[106th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 106-320]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID: f:hrulesp.wais]
[Page i-xvi]
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106th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - House Document No. 106-320
________________________________________________________________________
CONSTITUTION, JEFFERSON'S MANUAL AND
RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
CHARLES W. JOHNSON
PARLIAMENTARIAN
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#13
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
69-500 WASHINGTON : 2001
____________________________________________________________________________
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250
Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
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HOUSE RESOLUTION 678
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
December 15, 2000.
Resolved, That a revised edition of the Rules and Manual of the
House of Representatives for the One Hundred Seventh Congress be printed
as a House document, and that three thousand additional copies shall be
printed and bound for the use of the House of Representatives, of which
nine hundred copies shall be bound in leather with thumb index and
delivered as may be directed by the Parliamentarian of the House.
Attest:
Jeff Trandahl,
Clerk.
(III)
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P R E F A C E
The House Rules and Manual contains the fundamental source material
for parliamentary procedure used in the House of Representatives: the
Constitution of the United States; applicable provisions of Jefferson's
Manual; Rules of the House (as of the date of this preface); 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.
The rules for the One Hundred Seventh Congress were adopted on
January 3, 2001, when the House agreed to House Resolution 5. In
addition to a series of changes to various standing rules, House
Resolution 5 included separate free-standing orders constituting
procedures to be followed in the One Hundred Seventh Congress.
Explanations of the changes to the standing rules appear in the
annotations following each rule in the text of this Manual.
In the One Hundred Sixth Congress, the House adopted a
recodification of the Rules of the House. For an explanation of the
recodified format, see the Preface and other introductory matter for the
House Rules and Manual for the One Hundred Sixth Congress (H. Doc. 105-
358).
The substantive changes in the standing rules made by House
Resolution 5 of the 107th Congress included:
(1) permission for the Clerk to publish certain documents in a form
other than printed (clause 2 of rule II);
(2) transfer of the responsibility for the engrossment and
enrollment process from the Committee on House Administration to the
Clerk (clause 2 of rule II);
(3) expansion of the application of rule VIII to administrative
subpoenas (rule VIII);
(4) redesignation of the Committee on Commerce as the Committee on
Energy and Commerce and of the Committee on Banking and Financial
Services as the Committee on Financial Services (clause 1 of rule X);
(5) expansion of the jurisdiction of the Committee on Financial
Services to include securities and exchanges (for
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merly within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Commerce) and
insurance generally (clause 1 of rule X);
(6) expansion of the oversight plan each standing committee submits
to the Committees on Government Reform and on House Administration to
include review of specific problems with Federal rules, regulations,
statutes, and court decisions (clause 2 of rule X);
(7) additional special oversight responsibility of the Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence over the intelligence community (clause
3 of rule X);
(8) removal of the requirement that the Committee on House
Administration provide policy direction to the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms,
and Chief Administrative Officer (clause 4(a) of rule II; clause 4(d) of
rule X);
(9) increase in the size of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence (clause 11 of rule X);
(10) preservation of all committee requirements for a majority
quorum found in House rules (clause 2 of rule XI);
(11) removal of the word ``investigative'' from the rule governing
hearing procedures (clause 2(k) of rule XI);
(12) particularization of the availability of an assertion that
evidence given in committee has a tendency to defame, degrade, or
incriminate a person (clause 2(k) of rule XI);
(13) limitation of the requirement that a committee furnish its
rules to a witness to instances when the witness so requests (clause
2(k) of rule XI);
(14) elimination of the three-day availability requirement for a
supplemental report that only corrects errors in the depiction of record
votes (clause 3(a) of rule XIII).
