[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 151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 151]]
 

                       sec. vii--call of the house



Sec. 311. Parliamentary rules for call of the House.

  On  the 
call of the House, each person rises up as he is called, and answereth; 
the absentees are then only noted, but no excuse to be made till the 
House be fully called over. Then the absentees are called a second time, 
and if still absent, excuses are to be heard. Ord. House of Commons, 92.


  They rise that their persons may be recognized; the voice, in such a 
crowd, being an insufficient verification of their presence. But in so 
small a body as the Senate of the United States, the trouble of rising 
cannot be necessary.


  Orders for calls on different days may subsist at the same time. 2 
Hats., 72.




  Rule XX provides for a call of the House. Members do not rise on 
answering, and quorum calls are normally conducted by electronic device 
(clause 2(a) 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.
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