[106th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 106-320]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID:hrulest-71]
[Page 620-630]
Rule XIV
order and priority of business
1. The daily order of business (unless varied by the application of
other rules and except for the disposition of matters of higher
precedence) shall be as follows:
<>
First. Prayer by the Chaplain. l Second. Reading and approval of the
Journal, unless postponed under clause 8 of rule XX.
Third. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Fourth. Correction of reference of public bills.
Fifth. Disposal of business on the Speaker's table as provided in
clause 2.
Sixth. Unfinished business as provided in clause 3.
[[Page 621]]
Seventh. The morning hour for the consideration of bills called up by
committees as provided in clause 4.
Eighth. Motions that the House resolve into the Committee of the Whole
House on the state of the Union subject to clause 5.
Ninth. Orders of the day.
Originally the House had no rule prescribing an order of business, but
certain simple usages were gradually established by practice before the
first rule on the subject was adopted in 1811. The rule was amended
frequently to arrange the business to give the House as large a freedom
as possible in selecting for consideration and completing the
consideration of the bills that it deems most important. The basic form
of the rule has been in place since 1890 (IV, 3056). The 98th Congress
made a conforming change to the second order of business relating to the
postponement of the vote on approval of the Journal (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3,
1983, p. 34). The 104th Congress added the present third order of
business respecting the Pledge of Allegiance (sec. 218, H. Res. 6, Jan.
4, 1995, p. 468). Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th
Congress, this provision was found in former clause 1 of rule XXIV (H.
Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). A correction to a cross reference was
effected in the 107th Congress (sec. 2(x), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p.
----).
The Speaker does not entertain a point of no quorum before the prayer
is offered (VI, 663). Under clause 7 of rule XX, a point of no quorum
may not be entertained unless a question is pending (see Sec. 1027,
infra).
This rule <> does not, however, bind the House to a daily
routine, since the system of making certain important subjects
privileged (see clause 5 of rule XIII and rule XXII) permits the
interruption of the order of business by matters which, in fact, often
supplant it entirely for days at a time. In the 106th Congress the
recodification acknowledged in the parenthetical of this clause that the
prescribed daily order of business could be superseded by operation of
other rules (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). But on any day, when the
order of business is interrupted by a privileged matter, the business in
order goes on from the place of interruption (IV, 3070, 3071) unless the
House adjourns. After an adjournment the House begins again at the
beginning. While privileged matters may interrupt the order of business,
they may do so only with the consent of a majority of the House,
expressed as to appropriation bills by the vote on going into Committee
of the Whole to consider such bills, and as to matters like conference
reports, questions of privilege, etc., by raising and voting on the
question of consideration. The only exceptions to the principle that a
majority may prevent interruption is contained in
[[Page 622]]
clauses 5 and 7 of rule XV, providing for a call of the Private Calendar
on the first Tuesday of each month and a call of committees on
Wednesdays. By this combination of an order of business with privileged
interruptions the House is enabled to give precedence to its most
important business without at the same time losing the power by majority
vote to go to any other bills on its calendars.
<> The privileged matters which may interrupt the order of
business include: l (1) General appropriation bills (clause 5 of rule
XIII; IV, 3072). l (2) Conference reports (clause 7(a) of rule XXII; V,
6443) and motions to discharge or instruct conferees (clause 7(c) of
rule XXII).
(3) Special orders reported by the Committee on Rules for
consideration by the House (clause 5 of rule XIII; IV, 3070-3076, 4621).
(4) Consideration of amendments between the Houses after disagreement
(IV, 3149, 3150).
(5) Questions of privilege (rule IX; III, 2521).
(6) Privileged bills reported under the right to report at any time
(clauses 5 and 7 of rule XIII; IV, 3142-3144, 4621).
(7) Call of committees on Wednesdays for bills on House and Union
Calendars (clause 7 of rule XV).
(8) Private business on Tuesday (clause 5 of rule XV).
(9) Motions on the second and fourth Mondays of the month to discharge
committees on public bills and resolutions (clause 2 of rule XV), and
consideration of District of Columbia business (clause 4 of rule XV; IV,
3304).
(10) Consideration of bills on the Corrections Calendar (clause 6 of
rule XV), and motions to suspend the rules and pass bills out of the
regular order (clause 1 of rule XV; V, 6790).
(11) Bills coming over from a previous day with the previous question
ordered (V, 5510-5517).
