[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 109th Congress]
[109th Congress]
[House Document 108-241]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 155-164]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 

                    sec. xii--committee of the whole


[[Page 156]]

by the House are then referred to one or more select committees, 
according as the subject divides itself into one or more bills. Scob., 
36, 44. Propositions for any charge on the people are especially to be 
first made in a Committee of the Whole. 3 Hats., 127. The sense of the 
whole is better taken in committee, because in all committees everyone 
speaks as often as he pleases. Scob., 49. * * *



Sec. 326. Parliamentary usage as to Committee of the 
Whole.

  The  speech, messages, and other matters of great concernment are 
usually referred to a Committee of the Whole House (6 Grey, 311), where 
general principles are digested in the form of resolutions, which are 
debated and amended till they get into a shape which meets the 
approbation of a majority. These being reported and confirmed


  This provision is largely obsolete, the House having by its rules and 
practice provided specifically for procedure in Committee of the Whole, 
and having also by its rules for the order of business left no 
privileged status for motions to go into Committee of the Whole on 
matters not already referred to that committee. The Committee of the 
Whole no longer originates resolutions or bills, but receives such as 
have been formulated by standing or select committees and referred to 
it; and when it reports, the House usually acts at once on the report 
without reference to select or other committees (IV, 4705). The practice 
of referring annual messages of the President to Committee of the Whole, 
to be there considered and reported with recommendations for the 
reference of various portions to the proper standing or select 
committees (V, 6621, 6622), was discontinued in the 64th Congress (VIII, 
3350). The current practice is to refer the annual message to the 
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and order it 
printed (Jan. 14, 1969, p. 651). Executive communications submitted to 
implement the proposals contained in the State of the Union Message are 
referred by the Speaker to the various committees having jurisdiction 
over the subject matter therein.




Sec. 327. Selection of Chairman of Committee of the 
Whole.

  * * *  They generally acquiesce in the chairman named by the Speaker; 
but, as well as all other committees, have a right to elect one, some 
member, by consent, putting the question, Scob., 36; 3 Grey, 301. * * *




[[Page 157]]


  The House (by clause 1 of rule XVIII) gives the authority to appoint 
the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to the Speaker (IV, 4704).




Sec. 328. Form of going into Committee of the 
Whole.

  * * *  The form of going from the House into committee, is for the 
Speaker, on motion, to put the question that the House do now resolve 
itself into a Committee of the Whole to take into consideration such a 
matter, naming it. If determined in the affirmative, he leaves the chair 
and takes a seat elsewhere, as any other Member; and the person 
appointed chairman seats himself at the Clerk's table. Scob., 36. * * *



  This is the form in the House, except that the Chairman of the 
Committee of the Whole seats himself in the Speaker's chair. Clause 1(b) 
of former rule XXIII (currently rule XVIII) was adopted to authorize the 
Speaker, and it is the modern practice, when no other business is 
pending, to declare the House resolved into Committee of the Whole to 
consider a measure at any time after the House has adopted a special 
order of business providing for consideration of such measure (and not 
require a motion), unless the resolution specifies otherwise (H. Res. 5, 
Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).




Sec. 329. Quorum in Committee of the Whole.

  * * *  Their 
quorum is the same as that of the House; and if a defect happens, the 
chairman, on a motion and question, rises, the Speaker resumes the chair 
and the chairman can make no other report than to inform the House of 
the cause of their dissolution. * * *



  Until 1890 a quorum of the Committee of the Whole was the same as the 
quorum of the House; but in 1890 the rule (formerly clause 2 of rule 
XXIII, current clause 6 of rule XVIII) fixed it at one hundred (IV, 
2966). Clause 6 of rule XVIII provides the procedure that is followed in 
Committee of the Whole in case of failure of a quorum.



[[Page 158]]




Sec. 330. Rising of committee for reception of 
messages.

  * * *  If a message is announced during a committee, the Speaker 
takes the chair and receives it, because the committee can not. 2 Hats., 
125, 126.



