileged (VIII, 2316); but the practice of the House has given privilege to the motion in cases of resolutions of inquiry (III, 1866-1870). And this motion to discharge is privileged at the end of the time period, though |
| Sec. 868. Resolutions of inquiry as related to the Executive. | The President having failed to respond to a resolution of inquiry, the House respectfully reminded him of the fact (III, 1890). In 1796 the House declared that its constitutional requests of the Executive for information need not be accompanied by a statement of purposes (II, 1509). As to the kind of information which may be required, especially as to the papers that may be demanded, there has been much discussion (III, 1700, 1738, 1888, 1902, 1903; VI, 402, 435). There have been several conflicts with the Executive (II, 1534, 1561; III, 1884, 1885- 1889, 1894) over demands for papers and information, especially when the resolutions have called for papers relating to foreign affairs (II, 1509-1513, 1518, 1519). |
| Sec. 869. The rule for the order of business in the House. | 1. The daily order of business (unless varied by the application of other rules and except for the disposition of matters of higher precedence) shall be as follows: First. Prayer by the Chaplain. l Second. Reading and approval of the Journal, unless postponed under clause 8 of rule XX. |
| Sec. 870. Privileged interruptions of the order of business in the House. | This rule does not, however, bind the House to a daily routine, since the system of making certain important subjects privileged (see clause 5 of rule XIII and rule XXII) permits the interruption of the order of business by matters which, in fact, often supplant it entirely for days at a time. In the 106th Congress the recodification acknowledged in the parenthetical of this clause that the prescribed daily |
| Sec. 872. The interruption of the order of business by the request for unanimous consent. | When the House has no rule establishing an order of business, as at the beginning of a session before the adoption of rules, it is in order for any Member who is recognized by the Chair to offer a proposition relating to the order of business without asking consent of the House (IV, 3060). But after the adoption of the rule for the order of business, interruptions are confined to matters privileged to interrupt or to cases wherein the House gives unanimous consent for an interruption. A request for unanimous consent to consider a bill is in effect a request to suspend the order of business temporarily (IV, 3059). Therefore any Member, including the Speaker, may object, or reserve the right to object and inquire, for example, about the reasons for the request, or demand the ``regular order'' (IV, 3058). Debate under a reservation of objection proceeds at the sufferance of the House and may not continue after a demand for the regular order (see, e.g., Speaker Foley, Nov. 14, 1991, p. 32128; Dec. 15, 1995, p. 37142). A Member objecting to a unanimous-consent request or demanding the regular order when another has reserved the right to object must stand to be observed by the Chair (Nov. 7, 1991, p. 30633; June 23, 1992, p. 15703). The Speaker, however, usually signifies his objection by declining to put the request of the Member, thus saving the time of the House. The Speaker's guidelines for recognition for unanimous-consent requests for consideration of unreported measures are issued pursuant to clause 2 of rule XVII and are discussed in Sec. 956, infra. The request for unanimous consent began to be used about 1832 when the House first felt a pressure of business and the necessity of adhering to a fixed order (IV, 3155-3159). In 1909, by the adoption of former clause 4 of rule XIII, a Consent Calendar was established, which was abolished in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. 16574). For discussion of unanimous-consent requests and reservations of objections, see Sec. 956, infra. Unanimous consent for the immediate consideration of a measure in the House does not preclude a demand for a record vote when the Chair puts the question on final passage, since it merely permits consideration of a matter not otherwise privileged (Dec. 16, 1987, p. 35816). |
| Sec. 873. Disposal of business on the Speaker's table. | 2. Business on the Speaker's table shall be disposed of as follows: |
| Sec. 874. Matters on Speaker's table for action by the House or by the Speaker alone. | Such portions of messages from the Senate as require action by the House, all messages from the President except those transmitting his objections to bills (IV, 3534-3536), and all communications and reports from the heads of departments go to the Speaker's table when received, to be disposed of under this rule. Simple resolutions of the Senate that do not require any action by the House are not referred (VII, 1048). All of the President's messages are referred. Such portions of Senate messages (House bills with Senate amendments) that do not require consideration in Committee of the Whole may be laid before the House for action. Communications from the President, other than messages; all portions of Senate messages requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole (IV, 3101); and Senate bills of all kinds (with the exception noted in the rule) may be referred to the appropriate standing committees under direction of the Speaker without action by the House (IV, 3107, 3111; VI, 727). Under clause 2 of former rule XXIV (current rule XIV), the Speaker may temporarily retain custody of an executive communication addressed to him (or may pursuant to former clause 1 of rule IV (current clause 3(a) of rule II) order the Sergeant-at-Arms to assume custody) pending House disposition of a special order reported from the Committee on Rules relating to a referral of the communication to committee (Sept. 9, 1998, p. 19769). |
| Sec. 875. Reference of President's messages from the Speaker's table. | A message of the President on the Speaker's table is regularly laid before the House only at the time prescribed by the order of business (V, 6635-6638). While it is always read in full and entered on the Journal and the Congressional Record (V, 6963), the accompanying documents are not read on demand of a Member or entered in the Journal or Record (V, 5267-5271; VII, 1108). The annual message of the President is usually referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union by the House on motion (V, 6631). In the earlier practice it was distributed to appropriate standing committees by resolutions reported from the Committee on Ways and Means (V, 6621, 6622) but since the first session of the 64th Congress the practice has been discontinued (VIII, 3350). A portion of the annual message has been referred directly to a select committee (V, 6628). A message other than an annual message is usually referred directly to a standing committee by direction of the Speaker (IV, 4053; VIII, 3346), but may be referred by the House itself on motion by a Member (V, 6631; VIII, 3348), and such motion is privileged (VIII, 3348). This reference may be to a select as well as to a standing committee (V, 6633, 6634). |
| Sec. 876. Unfinished business. | 3. Consideration of unfinished business in which the House may have been engaged at an adjournment, except business in the morning hour and proceedings postponed under clause 8 of rule XX, shall be resumed as soon as the business on the Speaker's table is finished, and at the same time each day thereafter until disposed of. The consideration of |
| Sec. 877. Construction of rule as to unfinished business. | This clause should be understood in light of clause 8 of rule XX, which permits the Chair to postpone record votes on certain questions to a designated time within two legislative days (see Sec. 1030, infra). The ``business in which the House may be engaged at an adjournment'' means, literally, business in the House, as distinguished from the Committee of the Whole; and it further means business in which the House is engaged in its general legislative time, as distinguished from the special periods set aside for classes of business, like the morning hour for calls of committee, Tuesdays for private bills, etc. In general, all business unfinished in the general legislative time goes over as unfinished business under the rule, but there are a few exceptions. Thus, a motion relating to the order of business does not recur as unfinished business on a succeeding day, even though the yeas and nays may have been ordered on it (IV, 3114). The question of consideration, also, when not disposed of at an adjournment, does not recur as unfinished business on a succeeding day (V, 4947, 4948), but may be again raised on a subsequent day when the matter is again called up as unfinished business (VIII, 2438). Where the House adjourns during the consideration of a report from the Committee on Rules, further consideration of the report becomes the unfinished business on the following day, and debate resumes from the point where interrupted (Sept. 27, 1993, p. 22609; Sept. 28, 1993, p. 22719). When the House adjourns on the second legislative day after postponement of a question under clause 8 of rule XX without resuming proceedings thereon, the question remains unfinished business on the next legislative day (Oct. 1, 1997, p. 20922; Oct. 2, 1997, p. 20991). When the House adjourns while a motion to instruct under clause 7(c) of rule XXII is pending, the motion to instruct becomes unfinished business on the next day and does not need to be renoticed (Oct. 1, 1997, p. 20894). |
| Sec. 878. Effect of previous question. | When the House adjourns before voting on a proposition on which the previous question has been ordered, either directly or by the terms of a special order (IV, 3185), the matter comes up the next day as unfinished business (V, 5510-5517; VIII, 2691; Aug. 2, 1989, p. 18187). If several bills come over in this situation, they have precedence in the order in which the several mo |
| Sec. 879. Business unfinished in periods set apart for classes of business. | The rule excepts by its terms certain classes of business which are considered in periods set apart for classes of business, viz: l (a) Bills considered in the morning hour and on Calendar Wednesday for the call of committees. l (b) Bills in Committee of the Whole. |
