House Rules and Manual

Last updated on 04-10-2024

House Rules and Manual, 104th Congress to Present, plus select manuals from prior Congresses

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About the House Rules and Manual

What is the House Rules and Manual?

The House Rules and Manual is published by the House Parliamentarian's Office during the first session of each Congress. This document is formally entitled Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives and contains the fundamental source material for parliamentary procedure used in the House of Representatives, including:

  • the Constitution of the United States;
  • applicable provisions of Jefferson's Manual;
  • rules of the House;
  • provisions of law and resolutions having the force of rules of the House; and
  • pertinent decisions of the Speakers and other presiding officers of the House and Committee of the Whole interpreting the rules and other procedural authority used in the House of Representatives.

Printed as a “House Document,” the Manual is usually authorized by House resolution at the end of a Congress for printing at the beginning of the following Congress. As such, the House document number reflects the Congress that authorized the printing although the cover page identifies the applicable Congress for the contents.


Searching the House Rules and Manual

You can find and search the House Rules and Manual by:

  • Using Basic Search for keyword and metadata fielded searches,
  • Using Advanced Search; fields specific to the House Rules and Manual will display after you select House Rules and Manual in the Refine by Collection column,
  • Refining search results by clicking on links in the Refine Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page (the sections under Refine Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents), and
  • Browsing the House Rules and Manual browse page.

General govinfo Search Tips

Search Examples

Search by Section – For example, the Jefferson's Manual section of the House Rules and Manual.

  • Using Basic Search, enter: collection:hman section:JEFFERSONMAN
  • Using Advanced Search, select House Rules and Manual under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Section from the first box and select Jefferson's Manual from the next box

Search by Keyword – For example, documents with "voting" in the full text of the publication.

  • Using Basic Search, enter:voting collection:hman
  • Using Advanced Search, select House Rules and Manual under Refine by Collection, then under Search In enter voting in the second text box

Sample House Rules and Manual URLs

Govinfo uses two key pieces of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and Details pages.

  • The Package ID is used to identify an individual edition of the House Rules and Manual.
  • The Granule ID is used to identify individual documents within the edition of the House Rules and Manual.

Identifier

Structure/Metadata Field

Examples

Package ID

HMAN-{Congress Number}

HMAN-110

Granule ID

{Package ID}-Pg{First Page Number}{Sequence Number}

 

Note: Sequence Number is only used if there are more than one granule with the same First Page Number. The first granule will not have a Sequence Number and the second would have a Sequence Number of 2.

 

Additionally, combined documents have been prepared for the following sections within the House Rules and Manual. These files use the following structure:

 

{Package ID}-{Granule Class Value}

 

HMAN-110-pg6

 

HMAN-110-jeffersonman

Granule Class

Granule Class Value

Front Matter

frontmatter

The United States Constitution

constitution

Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice

jeffersonman

Rules of the House of Representatives

houserules

Provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act

reorganizationact

Joint and Select Committees

committees

House And Congressional Offices

offices

Miscellaneous Provisions Of Congressional Budget Laws

budgetlaws

Legislative Procedures Enacted in Law

legislativeproc

Congressional Disapproval Provisions Contained in Public Laws

disapprovalprov

General Index

index

Details Page for a House Rules and Manual Edition

Structure: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{Package ID}

Example: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/HMAN-110

PDF File for a House Rules and Manual Edition

Structure: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Package ID}.pdf

Example: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HMAN-110/pdf/HMAN-110.pdf

Details Page for a House Rules and Manual Edition Document

Structure: www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{Package ID}/{Granule ID}

Example:  www.govinfo.gov/app/details/HMAN-110/HMAN-110-pg6

PDF File for a House Rules and Manual Edition Document

Structure: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Granule ID}.pdf

Example:  www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HMAN-110/pdf/HMAN-110-pg6.pdf

HTML File for a House Rules and Manual Edition Document

Structure: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/html/{Granule ID}.htm

Example:  www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HMAN-110/html/HMAN-110-pg6.htm

Note: XML is available for select years.


House Rules and Manual Metadata Fields and Values

Metadata fields and values can be used to increase the relevancy of your searches. The metadata fields available for the House Rules and Manual are listed in the table below. Metadata fields and values are used throughout govinfo for

  • Narrowing Your Search,
  • Browsing Government Publications,
  • Field Operators,
  • Advanced Search, and
  • Display on Details Pages.

