[106th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 106-320]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID:hrulest-63]
[Page 378-389]
Rule VI
official reporters and news media galleries
Official reporters
1. <> Subject to the direction and control of the Speaker,
the Clerk shall appoint, and may remove for cause, the official
reporters of the House, including stenographers of committees, and shall
supervise the execution of their duties.
Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
provision was found in former clause 1 of rule XXXIV (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6,
1999, p. ----). From 1874 until March 1, 1978, the appointment and
removal of the official reporters, and the manner of the execution of
their duties, was vested in the Speaker (V, 6958); effective March 1,
1978 (H. Res. 959, Jan. 23, 1978, p. 431) those responsibilities were
vested in the Clerk, subject to the direction and control of the
Speaker.
The reporters of debates have borne an important part in the evolution
by which the House has built up the system of a daily verbatim report of
its proceedings, made by its own corps of reporters (V, 6959). Since
these reporters have become officers of the House a correction of the
Congressional Record has been held a question of privilege (V, 7014-
7016).
The <> arrangement, style, etc., of the Congressional Record is
prescribed by the Joint Committee on Printing pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 901,
904 (see also VIII, 3500). The rules of the Joint Committee on Printing
governing publication of the Congressional Record are as follows:
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1. Arrangement of the daily Congressional Record.--The Public Printer
shall arrange the contents of the daily Congressional Record as follows:
The Senate proceedings shall alternate with the House proceedings in
order of placement in consecutive issues insofar as such an arrangement
is feasible, and Extensions of Remarks and Daily Digest shall follow:
Provided, That the makeup of the Congressional Record shall proceed
without regard to alternation whenever the Public Printer deems it
necessary in order to meet production and delivery schedules.
2. Type and style.--The Public Printer shall print the report of the
proceedings and debates of the Senate and House of Representatives, as
furnished by the official reporters of the Congressional Record, in 8-
point type; and all matter included in the remarks or speeches of
Members of Congress, other than their own words, and all reports,
documents, and other matter authorized to be inserted in the
Congressional Record shall be printed in 7-point type; and all roll
calls shall be printed in 6-point type. No italic or black type nor
words in capitals or small capitals shall be used for emphasis or
prominence; nor will unusual indentions be permitted. These restrictions
do not apply to the printing of or quotations from historical, official,
or legal documents or papers of which a literal reproduction is
necessary.
3. Only as an aid in distinguishing the manner of delivery in order to
contribute to the historical accuracy of the Record, statements or
insertions in the Record where no part of them was spoken will be
preceded and followed by a ``bullet'' symbol, i.e., (now
applicable only in Senate).
4. Return of manuscript.--When manuscript is submitted to Members for
revision it should be returned to the Government Printing Office not
later than 9 o'clock p.m. in order to insure publication in the
Congressional Record issued on the following morning; and if all of the
manuscript is not furnished at the time specified, the Public Printer is
authorized to withhold it from the Congressional Record for 1 day. In no
case will a speech be printed in the Congressional Record of the day of
its delivery if the manuscript is furnished later than 12 o'clock
midnight.
5. Tabular matter.--The manuscript of speeches containing tabular
statements to be published in the Congressional Record shall be in the
hands of the Public Printer not later than 7 o'clock p.m. to insure
publication the following morning. When possible, manuscript copy for
tabular matter should be sent to the Government Printing Office 2 or
more days in advance of the date of publication in the Congressional
Record. Proof will be furnished promptly to the Member of Congress to be
submitted by him instead of manuscript copy when he offers it for
publication in the Congressional Record.
6. Proof furnished.--Proofs or ``leave to print'' and advance speeches
will not be furnished the day the manuscript is received but will be
submitted the following day, whenever possible to do so without causing
delay in the publication of the regular proceedings of Congress. Advance
speeches
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shall be set in the Congressional Record style of type, and not more
than six sets of proofs may be furnished to Members without charge.
