    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 112th Congress]
    [112nd Congress]
    [House Document 111-157]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 157-166]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                        sec. xii--committee of the whole

    [[Page 158]]

    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 Chair 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 159]]

      The House (by clause 1 of rule XVIII) gives the authority to appoint
    the chair 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 chair of the Committee
    of the Whole sits in the Speaker's chair. Clause 1(b) of rule XVIII
    (former rule XXIII) 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 160]]

    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 Chair 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 161]]

      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 the Speaker may yield to the chair that the
    committee may rise in due form (II, 1349). In one instance, the Chair,
    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 quarreled 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, because 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). After restoring order, the Speaker usually
    leaves the chair, thus permitting the committee later to rise in due
    form (II, 1349).

    [[Page 162]]

    mittee 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 chair, the
    chairman informs him that the com

      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 five-minute debate by
    motion. When the committee rises without concluding a matter the Chair
    reports that it ``has 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 Chair 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.

    [[Page 163]]

    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). 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).

    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 chair 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). In
    one instance, however, the committee reported with a bill a resolution
    relating to an alleged

    [[Page 164]]

    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 all after section one of the bill
    and inserting a new text, only the bill, as amended by the motion to
    strike 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 a section of a
    committee substitute, but not on perfecting amendments that 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,
    because 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 if 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,
    because 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 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 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 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

    [[Page 165]]

    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). For former automatic reconsideration in the House of amendments
    if the votes of Delegates and the Resident Commissioner were decisive,
    see Sec.  985, infra.

    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, 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) unless a
    special rule mandates that sundry amendments be put en gros (June 24,
    2009, p. _). 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

      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).

    [[Page 166]]

    is not read in full again in the House when
    reported and acted on. The chair of the Committee of the Whole who
    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. 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),

    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 chair,
    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 11 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.