[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 110th Congress] [110th Congress] [House Document 109-157] [Rules of the House of Representatives] [Pages 731-759] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] Rule XVII Decorum decorum and debate
945. Obtaining the floor for debate; and relevancy and decorum therein. | 1. (a) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who desires to speak or deliver a matter to the House shall rise and respectfully address himself to ``Mr. Speaker'' and, on being recognized, may address the House from any place on the floor. When invited by the Chair, a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may speak from the Clerk's desk. |
Sec. 946. Interruption of a Member in debate. | A Member having the floor may not be taken off his feet by an ordinary motion, even the highly privileged motion to adjourn (V, 5369, 5370; VIII, 2646), or the motion to table (Mar. 18, 1992, p. 6022). He may not be deprived of the floor by a parliamentary inquiry (VIII, 2455-2458), a question of privilege (V, 5002; VIII, 2459), a motion that the Committee rise (VIII, 2325), or a demand for the previous question (VIII, 2609; Mar. 18, 1992, p. 6022), but he may be interrupted for a conference report (V, 6451; VIII, 3294). It |
Sec. 947. Speaker in debate. | The Speaker may of right speak from the Chair on questions of order and be first heard (II, 1367), but with this exception he may speak from the Chair only by leave of the House and on questions of fact (II, 1367-1372). On occasions comparatively rare Speakers have called Members to the Chair and participated in debate on questions of order or matters relating their own conduct or rights, usually without asking consent of the House (II, 1367, 1368, 1371; III, 1950; V, 6097). In more recent years, Speakers have frequently entered into debate from the floor on substantive legislative issues before the House for decision, and the right to participate in debate in the Committee of the Whole is without question (see, e.g., Apr. 30, 1987, p. 10811). |
Sec. 948. Member must confine himself to the subject. | It has always been held, and generally quite strictly, that in the House the Member must confine himself to the subject under debate (V, 5043-5048; VI, 576; VIII, 2481, 2534). The Chair normally waits for the question of relevancy of debate to be raised and does not take initiative (Sept. 27, 1990, p. 26226; Mar. 23, 1995, p. 8986; Nov. 14, 1995, pp. 32354-57, 32374; Dec. 15, 1995, p. 37118; Mar. 12, 1996, p. 4149; Mar. 20, 2002, p. 3663). |
Sec. 950. Oneminute and specialorder speeches. | Recognition for one-minute speeches by unanimous consent and the order of recognition are entirely within the discretion of the Speaker (Nov. 15, 1983, p. 32657; Mar. 7, 2001, p. 3027). When the House has a heavy legislative schedule, the Speaker may refuse to recognize Members for that purpose until the completion of legislative business (Deschler- Brown, ch. 29, Sec. 73; July 24, 1980, p. 19386). It is not in order to raise as a question of the privileges of the House a resolution directing the Speaker to recognize for such speeches, since a question of privilege cannot amend or interpret the Rules of the House (July 25, 1980, pp. 19762-64). The modern practice of limiting recognition before legislative business to one minute began August 2, 1937 (p. 8004) and was reiterated by Speaker Rayburn on March 6, 1945 (Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 6.1). |
Sec. 951. Morninghour debates. | Beginning in the second session of the 103d Congress, the House has by unanimous consent agreed (without prejudice to the Speaker's ultimate power of recognition under this rule) to convene early on Mondays and Tuesdays for morning-hour debate (Feb. 11, 1994, p. 2244; May 23, 1994, p. 11459; June 8, 1994, p. 12305; June 10, 1994, p. 12684; Jan. 4, 1995, p. 551; Feb. 16, 1995, p. 5096; Jan. 21, 1997, p. 460; Jan. 19, 1999, p. 602; Jan. 3, 2001, p. 38; Jan. 23, 2002, p. 3; Jan. 7, 2003, p. 24; Jan. 20, 2004, p. ----; Jan. 4, 2005, p. ----; Jan. 31, 2006, p. ----; Jan. 4, 2007, p. ----). On May 12, 1995, the House extended and modified the above order to accommodate earlier convening times after mid-May of each year. The modified order changes morning-hour debates on Tuesdays after mid-May of each year as follows: (1) the House convenes one hour early (rather than 90 minutes); (2) time for debate is limited to 25 minutes for each party (rather than 30 minutes); and (3) in no event is morning-hour debate to continue beyond |
Sec. 952. ``Oxfordstyle'' debates. | In the 103d Congress the House agreed by unanimous consent to conduct at a time designated by the Speaker structured debate on a mutually agreeable topic announced by the Speaker, with four participants from each party in a format announced by the Speaker (Feb. 11, 1994, p. 2244; Mar. 11, 1994, p. 4772; May 23, 1994, p. 11459; June 8, 1994, p. 12305; June 10, 1994, p. 12648). Pursuant to that authority the House conducted three ``Oxford-style'' debates (Mar. 16, 1994, p. 5088; May 4, 1994, p. 9300; July 20, 1994, p. 17245). As a precursor to those structured debates, special-order time was used for a ``Lincoln-Douglas-style'' debate involving five Members, with one Member acting as ``moderator'' by controlling the hour under this clause (Nov. 3, 1993, p. 27312). |
Sec. 953. Speaker governed by usage in recognitions. | Although there is no appeal from the Speaker's recognition, he is not a free agent in determining who is to have the floor. The practice of the House establishes rules from which he should not depart. For example, on February 24, 1994, the Speaker announced a policy with respect to recognition for special-order speeches that departed from the established practice of recognition by unanimous consent (Deschler, ch. 21, Sec. 7.1; see Sec. 26, supra). The Speaker's new policy was the product of bipartisan negotiations, which justified the departure from the then-established practice. When the order of business brings before the House a certain bill he must first recognize, for motions for its disposition, the Member who represents the committee that has reported it (II, 1447; VI, 306, 514). This is not necessarily the chairman of the committee, for a chairman who, in committee, has opposed the bill, must yield the prior recognition to a member of his committee who has favored the bill (II, 1449). Usually, however, the chairman has charge of the bill and is entitled at all stages to prior recognition for allowable motions intended to expedite it (II, 1452, 1457; VI, 296, 300). This principle does not, however, apply to the chairman of the Committee of the Whole (II, 1453). Once the proponent of a pending motion has been recognized for debate thereon, a unanimous-consent re |
