    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 113th Congress]
    [113rd Congress]
    [House Document 112-161]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Page 150]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 150]]

    * * * * *
                                 sec. vi--quorum

    Sec. 310. Necessity of a quorum during business, including
    debate.

      In  general the chair is not to be taken till a quorum for
    business is present; unless, after due waiting, such a quorum be
    despaired of, when the chair may be taken and the House adjourned. And
    whenever, during business, it is observed that a quorum is not present,
    any member may call for the House to be counted, and being found
    deficient, business is suspended. 2 Hats., 125, 126.

      In the House the Speaker takes the Chair at the hour to which the
    House stood adjourned and there is no requirement that the House proceed
    immediately to establish a quorum, although the Speaker has the
    authority under clause 7 of rule XX to recognize for a call of the House
    at any time. The question of a quorum is not considered unless properly
    raised (IV, 2733; VI, 624), and it is not in order for the Speaker to
    recognize for a point of no quorum unless the Speaker has put the
    pending question or proposition to a vote. Although it was formerly the
    rule that a quorum was necessary for debate as well as business (IV,
    2935-2949), in the 94th Congress the House restricted the Chair's
    ability to recognize the absence of a quorum (clause 7 of rule XX).
    Clause 5(c) of rule XX permits the House to operate with a ``provisional
    quorum'' where the House is without a quorum due to catastrophic
    circumstances. Title III of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act,
    2006, amended Federal election law to require States to hold special
    elections for the House within 49 days after a vacancy is announced by
    the Speaker in the extraordinary circumstance that vacancies in
    representation from the States exceed 100 (P.L. 109-55; 2 U.S.C. 8).