(12) Bills returned with the objections of the President (IV, 3534-
3536).
(13) Motions to send a bill to conference (under clause 1 of rule
XXII; Aug. 1, 1972, p. 26153).
In addition to these matters, the House by practice permits its order
of business to be interrupted, at the discretion of the Speaker, for the
reception of messages (V, 6602). Prior to the 104th Congress, addressing
the House out of order by unanimous consent, the Speaker announced that
on at least two subsequent days he would recognize designated Members
after approval of the Journal to lead the House in the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag (Speaker Wright, Sept. 9, 1988, p. 23310).
Requests of Members for leaves of absence are in practice put before the
House at the time of adjournment (IV, 3151).
[[Page 623]]
When the <> House has no rule establishing
an order of business, as at the beginning of a session before the
adoption of rules, it is in order for any Member who is recognized by
the Chair to offer a proposition relating to the order of business
without asking consent of the House (IV, 3060). But after the adoption
of the rule for the order of business, interruptions are confined to
matters privileged to interrupt or to cases wherein the House gives
unanimous consent for an interruption. A request for unanimous consent
to consider a bill is in effect a request to suspend the order of
business temporarily (IV, 3059). Therefore any Member, including the
Speaker, may object, or reserve the right to object and inquire, for
example, about the reasons for the request, or demand the ``regular
order'' (IV, 3058). Debate under a reservation of objection proceeds at
the sufferance of the House and may not continue after a demand for the
regular order (see, e.g., Speaker Foley, Nov. 14, 1991, p. 32128; Dec.
15, 1995, p. 37142). A Member objecting to a unanimous-consent request
or demanding the regular order when another has reserved the right to
object must stand to be observed by the Chair (Nov. 7, 1991, p. 30633;
June 23, 1992, p. 15703). The Speaker, however, usually signifies his
objection by declining to put the request of the Member, thus saving the
time of the House. The Speaker's guidelines for recognition for
unanimous-consent requests for consideration of unreported measures are
issued pursuant to clause 2 of rule XVII and are discussed in Sec. 956,
infra. The request for unanimous consent began to be used about 1832
when the House first felt a pressure of business and the necessity of
adhering to a fixed order (IV, 3155-3159). In 1909, by the adoption of
former clause 4 of rule XIII, a Consent Calendar was established, which
was abolished in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p.
16574). For discussion of unanimous-consent requests and reservations of
objections, see House Practice (1996), pp. 359-360, 861-68, and
Sec. 956, infra. Unanimous consent for the immediate consideration of a
measure in the House does not preclude a demand for a record vote when
the Chair puts the question on final passage, since it merely permits
consideration of a matter not otherwise privileged (Dec. 16, 1987, p.
35816).
2. Business on the Speaker's table <> shall be disposed of as follows:
(a) Messages from the President shall be referred to the
appropriate committees without debate.
(b) Communications addressed to the House, including reports and
communications from
[[Page 624]]
heads of departments and bills, resolutions, and messages from the
Senate, may be referred to the appropriate committees in the same manner
and with the same right of correction as public bills and public
resolutions presented by Members, Delegates, or the Resident
Commissioner.
(c) Motions to dispose of Senate amendments on the Speaker's table
may be entertained as provided in clauses 1, 2, and 4 of rule XXII.
(d) Senate bills and resolutions substantially the same as House
measures already favorably reported and not required to be considered in
the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union may be
disposed of by motion. Such a motion shall be privileged if offered by
direction of all reporting committees having initial jurisdiction of the
House measure.
A rule to govern disposition of business on the Speaker's table (to be
distinguished from the table of the House, which is the Clerk's table)
was adopted in 1832. In 1880 and 1885 efforts were made to so modify the
rule as to prevent delays in business on the Speaker's table, but it was
not until 1890 that the present rule was adopted (IV, 3089). Before the
House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this provision and
clause 2 of rule XXII occupied a single clause (former clause 2 of rule
XXIV) (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----).