Metadata fields and values can be entered into the Basic Search box using field operators. The field operators available for the House Rules and Manual are listed in the table below, along with examples for each metadata field. Using Field Operators

Some of these metadata fields are made available for use in Advanced Search. The metadata values can be entered in the same format for the fields available on the Advanced Search Page. Using Advanced Search

Metadata Field Display Name

Metadata Field Definition

Field Operator

Field Operator Example

Collection

The collection to which the document belongs. Typically the same as the publication or series.

collection:

collection:hman

 

"hman" is used for the House Rules and Manual

Government Author

The names of the Government organizations responsible for authoring or assembling the document.

governmentauthor:

governmentauthor:house

Publication Date

The date the document was first made available to the public.

publishdate:

publishdate:2009-06-16

 

Date format is YYYY-MM-DD

Language

The language code of the original document, from the ISO639-2b standard.

language:

language:eng

 

eng

Former Package ID

The document ID of the "package" as originally specified on www.gpoaccess.gov.

mods:identifier:(@type:"former package identifier":______)

mods:identifier:(@type:"former package identifier":110hrulepl-1)

SuDoc Class Number

The SuDoc class number from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents which classifies Government publications by publishing agency.

sudocclass:

sudocclass:"Y 1.1/7:"

 

The SuDoc Class Numbers in govinfo are generally at the class stem level, not the book number level.

Ingestion Date

The date the document was ingested into the govinfo preservation repository.

ingestdate:

ingestdate:2010-04-13

 

Date format is YYYY-MM-DD

Electronic Location (URL)

The URL where the document or the document in context (the content detail page) is located.

url:

url:"www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/HMAN-111/pdf/HMAN-111-pg87.pdf"

Publisher

The government organization who publishes the document or publication. Not typically the Government Publishing Office (who serves as the printer and distributor), except in the case of Congressional publications.

publisher:

publisher:"U.S. Government Printing Office"

Branch

The branch of Government responsible for the document's contents.

branch:

branch:legislative

 

Possible Values: Executive, Legislative, Judicial

Type of Resource

The media type for the document, typically "text". Defined as part of the Library of Congress MODS standard.

typeofresource:

typeofresource:text

WAIS Database Name

The name of the WAIS database to which the document belonged in the former GPO Access system.

waisdbname:

waisdbname:110_cong_house_rules_manual

Record Origin

How the record was originally generated. Typically "machine generated."

recordorigin:

recordorigin:"machine generated"

Title

The title of the publication.

title:

title:"use of official funds"

Section

The different sections found on the House Manual, such as The Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, etc.

section:

Possible Value:

See Table Below

Heading

Heading prefix in the title of a section or rule in the House Manual.

heading:

heading:"Rule XI"

Congress Number

The number of the Congress responsible for the document. Congresses last for two years, so for example, the 110th Congress was in session from 2007 through 2008. Currently, GPO has data starting with the 101st congress for some collections. Check the collection browse page for more details on how much data is available for each individual collection.

congress:

congress:108

Session Number

Session of Congress. Each Congress is divided into two yearly sessions. So, the "1st session" will be the first year that a particular congress (for example, the 110th congress) is in session.

session:

session:1

 

Possible Values: 1, 2

Congressional Committee

Congressional committee name.

committee:

committee:energy

Congressional Bills Citation

Citation references to Congressional Bills. Examples include, "H.R. 99", "S. 99" "H.J. Res. 99", "S.J. Res. 99", "H. Con. Res. 99", "S. Con. Res. 99", "H. Res. 99" or "S. Res. 99".

billscitation:

billscitation:"h.r. 1"

Public and Private Law Citation

Citation references to Public or Private Laws. For example, "Public Law 110-32" or "Private Law 110-3".

plawcitation:

plawcitation:"public law 95-507"

United States Code Citation

Citation references to the United States Code. For example, "42 U.S.C. 5841" or "42 U.S.C. App. 99"

uscodecitation:

uscodecitation:"42 U.S.C. 3121"

Statutes at Large Citation

Citation references to Statutes at Large. For example, "88 Stat. 1242".

statutecitation:

statutecitation:"32 Stat. 51"

Reference Citation

Reference to another document within the text of a document.

refcitation:

refcitation:"42 U.S.C. 3121"

House Rules and Manual Section Metadata Values

The table below lists the metadata values which can be used when limiting your search using the Section advanced search field or the section: field operator.

Metadata Value

User Readable Value

FRONTMATTER

Front Matter

CONSTITUTION

The United States Constitution

JEFFERSONMAN

Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice

HOUSERULES

Rules of the House of Representatives

PROVREORGANIZA

Provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act

COMMITTEES

Joint and Select Committees

OFFICES

House And Congressional Offices

PROVBUDGETLAWS

Miscellaneous Provisions Of Congressional Budget Laws

LEGISLATIVEPROC

Legislate Procedures Enacted in Law

DISAPPROVALPROV

Congressional Disapproval Provisions Contained in Public Laws

INDEX

General Index

OTHER

Other

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