[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 154-157]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 

                           sec. xi--committees




Sec. 317. Appointment of standing committees; and 
designation and duties of chairs thereof.

  Standing  committees, as of Privileges 
and Elections, &c., are usually appointed at the first meeting, to 
continue through the session. The person first named is generally 
permitted to act as chairman. But this is a matter of courtesy; every 
committee having a right to elect their own chairman, who presides over 
them, puts questions, and reports their proceedings to the House. 4 
inst., 11, 12; Scob., 9; 1 Grey, 122.



[[Page 155]]

  Before the 62d Congress, standing as well as select committees and 
their chairs were appointed by the Speaker, but under the present form 
of rule X, adopted in 1911, continued as a part of the Legislative 
Reorganization Act of 1946, and revised under the Committee Reform 
Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470), 
standing committees and their respective chairs are elected by the House 
(IV, 4448; VIII, 2178). Owing to their number and size, committees are 
not usually elected immediately, but resolutions providing for such 
elections are presented by the majority and minority parties pursuant to 
clause 5 of rule X as soon as they are able to perfect the lists. A 
committee may order its report to be made by the chair, or by some other 
member (IV, 4669), even by a member of the minority party (IV, 4672, 
4673), or by a Delegate (July 1, 1958, p. 12871 (Burns of Hawaii)); and 
the chair sometimes submits a report in which the chair has not 
concurred (IV, 4670). Clause 2 of rule XIII requires that a report that 
has been approved by the committee must be filed with the House within 
seven calendar days after a written request from a majority of the 
committee is submitted to the committee clerk.



Sec. 318. Parliamentary law as to debate in standing and 
select committees.

  At  these committees the members are to speak 
standing, and not sitting; though there is reason to conjecture it was 
formerly otherwise. D'Ewes, 630, col. 1; 4 Parl. Hist., 440; 2 Hats., 
77.





Sec. 319. Secrecy of committee procedure.

  Their  proceedings 
are not to be published, as they are of no force till confirmed by the 
House. Rushw., part 3, vol. 2, 74; 3 Grey, 401; Scob., 39.* * *


  In the House it is entirely within rule and usage for a committee to 
conduct its proceedings in secret (III, 1694, 1732; IV, 4558-4564; see 
also clause 2(g) of rule XI), and the House may not abrogate the secrecy 
of a committee's proceedings except by suspending the rule (IV, 4565). 
The House has no information concerning the proceedings of a committee 
not officially reported by the committee (VII, 1015) and it is not in 
order in debate to refer to executive session proceedings of a committee 
that have not formally been reported to the House (V, 5080-5083; VIII, 
2269, 2485, 2493; June 24, 1958, pp. 12120, 12122; Apr. 5, 1967, p. 
8411). However, a complaint that certain remarks that might be uttered 
in debate would improperly disclose executive-session material of a 
committee is not cognizable as a point of order in the House if the 
Chair is not aware of the executive-session status of the information 
(Nov. 5, 1997, p. 24648). On one occasion a Member was permitted to 
refer to the unreported executive session proceedings of a subcommittee 
to justify his point of order that a resolution providing for a select 
committee to inquire into action of the subcommittee was not privileged 
(June 30, 1958, p. 12690). In one case the House authorized the clerk of 
a committee to disclose by deposition its proceedings (III, 2604).



[[Page 156]]



Sec. 320. Reception of petitions by committees.

  Under clause 2 of rule XI, all hearings and business meetings 
conducted by standing committees shall be open to the public, except 
when a committee, in open session, by record vote, with a majority 
present, determines to close the meeting or hearing for that day for the 
reasons stated in that clause. In addition, clause 2(k) of rule XI 
establishes a procedure for closing a hearing because of defamatory, 
degrading, or incriminating testimony. Clause 11(d) of rule X 
establishes special rules governing the closing of hearings of the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
   * * * Nor 
can they receive a petition but through the House. 9 Grey, 412.





Sec. 321. Parliamentary law of procedure when a committee 
inquiry involves a Member.

  When  a committee is charged with an 
inquiry, if a Member prove to be involved, they can not proceed against 
him but must make a special report to the House; whereupon the Member is 
heard in his place, or at the bar, or a special authority is given to 
the committee to inquire concerning him. 9 Grey, 523.




Sec. 322. Practice of House when a committee inquiry 
involves a Member.

  Although  the authority of this principle has not been 
questioned by the House, there have in special instances been deviations 
from it. Thus, in 1832, when a Member had been slain in a duel, and the 
fact was notorious that all the principals and seconds were Members of 
the House, the committee, charged only with investigating the causes and 
whether or not there had been a breach of privilege, reported with their 
findings recommendations for expulsion and censure of the Members found 
to be implicated. There was criticism of this method of procedure as 
deviating from the rule of Jefferson's Manual, but the House did not 
recommit the report (II, 1644). In 1857, when a committee charged with 
inquiring into accusations against Members not named found certain 
Members implicated, they gave them copies of the testimony and 
opportunities to explain to the committee, under oath or otherwise, as 
they individually might prefer (III, 1845), but reported recommendations 
for expulsion without first seeking the order of the House (II, 1275; 
III, 1844). In 1859 and 1892 a similar procedure occurred (III, 1831, 
2637). But the House, in a case wherein an inquiry had incidentally 
involved a Member, evidently considered the parliamentary law as 
applicable, because it admitted as of privilege and agreed to a 
resolution directing the committee to report the charges (III, 1843). 
And in cases wherein testimony taken before a joint committee 
incidentally impeached the official characters of a Member and a 
Senator, the facts in each case were reported to the House interested 
(III, 1854). A select committee, appointed to report upon the right of a 
Member-elect to be sworn (H. Res. 1, 90th Cong., pp. 14-27, Jan. 10, 
1967), invited him to appear, to testify, and permitted him to be 
accompanied by counsel (see H. Rept. 90-27).




[[Page 157]]



Sec. 323. Inquiries involving Members of other 
House.

  And  where one House, by a committee, has found a Member of the 
other implicated, the testimony has been transmitted (II, 1276; III, 
1850, 1852, 1853). Where such testimony was taken in open session of the 
committee, it was not thought necessary that it be under seal when sent 
to the other House (III, 1851).





Sec. 324. Duty of chair of a committee when the House 
sits.

  So  soon as the House sits, and a committee is notified of it, 
the chairman is in duty bound to rise instantly, and the members to 
attend the service of the House. 2 Nals., 319.



  For the current practice of the House, see the annotation following 
clause 2(i) of rule XI (Sec. 801, infra).




Sec. 325. Action of joint committees.

  It  appears that on 
joint committees of the Lords and Commons each committee acted 
integrally in the following instances: 7 Grey, 261, 278, 285, 338; 1 
Chandler, 357, 462. In the following instances it does not appear 
whether they did or not: 6 Grey, 129; 7 Grey, 213, 229, 321.



  It is the practice in Congress that joint committees shall vote per 
capita, and not as representatives of the two Houses (IV, 4425), 
although the membership from the House is usually, but not always (IV 
4410), larger than that from the Senate (III, 1946; IV, 4426-4431). But 
ordinary committees of conference appointed to settle differences 
between the two Houses are not considered joint committees, and the 
managers of the two Houses vote separately (V, 6336), each House having 
one vote. A quorum of a joint committee seems to have been considered to 
be a majority of the whole number rather than a majority of the 
membership of each House (IV, 4424). The first named of the Senate 
members acted as chair in one notable instance (IV, 4424), and in 
another the joint committee elected its chair (IV, 4447).