[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 118th Congress]
[118th Congress]
[House Document 117-161]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 155-156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



* * * * *
                             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.



[[Page 156]]

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. In the 116th and 117th Congresses the House adopted a 
provision, effective during a designated public health emergency, to 
count for purposes of establishing a quorum all Members voting or 
recording their presence by proxy (sec. 3(b), H. Res. 965, May 15, 2020, 
p. _; sec. 3(s), H. Res. 8, Jan. 4, 2021, p. _). 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).

  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