| Sec. 880. The morning hour for the call of committees. | 4. After the unfinished business has been disposed of, the Speaker shall call each standing committee in regular order and then select committees. Each committee when named may call up for consideration a bill or resolution reported by it on a previous day and on the House Calendar. If the Speaker does not complete the call of the com |
| Sec. 881. Procedure in the morning hour. | Originally the morning hour was a fixed period of 60 minutes (IV, 3118); but under the present rule it does not terminate until the call is exhausted or until the House adjourns (IV, 3119), unless the House on motion made at the end of 60 minutes votes to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union (clause 5 of rule XIV; IV, 3134), or unless other privileged matter intervenes (IV, 3131, 3132). Before the expiration of the 60 minutes the Speaker has declined to permit the call to be interrupted by a privileged report (IV, 3132) or by unanimous consent (IV, 3130). Where the business for which the call is interrupted is concluded, the call is resumed unless there be other interrupting business or the House adjourns (IV, 3133). A bill once brought up on the call continues before the House in that order of business until disposed of (IV, 3120), unless withdrawn by authority of the committee before action which puts it in possession of the House (IV, 3129); and may not be made a special order for a future day by a motion to postpone to a day certain (IV, 3164). In order to be called up in this order a bill must actually be on the House Calendar, and properly there, in order to be considered (IV, 3122-3126), and a bill on the Union Calendar may not be brought up on call of committees under this clause (VI, 753). If the authority of the committee to call up a bill is disputed, the Chair does not consider it his duty to decide the question (IV, 3127), but the Chair may base its decision on statements from the chairman and other members of the committee (IV, 3128). |
| Sec. 882. Interruption of the call of committees by motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. | 5. After consideration of bills or resolutions under clause 4 for one hour, it shall be in order, pending consideration thereof, to entertain a motion that the House resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union or, when authorized by a committee, that the House resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union to consider a particular bill. Such a motion shall be subject to only one amendment designating another bill. If such a motion is decided in the negative, another such motion may not be considered until the matter that was pending when such motion was offered is disposed of. |
| Sec. 883. Conditions of the motion to go into Committee of the Whole at the end of one hour. | The words of the rule ``one hour'' have been interpreted to mean a less time in case the call of committees shall have exhausted itself before the expiration of one hour (IV, 3135); but not otherwise (IV, 3141). After the House has been in Committee of the Whole under this order and has risen and reported, and the report has been acted on by the House, other motions to go into Committee to consider other bills are in order (IV, 3136). The motion to go into Committee generally may be made by the individual Member (IV, 3138), but when it is proposed to designate a particular bill he must have the authority of a committee (IV, 3138). The amendment to the motion to consider a particular bill must refer to a bill on the Union Calendar (IV, 3139). This order of business is used entirely for nonprivileged bills and is not used in the House for consideration of bills in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union if otherwise privileged under clause 5 of rule XIII. |
| 885. Motions to suspend the rules. | 1. (a) A rule may not be suspended except by a vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present. The Speaker may not entertain a motion that the House suspend the rules except on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and during the last six days of a session of Congress. |
| Sec. 886. Nature of the motion to suspend the rules. | Originally, when the House was operating under the older rules for the order of business, the motion was used to establish a special order of business for the consideration of a particular measure (IV, 3152, 3162; V, 6852). In 1890, the House adopted rules for the order of business which enabled the House on any day to consider public bills on its calendars. About the same time, the House perfected the process of establishing a special order of business by a majority vote through a report from the Committee on Rules (IV, 3169). As a result of these changes, the use of the motion to suspend gradually changed from one that established a special order of business to one that passes or adopts a measure (V, 6790, 6846, 6847). The latter motion suspends all rules inconsistent with its purposes, including a rule requiring that a recess be taken (V, 5752) or that a quorum be present when a bill is reported from committee (Sept. 22, 1992, p. 26932). |
| Sec. 886a. Consideration of the motion to suspend the rules. | The motion that the House ``suspend the rules and pass [or adopt]'' a measure is not subject to the demand for a division of the question, either as to the two branches of the motion or as to distinct substantive propositions in the subject of the motion (V, 6141-6143). The motion may not be amended (V, 5322, 5405, 6858; Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 14.6; Apr. 11, 2000, p. 5206), and the power to modify the motion rests with its proponent (July 18, 2005, p. ----). The motion may not be postponed (V, 5322) or laid on the table (V, 5405). The motion to reconsider may not be applied to a negative vote on the motion (V, 5645, 5646; VIII, 2781; Sept. 28, 1996, p. 25797), although it may be applied to an affirmative vote (Sept. 28, 1996, p. 25796). The motion to refer may not be applied to the bill that it is proposed to pass under suspension of the rules (V, 6860). Pursuant to clause 1(b) of rule XV, the Speaker may entertain one motion to adjourn pending a motion to suspend the rules. However, after that vote, the Speaker may not entertain any other motion until the vote is taken on the motion to suspend the rules. |
| Sec. 887. Precedence of the motion to suspend the rules. | In the early practice, when the motion to suspend the rules was used to enable a matter to be taken up for consideration out of order, it was not admitted when a subject was already before the House (V, 5278, 6836, 6837, 6852, 6853). However, a motion to suspend the rules was in order to dispense with the reading of a pending measure (V, 5278). A bill taken up under this early practice might be amended by the House (V, 6842, 6856) or withdrawn by the mover, in which case another Member might not present it (V, 6854, 6855). |
| Sec. 888. Individual and committee motions to suspend the rules. | Before the 93d Congress, the rule gave to individuals preference on the first Monday of the month for making motions to suspend the rules, and preference on the third Mondays for committees to make the motion (V, 6790). If on a committee day an individual motion was made and seconded, it was then too late to make a point of order (V, 6809). In rare instances, under earlier House practice, the Speaker called the committees in regular order for motions to suspend the rules, but this method was not required (V, 6810, 6811). The earlier practice also required a motion to be formally and specifically authorized by a committee (V, 6805-6807), |
| Sec. 889. The second of the motion to suspend the rules. | Before the 102d Congress, certain motions to suspend the rules were required to be seconded, if demanded, by a majority by tellers, but this requirement was eliminated from the rule (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39). The requirement for a second was adopted in 1874, was rescinded two years later, but was again adopted in 1880. The object of it was to prevent consumption of the time of the House by forcing consideration of undesirable propositions (V, 6797). The requirement (formerly clause 2 of rule XXVII) was amended in the 96th Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 15, 1979, pp. 7-16) so that a second was not required where printed copies of the proposed measure were available. The constitutional right of a Member to demand the yeas and nays, or the right of a Member under clause 1(b) of rule XX to demand a recorded vote, did not exist on the question of ordering a second under the former clause 2 of rule XXVII, which only permitted the ordering of a second by tellers if a quorum was present (V, 6032-6036; VIII, 3109; Dec. 16, 1981, p. 31851). The fact that a majority of the Members of the House did not pass between the tellers on the question of ordering a second did not conclusively show that a quorum was not present in the Chamber, and the Speaker could count the House to determine whether a quorum was actually present (Dec. 16, 1981, p. 31851). However, where a quorum failed on the vote for a second, under clause 6 of rule XX the yeas and nays were ordered (IV, 3053-3055; Dec. 21, 1973, pp. 43251-63). |
| Sec. 889a. Withdrawal of motion. | A motion to suspend the rules may be withdrawn at any time before the Chair puts the question and a voice vote is taken thereon (V, 6840, 6844; VIII, 3405, 3419). The motion may be withdrawn by unanimous consent, even after the Speaker has put the question on its adoption and postponed further proceedings (Deschler, ch 21 Sec. 13.23). |
| Sec. 890. Dilatory motions pending motions to suspend rules. | (b) Pending a motion that the House suspend the rules, the Speaker may entertain one motion that the House adjourn. After the result of such a motion is announced, the Speaker may not enter |
| Sec. 891. The 40 minutes of debate on motion to suspend the rules. | (c) A motion that the House suspend the rules is debatable for 40 minutes, one-half in favor of the motion and one-half in opposition thereto. |
| 892. Motion to discharge a committee. | 2. (a) Motions to discharge committees shall be in order on the second and fourth Mondays of a month. |
