[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 111th Congress]
[111st Congress]
[House Document 110-162]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 372-376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 372]]
 
                                Rule III


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




671. Personal interest.

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


  When the House recodified its rules, it consolidated former rule VIII, 
rule XII, and clause 6(h) of rule X under rule III, except that viable 
provisions of former clause 2 of rule VIII were transferred to current 
clause 3 of rule XX. This clause was adopted initially in 1789, with 
amendment in 1890 (V, 5941). A gender-based reference was eliminated in 
the 111th Congress (sec. 2(l), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, p. _). Before 
the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this clause was 
found in former clause 1 of rule VIII (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47).

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


[[Page 373]]

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 the Speaker's 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. 672. Control of a Member's 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 and not the


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




Sec. 673. Nature of disqualifying personal interest.

  It  is a 
principle of ``immemorial observance'' that a Member should withdraw 
when a question concerning that Member 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 in which 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). A Member should not vote on direct questions affecting 
that Member, but has sometimes voted on incidental questions (V, 5960, 
5961).




Sec. 674. Voting.

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



  (b) No other person may cast a Member's vote or record a Member's 
presence in the House or the Committee of the Whole House on the state 
of the Union.



[[Page 374]]

Delegates and the Resident Commissioner
  Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this 
clause was found in former clause 3 of rule VIII (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 
1999, p. 47). Gender-based references were eliminated in the 111th 
Congress (sec. 2(l), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, p. _). The Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct recommended this addition to the rules in 
its May 15, 1980, report on voting anomalies that had occurred in the 
House (H. Rept. 96-991), and the House adopted the rule in the 97th 
Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1981, pp. 98-113). Even before the addition 
of this clause, however, ``ghost voting'' was considered unethical (VII, 
1014; Dec. 18, 1987, p. 36274).




675. Committee service.

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


  Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this 
provision was found in former rule XII (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). 
The first form of paragraph (a) was adopted in 1871, and it was 
perfected by amendments in 1876, 1880, 1887, and 1892 (II, 1297). 
Reference to the Resident Commissioner was first found in 1904 (II, 
1306). Paragraph (a) was again amended on January 2, 1947 (Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946), August 2, 1949 (p. 10618), February 2, 1951 
(p. 883), January 22, 1971 (H. Res. 5, 92d Cong., p. 144), January 3, 
1973 (H. Res. 6, 93d Cong., p. 26), and January 3, 1991 (H. Res. 5, 102d 
Cong., p. 39). Paragraph (a) was completely revised in the 103d Congress 
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 1993, p. 49) to provide that each of the Delegates 
and the Resident Commissioner be elected to committees of the House on 
the same bases, vote in any committees on which they serve, and vote on 
questions arising in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
the Union. The latter power was affected by former clause 2(d) of rule 
XXIII (current clause 6(h) of rule XVIII) (providing for immediate 
reconsideration in the House of questions resolved in the Committee of 
the Whole by a margin within which the votes of Delegates and the 
Resident Commissioner were decisive; see Sec. 985, infra). The changes 
effected in the 103d Congress were revoked in the 104th Congress (sec. 
212, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 462) and reinstated in the 110th 
Congress (H. Res. 78, Jan. 24, 2007, p. _).


[[Page 375]]

  The constitutionality of granting to Delegates the right to vote in 
the Committee of the Whole under the former rule, as circumscribed by 
former clause 2(d) of rule XXIII (current clause 6(h) of rule XVIII), 
was upheld based on the premise that immediate ``revote'' where votes 
cast by Delegates had been decisive rendered their votes merely symbolic 
and not an investment of true legislative power. Michel v. Anderson, 14 
F.3d 623 (D.C. Cir. 1994).

  The Office of Delegate was established by ordinance of the Continental 
Congress and confirmed by a law of Congress (I, 400, 421). The nature of 
the office has been the subject of much discussion (I, 400, 403, 473); 
and except as provided by law (I, 431, 526) the qualifications of the 
Delegate also have been a matter of discussion (I, 421, 423, 469, 470, 
473). A territory or district must be organized by law before the House 
will admit a Delegate (I, 405, 407, 411, 412). The Office of Delegate 
from the District of Columbia was established by Public Law 91-405 (84 
Stat. 845). The Offices of Delegate from the Territories of Guam and the 
Virgin Islands were established by Public Law 92-271 (86 Stat. 118). The 
Office of Delegate from American Samoa was established by Public Law 95-
556 (92 Stat. 2078) and was first filled by the general Federal election 
of 1980. The Office of Delegate from the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands was established by Public Law 110-229 (122 Stat. 868). 
The Office of Resident Commissioner was established (with a four-year 
term) by the Act of March 2, 1917 (39 Stat. 963; 48 U.S.C. 891). The Act 
of May 17, 1932, changed the name of Porto Rico to Puerto Rico (48 
U.S.C. 731a).

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


[[Page 376]]

  The law provides that on the floor of the House a Delegate may debate 
(II, 1290), and may in debate call a Member to order (II, 1295), may 
make any motion that a Member may make except the motion to reconsider 
(II, 1291, 1292), and may make a point of order (VI, 240). A Delegate 
has even moved an impeachment (II, 1303). However, a resolution offered 
from the floor to permit the Delegate of the District of Columbia to 
vote on the articles of impeachment against the President was held not 
to constitute a question of the privileges of the House under rule IX 
(Dec. 18, 1998, p. 27825). A Delegate may be appointed a teller (II, 
1302); but the law forbids a Delegate to vote (II, 1290). A Delegate has 
been recognized to object to the consideration of a bill (VI, 241), to a 
unanimous-consent request to concur in a Senate amendment (June 29, 
1984, p. 20267), and has made reports for committees (July 1, 1958, p. 
12870). A discharge petition may not be signed by a Delegate or the 
Resident Commissioner, even by unanimous consent (Oct. 1, 2003, p. 
23853) because the phrase in clause 2 of rule XV ``a majority of the 
total membership of the House'' is construed to mean 218 Members 
(Speaker Byrns, Apr. 15, 1936, p. 5509), not including Delegates or the 
Resident Commissioner. The rights and prerogatives of Delegates in 
parliamentary matters are not limited to legislation affecting their own 
territory (VI, 240). Under paragraph (a), the Delegates and the Resident 
Commissioner are counted for purposes of establishing a quorum in a 
Committee of the Whole (Feb. 8, 2007, p. _).

  At the organization of the House, the Delegates and Resident 
Commissioner are sworn (I, 400, 401); but the Clerk does not put them on 
the roll (I, 61, 62; Jan. 6, 1999, p. 41).

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


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




Sec. 676. Appointment to select and conference 
committees.

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


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



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