    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 119th Congress]
    [119th Congress]
    [House Document 118-187]
    [Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
    [Pages 236-239]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                  sec. xxxi--bill, second reading in the house

    [[Page 237]]

    read a third time, if it came from the other house, or, if originating
    with themselves, whether it shall be engrossed and read a third time.
    The speaker reads sitting, but rises to put questions. The clerk stands
    while he reads.

    Sec. 428. Manner of reading a bill the second
    time.

      In  Parliament, after the bill has been read a second time, if on
    the motion and question it be not committed, or if no proposition for
    commitment be made, the speaker reads it by paragraphs, pausing between
    each, but putting no question but on amendments proposed; but when
    through the whole, he puts the question whether it shall be

      But the Senate of the United States is so much in the habit of making
    many and material amendments at the third reading that it has become the
    practice not to engross a bill till it has passed--an irregular and
    dangerous practice, because in this way the paper which passes the
    Senate is not that which goes to the other House, and that which goes to
    the other House as the act of the Senate has never been seen in the
    Senate. In reducing numerous, difficult, and illegible amendments into
    the text the Secretary may, with the most innocent intentions, commit
    errors which can never again be corrected.

      In the House the Clerk and not the Speaker or chair of the Committee
    of the Whole reads bills on second reading. After the second reading,
    which is by paragraph or section in the Committee of the Whole, the bill
    is open to amendment (see Sec. 980, infra). Clause 8 of rule XVI, as
    explained in Sec. 942, infra, governs first and second readings of bills
    in the House and in the Committee of the Whole. The requirement for the
    Speaker to rise when putting a question was removed from clause 6 of
    rule I in the 115th Congress (sec. 2(e), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2017, p.
    37).

    [[Page 238]]

    for it, knowing that after all they will have sufficient opportunities
    of giving it their veto. Its two last stages, therefore, are reserved
    for this--that is to say, on the question whether it shall be engrossed
    and read a third time, and, lastly, whether it shall pass. The first of
    these is usually the most interesting contest, because then the whole
    subject is new and engaging, and the minds of the Members having not yet
    been declared by any trying vote the issue is the more doubtful. In this
    stage, therefore, is the main trial of strength between its friends and
    opponents, and it behooves everyone to make up his mind decisively for
    this question, or he loses the main battle; and accident and management
    may, and often do, prevent a successful rallying on the next and last
    question, whether it shall pass.

    Sec. 429. Test of strength on engrossment after
    amendment.

      The  bill being now as perfect as its friends can make it, this
    is the proper stage for those fundamentally opposed to make their first
    attack. All attempts at earlier periods are with disjointed efforts,
    because many who do not expect to be in favor of the bill ultimately,
    are willing to let it go on to its perfect state, to take time to
    examine it themselves and to hear what can be said

    Sec. 430. Test of strength on a bill before amending.

      In  the
    House there are two other means of testing strength: raising the
    question of consideration when the bill first comes up (clause 3 of rule
    XVI), and moving to strike the enacting words when it is first open to
    amendment (clause 9 of rule XVIII). By these methods an adverse opinion
    may be expressed without permitting the bill to consume the time of the
    House.

    Sec. 431. Endorsement of the title on an engrossed
    bill.

        When the bill is engrossed the title is to be indorsed on the
    back, and not within the bill. Hakew, 250.

    [[Page 239]]

      In the practice of the House and the Senate the title appears in its
    proper place in the engrossed bill, and also is endorsed, with the
    number, on the back.