  In the House, the committee rises informally to receive a message, or 
to enable the Speaker to sign and lay before the House an enrolled bill, 
at the direction of the Chairman without a formal motion from the floor 
(IV, 4786, footnote; Jan. 28, 1980, p. 888; Feb. 8, 1995, p. 4112); but 
at this rising the House may not have the message read or transact other 
business except by unanimous consent (IV, 4787-4791). However, it is the 
general custom for the Speaker to decline to entertain a unanimous-
consent request during an informal rising of the Committee of the Whole 
(IV, 4789, Apr. 6, 2000, p. 4778).




Sec. 331. Quarrels in Committee of the Whole, and duty of 
the Speaker in relation thereto.

  In  a Committee of the Whole, the tellers 
on a division differing as to numbers, great heats and confusion arose, 
and danger of a decision by the sword. The Speaker took the chair, the 
mace was forcibly laid on the table; whereupon the Members retiring to 
their places, the Speaker told the House ``he has taken the chair 
without an order to bring the House into order.'' Some excepted against 
it; but it was generally approved as the only expedient to suppress the 
disorder. And every Member was required, standing up in his place, to 
engage that he would proceed no further in consequence of what had 
happened in the grand committee, which was done. 3 Grey, 128.



[[Page 159]]

  In the House the Speaker has on several occasions taken the chair 
``without an order to bring the House into order'' (II, 1648-1653), but 
that being accomplished he may yield to the chairman that the committee 
may rise in due form (II, 1349). In one instance, the chairman, having 
been defied and insulted by a Member, left the chair; and, on the chair 
being taken by the Speaker, he reported the facts to the House (II, 
1653). In several cases Members who have quarrelled have made 
explanation and reconciled their difficulties (II, 1651), or have been 
compelled by the House to apologize ``for violating its privilege and 
offending its dignity'' (II, 1648, 1650).




Sec. 332. Effect of breaking up of Committee of the Whole by 
disorder.

  A  Committee of the Whole being broken up in disorder, and the 
chair resumed by the Speaker without an order, the House was adjourned. 
The next day the committee was considered as thereby dissolved, and the 
subject again before the House; and it was decided in the House, without 
returning into committee. 3 Grey, 130.



  This provision is obsolete, since in the practice of the House there 
is but one Committee of the Whole, which is in its nature a standing 
committee with calendars of business. It is never dissolved, and bills 
remain on its calendar until reported in the regular manner after 
consideration (IV, 4705). When the Speaker restores order he usually 
yields the chair to the chairman, thus permitting the committee later to 
rise in due form (II, 1349).


[[Page 160]]

chair, the chairman informs him that the committee have gone through the 
business referred to them, and that he is ready to make report when the 
House shall think proper to receive it. If the House have time to 
receive it, there is usually a cry of ``now, now,'' whereupon he makes 
the report; but if it be late, the cry is ``to-morrow, to-morrow,'' or 
``Monday,'' etc., or a motion is made to that effect, and a question put 
that it be received to-morrow, &c. Scob., 38.



Sec. 333. Motions for previous question and to adjourn not 
used in Committee of the Whole.

  No  previous question can be put in a 
committee; nor can this committee adjourn as others may; but if their 
business is unfinished, they rise, on a question, the House is resumed, 
and the chairman reports that the Committee of the Whole have, according 
to order, had under their consideration such a matter, and have made 
progress therein; but not having had time to go through the same, have 
directed him to ask leave to sit again. Whereupon a question is put on 
their having leave, and on the time the House will again resolve itself 
into a committee. Scob., 38. But if they have gone through the 
matter <> referred to them, a member moves that the committee may 
rise, and the chairman report their proceedings to the House; which 
being resolved, the chairman rises, the Speaker resumes the



[[Page 161]]