7. Notation of withheld remarks.--If manuscript or proofs have not
been returned in time for publication in the proceedings, the Public
Printer will insert the words ``Mr. ---- addressed the Senate (House or
Committee). His remarks will appear hereafter in Extensions of Remarks''
and proceed with the printing of the Congressional Record.
8. Thirty-day limit.--The Public Printer shall not publish in the
Congressional Record any speech or extension of remarks which has been
withheld for a period exceeding 30 calendar days from the date when its
printing was authorized: Provided, That at the expiration of each
session of Congress the time limit herein fixed shall be 10 days, unless
otherwise ordered by the committee.
9. Corrections.--The permanent Congressional Record is made up for
printing and binding 30 days after each daily publication is issued;
therefore all corrections must be sent to the Public Printer within that
time: Provided, That upon the final adjournment of each session of
Congress the time limit shall be 10 days, unless otherwise ordered by
the committee: Provided further, That no Member of Congress shall be
entitled to make more than one revision. Any revision shall consist only
of corrections of the original copy and shall not include deletions of
correct material, substitutions for correct material, or additions of
new subject matter.
10. The Public Printer shall not publish in the Congressional Record
the full report or print of any committee or subcommittee when the
report or print has been previously printed. This rule shall not be
construed to apply to conference reports. However, inasmuch as rule XXII
(Sec. 1082, infra) provides that conference reports be printed in the
daily edition of the Congressional Record, they shall not be printed
therein a second time.
11. Makeup of the Extensions of Remarks.--Extensions of Remarks in the
Congressional Record shall be made up by successively taking first an
extension from the copy submitted by the official reporters of one House
and then an extension from the copy of the other House, so that Senate
and House extensions appear alternately as far as possible. The sequence
for each House shall follow as closely as possible the order or
arrangement in which the copy comes from the official reporters of the
respective Houses.
The official reporters of each House shall designate and distinctly
mark the lead item among their extensions. When both Houses are in
session and submit extensions, the lead item shall be changed from one
House to the other in alternate issues, with the indicated lead item of
the other House appearing in second place. When only one House is in
session, the lead item shall be an extension submitted by a Member of
the House in session. This rule shall not apply to Congressional Records
printed after the sine die adjournment of the Congress.
12. Official reporters.--The official reporters of each House shall
indicate on the manuscript and prepare headings for all matter to be
printed in
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Extensions of Remarks and shall make suitable reference thereto at the
proper place in the proceedings.
13. Two-page rule--Cost estimate from Public Printer.--(1) No
extraneous matter in excess of two printed Record pages, whether printed
in its entirety in one daily issue or in two or more parts in one or
more issues, shall be printed in the Congressional Record unless the
Member announces, coincident with the request for leave to print or
extend, the estimate in writing from the Public Printer of the probable
cost of publishing the same. (2) No extraneous matter shall be printed
in the House proceedings or the Senate proceedings, with the following
exceptions: (a) Excerpts from letters, telegrams, or articles presented
in connection with a speech delivered in the course of debate; (b)
communications from State legislatures; (c) addresses or articles by the
President and the Members of his Cabinet, the Vice President, or a
Member of Congress. (3) The official reporters of the House or Senate or
the Public Printer shall return to the Member of the respective House
any matter submitted for the Congressional Record which is in
contravention of these provisions.
house supplement to ``laws and rules for publication of the
congressional record''--effective august 12, 1986
1. Extensions of Remarks in the daily Congressional Record.--When the
House has granted leave to print (1) a newspaper or magazine article, or
(2) any other matter not germane to the proceedings, it shall be
published under Extensions of Remarks. This rule shall not apply to
quotations which form part of a speech of a Member, or to an authorized
extension of his own remarks: Provided, That no address, speech, or
article delivered or released subsequently to the sine die adjournment
of a session of Congress may be printed in the Congressional Record.
