    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 117th Congress]
    [117th Congress]
    [House Document 116-177]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 240-249]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                     For The Parliamentary: The Senate Uses:

                                                Postponement to a day beyond
    Postponement indefinite,                E   the session.

                                                Postponement to a day within
    Adjournment,                            E   the session.

                                                Postponement indefinite.
    Lying on table,                         E   Lying on the table.

      In their eighth rule, therefore, which declares that while a question
    is before the Senate no motion shall be received, unless it be for the
    previous question, or to postpone, commit, or amend the main question,
    the term postponement must be understood according to their broad use of
    it, and not in its parliamentary sense. Their rule, then, establishes as
    privileged questions the previous question, postponement, commitment,
    and amendment.

    [[Page 241]]

      The House governs these motions by clause 4 of rule XVI.

    Sec. 448. Obsolete provision as to priority of
    privileged motions.

      But it may  be asked: Have these questions any privilege among
    themselves? or are they so equal that the common principle of the
    ``first moved first put'' takes place among them? This will need
    explanation. Their competitions may be as follows:
    1. Previous question and postpone

                        commit              <3-l  }>

                        amend                   In the first, second, and
    2. Postpone and previous question           third classes, and the first

                        commit                  member of the fourth class,

                        amend                   the rule ``first moved first
    3. Commit and previous question         <3-lput'' takes place.

                        postpone

                        amend
    4. Amend and previous question

                        postpone

                        commit              <3-ln }>

                                            <3-ln }>

    [[Page 242]]

    main question, and consequently there is nothing before them to postpone
    or commit. So that neither voting for nor against the previous question
    will enable the advocates for postponing or committing to get at their
    object. Whether it may be amended shall be examined hereafter.

      In the first class, where the previous question is first moved, the
    effect is peculiar; for it not only prevents the after motion to
    postpone or commit from being put to question before it, but also from
    being put after it; for if the previous question be decided
    affirmatively, to wit, that the main question shall now be put, it would
    of course be against the decision to postpone or commit; and if it be
    decided negatively, to wit, that the main question shall not now be put,
    this puts the House out of possession of the

      Although clause 4 of rule XVI now governs the priority of motions,
    these provisions of the Manual remain of interest because of the
    parliamentary theory they present.

    Sec. 449. General principles of priority of
    motions.

      Second class.  If postponement be decided affirmatively, the proposition is
    removed from before the House, and consequently there is no ground for
    the previous question, commitment or amendment; but if decided
    negatively (that it shall not be postponed), the main question may then
    be suppressed by the previous question, or may be committed, or amended.

      The previous question is used now for bringing a vote on the main
    question and not for suppressing it.

      The third class is subject to the same observations as the second.

      The fourth class. Amendment of the main question first moved, and
    afterwards the previous question, the question of amendment shall be
    first put.

      In present practice of the House the question on the previous question
    would be put first, and being decided affirmatively would force a vote
    on the amendment and then on the main question.

    [[Page 243]]

    tion for amendment is not suppressed by postponing or adjourning the
    main question, but remains before the House whenever the main question
    is resumed; and it might be that the occasion for other urgent business
    might go by, and be lost by length of debate on the amendment, if the
    House had it not in their power to postpone the whole subject.
      Amendment and postponement competing, postponement is first put, as
    the equivalent proposition to adjourn the main question would be in
    Parliament. The reason is that the ques

      Amendment and commitment. The question for committing, though last
    moved shall be first put; because, in truth, it facilitates and
    befriends the motion to amend. Scobell is express: ``On motion to amend
    a bill, anyone may notwithstanding move to commit it, and the question
    for commitment shall be first put.'' Scob., 46.

      These principles of priority of privileged motions are recognized in
    the House, and are provided for by clause 4 of rule XVI.

    Sec. 450. Applications of the previous question to
    debatable secondary and privileged motions.

      We have  hitherto considered the
    case of two or more of the privileged questions contending for privilege
    between themselves, when both are moved on the original or main
    question; but now let us suppose one of them to be moved, not on the
    original primary question, but on the secondary one, e.g.:

    [[Page 244]]

    simple way--by deciding against the postponement, commitment, or
    amendment. 2. Hats., 81, 2, 3, 4.