| 893. Adverse report by Rules Committee. | 3. An adverse report by the Committee on Rules on a resolution proposing a special order of business for the consideration of a public bill or public joint resolution may be called up under clause 6(e) of rule XIII as a privileged question by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner on a day when it is in order to consider a motion to discharge committees under clause 2. |
| 894. District of Columbia. | 4. The second and fourth Mondays of a month shall be set apart for the consideration of such District of Columbia business as may be called up by the Committee on Government Reform after the disposition of motions to discharge committees and after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only. |
| 895. Interruption of the regular order on Tuesdays for consideration of the Private Calendar. | 5. (a) On the first Tuesday of a month, the Speaker shall direct the Clerk to call the bills and resolutions on the Private Calendar after disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only. If two or more Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner object to the consideration of a bill or resolution so called, it shall be recommitted to the committee that reported it. No other business shall be in order before completion of the call of the Private Calendar on this day unless two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present, agree to a motion that the House dispense with the call. |
| Sec. 896. Tuesday as a day for private business. | This provision (formerly clause 6 of rule XXIV) was adopted in the 62d Congress in lieu of special orders under which pension and private business formerly had been considered. The rule was amended on April 23, 1932 (VII, 846) and was adopted in its present form on March 27, 1935 (pp. 4480-89, 4538). When the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this provision was transferred from former clause 6 of rule XXIV and the archaic reference to the ``Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House'' was changed to the ``Private Calendar'' (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). A Member serving as an ``official objector'' for the Private Calendar has periodically included in the Record an explanation of how bills on the Private Calendar are considered (see, e.g., Dec. 5, 1995, p. 35354; June 17, |
| Sec. 897. Methods of considering omnibus bills. | During the consideration of omnibus bills the Chair declines to recognize Members for unanimous-consent requests to address the House (May 7, 1935, p. 7100); motions to strike out the last word are not in order, and requests for extension of time under the five-minute rule are not entertained (Speaker Byrns, Mar. 17, 1936, pp. 3890, 3894). |
| Sec. 898. Former Corrections Calendar. | In the 109th Congress the Corrections Calendar (formerly clause 6 of rule XV) was abolished (sec. 2(f), H. Res. 5, Jan. 4, 2005, p. ----). The Corrections Calendar was established in the 104th Congress as a replacement for the Consent Calendar (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. 16574). Later in the 104th Congress several technical changes were effected to admit amendments by a designee of the chairman of the primary committee (H. Res. 254, Nov. 30, 1995, p. 14974). In the 105th Congress it was amended to permit bills to be called from the Calendar at any time on a ``corrections day'' and in any order (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 121). In the 107th Congress it was amended to delete the requirement that a bill be on the Corrections |
| Sec. 899. Former Consent Calendar. | The original form of former clause 4 of rule XIII, providing for the former Consent Calendar, was adopted March 15, 1909, amended January 18, 1924; December 7, 1925; December 8, 1931; and April 23, 1932 (VII, 972). Bills must have been on the printed calendar three legislative days in order to be eligible for consideration (VII, 992, 994). When a House bill was on the Consent Calendar, by unanimous consent the House committee could have been discharged from the consideration of a Senate bill on the same subject, and the Senate bill considered in lieu of the House bill (VII, 1004). The status of bills on the Consent Calendar was not affected by their consideration from another calendar and such bills could have been called up for consideration from the Consent Calendar while pending as unfinished business in the House or Committee of the Whole (VII, 1006). |
| 900. Calendar Wednesday business. | 6. (a) On Wednesday of each week, business shall not be in order before completion of the call of the committees (except as provided by clause 4 of rule XIV) unless two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum |
| Sec. 901. Decisions on Calendar Wednesday. | The rule applies to unprivileged bills only, and when a bill otherwise unprivileged is given a privileged status by unanimous consent or by rule it is automatically rendered ineligible for consideration on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 932-935). House Calendar bills have no preference over Union Calendar bills (VII, 938). The motion to dispense with a call of committees under this rule is privileged and may be made before the consideration of District of Columbia business under clause 4 of this rule (June 11, 1973, pp. 19028-30). |
| 902. Motions reduced to writing and entered on the Journal. | 1. Every motion entertained by the Speaker shall be reduced to writing on the demand of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner and, unless it is withdrawn the same day, shall be entered on the Journal with the name of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner offering it. A dilatory motion may not be entertained by the Speaker. |
| Sec. 903. Dilatory motions. | The Speaker has declined to entertain debate or appeal on a question as to the dilatoriness of a motion, as to do so would be to nullify the rule (V, 5731); but has recognized that the authority conferred by the rule should not be exercised until the object of the dilatory motion ``becomes apparent to the House'' (V, 5713, 5714). For example, the Chair has held that a virtually consecutive invocation of former rule XXX (current clause 6 of rule XVII), resulting in a second pair of votes on use of a chart and on reconsideration thereof, was not dilatory under this provision (or former clause 4(b) of rule XI (current clause 6(b) of rule XIII)) (July 31, 1996, p. 20700). Usually, but not always, the Speaker awaits a point of order from the floor before acting (V, 5715-5722). The rule has been applied to the motions to adjourn (V, 5721, 5731-5733; VIII, 2796, 2813), to reconsider (V, 5735; VIII, 2797, 2815, 2822), to fix the time of five-minute debate in Committee of the Whole (V, 5734; VIII, 2817), to lay on the table (VIII, 2816), and to the question of consideration (V, 5731-5733). The point of ``no quorum'' also has been ruled out (V, 5724-5730; VIII, 2801, 2808), and former clause 6 of rule XV (current clause 7 of rule XX), as adopted in the 93d Congress and as amended in the 95th Congress prevents the making of a point of no quorum under certain circumstances. A demand for tellers has been held dilatory (V, 5735, 5736; VIII, 2436, 2818-2821), but the constitutional right of the Member to demand the yeas and nays may not be overruled (V, 5737; VIII, 3107). For ruling by Speaker Gillett construing dilatory motions, see VIII, 2804. For a discussion of dilatory motions pending consideration of Rules Committee report, see Sec. Sec. 857-858, supra. |
| 904. Stating and withdrawing of motions. | 2. When a motion is entertained, the Speaker shall state it or cause it to be read aloud by the Clerk before it is debated. The motion then shall be in the possession of the House but may be withdrawn at any time before a decision or amendment thereon. |
| Sec. 905. Conditions of withdrawal of motions. | A motion may be withdrawn at any time before a decision thereon, including a motion to instruct conferees (Oct. 31, 2000, p. 25737) and a contempt resolution (Oct. 27, 2000, p. 25200). Unanimous consent is not required to withdraw a pending unanimous-consent request (Dec. 16, 1985, p. 36575). |
| 906. The question of consideration. | 3. When a motion or proposition is entertained, the question, ``Will the House now consider it?'' may not be put unless demanded by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner. |
| Sec. 907. Raising the question of consideration. | A Member may demand the question of consideration, although the Member in charge of the bill may claim the floor for debate (V, 4944, 4945; VI, 404); but after debate has begun the demand may not be made (V, 4937-4939). It has been admitted, however, after the offering of a motion to lay on the table but before its disposition (V, 4943). The demand for the question of consideration may not be prevented by a motion for the previous question (V, 5478), but after the previous question is ordered it may not be demanded (V, 4965, 4966), even on another day, unless other business has intervened (V, 4967, 4968). The question of consideration pending, a motion to refer is not in order (V, 5554). |
| Sec. 908. Questions subject to the question of consideration. | The question of consideration may be demanded against a matter of the highest privilege, such as the right of a Member to his seat (V, 4941), a question involving the privilege of the House (VI, 560), against the motion to reconsider (VIII, 2437), but not against a bill returned with the President's objection (V, 4960, 4970). It may not be raised against a proposition before the House for reference merely, as a petition (V, 4964). It may not be demanded against a class of business in order under a special order or rule, but may be demanded against each bill individually (IV, 3308, 3309; V, 4958, 4959). It may be raised against a bill that has been made a special order (IV, 3175; V, 4953-4957), unless the order provides for immediate consideration (V, 4960) or provides for the Speaker's declaration that the House resolve into the Committee of |