One-minute speeches delivered during the morning business of Congress
shall not exceed 300 words. Statements exceeding this will be printed
following the business of the day.
2. Any extraneous matter included in any statement by a Member, either
under the 1-minute rule or permission granted to extend at this point,
will be printed in the ``Extensions of Remarks'' section, and that such
material will be duly noted in the Member's statement as appearing
therein.
3. Under the general leave request by the floor manager of specific
legislation only matter pertaining to such legislation will be included
as per the request. This, of course, will include tables and charts
pertinent to the same, but not newspaper clippings and editorials.
4. In the makeup of the portion of the Record entitled ``Extensions of
Remarks,'' the Public Printer shall withhold any Extensions of Remarks
which exceed economical press fill or exceed production limitations.
Extensions withheld for such reasons will be printed in succeeding
issues, at the direction of the Public Printer, so that more uniform
daily issues may be the end result and, in this way, when both Houses
have a short session
[[Page 382]]
the makeup would be in a sense made easier so as to comply with daily
proceedings, which might run extremely heavy at times.
5. The request for a Member to extend his or her remarks in the body
of the Record must be granted to the individual whose remarks are to be
inserted.
6. All statements for ``Extensions of Remarks,'' as well as copy for
the body of the Congressional Record must be submitted on the Floor of
the House to the Official Reporters of Debates and must carry the actual
signature of the Member. Extensions of Remarks will be accepted up to 15
minutes after adjournment of the House. To insure printing in that day's
proceedings, debate transcripts still out for revision must be returned
to the Office of Official Reporters of Debates, Room HT-60, the Capitol,
(1) by 5 p.m., or 2 hours following adjournment, whichever occurs later;
or (2) within 30 minutes following adjournment when the House adjourns
at 11 p.m., or later.
7. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XVII of the Rules of the House, the
Congressional Record shall be a substantially verbatim account of
remarks made during the proceedings of the House, subject only to
technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections authorized by the
Member making the remarks involved. Unparliamentary remarks may be
deleted only by permission or order of the House. Consistent with rule 9
of the Joint Committee on Printing Rules, any revision shall consist
only of technical, grammatical, or typographical corrections of the
original copy and shall not include deletions of correct material,
substitutions for correct material, or additions of new subject matter.
By obtaining unanimous consent to revise and extend, a Member will be
able to relax the otherwise strict prohibition contained in clause 8 of
rule XVII only in two respects: (1) to revise by technical, grammatical,
and typographical corrections; and (2) to extend remarks in a
distinctive type style to follow the remarks actually uttered. In no
event would the actually uttered remarks be removable.
The requirement <> of
rule 7 of the supplemental rules outlined above that the Congressional
Record be a substantially verbatim account of remarks actually rendered
was included as former clause 9 of rule XIV in the 104th Congress
(current clause 8(a) of rule XVII), with the prescription that that rule
constitute a standard of conduct under former clause 4(e)(1)(B) of rule
X (current clause 3(a)(2) of rule XI) (sec. 213, H. Res. 6, Jan. 4,
1995, p. 468). Clause 8(a) of rule XVII also applies to statements and
rulings of the Chair (Jan. 20, 1995, p. 1866). Under that clause remarks
actually delivered may not be deleted and remarks inserted must appear
in distinctive type (Jan. 4, 1995, p. 541). The Speaker has instructed
the Official Reporters of Debates to adhere strictly to the requirement
of rule 7 of the supplemental rules (Mar. 2, 1988, p. 2963; Feb. 3,
1993, p. 1980). The Chair announced the Record-printing policy regarding
remarks in debate uttered in languages other than English, to deny
transcription in the foreign language (unless a transcript is provided
in a language that the Government Printing Office
[[Page 383]]
can print) and to require Members to submit translations for distinctive
printing in the Record in English as a revision of remarks (Mar. 4,
1998, p. ----). Because the Record is maintained as a substantially
verbatim account of the proceedings of the House (44 U.S.C. 901), the
Speaker will not entertain a unanimous-consent request to give a
special-order speech ``off the Record'' (June 24, 1992, p. 16131).