      Suppose a motion to postpone, commit, or amend the main question, and
    that it be moved to suppress that motion by putting a previous question
    on it. This is not allowed, because it would embarrass questions too
    much to allow them to be piled on one another several stories high; and
    the same result may be had in a more

      Although the general principle that one secondary or privileged motion
    should not be applied to another is generally recognized in the House,
    the entire change in the nature of the previous question (V, 5445) from
    a means of postponing a matter to a means of compelling an immediate
    vote, makes obsolete the parliamentary rule. Because the motions to
    postpone, commit, and amend are all debatable, the modern previous
    question of course applies to them (clause 1 of rule XIX).

    [[Page 245]]

    Sec. 451. Motion to postpone not applicable to other
    secondary motions.

      Suppose a  motion for the previous question, or commitment or
    amendment of the main question, and that it be then moved to postpone
    the motion for the previous question, or for commitment or amendment of
    the main question. 1. It would be absurd to postpone the previous
    question, commitment, or amendment, alone, and thus separate the
    appendage from its principal; yet it must be postponed separately from
    its original, if at all; because the eighth rule of the Senate says that
    when a main question is before the House no motion shall be received but
    to commit, amend, or pre-question the original question, which is the
    parliamentary doctrine also. Therefore the motion to postpone the
    secondary motion for the previous question, or for committing or
    amending, can not be received. 2. This is a piling of questions one on
    another; which, to avoid embarrassment, is not allowed. 3. The same
    result may be had more simply by voting against the previous question,
    commitment, or amendment.

      Suppose a commitment moved of a motion for the previous question, or
    to postpone or amend. The first, second, and third reasons, before
    stated, all hold against this.

      The principles of this paragraph are in harmony with the practice of
    the House, which provides further that a motion to suspend the rules may
    not be postponed (V, 5322).

    Sec. 452. The motion to amend not applicable to the
    previous question.

      Suppose an  amendment moved to a motion for the previous
    question. Answer: The previous question can not be amended.
    Parliamentary usage, as well as the ninth rule of the Senate, has fixed
    its form to be, ``Shall the main question be now put?''--i.e., at this
    instant; and as the present instant is but one, it can admit of no
    modification. To change it to to-morrow, or any other moment, is without
    example and without utility. * * *

      Although the nature of the previous question has entirely changed, the
    principle of the parliamentary law applies to the new form.

    Sec. 453. Motion to amend applicable to
    motions to postpone or refer.

      * * * But suppose a  motion to amend a motion for
    postponement, as to one day instead of another, or to a special instead
    of an indefinite time. The useful character of amendment gives it a
    privilege of attaching itself to a secondary and privileged motion; that
    is, we may amend a postponement of a main question. So, we may amend a
    commitment of a main question, as by adding, for example, ``with
    instructions to inquire,'' &c. * * *

    [[Page 246]]

      This principle is recognized in the practice of the House (V, 5521).

    Sec. 454. Amendment in the third degree not in
    order.

      * * * In like  manner, if an amendment be moved to an amendment, it is
    admitted; but it would not be admitted in another degree, to wit, to
    amend an amendment to an amendment of a main question. This would lead
    to too much embarrassment. The line must be drawn somewhere, and usage
    has drawn it after the amendment to the amendment. The same result must
    be sought by deciding against the amendment to the amendment, and then
    moving it again as it was wished to be amended. In this form it becomes
    only an amendment to an amendment.

      This rule of the parliamentary law is considered fundamental in the
    House (clause 6 of rule XVI).

    [[Page 247]]

    day the session shall be closed by adjournment, on what day the next
    shall commence, when an act shall commence or the terminus a quo in any
    other case where the question must begin a minimo; the object being not
    to begin at that extreme which, and more, being within every man's wish,
    no one could negative it, and yet, if he should vote in the affirmative,
    every question for more would be precluded; but at that extreme which
    would unite few, and then to advance or recede till you get to a number
    which will unite a bare majority. 3 Grey, 376, 384, 385. ``The fair
    question in this case is not that to which, and more, all will agree,
    but whether there shall be addition to the question.'' 1 Grey, 365.

    Sec. 455. Filling blanks; and amendment to
    numbers.