  In the practice of the House the previous question and motion to 
adjourn are not admitted in Committee of the Whole; but the rules 
(clause 8 of rule XVIII) provide for closing both the general and five-
minute debate. When the committee rises without concluding a matter the 
chairman reports that they ``have come to no resolution thereon''; but 
leave to sit again is not asked in the modern practice. The permission 
of the House is not asked when the chairman reports a matter concluded 
in committee. The report is made and received as a matter of course, and 
is thereupon before the House for action. When the House has vested 
control of general debate in certain Members, their control may not be 
abrogated during general debate by another Member moving to rise, unless 
they yield for that purpose (May 25, 1967, p. 14121; June 10, 1999, p. 
12471). A Member yielded time in general debate may not yield to another 
for such motion (Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2178; May 17, 2000, p. 8200). The 
motion that the Committee of the Whole rise is privileged during debate 
under the five-minute rule, and may be offered during debate on a 
pending amendment, except where a Member has the floor (Aug. 13, 1986, 
p. 21215; Mar. 22, 1995, p. 8770). The motion to rise may not include 
restrictions on the amendment process or limitations on future debate on 
amendments (June 6, 1990, p. 13234). The motion that the Committee of 
the Whole rise is not debatable (May 17, 2000, p. 8203). For a further 
discussion of the motion to rise, see Sec. 983, infra. For a point of 
order against the motion to rise and report an appropriation bill to the 
House where the bill, as proposed to be amended, exceeds an applicable 
allocation of new budget authority under section 302(b) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and procedures for the Committee of 
the Whole in the event that the point of order is sustained, see 
Sec. 1044b, infra.



Sec. 335. Duties of Speaker and House as to reception of 
reports of Committee of the Whole.

  The  Speaker recognizes only reports 
from the Committee of the Whole made by the chairman thereof (V, 6987), 
and a matter alleged to have arisen therein but not reported may not be 
brought to the attention of the House (VIII, 2429, 2430) even on the 
claim that a question of privilege is involved (IV, 4912; V, 6987; VIII, 
2430). In one instance, however, the committee reported with a bill a 
resolution relating to an alleged breach of privilege (V, 6986). When a 
bill is reported the Speaker must assume that it has passed through all 
the stages necessary for the report (IV, 4916). When the committee 
reported not only what it had done but by whom it had been prevented 
from doing other things, the Speaker held that the House might not amend 
the report, which stood (IV, 4909). But a committee may not report a 
recommendation which, if carried into effect, would change a rule of the 
House (IV, 4907, 4908) unless a measure proposing amendments to House 
rules has initially been referred to the Committee of the Whole by the 
House. When an amendment is reported by the committee it may not be 
withdrawn, and a question as to its validity is not considered by the 
Speaker (IV, 4900). When a committee, directed by order of the House to 
consider certain bills, reported also certain other bills, the Speaker 
held that so much of the report as related to the latter bills could be 
received only by unanimous consent (IV, 4911). When a report is ruled 
out as in excess of the committee's power, the accompanying bill stands 
recommitted (IV, 4784, 4907). A report from a Committee of the Whole 
could not formerly be received in the absence of a quorum (VI, 666; 
clause 7 of rule XX).



[[Page 162]]