Such <> portions of messages from the Senate as
require action by the House, all messages from the President except
those transmitting his objections to bills (IV, 3534-3536), and all
communications and reports from the heads of departments go to the
Speaker's table when received, to be disposed of under this rule. Simple
resolutions of the Senate that do not require any action by the House
are not referred (VII, 1048). All of the President's messages and such
portions of Senate messages as, being House bills with Senate
amendments, that do not require consideration in Committee of the Whole
are laid before the House
[[Page 625]]
for action; but communications other than messages from the President,
all portions of Senate messages requiring consideration in Committee of
the Whole (IV, 3101), and Senate bills of all kinds (with the exception
noted in the rule) are referred to the appropriate standing committees
under direction of the Speaker without action by the House (IV, 3107,
3111; VI, 727). Under clause 2 of former rule XXIV (current rule XIV),
the Speaker may temporarily retain custody of an executive communication
addressed to him (or may pursuant to former clause 1 of rule IV (current
clause 3(a) of rule II) order the Sergeant-at-Arms to assume custody)
pending House disposition of a special order reported from the Committee
on Rules relating to a referral of the communication to committee (Sept.
9, 1998, p. ----).
A House bill returned with Senate amendments involving a new matter of
appropriation, whether with or without a request for a conference, may
be referred directly to a standing committee (VI, 731), and on being
reported therefrom is referred directly to the Committee of the Whole
(IV, 3094, 3095, 3108-3110). The usual practice, however, is to take
from the Speaker's table and send to conference by unanimous consent
(VI, 732). The Speaker's authority under this clause includes the
discretionary authority to refer from the Speaker's table Senate
amendments to House-passed bills, to standing committees, under any
conditions permitted under current clause 2 of rule XII (former clause 5
of rule X) for referral of introduced bills; he may for example impose a
time limitation for consideration only of a portion of the Senate
amendment, not germane to the original House bill, by the standing
committee with subject-matter jurisdiction, without referring the
remainder of the Senate amendment to the House committee with
jurisdiction over the original House bill (Speaker O'Neill, H.R. 31,
Mar. 26, 1981, p. 5397). The Speaker announced his policy regarding
referral of nongermane Senate amendments to committee (Jan. 3, 1983, p.
54; Jan. 6, 1987, p. 21); and his policy regarding recognition for
unanimous-consent requests to dispose of Senate amendments at the
Speaker's table (Apr. 26, 1984, p. 10194; Feb. 4, 1987, p. 2676)
discussed in Sec. 956, infra. A Senate bill to come before the House
directly from the table must conform to the conditions prescribed by the
rule (IV, 3098, 3099; VI, 727, 734, 737), and must have come to the
House after and not before the House bill ``substantially the same'' has
been placed on the House Calendar (IV, 3096; VI, 727, 736, 738). In the
event the House bill has passed before the Senate bill is received, the
Senate bill may nevertheless be disposed of on motion directed by the
committee (VI, 734, 735). The House bill must be correctly on the House
Calendar (VI, 736). In determining whether the House bill is
substantially the same as the Senate bill, amendments recommended by the
House committee must be considered (VI, 734, 736). The rule applies to
private as well as to public Senate bills (IV, 3101), and to concurrent
resolutions as well as to bills (IV, 3097). Although a committee must
authorize the calling up of the Senate bill (VI, 739), the actual motion
need not be made by a member of the committee (IV, 3100).
[[Page 626]]
The authority of a committee to call up a bill must be given at a formal
meeting of the committee (VIII, 2211, 2212, 2222).
A <> message of the President on the Speaker's table is
regularly laid before the House only at the time prescribed by the order
of business (V, 6635-6638). While it is always read in full and entered
on the Journal and the Congressional Record (V, 6963), the accompanying
documents are not read on demand of a Member or entered in the Journal
or Record (V, 5267-5271; VII, 1108). The annual message of the President
is usually referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of
the Union by the House on motion (V, 6631). In the earlier practice it
was distributed to appropriate standing committees by resolutions
reported from the Committee on Ways and Means (V, 6621, 6622) but since
the first session of the 64th Congress the practice has been
discontinued (VIII, 3350). A portion of the annual message has been
referred directly to a select committee (V, 6628). A message other than
an annual message is usually referred directly to a standing committee
by direction of the Speaker (IV, 4053; VIII, 3346), but may be referred
by the House itself on motion by a Member (V, 6631; VIII, 3348), and
such motion is privileged (VIII, 3348). This reference may be to a
select as well as to a standing committee (V, 6633, 6634).
3. <> Consideration of
unfinished business in which the House may have been engaged at an
adjournment, except business in the morning hour and proceedings
postponed under clause 8 of rule XX, shall be resumed as soon as the
business on the Speaker's table is finished, and at the same time each
day thereafter until disposed of. The consideration of all other
unfinished business shall be resumed whenever the class of business to
which it belongs shall be in order under the rules.