(15) replacement of the requirement that committees include in their
reports oversight findings and recommendations by the Committee on
Government Reform with a requirement that they include a statement of
performance goals and objectives (clause 3(c) of rule XIII);
(16) requirement that a report of the Committee on Appropriations
contain additional detail on the status of unauthorized appropriations
(clause 3(f) of rule XIII);
(17) elimination of the three-day availability requirement for a
report to accompany a bill called from the Corrections Calendar (clause
4 of rule XIII; clause 6 of rule XV);
(18) conversion of the rule governing the use of exhibits on the
floor from one requiring a vote by the House on the use of an exhibit to
which a Member objected to merely
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permitting the Chair, in its discretion, to submit the question of its
use to the House (clause 6 of rule XVII);
(19) inclusion of standing authority, previously contained in
separate special orders, for the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole
to postpone requests for recorded votes on amendments and to reduce the
minimum duration of those votes, after the first, to five minutes
(clause 6 of rule XVIII);
(20) prohibition against the consideration of a measure designating
a public work in honor of a serving Member of Congress (clause 6 of rule
XXI);
(21) restoration of the notice requirement for a privileged 20-day
motion to instruct conferees from legislative day to calendar day and
clarification of the elements attending the privilege (clause 7 of rule
XXII);
(22) prohibition against the inclusion of argument in a motion to
instruct conferees or a motion to recommit to conference (clause 7 of
rule XXII);
(23) repeal of the rule providing for automatic passage and
engrossment of a measure adjusting the statutory limit on public debt
(former rule XXIII);
(24) prohibition against the paid employment of a spouse (clause 8
of rule XXIII);
(25) requirement of the Clerk to make those who have signed the oath
permitting access to classified information a matter of public record
(clause 13 of rule XXIII);
(26) prohibition against certain lobbying by consultants paid by the
House (clause 14 of rule XXIII); and
(27) clarification of the definition of an employee under the Gift
Rule (clauses 4 and 5 of rule XXV);
Deputy Parliamentarians John Sullivan and Tom Duncan, and Assistant
Parliamentarians Muftiah McCartin, Tom Wickham, and Ethan Lauer worked
diligently to prepare the codification and to annotate the decisions of
the Chair and other parliamentary precedents of the 106th Congress and
of the 107th Congress to date of publication. Gay Topper, Deborah
Khalili, and Brian Cooper contributed their clerical skills to the
preparation of this edition. All of their contributions, especially
those of Muftiah McCartin in the preparation of this Manual, are
gratefully acknowledged.
Citations in this edition refer to:
(1) Hinds' Precedents of the House of Representatives of the United
States (volumes I through V) and Cannon's Precedents of the House of
Representatives of the United
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States (volumes VI through VIII), by volume and section (e.g., V, 5763;
VIII, 2852);
(2) Deschler's Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives
(volumes 1 through 9) and the Deschler-Brown Precedents of the U.S.
House of Representatives (volumes 10 through 15), by volume, chapter,
and section (e.g., Deschler's Precedents, vol. 8, ch. 26, sec. 79.7;
Deschler-Brown Precedents, vol. 10, ch. 28, sec. 4.26);
(3) the Congressional Record, by date and page (e.g., Jan. 29, 1986,
p. 684);
(4) House Practice (1996), by page (e.g., House Practice, p. 293);
(5) Deschler-Brown Procedure in the U.S. House of Representatives
(4th edition and 1987 supplement), by chapter and section (e.g.,
Procedure, ch. 5, sec. 8.1);
(6) the United States Code, by title and section (e.g., 2 U.S.C.
287); and
(7) the United States Reports, by volume and page (e.g., 395 U.S.
486).
Readers are invited to refer to the prefaces of Hinds', Cannon's,
and Deschler's Precedents (Volumes I, VI, and 1, respectively) for
comprehensive overviews by those editors of the procedural history of
the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1976.
Charles W. Johnson
March 15, 2001
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C O N T E N T S
__________
THE CONSTITUTION
Page
Preamble.......................................................... 3
Article I.--The legislative power..................... 4
II.--The executive power....................... 62
III.--The judicial power........................ 74
IV.--Obligations, duties, etc., of the States.. 76
V.--Amendments to............................. 78
VI.--Law of the land, etc...................... 80
VII.--Ratification of........................... 84
Amendments ratified....................... 87
JEFFERSON'S MANUAL
Section I.--Importance of adhering to rules........... 121
III.--Privilege................................. 124
VI.--Quorum.................................... 143
VII.--Call of the House......................... 144
IX.--Speaker................................... 144
X.--Address................................... 147
XI.--Committees................................ 147
XII.--Committee of the Whole.................... 151
XIII.--Examination of witnesses.................. 160
XIV.--Arrangement of business................... 165
XV.--Order..................................... 167
XVI.--Order respecting papers................... 168
XVII.--Order in debate........................... 168
XVIII.--Orders of the House....................... 189
XIX.--Petition.................................. 193
XX.--Motions................................... 194
XXI.--Resolutions............................... 195
XXIII.--Bills, leave to bring in.................. 197
XXIV.--Bills, first reading...................... 198
XXV.--Bills, second reading..................... 198
XXVI.--Bills, commitment......................... 199
XXVII.--Report of committee....................... 210
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Page
Section XXVIII.--Bill, recommitment........................ 211
XXIX.--Bills, reports taken up................... 212
XXX.--Quasi-committee........................... 214
XXXI.--Bill, second reading in the House......... 218
XXXII.--Reading papers............................ 220