| Sec. 909. Relation of question of consideration to points of order. | A point of order against the eligibility for consideration of a bill which if sustained might prevent consideration should be made and decided before the question of consideration is put (V, 4950, 4951; VII, 2439), but if the point relates merely to the manner of considering, it should be passed on afterwards (V, 4950). In general, after the House has decided to consider, a point of order raised with the object of preventing consideration, in whole or part, comes too late (IV, 4598; V, 4952, 6912-6914), but on a conference report the question of consideration may be demanded before points of order are raised against the substance of the report (VIII, 2439; Speaker Albert, Sept. 28, 1976, p. 33019). |
| Sec. 910. Unfunded mandates. | The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-4; 109 Stat. 48) added a new part B to title IV of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658-658g) that imposes several requirements on committees with respect to ``Federal mandates'' (secs. 423-424; 2 U.S.C. 658b-c), establishes points of order to permit votes on whether to enforce those requirements (sec. 425; 2 U.S.C. 658d), and permits a vote on the question of consideration of a rule or order waiving such points of order in the House (sec. 426(a); 2 U.S.C. 658e(a)). The latter provision also prescribes that such points of order be disposed of by the question of consideration with respect to the proposition against which they are lodged (after 20 minutes of debate) (sec. 426(b); 2 U.S.C. 658e(b)). See Sec. 1127, infra. |
| 911. Precedence of privileged motions. | 4. (a) When a question is under debate, only the following motions may be entertained (which shall have precedence in the following order): |
| Sec. 912. The motion to adjourn. | The motion to adjourn not only has the highest precedence when a question is under debate, but, with certain restrictions, it has the highest privilege under all other conditions. Even the following yield to it: (1) a question of privilege (III, 2521), including a resolution considered to be a ``question of high constitutional privilege'' such as one declaring the office of Speaker vacant and to direct the House to proceed at once to the election of a new Speaker (VIII, 2641); (2) the filing of a privileged report pursuant to former clause 4(a) of rule XI (current clause 5 of rule XIII) (Apr. 29, 1985, p. 9699); (3) a motion to suspend the rules (Aug. 11, 1992, p. 23086); (4) a motion to reconsider (V, 5605; see also clause 3 of rule XIX); (5) in the absence of a quorum, the motion for a call of the House (VIII, 2642); (6) a motion to dispense with further proceedings under the call (VIII, 2643); (7) a motion directing the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest absentees during a call of the House (June 6, 1973, p. 18403). A conference report may defer it only until the report is before the House (V, 6451-6453). |
| Sec. 913. Motion to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn and motion to authorize the Speaker to declare a recess. | The motion to fix the day and time to which the House shall adjourn, in its present form, was included in this clause and given privileged status in the 93d Congress (H. Res. 6, Jan. 3, 1973, p. 26). At several times during the 19th Century, the motion to fix the day to which the House should adjourn was included within the rule as to the precedence of motions but was dropped because of its use in obstructive tactics (V, 5301, 5379). The following precedent relates to the use of the motion in its earlier form: No question being under debate, a motion to fix the day to which the House should adjourn, already made, was held not to give way to a motion to adjourn (V, 5381). But if the motion to adjourn be made first, the motion to fix the day or for a recess is not entertained (V, 5302). The motion to fix the day is not debatable (V, 5379, 5380; VIII, 2648, 3367), requires a quorum for adoption (IV, 2954; June 19, 1975, p. 19789; June 22, 1976, p. 19755), and is only in order if offered on the day on which the adjournment applies (Sept. 23, 1976, p. 32104). The House may convene and adjourn twice on the same calendar day pursuant to a motion under this clause that when the House adjourn it adjourn to a time certain later in the day, thereby meeting for two legislative days on the same calendar day (Nov. 17, 1981, p. 27771; Oct. 29, 1987, p. 29933; June 29, 1995, p. 17716). When the Speaker exercises his discretion to entertain at any time a motion that when the House adjourn it stand adjourned to a day and time certain, the motion is of equal privilege with the simple motion to adjourn and takes precedence over a pending question on which the vote has been objected to for lack of a quorum (Nov. 17, 1981, p. 27770). The motion is not subject to the motion to lay on the table since it is not debatable and the precedence conferred on the motion to table only applies to a question that is ``under debate'' (Nov. 17, 1981, p. 27770). |
| Sec. 914. Motion to lay on the table. | The motion to lay on the table is used in the House for a final, adverse disposition of a matter without debate (V, 5389), and is in order before the Member entitled to prior recognition for debate has begun his remarks (V, 5391- 5395; VIII, 2649, 2650). Under the explicit terms of this clause, the motion is not debatable (Oct. 17, 1991, p. 26749). The motion is applicable to a motion to reconsider (VIII, 2652, 2659), a motion to postpone to a day certain (VIII, 2654, 2657), a resolution presenting a question of privilege (VI, 560), a privileged resolution offered at the direction of a party caucus electing Members to committees (Feb. 5, 1997, p. 1541), an appeal from a decision of the Chair (VIII, 3453), a motion to discharge a committee from a resolution of inquiry (VI, 415), a proposal to investigate with a view to impeachment (VI, 541), a concurrent resolution to adjourn sine die (Mar. 27, 1936, p. 4512), and a resolution to expel a Member (Oct. 1, 1976, p. 35111). But a question of privilege (affecting the right of a Member to a seat) that has been laid on the table may be taken therefrom on motion made and agreed to by the House (V, 5438). The motion to lay on the table has the precedence given it by the rule, but may not be made after the previous question is ordered (V, 5415-5422; VIII, 2655), or even after the yeas and nays have been ordered on the demand for the previous question (V, 5408, 5409); but pending the demand for the previous question on a motion that is under debate, the motion to lay the primary motion on the table is preferential and is voted on first (Speaker Albert, Sept. 22, 1976, pp. 31876-82; Speaker O'Neill, July 10, 1985, pp. 18397-18400). The previous question having been ordered on a bill to final passage, the motion to lay the bill on the table may not then be offered pending a motion to reconsider the vote whereby the bill had been passed or rejected (Sept. 20, 1979, p. 25512). |
| Sec. 914a. The motion for the previous question. | The precedents relating to the motion for the previous question are annotated in Sec. Sec. 994-1000. |
| Sec. 915. The motions to postpone. | As indicated in the rule, the motions to postpone are two in number and distinct. The first one is to postpone to a day certain, and the second one is to postpone indefinitely. Each must apply to the whole and not a part of the pending proposition (V, 5306). Neither may be entertained after the previous question is ordered (V, 5319-5321; VIII, 2616, 2617), or be applied to a special order providing for the consideration of a class of bills (V, 4958); but when a bill comes before the House under the terms of a special order that assigns a day merely, a motion to postpone may be applied to the bill (IV, 3177-3182). Business postponed to a day certain is in order on that day immediately after the approval of the Journal and disposition of business on the Speaker's table, unless displaced by more highly privi |
| Sec. 916. The motions to refer. | The parliamentary motion to refer is explicitly recognized and given status in four different situations under House rules: The ordinary motion provided for in this clause; the motion to recommit with or without instructions after the previous question has been ordered on a bill or joint resolution to final passage, provided in clause 2 of rule XIX; the motion to commit, with or without instructions, pending the motion for or after ordering of the previous question as provided in clause 1 of rule XIX (V, 5569); and the motion to refer, with or without instructions, pending a vote in the House to strike out the enacting clause as provided in clause 9 of rule XVIII. The terms ``refer,'' ``commit,'' and ``recommit'' are sometimes used interchangeably (V, 5521; VIII, 2736), but when used in the precise manner and situation contemplated in each rule, reflect certain differences based upon whether the |
| Sec. 917. Instructions with the motion to refer. | The motion to refer may specify that the reference shall be to a select as well as a standing committee (IV, 4401) without regard for rules of jurisdiction (IV, 4375; V, 5527) and may provide for reference to another committee than that reporting the bill (VIII, 2696, 2736), or to the Committee of the Whole (V, 5552, 5553), and even that the committee be endowed with power to send for persons and papers (IV, 4402). Unless the previous question is ordered the motion may be amended (VIII, 2712, 2738), in part (V, 5754); by substitute (VIII, 2698, 2738, 2759); or by adding instructions (V, 5521, 5570, 5582-5584; VIII, 2695, 2762; Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). |
| Sec. 918. Repetition of motions. | The rule specifies that the motions to postpone and refer shall not be repeated on the same day at the same stage of the question (V, 5301, 5591; VIII, 2738, 2760). Under the practice, a motion to adjourn may be repeated only after intervening business (V, 5373; VIII, 2814), debate (V, 5374), the ordering of the yeas and nays (V, 5376, 5377), decision of the Chair on a question of order (V, 5378), or reception of a message (V, 5375). The motion to lay on the table may also be repeated after intervening business (V, 5398- 5400); but the ordering of the previous question (V, 5709), a call of the House (V, 5401), or decision of a question of order have been held not to be such intervening business, it being essential that the pending matter be carried to a new stage in order to permit a repetition of the motion (V, 5709). |
| 919. Division of the question. | 5. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a question shall be divided on the demand of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner before the question is put if it includes propositions so distinct in substance that, one being taken away, a substantive proposition remains. |
