    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 115th Congress]
    [115th Congress]
    [House Document 114-192]
    [Rules of the House of Representatives]
    [Pages 385-390]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                    Rule III

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

    671. Personal interest.

    [[Page 386]]

     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. 7). 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).

    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 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; July 16, 2009, pp.
    18125, 18126), 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).

    [[Page 387]]

      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.

    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. 7). The Committee on
    Standards of Official Conduct (now Ethics) 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).

    [[Page 388]]

    675. Committee service.

      3.  (a) Each Delegate and the
    Resident Commissioner shall be elected to serve on standing committees
    in the same manner as Members 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), January 3, 1991 (H. Res. 5, 102d
    Cong., p. 39), and January 5, 2011 (H. Res. 5, 112th Cong., p. _)
    (technical correction). 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 subject to former clause 2(d)
    of rule XXIII (later changed to 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 to this rule in the 103d Congress were revoked in the
    104th Congress (sec. 212, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p. 462), reinstated
    in the 110th Congress (H. Res. 78, Jan. 24, 2007, p. 2140), and revoked
    in the 112th Congress (sec. 2(e)(4), H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 2011, p. 80).
    Under the previous form of paragraph (a), the Delegates and the Resident
    Commissioner were counted for purposes of establishing a quorum in a
    Committee of the Whole (Feb. 8, 2007, p. 3550).

      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 (later changed to 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).

    [[Page 389]]

    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).
      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

      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.

      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).

      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).

    [[Page 390]]

      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).