[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 117th Congress]
[117th Congress]
[House Document 116-177]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Page 154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       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, which provides for a call of the House, does not require 
Members to 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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