| Sec. 920. Motion to strike out and insert not divisible. | (c) A motion to strike and insert is not divisible, but rejection of a motion to strike does not preclude another motion to amend. |
| Sec. 921. Principles governing the division of the question. | The principle that there must be at least two substantive propositions in order to justify division is insisted on rigidly (V, 6108-6113), as failure to do so produces difficulties (III, 1725). The question may not be divided after it has been put (V, 6162), or after the yeas and nays have been ordered (V, 6160, 6161); but division of the question may be demanded after the previous question is ordered (V, 5468, 6149; VIII, 3173). In passing on a demand for division the Chair considers only substantive propositions and not the merits of the question presented (V, 6122). It seems to be most proper, also, that the division should depend on grammatical structure rather than on the legislative propositions involved (I, 394; V, 6119), but a question presenting two propositions grammatically is not divisible if either does not constitute a substantive proposition when considered alone (VII, 3165). Thus a resolution censuring a Member and adopting a report of a committee thereon, which recommends censure on the basis of the committee's findings, is not divisible since those questions are substantially equivalent (Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1978, p. 37016); and an adjournment resolution that also authorizes the receipt of veto messages from the President during the adjournment is not subject to a division of the question, as the receipt authority would be nonsensical standing alone (June 30, 1976, p. 21702). However, a concurrent resolution on the budget is subject to a demand for a division of the question if, for example, the resolution grammatically and substantively relates to different fiscal years (May 7, 1980, pp. 10185-87), or includes a separate, hortatory section having its own grammatical and substantive meaning (Speaker Foley, Mar. 5, 1992, p. 4657). |
| 922. Amendments to text and to title. | 6. When an amendable proposition is under consideration, a motion to amend and a motion to amend that amendment shall be in order, and it also shall be in order to offer a further amendment by way of |
| Sec. 923. Conditions of the motion to amend. | It is not in order to offer more than one motion to amend of the same nature at a time (V, 5755; VIII, 2831), but the four motions specified by the rule may be pending at the same time (V, 5793; VIII, 2883, 2887). Where, pursuant to a special rule, a committee amendment in the nature of a substitute is being read as original text for purpose of amendment, there may be pending to that text the four stages of amendment permitted by this rule (Apr. 23, 1969, p. 10066). When a request for a recorded vote in the Committee of the Whole is postponed under authority of a special order of the House (such authority now found in clause 6(g) of rule XVIII), the amendment becomes unfinished business and is no longer pending, thereby permitting the offering of another amendment (May 10, 2000, p. 7513). An amendment in the third degree is not specified by the rule and is not permissible (V, 5754; VIII, 2580, 2888, 2891), even when the third degree is in the nature of a substitute for an amendment to a substitute (V, 5791; VIII, 2889). |
| Sec. 924. Relation of point of order to motion to amend. | A point of order against an amendment is timely if made or reserved before formal recognition of the proponent to commence debate thereon (July 16, 1991, p. 18391), but thereafter comes too late (V, 6894, 6898-6899) except as provided in clauses 4 and 5(a) of rule XXI. To preclude a point of order, debate should be on the merits of the proposition (V, 6901). The mere making of a unanimous-consent request to dispense with the reading of an amendment and to revise and extend remarks thereon is not such |
| Sec. 925. Withdrawal of the motion to amend. | While the rule provides that either an ordinary or substitute amendment may be withdrawn in the House (V, 5753) or ``in the House as in Committee of the Whole'' (IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21315), it may not be withdrawn or modified in Committee of the Whole except by unanimous consent (clause 5 of rule XVIII; V, 5221; VIII, 2564, 2859). |
| Sec. 926. Precedence of the motion to amend. | Pursuant to clause 4 of rule XVI, the motion for the previous question takes precedence of a motion to amend (Nov. 8, 1971, p. 39944); and if the previous question is not ordered, the motion to refer also has precedence of the motion to amend (V, 5555; VI, 373). Amendments reported by a committee are acted on before those offered from the floor (V, 5773; VIII, 2862, 2863), but a floor amendment to the text of a pending section is considered before a committee amendment adding a new section at the end of the pending section (Oct. 4, 1972, pp. 33779-82), and there is a question as to the extent to which the chairman of the committee reporting a bill should be recognized to offer amendments to perfect it in preference to other Members (II, 1450). Amendments may not be offered by proxy (VIII, 2830). The motion to strike out the enacting clause has precedence of the motion to amend, and may be offered while an amendment is pending (V, 5328-5331; VIII, 2622-2624); but the motion to amend takes precedence over a motion that the Committee of the Whole rise and report the bill with the recommendation that it pass (July 27, 1937, p. 7699). |
| Sec. 927. Relation of the motion to amend to other motions. | With some exceptions an amendment may attach itself to secondary and privileged motions (V, 5754). Thus, the motions to postpone, refer, amend, for a recess, and to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn may be amended (V, 5754; VIII, 2824). But the motions for the previous question, to lay on the table, to adjourn (V, 5754) and to go into Committee of the Whole to consider a privileged bill may not be amended (IV, 3078, 3079; VI, 723-725). |
| 928. Germane amendments. | 7. No motion or proposition on a subject different from that under consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment. |
| Sec. 929. Proposition to which amendment must be germane. | Under the later practice an amendment should be germane to the particular paragraph or section to which it is offered (V, 5811-5820; VIII, 2922, 2936; Oct. 14, 1971, pp. 36194, 36211; Sept. 19, 1986, p. 24729), without reference to subject matter of other titles not yet read (July 31, 1990, p. 20816), and an amendment inserting an additional section should be germane to the portion of the bill to which it is offered (V, 5822; VIII, 2927, 2931; July 14, 1970, pp. 24033-35), though it may be germane to more than one portion of a bill (Mar. 27, 1974, p. 8508), and when offered as a separate paragraph is not required to be germane to the paragraph immediately preceding or following it (VII, 1162; VIII, 2932-2935). |
| Sec. 930. Instructions to committees and amendments thereto. | The rule that amendments must be germane applies to amendments to the instructions in a motion to instruct conferees (VIII, 3230, 3235), and the test of germaneness of an amendment to a motion to instruct conferees, in addition to the measurement of scope of conference, is the relationship of the amendment to the subject matter of the House or Senate version of the bill (Deschler-Brown, ch. 28, Sec. 28.2). The rule of germaneness similarly applies to the instructions in a motion to recommit a bill to a committee of the House, as it is not in order to propose as part of a motion to recommit any proposition that would not have been germane if proposed as an amendment to the bill in the House (V, 5529-5541; VIII, 2708-2712; Mar. 2, 1967, p. 5155), and the instructions must be germane to the bill as perfected in the House (Nov. 19, 1993, p. 30513), even where the instructions do not propose a direct amendment to the bill but merely direct the committee to pursue an unrelated approach (Speaker O'Neill, Mar. 2, 1978, p. 5272; July 16, 1991, p. 18397) or direct the committee not to report the bill back to the House until an unrelated contingency occurs (VIII, 2704). Under the same rationale as amendments to a motion to instruct conferees, amendments to a motion to recommit to a standing committee with instructions must be germane to the subject matter of the bill (see V, 6888; VIII, 2711). |
| Sec. 931. Senate amendments and matter contained in conference reports. | In the consideration of Senate amendments to a House bill an amendment must be germane to the particular Senate amendment to which it is offered (V, 6188-6191; VIII, 2936; May 14, 1963, p. 8506; Dec. 13, 1980, p. 34097), and it is not sufficient that an amendment to a Senate amendment is germane to the original House bill if it is not germane to the subject matter of a Senate amendment that merely inserts new matter and does not strike out House provisions (V, 6188; VIII, 2936). But where a Senate amendment proposes to strike out language in a House bill, the test of the germaneness of a motion to recede and concur with an amendment is the relationship between the language in the motion and the provisions in the House bill proposed to be stricken, as well as those to be inserted, by the Senate amendment (June 8, 1943, p. 5511; June 15, 1943, p. 5899; Dec. 12, 1974, p. 39272). The test of the germaneness of an amendment to a motion to concur in a Senate amend |
| Sec. 932. Subject matter as test of germaneness. | An amendment must relate to the subject matter under consideration. Thus, the following are not germane: To a bill seeking to eliminate wage discrimination based on the sex of the employee, an amendment to make the provisions of the bill applicable to discrimination based on race (July 25, 1962, p. 14778); to a bill establishing an office in the Department of the Interior to manage biological information, an amendment addressing socioeconomic matters (Oct. 26, 1993, p. 26082); to a bill authorizing military assistance to Israel and funds for the United Nations emergency force in the Middle East, an amendment expressing the sense of Congress that the President conduct negotiations to obtain a peace treaty in the Middle East and the resumption of diplomatic and trade relations between Arab nations and the United States and Israel (Dec. 11, 1973, p. 40842); to a concurrent resolution expressing congressional concern over certain domestic policies of a foreign government and urging that government to improve those internal problems in order to enhance better relations with the United States, amendments expressing the necessity for United States diplomatic initiatives as a consequence of that foreign government's policies (July 12, 1978, pp. 20500-05); to a resolution amending several clauses |