an amendment in the nature of a substitute, which may have been amended 
freely (IV, 4900-4903). If a Committee of the Whole amends a paragraph 
and subsequently strikes out the paragraph as amended, the first 
amendment fails, and is not reported to the House or voted on (IV, 4898; 
V, 6169; VIII, 2421, 2426), and when the Committee of the Whole adopts 
two amendments that are subsequently deleted by an amendment striking 
out and inserting new text, only the latter amendment is reported to the 
House (June 20, 1967, p. 16497). Where two amendments proposing 
inconsistent motions to strike and insert a pending section are 
considered as separate first degree amendments (not one as a substitute 
for the other) before either is finally disposed of under a special 
procedure permitting the Chair to postpone requests for a recorded vote, 
the Chair's order of voting on the matter as unfinished business 
determines which amendment (if both were adopted) would be reported to 
the House (Aug. 6, 1998, pp. 19098-107). Normally, if the Committee of 
the Whole perfects a bill by adopting certain amendments and then adopts 
an amendment striking out all after section one of the bill and 
inserting a new text, only the bill, as amended by the motion to strike 
out and insert, is reported to the House; but when the bill is being 
considered under a special rule permitting a separate vote in the House 
on any of the amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the 
bill or the committee substitute, all amendments adopted in the 
Committee are reported to the House regardless of their consistency (May 
26, 1960, pp. 11302-04). Where a separate vote is demanded in this type 
of situation in the House only on an amendment striking out a section of 
a committee substitute, but not on perfecting amendments which have been 
previously adopted in Committee of the Whole to that section, rejection 
in the House of the motion to strike the section results in a vote on 
the committee substitute in its original form and not as perfected, 
since the perfecting amendments have been displaced in the Committee of 
the Whole and have not been revived on a separate vote in the House 
(Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1977, pp. 33622-24). But where the Committee 
of the Whole reports a bill to the House with an adopted amendment in 
the nature of a substitute and the special order of business in question 
does not provide for separate House votes on amendments thereto, a 
separate vote may not be demanded on an amendment to such amendment, 
since only one amendment in its perfected form has been reported back to 
the House (Nov. 17, 1983, p. 33463).


Sec. 336. Amendments in Committee of the 
Whole.

  The Committee of the  Whole, like any other committee, may amend a proposition either 
by an ordinary amendment or by a substitute amendment (IV, 4899), but 
these amendments must be reported to the House for action. Amendments 
rejected by the committee are not reported (IV, 4877). Ordinarily all 
amendments must be disposed of before the committee may report (IV, 
4752-4758); but sometimes a special order of business requires a report 
at a specified time, in which case pending amendments are reported (IV, 
3225-3228) or not (IV, 4910) as the terms of the order may direct. In 
the 98th Congress, clause 2 of rule XXI was amended to give precedence 
to the motion that the Committee rise and report a general appropriation 
bill at the conclusion of its reading for amendment and before or 
between consideration of amendments proposing certain limitations or 
retrenchments (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34). The 104th Congress 
further amended clause 2 to permit only the Majority Leader or a 
designee to offer that motion (sec. 215(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 
468). The 105th Congress elevated the Majority Leader's preferential 
motion in clause 2 to take precedence of any motion to amend at that 
stage (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. 121). The practice of the House, 
based originally on a rule (IV, 4904), requires amendments to be 
reported from the Committee of the Whole in their perfected forms, and 
this holds good even in the case of



[[Page 163]]

but must be voted on by the House as a whole (IV, 4883-4892; VIII, 
2426). It is a frequent practice for the House by unanimous consent, to 
act at once on all the amendments to a bill reported from the Committee 
of the Whole, but it is the right of any Member to demand a separate 
vote on any amendment (IV, 4893, 4894; VIII, 2419). Where a special rule 
permits en bloc consideration of certain amendments in Committee of the 
Whole, those amendments if reported back to the House may also be 
considered en bloc for a separate vote in the House on demand of any 
Member (Speaker O'Neill, Sept. 7, 1978, p. 28425). A Member may demand a 
separate vote in the House on an amendment to a committee amendment in 
the nature of a substitute adopted in the Committee of the Whole where 
the bill is being considered under a special rule permitting separate 
votes in the House on any of the amendments adopted in the Committee of 
the Whole to the bill or committee amendment (Sept. 30, 1971, p. 34337), 
but where a special rule ``self-executes'' an amendment as a 
modification of an amendment in the nature of a substitute to be 
considered as an original bill, that modification is not separately 
voted on upon demand in the House (Speaker Foley, Feb. 3, 1993, p. 
2043). A Member may withdraw a demand for a separate vote in the House 
on an amendment reported from Committee of the Whole before the 
Speaker's putting the question thereon, and unanimous consent is not 
required (May 28, 1987, p. 14030). When demand is made for separate 
votes in the House on several amendments adopted in the Committee of the 
Whole, the amendments are voted on in the House in the order in which 
they appear in the bill (July 24, 1968, pp. 23093-95; May 28, 1987, p. 
14030; June 11, 1997, p. 10654), except when amendments have been 
considered under a special rule prescribing the order for their 
consideration where the bill is considered as read, in which case they 
are voted on upon demand in the order in which considered in Committee 
of the Whole (Mar. 11, 1993, p. 4733; Mar. 25, 1993, pp. 6358, 6359).


