    [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 156-157]
    [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 157]]

    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
    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