| Sec. 933. Fundamental purpose as test of germaneness. | The fundamental purpose of an amendment must be germane to the fundamental purpose of the bill (VIII, 2911). The Chair discerns the fundamental purpose of a bill by examining the text of the bill and its report language (Deschler-Brown, ch. 28, Sec. 5.6; Aug. 3, 1999, p. 19213), rather than the motives that circumstances may suggest (V, 5783, 5803; Dec. 13, 1973, pp. 41267-69; Aug. 15, 1974, p. 28438). To a bill that comprehensively addresses a subject matter, an amendment that relates to that subject matter may not be ruled out as nongermane merely because the amendment may be characterized as private legislation benefitting certain individuals offered to a public bill (May 30, 1984, p. 14495). Similarly, to a bill proposing to accomplish a result by methods comprehensive in scope, an amendment in the nature of a substitute seeking to achieve the same result was held germane where it was shown that additional provisions not contained in the original bill were merely incidental conditions or exceptions that were related to the fundamental purpose of the bill (Aug. 2, 1973, pp. 27673-75; July 8, 1975, p. 21633; Sept. 29, 1980, pp. 27832-52). On the other hand, an amendment may relate to the same subject matter yet still stray from adherence to a common fundamental purpose. For example, an amendment singling out one constituent element of a larger subject for specific and unrelated scrutiny is not germane (Aug. 3, 1999, p. 19213). Similarly, to a bill appropriating for only one fiscal year (and containing no provisions extending beyond that fiscal year), an amendment to extend an appropriation to another fiscal year is not germane (June 20, 2001, p. ----). |
| Sec. 934. Committee jurisdiction as test of germaneness. | An amendment when considered as a whole should be within the jurisdiction of the committee reporting the bill (Jan. 29, 1976, p. 1582; July 25, 1979, pp. 20601-03; June 27, 1985, pp. 17417-19), although committee jurisdiction over the subject of an amendment and of the original bill is not the exclusive test of germaneness (Aug. 2, 1973, pp. 27673-75), and the Chair relates the amendment to the bill in its perfected form (Aug. 17, 1972, p. 28913). Thus, the following are not germane: To a bill reported from the Committee on Agriculture providing price support programs for various agricultural commodities, an amendment repealing price control authority for all commodities under an act reported from the Committee on Banking and Currency (July 19, 1973, p. 24950); to a bill reported from the Committee on Ways and Means providing for a temporary increase in the public debt ceiling for the current fiscal year (not directly amending the Second Liberty Bond Act), an amendment proposing permanent changes in that Act and also affecting budget and appropriation procedures (matters within the jurisdiction of other House committees) (Nov. 7, 1973, p. 36240); to a bill relating to intelligence activities of the executive branch, an amendment effecting a change in the Rules of the House by directing a committee to impose an oath of secrecy on its members and staff (May 1, 1991, p. 9669); to a bill reported by the Committee on Government Operations creating an executive agency to protect consumers, an amendment conferring on congressional committees with oversight over consumer protection the authority to intervene in judicial or administrative proceedings (a rulemaking provision within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Rules) (Nov. 6, 1975, p. 35373); to a proposition reported from the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, authorizing funds for local public works employment, an amendment to mandate expenditure of already appropriated funds (as a purported disapproval of deferral of such funds under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974) and to set discount rates |
| Sec. 935. Various tests of germaneness are not exclusive. | The standards by which the germaneness of an amendment may be measured, as set forth in Sec. Sec. 932-934, supra, are not exclusive; an amendment and the matter to which offered may be related to some degree under the tests of subject matter, purpose, and jurisdiction, and still not be considered germane under the precedents. Thus, the following have been held not to be germane: To a proposition relating to the terms of Senators, an amendment changing the manner of their election (V, 5882); to a bill relating to commerce between the States, an amendment relating to commerce within the several States (V, 5841); to a proposition to relieve destitute citizens of the United States in Cuba, a proposition declaring a state of war in Cuba and proclaiming neutrality (V, 5897); to a proposition for the appointment of a select committee to investigate a certain subject, an amendment proposing an inquiry of the executive on that subject (V, 5891); to a bill granting a right of way to a railroad, an amendment providing for the purchase of the railroad by the Government (V, 5887); to a provision for the erection of a building for a mint, an amendment to change the coinage laws (V, 5884); to a resolution proposing expulsion, an amendment proposing censure (VI, 236); to a resolution authorizing the administration of the oath to a Member-elect, an amendment authorizing such oath administration but adding several conditions of punishment predicated on acts committed in a prior Congress (Jan. 3, 1969, pp. |
| Sec. 936. One individual proposition not germane to another. | One individual proposition may not be amended by another individual proposition even though the two belong to the same class (VIII, 2951-2953, 2963-2966, 3047; Jan. 29, 1986, p. 684; Oct. 22, 1990, p. 32346; Oct. 24, 1991, p. 28561). Thus, the following are not germane: To a bill proposing the admission of one territory into the Union, an amendment for admission of another territory (V, 5529); to a bill amending a law in one particular, amending the law in another particular (VIII, 2949); to a proposition to appropriate or to authorize appropriations for only one year (and containing no provisions extending beyond that year), an amendment to extend the authorization or appropriation to another year (VIII, 2913; Nov. 13, 1980, pp. 29523-28; see also May 2, 1979, p. 9564; Oct. 12, 1979, pp. 28097-99); to a measure earmarking funds in an appropriation bill, an amendment authorizing the program for which the appropriation is made (Nov. 15, 1989, p. 29019); to a bill for the relief of one individual, an amendment proposing similar relief for another (V, 5826-5829); to a resolution providing a special order for one bill, an amendment to include another bill (V, 5834-5836); to a provision for extermination of the cotton-boll weevil, an amendment including the gypsy moth (V, 5832); to a provision for a clerk for one committee, an amendment for a clerk to another committee (V, 5833); to a Senate amendment dealing with use of its contingent fund for art restoration in that body, a proposed House amendment for use of the House contingent fund for a similar but broader purpose (May 24, 1990, p. 12203); to a bill prohibiting transportation of messages relative to dealing in cotton futures, an amendment adding wheat, corn, etc. (VIII, 3001); to a bill prohibiting cotton futures, an amendment prohibiting wheat futures (VIII, 3001); to a bill for the relief of certain aliens, an amendment for the relief of other persons who are not aliens (May 14, 1975, p. 14360); to a bill providing relief for agricultural producers, an amendment extending such relief to commercial fishermen, another class within the jurisdiction of another committee (Apr. 24, 1978, p. 11080); to a bill governing the political activities of Federal civilian employees, an amendment to cover members of the uniformed services (June 7, 1977, p. 17713); to a bill covering the civil service system for Federal civilian employees, an amendment bringing other classes of employees (postal and District of Columbia employees) within the scope of the bill (Sept. 7, 1978, pp. 28437-39; Oct. 9, 1985, pp. 26951-54); to a portion of an appropriation bill containing |
| Sec. 937. A general provision not germane to a specific subject. | A specific subject may not be amended by a provision general in nature, even when of the class of the specific subject (V, 5843-5846; VIII, 2997, 2998; July 31, 1985, pp. 21832-34; see also Deschler-Brown, ch. 28, Sec. 9). Thus the following are not germane: To a bill for the admission of one territory into the Union, an amendment providing for the admission of several other territories (V, 5837); to a bill relating to all corporations engaged in interstate commerce, an amendment relating to all corporations (V, 5842); to a bill proscribing certain picketing in the District of Columbia, an amendment making the provisions thereof applicable throughout the United States (Aug. 22, 1966, p. 20113); to a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the United States or any State from denying persons 18 years of age or older the right to vote, an amendment requiring the United States and all States to treat persons 18 years and older as having reached the age of majority for all purposes under the law (Mar. 23, 1971, p. 7567); to a bill dealing with enforcement of United Nations sanctions against one country in relation to a specific trade commodity, an amendment imposing United States sanctions against all countries for all commodities and communications (Mar. 14, 1977, p. 7446); to a bill to enable the Department of HEW to investigate and prosecute fraud and abuse in medicare and medicaid health programs, an amendment to prohibit any officer or employee from disclosing any identifiable medical record absent patient approval (Sept. 23, 1977, pp. 30534- |