The Record is for the proceedings of the House and Senate only, and
matters not connected therewith are rigidly excluded (V, 6962). It is
not, however, the official record, that function being fulfilled by the
Journal (IV, 2727). As a general principle the Speaker has no control
over the Record (V, 6984, 7017), but words spoken by a Member after he
has been called to order may be excluded by direction of the Speaker (V,
6975-6978; VIII, 3466, 3471; July 29, 1994, p. 18609). But the House,
and not the Speaker, determines what liberty shall be allowed to a
Member who has leave to extend his remarks (V, 6997-7000; VIII, 3475),
whether or not a copyrighted article shall be printed therein (V, 6985),
as to an alleged abuse of the leave to print (V, 7012; VIII, 3474), or
as to a proposed amendment (V, 6983).
As a general <> rule the Committee of the Whole has no
control over the Congressional Record (V, 6986); but the Chairman in the
preservation of order, may direct the exclusion of disorderly words
spoken by a Member after he has been called to order (V, 6987). In a
case wherein the Committee conceived that a letter read in Committee
involved a breach of privilege, it reported the matter to the House for
action, and the House struck the letter from the Record (V, 6986). The
Chairman of the Committee of the Whole does not determine the privileges
of a Member under a general leave to print in the Record, that being for
the House alone (V, 6988). Neither may the Committee of the Whole grant
a general leave to print, although for convenience it does permit
individual Members to extend their remarks (V, 7009, 7010; VIII, 3488-
3490; Aug. 31, 1965, p. 22385), nor may the Committee of the Whole
permit the inclusion of extraneous material (Jan. 23, 1936, p. 950; Feb.
1, 1937, p. 656; Sept. 19, 1967, p. 26032).
While the <> House controls the Congressional Record, the Speaker with the
assent of the House laid down the principle that words spoken by a
Member in order might not be changed by the House, as this would be
determining what a Member should utter on the floor (V, 6974; VI, 583;
VIII, 3469, 3498). Neither should one House strike out matter placed in
the Record by permission of the other House (V, 6966). But the House may
correct the speech of one of its Members so that it may record
faithfully what he actually said (V, 6972). Where a Member interrupts
another during debate without being yielded or otherwise recognized (as
on a point of order) his remarks are not printed in the Record (Speaker
O'Neill, Feb. 7, 1985, p. 2229). Where a Member had uttered disorderly
words on the
[[Page 384]]
floor without objection, the House yet decided that it was not precluded
from action when the words, after being withheld for revision, appeared
in the Record, and struck them out (V, 6979, 6981; VI, 582; VIII, 2538,
3463, 3472).
The House has also ordered stricken from the Record printed speeches
condemned as unparliamentary for reflections on Members, committees of
the House, the House itself (V, 7017), and the Senate (V, 5129). In the
101st Congress a resolution presented as a question of privilege was
adopted which directed the Committee on House Administration to report
with respect to certain unauthorized deletions from the Record. A task
force of that committee recommended that deletion of unparliamentary
remarks be permitted only by consent of the House and not by the Member
uttering the words under authority to revise and extend (Oct. 27, 1990,
p. 37124). That recommendation has been incorporated into the Rules of
the House (clause 8(b) of rule XVII). Through the 103d Congress, under
applicable precedents and guidelines, the Chair could refine a ruling on
a point of order in the Record in order to clarify the ruling without
changing its substance, including one sustained by the House on appeal
(Feb. 19, 1992, p. 2461; see H. Res. 230, 99th Cong., July 31, 1985, p.