XXXIII.--Privileged questions...................... 222
XXXIV.--The previous question..................... 235
XXXV.--Amendments................................ 237
XXXVI.--Division of the question.................. 246
XXXVII.--Coexisting questions...................... 249
XXXVIII.--Equivalent questions...................... 250
XXXIX.--The question.............................. 253
XL.--Bills, third reading...................... 253
XLI.--Division of the House..................... 257
XLII.--Titles.................................... 263
XLIII.--Reconsideration........................... 263
XLIV.--Bills sent to the other House............. 266
XLV.--Amendments between the Houses............. 267
XLVI.--Conferences............................... 277
XLVII.--Messages.................................. 289
XLVIII.--Assent.................................... 293
XLIX.--Journals.................................. 296
L.--Adjournment............................... 298
LI.--A session................................. 300
LII.--Treaties.................................. 303
LIII.--Impeachment............................... 307
RULES OF THE HOUSE
Rule I.--The Speaker............................... 327
II.--Other Officers and Officials.............. 345
III.--The Members, Delegates, and Resident
Commissioner of Puerto Rico............... 364
IV.--The Hall of the House..................... 368
V.--Broadcasting the House.................... 375
VI.--Official Reporters and News Media
Galleries................................. 378
VII.--Records of the House...................... 389
VIII.--Response to Subpoenas..................... 393
IX.--Questions of Privilege.................... 397
X.--Organization of Committees................ 413
XI.--Procedures of Committees and Unfinished
Business.................................. 518
XII.--Receipt and Referral of Measures and
Matters................................... 572
XIII.--Calendars and Committee Reports........... 586
XIV.--Order and Priority of Business............ 620
XV.--Business in Order on Special Days......... 631
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Page
Rule XVI.--Motions and Amendments.................... 652
XVII.--Decorum and Debate........................ 702
XVIII.--The Committee of the Whole House on the
state of the Union........................ 728
XIX.--Motions Following the Amendment Stage..... 755
XX.--Voting and Quorum Calls................... 770
XXI.--Restrictions on Certain Bills............. 794
XXII.--House and Senate Relations................ 836
XXIII.--Code of Official Conduct.................. 860
XXIV.--Limitations on Use of Official Funds...... 867
XXV.--Limitations on Outside Earned Income and
Acceptance of Gifts....................... 871
XXVI.--Financial Disclosure...................... 893
XXVII.--General Provisions........................ 917
Provisions of Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as Amended by the
Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, Applicable to Both Houses
Congressional adjournment......................................... 918
Preservation of committee hearings................................ 919
Joint and Select Committees
Economic Committee, Joint......................................... 923
Internal Revenue Taxation, Joint Committee on..................... 923
Library, Joint Committee of Congress on the....................... 924
Printing, Joint Committee on...................................... 924
Inaugural Ceremonies, Joint Congressional Committee on............ 924
Select committees................................................. 924
House Offices
House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards............... 927
House Office Building Commission.................................. 927
General Accounting Office......................................... 927
Office of Compliance.............................................. 927
Congressional Research Service.................................... 928
Legislative Counsel............................................... 928
Congressional Budget Office....................................... 928
Law Revision Counsel.............................................. 928
Technology Assessment............................................. 928
Office of the Parliamentarian..................................... 928
Office of Floor Assistants........................................ 929
Corrections Calendar Office....................................... 929
House Recording Studio............................................ 929
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Page
United States Capitol Preservation Commission..................... 929
Office of General Counsel......................................... 929
Early organization of House....................................... 931
Miscellaneous Provisions of Congressional Budget Laws
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.................................. 935
Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.................................... 1011
Congressional Disapproval Provisions Contained in Public Laws
Resolutions privileged for consideration in House................. 1017
Index
Index............................................................. 1149
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MAJOR RULE CITATION CHANGES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OLD RULE through NEW RULE
105th Cong. -------------------
DESCRIPTION ---------------------
Rule Clause Rule Clause
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postponed votes................ I 5(b) XX 8
Tie vote lost.................. I 6 XX 1(c)
Lame duck travel authority..... I 8 XXIV 10
Broadcasting House proceedings. I 9 V ........
Office of the Historian........ I 10 II 7
Office of the General Counsel.. I 11 II 8
Clerk.......................... III ........ II 2
Sergeant-at-Arms............... IV ........ II 3
Chief Administrative Officer... V ........ II 4
Office of the Inspector General VI ........ II 6
Chaplain....................... VII ........ II 5
Duties of Members.............. VIII ........ III 1-2
Committee on Standards of X 4(e) XI 3
Official Conduct..............
Referral....................... X 5 XII 2
Speaker's appointment of select X 6(f) I 11
and conference committees.....
Committee membership contingent X 6(g) X 10
on party membership...........