| Sec. 938. Specific subjects germane to general propositions of the class. | A general subject may be amended by specific propositions of the same class (VIII, 3002, 3009, 3012; see also Deschler-Brown, ch. 28, Sec. 11). Thus, the following have been held to be germane: To a bill admitting several territories into the Union, an amendment adding another territory (V, 5838); to a bill providing for the construction of buildings in each of two cities, an amendment providing for similar buildings |
| Sec. 939. Amendments to bills amending existing law. | To a bill amending a general law on a specific point an amendment relating to the terms of the law rather than to those of the bill was ruled not to be germane (V, 5808; VIII, 2707, 2708); thus a bill amending several sections of one title of the United States Code does not necessarily bring the entire title under consideration so as to permit an amendment to any portion thereof (Oct. 11, 1967, p. 28649), and where a bill amends existing law in one narrow particular, an amendment proposing to modify such existing law in other particulars will generally be ruled out as not germane (Aug. 16, 1967, p. 22768; VIII, 2709, 2839, 3013, 3031; May 12, 1976, p. 13532). To a bill narrowly amending an anti- discrimination provision in the Education Amendments of 1972 only to clarify the definition of a discriminating entity subject to the statutory penalties (denial of Federal funding), amendments re-defining a class of discrimination (sex), expanding the definition of persons who are the subject of discrimination (to include the unborn), and deeming a new entity (Congress) to be a recipient of Federal assistance (a class not necessarily covered by the class covered by the bill), were ruled not to be germane (June 26, 1984, pp. 18847, 18857, 18861). But to the same bill, an amendment merely defining a word used in the bill was held germane (June 26, 1984, p. 18865). Unless a bill so extensively amends existing law as to open up the entire law to amendment, the germaneness of an amendment to the bill depends on its relationship to the subject of the bill and not to the entire law being amended (Oct. 28, 1975, p. 34031). But a bill amending several sections of an existing law may be sufficiently broad to permit amendments that are germane to other sections of that law not mentioned in the bill (Feb. 19, 1975, p. 3596; Sept. 14, 1978, p. 29487). To a bill continuing and re-enacting an existing law amendments germane to the existing act sought to be continued have been held germane to the pending bill (VIII, 2940, 2941, 2950, 3028; Oct. 31, 1963, p. 20728; June 1, 1976, p. 16045); but where a bill merely extends an official's authority under existing law, an amendment permanently amending that law has been held not in order (Sept. 29, 1969, pp. 27341-43). Thus where a bill authorized appropriations to an agency for one year but did not amend the organic law by extending the existence of that agency, an amendment extending the life of another entity mentioned in the organic law was held not germane (May 20, 1976, p. 14912). An amendment making permanent changes in the law relating to organization of an agency is not germane to a title of a bill only authorizing appropriations for such agency for one fiscal year (Nov. 29, 1979, p. 34090); to a general appropriation bill providing funds for one fiscal year, an amendment changing a permanent appropriation in existing law and changing congressional procedures for consideration of that general appropriation bill in future years is more general in scope and in part within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Rules and therefore is not germane (June 29, 1987, p. 18083); and to a temporary authorization bill prescribing the use of an agency's funds for two years but not amending |
| Sec. 940. Amendments imposing conditions, qualifications, and limitations. | Restrictions, qualifications, and limitations sought to be added by way of amendment must be germane to the provisions of the bill. Conditioning the availability of funds may be germane if the condition is related to the general purpose and within the scope of the pending proposition (Deschler-Brown, ch. 28, Sec. Sec. 29-34). Thus, the following are germane: to a bill authorizing the funding of a variety of programs that satisfy several stated requirements in order to accomplish a general purpose, an amendment conditioning the availability of those funds upon implementation by their recipients of another program related to that general purpose (June 18, 1973, p. 20100); to a bill authorizing funds for military procurement and construction, an amendment declaring that none of the funds be used to carry out military operations in North Vietnam (Mar. 2, 1967, p. 5143); an amendment to an authorization bill that conditions the expenditure of funds covered by the bill by restricting their availability during months in which there is an increase in the public debt, as long as the amendment does not directly affect other provisions of law or impose contingencies textually predicated upon other unrelated actions |
| 941. Reading, engrossment, and passage of bills. | 8. Bills and joint resolutions are subject to readings as follows: |
| Sec. 942. First and second readings. | Formerly a bill was read for the first time by title at the time of its introduction, but since 1890 all bills have been introduced by filing them with the Clerk, thus rendering a reading by title impossible at that time (IV, 3391). But the titles of all bills introduced are printed in the Journal and Record, thereby carrying out the real purpose of the rule. |
| Sec. 943. The third reading after engrossment. | The right to demand the reading in full of the engrossed copy of a bill formerly guaranteed by the rule existed only immediately after it had passed to be engrossed and before it had been read a third time by title (IV, 3400, 3403, 3404; VII, 1061); or before the yeas and nays had been ordered on passage (IV, 3402). The right to demand the reading in full caused the bill to be laid aside until engrossed even though the previous |
| Sec. 944. Voting on bills. | A bill in the House (as distinguished from the Committee of the Whole) is amended pending the engrossment and third reading (V, 5781; VI, 1051, 1052). The question on engrossment and third reading being decided in the negative the bill is rejected (IV, 3420, 3421). A bill must be considered and voted on by itself (IV, 3408). Where the two Houses pass similar but distinct bills on the same subject it is necessary that one or the other House act again on the subject (IV, 3386). The requirement of a two-thirds vote for proposed constitutional amendments has been construed in the later practice to apply only to the vote on the final passage (V, 7029, 7030; VIII, 3504). A bill having been rejected by the House, a similar but not identical bill on the same subject was afterwards held to be in order (IV, 3384). |
| 945. Obtaining the floor for debate; and relevancy and decorum therein. | 1. (a) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who desires to speak or deliver a matter to the House shall rise and respectfully address himself to ``Mr. Speaker'' and, on being recognized, may address the House from any place on the floor. When invited by the Chair, a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may speak from the Clerk's desk. |
| Sec. 946. Interruption of a Member in debate. | A Member having the floor may not be taken off his feet by an ordinary motion, even the highly privileged motion to adjourn (V, 5369, 5370; VIII, 2646), or the motion to table (Mar. 18, 1992, p. 6022). He may not be deprived of the floor by a parliamentary inquiry (VIII, 2455-2458), a question of privilege (V, 5002; VIII, 2459), a motion that the Committee rise (VIII, 2325), or a demand for the previous question (VIII, 2609; Mar. 18, 1992, p. 6022), but he may be interrupted for a conference report (V, 6451; VIII, 3294). It is a custom also for the Speaker to request a Member to yield for the reception of a message. A Member may yield the floor for a motion to adjourn or that the Committee of the Whole rise without losing his right to continue when the subject is again continued (V, 5009-5013), but where the House has by resolution vested control of general debate in the Committee of the Whole in designated Members, their control of general debate may not be abrogated by another Member moving to rise, unless they yield for that purpose (May 25, 1967, p. 14121; June 10, 1999, p. 12471). A Member may also resume his seat while a paper is being read in his time without losing his right to the floor (V, 5015). A Member who, having the floor, moved the previous question was permitted to resume the floor on withdrawing the motion (V, 5474). But a Member may not yield to another Member to offer an amendment without losing the floor (V, 5021, 5030, 5031; VIII, 2476), and a Member may not offer an amendment in time secured for debate only (VIII, 2474), or request unanimous consent to offer an amendment unless yielded to for that purpose by the Member controlling the floor (Sept. 24, 1986, p. 25589). A Member recognized under the five-minute rule in the Committee of the Whole may not yield to another Member to offer an amendment, as it is within the power of the Chair to recognize each Member to offer amendments (Apr. 19, 1973, p. 13240; Dec. 12, 1973, p. 41171). A Member desiring to interrupt another in debate should address the Chair for permission of the Member speaking (V, 5006; VI, 193), but the latter may exercise his own discretion as to whether or not he will yield (V, 5007, 5008; VI, 193; VIII, 2463, 2465). It is not in order to disrupt a Member's remarks in debate by repeatedly interrupting to ask whether he will yield after he has declined to do so (Apr. 9, 1992, p. 9040; Nov. 13, 1997, p. 26533). Where a Member interrupts another during debate without being yielded to or otherwise recognized (as on a point of order), his remarks are not printed in the Record (Speaker O'Neill, Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2229; July 21, 1993, p. 16545; July 29, 1994, p. 18609). Members should not engage in disruption while another is speaking (Dec. 20, 1995, p. 37878; June 27, 1996, p. 15915). |