21783, and H. Rept. 99-228). In accordance with existing accepted
practices, the Speaker customarily made such technical or parliamentary
corrections or insertions in the transcript of a ruling or statement by
the Chair as may have been necessary to conform to rule, custom, or
precedent (see also H. Res. 330, 101st Cong., Feb. 7, 1990, p. 1515, and
report of House Administration task force on Record inserted by Speaker
Foley, Oct. 27, 1990, p. 37124). However, in the 104th Congress the
Speaker ruled that the requirement of clause 8 of rule XVII (former
clause 9 of rule XIV) that the Record be a substantially verbatim
account of remarks made during House proceedings extended to statements
and rulings of the Chair (Jan. 20, 1995, p. 1866).
It is improper for a Member to have published in the Record the
individual votes of Members on a question of which the yeas and nays
have not been entered on the Journal (V, 6982). A correction of the
Record which involves a motion and a vote is recorded in the Journal
(IV, 2877). Propositions to make corrections are sometimes considered by
the Committee on House Administration. In debating a resolution to
strike from the Record disorderly language a Member may not read the
language (V, 7004); but it was held that as part of a personal
explanation relating to matter excluded as out of order a Member might
read the matter, subject to a point of order if the reading should
develop anything in violation of the rules of debate (V, 5079). It has
also been held that a Member may not, in a controversy over a proposed
correction of the Record as to a matter of business, demand as a matter
of right the reading of the reporter's notes (V, 6967; VIII, 3460). The
Speaker declines to entertain unanimous-consent requests to correct the
Record on a vote taken by electronic device, based upon the presumed
accuracy of the electronic system and the ability and
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responsibility of each Member to verify his vote (Feb. 6, 1973, p. 3558;
Apr. 18, 1973, p. 13081; Dec. 3, 1974, p. 37897).
A motion or <> resolution for the correction of the
Congressional Record which involves a question of privilege may be made
properly after the reading and approval of the Journal (V, 7013; VIII,
3496), and is not in order pending the approval of the Journal (V,
6989), but is privileged after that (V, 7014-7019; VIII, 3461, 3463).
A question of privilege as to an alleged error in the Record may not
be raised until the Record has appeared (V, 7020), and a resolution to
omit from the manuscript copy certain remarks declared out of order is
not privileged (V, 7021). Unparliamentary words having been stricken
from the Record by order of the House, a question of privilege may not
arise therefrom (V, 7023; VI, 596). Privileged motions to correct the
Congressional Record involve cases where the integrity of House
proceedings is in question, such as where unparliamentary words have
been spoken in debate (see Sec. 961, infra) or inserted in the Record
(Deschler's Precedents, vol. 1, ch. 5, sec. 17), where the remarks of
one Member have been attributed to another (sec. 18.1-18.2), or where a
Member has improperly altered his remarks during an exchange of colloquy
with another Member (sec. 18.9). Mere typographical errors in the
Congressional Record or ordinary revisions of a Member's remarks do not
give rise to privileged motions for the correction of the Record (Apr.
25, 1985, p. 9419), since such changes for the permanent edition of the
Record may be made without the permission of the House (Deschler's
Precedents, vol. 1, ch. 5, sec. 19) and the House does not change the
Record merely to show what a Member should have said during debate (sec.
18).
A motion to correct the Record has been entertained to allow a Member
to print in subsequent edition of the daily Record the correct text of
an amendment which he had offered on a previous day and which had been
substantially misprinted in the daily Record for the day on which it was
offered (Deschler's Precedents, vol. 1, ch. 5, sec. 18.6).