Committee reporting procedures. XI 2(l)(1), XIII 2
(2)
Content of reports............. XI 2(l)(3)- XIII 3
(5)
Availability of reports........ XI 2(l)(6) XIII 4
Committee travel............... XI 2(n) X 8
Committee broadcast rule....... XI 3 XI 4
Privileged reports............. XI 4 XIII 5
Reports of Rules Committee..... XI 4 XIII 6
Expense resolutions............ XI 5 X 6-7
Committee staff................ XI 6 X 9
Resident Commissioner/Delegates XII ........ III 3
Corrections Calendar........... XIII 4 XV 6
Decorum and debate............. XIV ........ XVII ........
Recognition.................... XIV 2 XVII 2
Voting and quorum calls........ XV ........ XX ........
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Dilatory motions on suspensions XVI 8 XV 1
Dilatory motions............... XVI 10 XVI 1
Previous question.............. XVII ........ XIX 1
Motion to recommit............. XVII 1 XIX 2
Reconsideration................ XVIII ........ XIX 3
Amendments..................... XIX ........ XVI 6
Senate amendments.............. XX ........ XXII 1-6
Reading of bills............... XXI 1 XVI 8
Content of reports on XXI 3 XIII 3(f)
appropriation bills...........
Private claims................. XXI 4 XII 2(d)
Appropriations in legislation.. XXI 5(a) XXI 4
Reappropriations............... XXI 6 XXI 2(a)(2)
Printing of appropriations XXI 7 XIII 4(c)
hearings......................
Reserving points of order on XXI 8 XXI 1
appropriation bills...........
Transportation obligation XXI 9 XXI 3
limitations...................
Cosponsorship.................. XXII 4 XII 7
Resolutions of inquiry......... XXII 5 XIII 7
Committee of the Whole House... XXIII ........ XVIII ........
Order of business.............. XXIV ........ XIV ........
Unfinished business............ XXIV 3 XIV 3
Private Calendar............... XXIV 6 XV 5
Calendar Wednesday............. XXIV 7 XV 7
District business.............. XXIV 8 XV 4
Priority of business........... XXV ........ XIV ........
Unfinished business in XXVI ........ XI 6
committee.....................
Suspension of the rules........ XXVII 1-2 XV 1
Discharge motions.............. XXVII 3 XV 2
Conference reports............. XXVIII ........ XXII 7-12
Secret sessions................ XXIX ........ XVII 9
Exhibits....................... XXX ........ XVII 6
Hall of the House.............. XXXI ........ IV 1
Admission to the Floor......... XXXII ........ IV 2-5
Admission to the galleries..... XXXIII ........ IV 6
Campaign contributions on Floor XXXII 5 IV 7
Official Reporters and the XXXIV ........ VI ........
media.........................
Pay of witnesses............... XXXV ........ XI 5
Records of the House........... XXXVI ........ VII ........
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Withdrawal of papers........... XXXVII ........ VII 7
Ballot votes................... XXXVIII ........ XX 11
Messages....................... XXXIX ........ XII 1
Executive communications....... XL ........ XII 8
Claims against the Government.. XLI ........ XXV 6
General provisions............. XLII ........ XXVII 1
Code of Official Conduct....... XLIII ........ XXIII ........
Financial disclosure........... XLIV ........ XXVI ........
Unofficial office accounts..... XLV ........ XXIV 1-3
Limitation on use of frank..... XLVI ........ XXIV 4-9
Outside earned income.......... XLVII ........ XXV 1-3
Intelligence Committee......... XLVIII ........ X 11
Response to subpoenas.......... L ........ VIII ........
Gift rule...................... LI ........ XXV 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
Rule XIV
First. Prayer by Chaplain.
Second. Approval of Journal.
Third. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Fourth. Correction of reference of public bills.
Fifth. Disposal of business on Speaker's table.
Sixth. Unfinished business.
Seventh. The morning hour for the consideration of bills.
Eighth. Motions to go into the Committee of the Whole
House on the state of the Union.
Ninth. Orders of the day.
SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
Mondays
Second and fourth Mondays:
Motions to discharge committees. Rule XV, clause 2.
District of Columbia Business. Rule XV, clause 4.
Every Monday:
Motions to suspend rules. Rule XV, clause 1.
Tuesdays
First and third Tuesdays:
Private Calendar. Rule XV, clause 5. Individual private bills
considered on first Tuesday of each month, omnibus private bills
may be considered on third Tuesday of each month.
Second and fourth Tuesdays:
Corrections Calendar. Rule XV, clause 6.
Every Tuesday:
Motions to suspend rules. Rule XV, clause 1.
Wednesdays
Call of Committees under Calendar Wednesday. Rule XV, clause 7.