| Sec. 947. Speaker in debate. | The Speaker may of right speak from the Chair on questions of order and be first heard (II, 1367), but with this exception he may speak from the Chair only by leave of the House and on questions of fact (II, 1367-1372). On occasions comparatively rare Speakers have called Members to the Chair and participated in debate on questions of order or matters relating their own conduct |
| Sec. 948. Member must confine himself to the subject. | It has always been held, and generally quite strictly, that in the House the Member must confine himself to the subject under debate (V, 5043-5048; VI, 576; VIII, 2481, 2534). The Chair normally waits for the question of relevancy of debate to be raised and does not take initiative (Sept. 27, 1990, p. 26226; Mar. 23, 1995, p. 8986; Nov. 14, 1995, pp. 32354-57, 32374; Dec. 15, 1995, p. 37118; Mar. 12, 1996, p. 4149; Mar. 20, 2002, p. ----). |
| Sec. 950. Oneminute and specialorder speeches. | Recognition for one-minute speeches by unanimous consent and the order of recognition are entirely within the discretion of the Speaker (Nov. 15, 1983, p. 32657; Mar. 7, 2001, p. 3027). When the House has a heavy legislative schedule, the Speaker may refuse to recognize Members for that purpose until the completion of legislative business (Deschler- Brown, ch. 29, Sec. 73; July 24, 1980, p. 19386). It is not in order to raise as a question of the privileges of the House a resolution directing the Speaker to recognize for such speeches, since a question of privilege cannot amend or interpret the Rules of the House (July 25, 1980, pp. 19762-64). The modern practice of limiting recognition before legislative business to one minute began August 2, 1937 (p. 8004) and was reiterated by Speaker Rayburn on March 6, 1945 (Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 6.1). |
| Sec. 951. Morninghour debates. | Beginning in the second session of the 103d Congress, the House has by unanimous consent agreed (without prejudice to the Speaker's ultimate power of recognition under this rule) to convene early on Mondays and Tuesdays for morning-hour debate (Feb. 11, 1994, p. 2244; May 23, 1994, p. 11459; June 8, 1994, p. 12305; June 10, 1994, p. 12684; Jan. 4, 1995, p. 551; Feb. 16, 1995, p. 5096; Jan. 21, 1997, p. 460; Jan. 19, 1999, p. 602; Jan. 3, 2001, p. 38; Jan. 23, 2002, p. ----; Jan. 7, 2003, p. ----; Jan. 20, 2004, p. ----; Jan. 4, 2005, p. ----). On May 12, 1995, the House extended and modified the above order to accommodate earlier convening times after mid-May of each year. The modified order changes morning-hour debates on Tuesdays after mid-May of each year as follows: (1) the House convenes one |
| Sec. 952. ``Oxford''style debates. | In the 103d Congress the House agreed by unanimous consent to conduct at a time designated by the Speaker structured debate on a mutually agreeable topic announced by the Speaker, with four participants from each party in a format announced by the Speaker (Feb. 11, 1994, p. 2244; Mar. 11, 1994, p. 4772; May 23, 1994, p. 11459; June 8, 1994, p. 12305; June 10, 1994, p. 12648). Pursuant to that authority the House conducted three ``Oxford''-style debates (Mar. 16, 1994, p. 5088; May 4, 1994, p. 9300; July 20, 1994, p. 17245). As a precursor to those structured debates, special-order time was used for a ``Lincoln-Douglas''-style debate involving five Members, with one Member acting as ``moderator'' by controlling the hour under this clause (Nov. 3, 1993, p. 27312). |
| Sec. 953. Speaker governed by usage in recognitions. | Although there is no appeal from the Speaker's recognition, he is not a free agent in determining who is to have the floor. The practice of the House establishes rules from which he should not depart. For example, on February 24, 1994, the Speaker announced a policy with respect to recognition for special-order speeches that departed from the established practice of recognition by unanimous consent (Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 7.1; see Sec. 26, supra). The Speaker's new policy was the product of bipartisan negotiations, which justified the departure from the then-established practice. The policy became the new established practice of the House, from which the Speaker should not depart except by unanimous consent. When the order of business brings before the House a certain bill he must first recognize, for motions for its disposition, the Member who represents the committee which has reported it (II, 1447; VI, 306, 514). This is not necessarily the chairman of the committee, for a chairman who, in committee, has opposed the bill, must yield the prior recognition to a member of his committee who has favored the bill (II, 1449). Usually, however, the chairman has charge of the bill and is entitled at all stages to prior recognition for |
| Sec. 954. Loss of right to recognition by Member in charge. | When an essential motion made by the Member in charge of a bill is decided adversely, the right to prior recognition passes to the Member who the Speaker perceives to be leading the opposition to the motion (II, 1465-1468; VI, 308). Under this principle control of a measure passes when the House disagrees to a recommendation of the committee reporting the measure (II, 1469-1472) or when the Committee of the Whole reports the measure adversely (IV, 4897; VIII, 2430). Similarly, this principle applies when a motion for the previous question is rejected (VI, 308). However, a Member who led the opposition to ordering the previous question may be preempted by a motion of higher precedence (Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). On the other hand, the mere defeat of an amendment proposed by the Member in charge does not cause the right to prior recognition to pass to an opponent (II, 1478, 1479). |
| Sec. 955. Prior right of Members to recognition for debate. | In debate the members of the committee--except the Committee of the Whole (II, 1453)--are entitled to priority of recognition for debate (II, 1438, 1448; VI, 306, 307), but a motion to lay a proposition on the table is in order before the Member entitled to prior recognition for debate has begun his remarks (V, 5391-5395; VI, 412; VIII, 2649, 2650). |
| Sec. 956. Exceptions to the usages constraining the Speaker as to recognitions. | As to motions to suspend the rules, which are in order on Mondays and Tuesdays of each week, the Speaker exercises a discretion to decline to recognize (V, 6791-6794, 6845; VIII, 3402- 3404). He also may decline to recognize a Member who desires to ask unanimous consent to set aside the rules in order to consider a bill not otherwise in order, this being the way of signifying his objection to the request. But this authority did not extend to the former Consent Calendar. Where the previous question was ordered to passage of a bill without intervening motion except recommittal, the Chair declined to entertain a unanimous-consent request to further amend the pending bill as an exercise of his discretionary power of recognition under this clause (Feb. 10, 2000, p. 1019). The Chair has declined to entertain a unanimous-consent request to print a separate volume of tributes given in memory of a deceased former Member absent concurrence of the Joint Committee on Printing (Aug. 1, 1996, p. 21247). The Speaker has announced and enforced a policy of conferring recognition for unanimous- consent requests for the consideration of certain legislation only when assured that the majority and minority floor and committee leaderships have no objection (see, e.g., Dec. 15, 1981, p. 31590; May 4, 1982, p. 8613; Nov. 16, 1983, p. 33138; Jan. 25, 1984, p. 354; Jan. 26, 1984, p. 449; Jan. 31, 1984, p. 1063; Oct. 2, 1984, p. 28516; Feb. 4, 1987, p. 2675; Jan. 3, 1989, p. 89; Jan. 3, 1991, p. 64; Jan. 5, 1993, p. 106; Apr. 4, 1995, p. 12097). This policy includes: (1) requests relating to reported bills (July 23, 1993, p. 16820); (2) requests for immediate consideration of matters (separately unreported) comprising a portion of a measure already passed by the House (Dec. 19, 1985, p. 38356); (3) requests to consider a motion to suspend the rules and pass an unreported bill (on a nonsuspension day) (Aug. 12, 1986, p. 21126; Mar. 30, 1998, p. 5153); (4) requests to permit consideration of (nongermane) amendments to bills (Nov. 14, 1991, p. 32083; Dec. 20, 1995, p. 37877; June 27, 2002, p. ----; July 28, 2005, p. ----); (5) requests to permit expedited consideration of measures on subsequent days, as by waiving the requirement that a bill be referred to committee for 30 legislative days before a motion to discharge may be presented under clause 2 of rule XV (formerly clause 3 of rule XXVII) (June 9, 1992, p. 13900); (6) requests relating to Senate-passed bills on the Speaker's table (Oct. 25, 1995, p. 29347; Jan. 3, 1996, p. 58; Aug. 2, 1999, p. 18942), including one identical to a House-passed bill (Feb. 4, 1998, p. 799) and a Senate concurrent resolution to correct an enrollment (Oct. 20, 1998, p. 27358); and (7) requests to dispose of Senate amendments to House bills on the Speaker's table (Jan. 4, 1996, pp. 200, 210; Nov. 22, 2002, p. ----). The Speaker will recognize for an ``omnibus'' unanimous- consent request (one request disposing of various measures) only when assured that the request, and each constituent part of the request, has been cleared under this policy (Oct. 10, 2002, p. ----; Oct. 16, 2002, p. ----; Nov. 14, 2002, p. ----). The Speaker's enforcement of this policy is not subject to appeal (Apr. 4, 1995, p. 10298). ``Floor leadership'' in this |
| Sec. 957. The hour rule in debate. | 2. * * * A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not occupy more than one hour in debate on a question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union except as otherwise provided in this rule. |
| 958. The opening and closing of general debate. | 3. (a) The Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who calls up a measure may open and close debate thereon. When general debate extends beyond one day, that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall be entitled to one hour to close without regard to the time used in opening. |
| Sec. 959. Member to speak but once to the same question; right to close controlled debate. | (b) Except as provided in paragraph (a), a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not speak more than once to the same question without leave of the House. |