The traditional <> practice to allow a Member, with
the approval of the House and under conditions set forth by the Joint
Committee on Printing, to revise his remarks before publication in the
Congressional Record (V, 6971, 7024; VIII, 3500) should be interpreted
in light of clause 8 of rule XVII and rule 7 of the supplemental rules
of the Joint Committee on Printing, which require the Record to be a
substantially verbatim account of remarks made during House proceedings
(see Sec. 686, supra, and Sec. Sec. 967, 968, infra). In any event, a
Member should not change the notes of his own speech in such a way as to
affect the remarks of an opponent in controversy without bringing the
correction to the attention of that Member (V, 6972; VIII, 3461), and
alterations which place a different aspect on the remarks of a colleague
require authorization by the House (VIII, 3463, 3497). Where a Member so
revised his remarks as to
[[Page 386]]
affect the import of words uttered by another Member, the House
corrected the Record (V, 6973). A Member is not entitled to inspect the
reporter's notes of remarks which do not contain reflections on himself,
delivered by another Member and withheld for revision (V, 6964).
The practice <> of inserting in the Congressional Record speeches not actually
delivered on the floor has developed by consent of the House as the
membership has increased and it has become difficult at times for every
Member to express at length on the floor his reasons for his attitude on
public questions (V, 6990-6996, 6998-7000). The House, in granting such
leave to print, does not permit it to be exercised without unreasonable
freedom (V, 7002, 7003). For example: (1) a Member with permission to
insert one matter may not insert another (V, 7001; VIII, 3462, 3479,
3480); (2) a Member may not insert statements and letters of others
unless the leave granted specifies such matter as extraneous (VIII,
3475, 3481), whether the extension be under general leave for all
Members or individually; (3) a Member may not insert that which would
not have been in order if uttered on the floor, and the House may
exclude such insertion in whole or in part (V, 7004-7008; VIII, 3495;
Oct. 2, 1992, p. 30709; Sept. 27, 1996, p. 25633). The principle that a
Member shall not be called to order for words spoken in debate if
business has intervened does not apply to a case where leave to print
has been violated (V, 7005). Neither the House nor the Committee of the
Whole permit the insertion of an entire colloquy between two or more
Members not actually delivered (Aug. 10, 1982, pp. 20266, 20267; Oct. 3,
1985, p. 26028; Dec. 15, 1995, p. 37133).
General leave to print may be granted only by the House, although in
the Committee of the Whole a Member, by unanimous consent, may be given
leave to extend his remarks (V, 7009, 7010; VIII, 3488-3490). In the
Committee of the Whole leave for an extension of remarks should not be
granted except in connection with remarks actually delivered and
relevant to the bill; and the extension under such circumstances should
be brief (Speaker Longworth, Mar. 18, 1926, p. 5854).
Where a Member abused a leave to print on the last day of the session,
the House at the next session condemned the abuse and declared the
matter not a legitimate part of the official debates (V, 7017). An abuse
of the leave to print gives rise to a question of privilege (V, 7005-
7008, 7011; VIII, 3163, 3491, 3495), and a resolution or motion to
expunge from the Record in such a case is offered as a question of
privilege (V, 7012; VIII, 3475, 3491). An inquiry by the House as to an
alleged abuse of the leave to print does not necessarily entitle the
Member implicated to the floor on a question of privilege (V, 7012).
Clause 8 of rule XVII (former clause 9 of rule XIV) requires substantive
remarks inserted under leave to revise and extend to be printed in
distinctive type and precludes deletion under such permission of words
actually uttered (Jan. 4, 1995, p. 541).
A motion that a Member be permitted to extend his remarks in the
Record is not privileged (Feb. 8, 1950, p. 1661), and under the rules of
[[Page 387]]
the Joint Committee on Printing, one Member cannot obtain permission for
other individual Members to extend their remarks (rule 5 of House
Supplement, Sec. 686, supra).