      [In filling  a blank with a sum, the largest sum shall be first put to the
    question, by the thirteenth rule of the Senate, contrary to the rule of
    Parliament, which privileges the smallest sum and longest time. 5 Grey,
    179; 2 Hats., 8, 83; 3 Hats., 132, 133.] And this is considered to be
    not in the form of an amendment to the question, but as alternative or
    successive originals. In all cases of time or number, we must consider
    whether the larger comprehends the lesser, as in a question to what day
    a postponement shall be, the number of a committee, amount of a fine,
    term of an imprisonment, term of irredeemability of a loan, or the
    terminus in quem in any other case; then the question must begin a
    maximo. Or whether the lesser includes the greater, as in questions on
    the limitation of the rate of interest, on what

    [[Page 248]]

      The thirteenth rule of the Senate has been dropped. The House has no
    rule on the subject other than this provision of the parliamentary law.
    It is very rare for the House to fill blanks for numbers. When a number
    in pending text is to be changed by amendment, the practice of the House
    permits to be pending: the alternative number proposed in the amendment
    to the text; a second alternative number as an amendment to the
    amendment; a third as a substitute; and a fourth as an amendment to the
    substitute. Thus, if the pending text itself states a number, then five
    alternative numbers may be pending simultaneously. With respect to a
    concurrent resolution on the budget (which is considered as read and
    open to amendment at any point and to which amendments must be
    mathematically consistent under clause 10 of rule XVIII), adoption of a
    perfecting amendment changing several figures precludes further
    amendment merely changing those figures, but does not preclude more
    comprehensive amendments changing other portions of the resolution that
    have not been amended as well (Apr. 27, 1977, p. 12485). In recent
    practice an amount in an appropriation bill has been changed by
    inserting a parenthetical ``increased by'' or ``decreased by'' after the
    amount rather than by directly changing the number.

    Sec. 456. Priority of amendments over motions to
    strike or agree.

      Another  exception to the rule of priority is when a motion
    has been made to strike out, or agree to, a paragraph. Motions to amend
    it are to be put to the question before a vote is taken on striking out
    or agreeing to the whole paragraph.

      In the House the principle that a text should be perfected before a
    question is taken on striking it, and that an amendment should be
    perfected before agreeing to it, is well established. But in considering
    bills, even by paragraphs, the House does not agree to the paragraphs
    severally; but after amending one passes to the next, and the question
    on agreeing is taken only on the whole bill by the several votes on
    engrossment and passage.

    Sec. 457. Incidental questions, like points of
    order, that intervene during consideration of the main question.

      But there  are
    several questions which, being incidental to every one, will take place
    of every one, privileged or not; to wit, a question of order arising out
    of any other question must be decided before that question. 2 Hats., 88.

      This principle governs the procedure of the House, but a question of
    order arising after a motion for the previous question must be decided
    without debate (clause 1 of rule XIX).

    Sec. 458. Matters of privilege as intervening
    questions.

      A matter of  privilege arising out of any question, or from a quarrel
    between two Members, or any other cause, supersedes the consideration of
    the original question, and must be first disposed of. 2 Hats., 88.

      Rule IX and the practice thereunder confirm and amplify the principles
    of this provision of the parliamentary law.

    [[Page 249]]

    Sec. 459. Intervention of questions relating to reading of
    papers.

        Reading papers relative to the question before the House. This
    question must be put before the principal one. 2 Hats., 88.

      This provision formerly applied in the House to the reading of papers
    other than those on which the House was to vote. That was under an
    earlier form of clause 6 of rule XVII, which now applies only to the use
    of exhibits in debate. For a history of the former rule on reading
    papers and an explanation of the earlier practice, see Sec. Sec. 963-
    965, infra.

    Sec. 460. Withdrawal of motions.

      Leave asked  to withdraw a
    motion. The rule of Parliament being that a motion made and seconded is
    in the possession of the House, and can not be withdrawn without leave,
    the very terms of the rule imply that leave may be given, and,
    consequently, may be asked and put to the question.

      The House does not vote on the withdrawal of motions, but provides by
    clause 2 of rule XVI and clause 5 of rule XVIII the conditions under
    which a Member may of right withdraw a motion.