The first rule relating to unfinished business was adopted in 1794.
Changes were made in 1860 and 1880, but the rule finally became
unsatisfactory, because of delays caused by it, and in 1890 the present
form was adopted (IV, 3112). Before the House recodified its rules in
the 106th Congress, this provision was found in former clause 3 of rule
XXIV (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----). A clerical correction to a
cross reference was effected in the 107th Congress (sec. 2(x), H. Res.
5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. ----).
[[Page 627]]
This <> clause should be understood in light of clause 8 of rule XX,
which permits the Chair to postpone record votes on certain questions to
a designated time within two legislative days (see Sec. 1030, infra).
The ``business in which the House may be engaged at an adjournment''
means, literally, business in the House, as distinguished from the
Committee of the Whole; and it further means business in which the House
is engaged in its general legislative time, as distinguished from the
special periods set aside for classes of business, like the morning hour
for calls of committee, Tuesdays for private bills, etc. In general, all
business unfinished in the general legislative time goes over as
unfinished business under the rule, but there are a few exceptions.
Thus, a motion relating to the order of business does not recur as
unfinished business on a succeeding day, even though the yeas and nays
may have been ordered on it (IV, 3114). The question of consideration,
also, when not disposed of at an adjournment, does not recur as
unfinished business on a succeeding day (V, 4947, 4948), but may be
again raised on a subsequent day when the matter is again called up as
unfinished business (VIII, 2438). Where the House adjourns during the
consideration of a report from the Committee on Rules, further
consideration of the report becomes the unfinished business on the
following day, and debate resumes from the point where interrupted
(Sept. 27, 1993, p. 22609; Sept. 28, 1993, p. 22719). When the House
adjourns on the second legislative day after postponement of a question
under clause 8 of rule XX without resuming proceedings thereon, the
question remains unfinished business on the next legislative day (Oct.
1, 1997, p. ----). When the House adjourns while a motion to instruct
under clause 7(c) of rule XXII is pending, the motion to instruct
becomes unfinished business on the next day and does not need to be
renoticed (Oct. 1, 1997, p. ----).
When the <> House
adjourns before voting on a proposition on which the previous question
has been ordered, either directly or by the terms of a special order
(IV, 3185), the matter comes up the next day as unfinished business (V,
5510-5517; VIII, 2691; Aug. 2, 1989, p. 18187). If several bills come
over in this situation, they have precedence in the order in which the
several motions for the previous question were made (V, 5518). When the
previous question is ordered on a bill undisposed of at adjournment on
Friday, the bill comes up for disposition on the next legislative day
(VIII, 2694). A bill going over from Calendar Wednesday with the
previous question ordered on it should be disposed of on the next
legislative day (VII, 967), but when the previous question is ordered on
a bill undisposed of when the House adjourns Tuesday, the bill goes over
until Thursday (VII, 890-894; VIII, 2674, 2691). A bill coming over from
a preceding day with the previous question ordered was of equal
privilege with business on the former Consent Calendar (VII, 990).
[[Page 628]]
The rule <> excepts by its terms certain classes of
business which are considered in periods set apart for classes of
business, viz: l (a) Bills considered in the morning hour and on
Calendar Wednesday for the call of committees. l (b) Bills in Committee
of the Whole.
(c) Private bills considered on Tuesdays.
(d) District of Columbia bills.
(e) Bills brought up under the rule setting apart days for motions to
suspend the rules, the Corrections Calendar, motions to discharge
committees, and bills under consideration after a committee has been
discharged.
A bill brought up in the morning hour and undisposed of when the call
ceases for the day remains as unfinished business in the morning hour
(IV, 3113, 3120), i.e., it is considered when the House next goes to a
call of committees. Business unfinished when the Committee of the Whole
rises remains unfinished, to be considered first in order when the House
next goes into Committee of the Whole to consider that business (IV,
4735, 4736).
On District of Columbia day business unfinished on the preceding
District day is in order for consideration, but does not come before the
House unless called up (IV, 3307; VII, 879). Unless postponed under
clause 8 of rule XX, a motion to suspend the rules, which is undisposed
of on one suspension day, goes over as unfinished business to the next
suspension day, individual motions going over to a committee day, and
vice versa (V, 6814-6816; VII, 1005; VIII, 3411, 3412).