Where extraneous material proposed to be inserted in the body or in
the Extension of Remarks portion of the Record exceeds two Record pages,
the rules of the Joint Committee on Printing require that the Member
state an estimate of printing cost when permission is requested to make
the insertion (Feb. 12, 1962, p. 2207; May 24, 1972, p. 18653), and it
is the Member's responsibility and not that of the Chair to ascertain
the cost of printing extraneous material and obtaining consent of the
House when necessary (Feb. 11, 1994, p. 2245). The Joint Committee on
Printing amended the rules for publication of the Record, effective
March 1, 1978, to require the identification in the Record by ``bullet''
symbols of statements or insertions no part of which were actually
delivered in debate (Feb. 20, 1978, p. 3676). Where the House permitted
all Members leave to revise and extend their remarks on a certain
subject, those Members who actually spoke during the debate could revise
their remarks to appear as if actually delivered, but Members'
statements no part of which were spoken were preceded and followed by a
``bullet'' symbol (Nov. 15, 1983, p. 32729). Then in the 99th Congress,
the House adopted a resolution requesting the Joint Committee on
Printing to adopt temporary rules to require distinctive type styles
rather than bulleting of remarks not actually spoken in debate (H. Res.
230, July 31, 1985, p. 21783), and also adopted a resolution requesting
that those rules be made permanent (H. Res. 514, Aug. 12, 1986, p.
20980). Under regulations of the Joint Committee on Printing, remarks
delivered or inserted under leave to revise and extend in connection
with a ``one-minute speech'' made before legislative business are
printed after legislative business if exceeding 300 words (Speaker
O'Neill, Apr. 5, 1978, p. 8846). See Sec. 686, supra.
Based upon several unauthorized insertions of extensions of remarks in
the Record, the Speaker announced that henceforth all extensions of
remarks must be signed by the Member submitting them (Aug. 15, 1974, p.
28385). The House by unanimous consent may grant permission for all
Members to extend their remarks and to include extraneous material
within the established limits in that section of the Congressional
Record entitled ``Extensions of Remarks'' for a session of Congress
(Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----; Jan. 27, 2000, p. ----; Jan. 3, 2001, p. ----).
News media galleries
2. <> A portion of the gallery over the Speaker's chair as may be
necessary to accommodate representatives of the press wishing to report
debates and proceedings shall be set aside for their use. Rep
[[Page 388]]
utable reporters and correspondents shall be admitted thereto under such
regulations as the Speaker may prescribe from time to time. The Standing
Committee of Correspondents for the Press Gallery, and the Executive
Committee of Correspondents for the Periodical Press Gallery, shall
supervise such galleries, including the designation of its employees,
subject to the direction and control of the Speaker. The Speaker may
assign one seat on the floor to Associated Press reporters and one to
United Press International reporters, and may regulate their occupation.
The Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may
prescribe, one additional representative of each press association.
Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
provision was found in former clause 2 of rule XXXIV. When it was
transferred to this clause, it also was amended to reflect the existing
practice of including the Periodical Press Gallery under the ambit of
the rule (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). This provision was first
adopted in 1857 and has been amended from time to time (V, 7304; VIII,
3642; Jan. 3, 1953, p. 24; Jan. 22, 1971, p. 144). See also Consumers
Union v. Periodical Correspondents' Association, 1515 F.2d 1341 (D.C.
Cir. 1975), cert. den. 423 U.S. 1051 (1976) (action in enforcing
correspondents' association regulations is within legislative immunity
granted by the Speech or Debate Clause).
3. <> A portion of the gallery as may be necessary to accommodate
reporters of news to be disseminated by radio, television, and similar
means of transmission, wishing to report debates and proceedings, shall
be set aside for their use. Reputable reporters and correspondents shall
be admitted thereto under such regulations as the Speaker may prescribe.
The Executive Com
[[Page 389]]
mittee of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries shall
supervise such gallery, including the designation of its employees,
subject to the direction and control of the Speaker. The Speaker may
admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may prescribe, one
representative of the National Broadcasting Company, one of the Columbia
Broadcasting System, and one of the American Broadcasting Company.
Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
provision was found in former clause 3 of rule XXXIV (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6,
1999, p. ----). It was adopted initially on April 20, 1939 (p. 4561),
and was amended on May 30, 1940 (p. 7208) and on January 22, 1971 (p.
144).