Sec. 337. Committee of the Whole amendments in the 
House.

  All  amendments to a bill reported from the Committee of the Whole 
stand on an equal footing and must be voted on by the House (IV, 4871) 
in the order in which they are reported, although they may be 
inconsistent, one with another (IV, 4881, 4882), and are subject to 
amendment in the House unless the previous question is ordered (VIII, 
2419). Two amendments being reported as distinct were considered 
independently, although apparently one was a proviso attaching to the 
other (IV, 4905); and an entire and distinct amendment may not be 
divided,



[[Page 164]]

  Depending on the will of the House as expressed on the question of 
ordering the previous question (IV, 4895; V, 5794; VIII, 2419), when a 
bill is reported with amendments, it is in order to submit additional 
amendments after disposition of the committee amendments (IV, 4872-
4876). However, in modern practice the opportunity to submit amendments 
is normally foreclosed by the ordering of the previous question under a 
special rule. The fact that a proposition has been rejected by the 
Committee of the Whole does not prevent it from being offered as an 
amendment when the subject comes up in the House (IV, 4878-4880; VIII, 
2700). A substitute amendment may be offered to a bill reported from 
committee, and then the previous question may be ordered on the 
substitute, on all other amendments, and on the bill to final passage 
(V, 5472). An amendment in the nature of a substitute reported from 
committee is treated like any other amendment (V, 5341), and if the 
House rejects the substitute the original bill without amendment is 
before the House (VIII, 2426).



Sec. 338. Bills from Committee of the Whole in the 
House.

  Where  a series of bills are reported from Committee of the Whole, the 
House considers them in the order in which they are reported (IV, 4869, 
4870; VIII, 2417). A proposition reported for action has precedence over 
an independent resolution on the same subject offered by a Member from 
the floor (V, 6986), and where a bill and a resolution relating to an 
alleged breach of privilege were reported together the question was put 
first on the bill (V, 6986). A bill read in full and considered in 
Committee of the Whole (IV, 3409, 3410), or presumed to have been so 
read (IV, 4916), is not read in full again in the House when reported 
and acted on. The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole which reports a 
bill does not become entitled to prior recognition for debate in the 
House (II, 1453); but on an adverse report an opponent is recognized to 
offer a motion for disposition of the bill (IV, 4897; VIII, 2430), or 
for debate (VII, 2629). The recommendation of the committee being before 
the House, the motion to carry out the recommendation is usually 
considered as pending without being offered from the floor (IV, 4896), 
but when a bill was reported with a recommendation that it lie on the 
table, a question was raised as to whether or not this motion, which 
prevents debate, should be considered as pending (IV, 4897). The House 
considers an amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole to the 
preamble of a Senate joint resolution following disposition of 
amendments to the text and pending third reading (May 25, 1993, pp. 
11036, 11037).





Sec. 339. Discharge of the Committee of the Whole.

  A  motion 
to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the consideration of a 
matter committed to it is not privileged as against a demand for the 
regular order (IV, 4917). When the committee is discharged from 
consideration of a bill the House, in lieu of the report of the 
chairman, accepts the minutes of the Clerk as evidence of amendments 
agreed to (IV, 4922).
<>   In other things the rules or proceedings are to be the same 
as in the House. Scob., 39.





  The House provides by rule (clause 12 of rule XVIII) that the rules of 
proceeding in the House shall apply in Committee of the Whole so far as 
they may be applicable.