4. After the <> unfinished business has been disposed of, the Speaker
shall call each standing committee in regular order and then select
committees. Each committee when named may call up for consideration a
bill or resolution reported by it on a previous day and on the House
Calendar. If the Speaker does not complete the call of the committees
before the House passes to other business, the next call shall resume at
the point it left off, giving preference to the last bill or resolution
under consideration. A committee that has occupied the call for two days
may not call up another bill or resolution until the other committees
have been called in their turn.
[[Page 629]]
The morning hour is one of the oldest devices of the rules for
devoting an early portion of the session to a specific class of
business. Until 1885 it was the hour for the reception of reports from
committees. In 1890 it was provided that reports should be filed with
the Clerk, and the morning hour was by this rule devoted to a call of
committees for the consideration of House Calendar bills (IV, 3181).
Since the adoption of the Calendar Wednesday rule (clause 7 of rule XV),
the morning hour has been used but rarely. Before the House recodified
its rules in the 106th Congress, this provision was found in former
clause 4 of rule XXIV (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----).
Originally the <> morning hour was a fixed period of 60 minutes (IV, 3118); but
under the present rule it does not terminate until the call is exhausted
or until the House adjourns (IV, 3119), unless the House on motion made
at the end of 60 minutes votes to go into Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union (clause 5 of rule XIV; IV, 3134), or unless
other privileged matter intervenes (IV, 3131, 3132). Before the
expiration of the 60 minutes the Speaker has declined to permit the call
to be interrupted by a privileged report (IV, 3132) or by unanimous
consent (IV, 3130). Where the business for which the call is interrupted
is concluded, the call is resumed unless there be other interrupting
business or the House adjourns (IV, 3133). A bill once brought up on the
call continues before the House in that order of business until disposed
of (IV, 3120), unless withdrawn by authority of the committee before
action which puts it in possession of the House (IV, 3129); and may not
be made a special order for a future day by a motion to postpone to a
day certain (IV, 3164). In order to be called up in this order a bill
must actually be on the House Calendar, and properly there, in order to
be considered (IV, 3122-3126), and a bill on the Union Calendar may not
be brought up on call of committees under this clause (VI, 753). If the
authority of the committee to call up a bill is disputed, the Chair does
not consider it his duty to decide the question (IV, 3127), but the
Chair may base its decision on statements from the chairman and other
members of the committee (IV, 3128).
5. After <> consideration of bills or resolutions under clause 4 for one
hour, it shall be in order, pending consideration thereof, to entertain
a motion that the House resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union or, when authorized by a committee, that the
House resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
[[Page 630]]
Union to consider a particular bill. Such a motion shall be subject to
only one amendment designating another bill. If such a motion is decided
in the negative, another such motion may not be considered until the
matter that was pending when such motion was offered is disposed of.
This portion of the rule was adopted in 1890 as part of the plan for
enabling the House at will to go at any time to any public bill on its
calendars (IV, 3134). Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th
Congress, this provision was found in former clause 5 of rule XXIV (H.
Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----).
The words <> of the rule ``one
hour'' have been interpreted to mean a less time in case the call of
committees shall have exhausted itself before the expiration of one hour
(IV, 3135); but not otherwise (IV, 3141). After the House has been in
Committee of the Whole under this order and has risen and reported, and
the report has been acted on by the House, other motions to go into
Committee to consider other bills are in order (IV, 3136). The motion to
go into Committee generally may be made by the individual Member (IV,
3138), but when it is proposed to designate a particular bill he must
have the authority of a committee (IV, 3138). The amendment to the
motion to consider a particular bill must refer to a bill on the Union
Calendar (IV, 3139). This order of business is used entirely for
nonprivileged bills and is not used in the House for consideration of
bills in Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union if
otherwise privileged under clause 5 of rule XIII.
6. <> All questions relating to the priority of business
shall be decided by a majority without debate.
This provision was adopted in 1803 to prevent obstructive debate (IV,
3061). Before the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, this
provision was found in former rule XXV (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. ----
). The question of consideration under clause 3 of rule XVI and the
motion that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole are
not debatable (VIII, 2447; IV, 3062, 3063).
This rule may not be invoked to establish an order of business or to
inhibit the Speaker's power of recognition (Speaker Albert, July 31,
1975, p. 26249). It has been held that appeals from decisions of the
Chair as to priority of business are not debatable under this rule (V,
6952).