Sec. 954. Loss of right to recognition by Member in charge. | When an essential motion made by the Member in charge of a bill is decided adversely, the right to prior recognition passes to the Member who the Speaker perceives to be leading the opposition to the motion (II, 1465-1468; VI, 308). Under this principle control of a measure passes when the House disagrees to a recommendation of the committee reporting the measure (II, 1469-1472) or when the Committee of the Whole reports the measure adversely (IV, 4897; VIII, 2430). Similarly, this principle applies when a motion for the previous question is rejected (VI, 308). However, a Member who led the opposition to ordering the previous question may be preempted by a motion of higher precedence (Aug. 13, 1982, pp. 20969, 20975-78). On the other hand, the mere defeat of an amendment proposed by the Member in charge does not cause the right to prior recognition to pass to an opponent (II, 1478, 1479). |
Sec. 955. Prior right of Members to recognition for debate. | In debate the members of the committee--except the Committee of the Whole (II, 1453)--are entitled to priority of recognition for debate (II, 1438, 1448; VI, 306, 307), but a motion to lay a proposition on the table is in order before the Member entitled to prior recognition for debate has begun his remarks (V, 5391-5395; VI, 412; VIII, 2649, 2650). |
Sec. 956. Exceptions to the usages constraining the Speaker as to recognitions. | As to motions to suspend the rules, which are in order on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, the Speaker exercises discretion in recognition (V, 6791-6794, 6845; VIII, 3402-3404). He also may decline to recognize a Member who desires to ask unanimous consent to set aside the rules in order to consider a bill not otherwise in order, this being the way of signifying his objection to the request. But this authority did not extend to the former Consent Calendar. Where the previous question was ordered to passage of a bill without intervening motion except recommittal, the Chair declined to entertain a unanimous-consent request to further amend the pending bill as an exercise of his discretionary power of recognition under this clause (Feb. 10, 2000, p. 1019). The Chair has declined to entertain a unanimous-consent request to print a separate volume of tributes given in memory of a deceased former Member absent concurrence of the Joint Committee on Printing (Aug. 1, 1996, p. 21247). The Speaker has announced and enforced a policy of conferring recognition for unanimous- consent requests for the consideration of certain legislation only when assured that the majority and minority floor and committee leaderships have no objection. This policy includes: (1) requests relating to reported measures (July 23, 1993, p. 16820) and unreported measures (see, e.g., Dec. 15, 1981, p. 31590; May 4, 1982, p. 8613; Nov. 16, 1983, p. 33138; Jan. 25, 1984, p. 354; Jan. 26, 1984, p. 449; Jan. 31, 1984, p. 1063; Oct. 2, 1984, p. 28516; Feb. 4, 1987, p. 2675; Jan. 3, 1989, p. 89; Jan. 3, 1991, p. 64; Jan. 5, 1993, p. 106; Apr. 4, 1995, p. 10297); (2) requests for immediate consideration of matters (separately unreported) comprising a portion of a measure already passed by the House (Dec. 19, 1985, p. 38356); (3) requests to consider a motion to suspend the rules and pass an unreported bill (on a nonsuspension day) (Aug. 12, 1986, p. 21126; Mar. 30, 1998, p. 5153); (4) requests to permit consideration of (nongermane) amendments to bills (Nov. 14, 1991, p. 32083; Dec. 20, 1995, p. 37877; June 27, 2002, p. 11838); (5) requests to permit expedited consideration of measures on subsequent days, as by waiving the requirement that a bill be referred to committee for 30 legislative days before a motion to discharge may be presented under clause 2 of rule XV (formerly clause 3 of rule XXVII) (June 9, 1992, p. 13900); (6) requests relating to Senate-passed bills on the Speaker's table (Oct. 25, 1995, p. 29347; Jan. 3, 1996, p. 58; Aug. 2, 1999, p. 18942), including one identical to a House-passed bill (Feb. 4, 1998, p. 799) and a Senate concurrent resolution to correct an enrollment (Oct. 20, 1998, p. 27358); and (7) requests to dispose of Senate amendments to House bills on the Speaker's table (Jan. 4, 1996, pp. 200, 210; Nov. 22, 2002, p. 23510). The Speaker will recognize for an ``omnibus'' unanimous-consent request (one request disposing of various |
Sec. 957. The hour rule in debate. | 2. * * * A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not occupy more than one hour in debate on a question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union except as otherwise provided in this rule. |
958. The opening and closing of general debate. | 3. (a) The Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who calls up a measure may open and close debate thereon. When general debate extends beyond one day, that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall be entitled to one hour to close without regard to the time used in opening. |
Sec. 959. Member to speak but once to the same question; right to close controlled debate. | (b) Except as provided in paragraph (a), a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not speak more than once to the same question without leave of the House. |
960. The call to order for words spoken in debate. | 4. (a) If a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, in speaking or otherwise, transgresses the Rules of the House, the Speaker shall, or a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may, call to order the offending Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, who shall immediately sit down unless permitted on motion of another Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner to explain. If a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner is called to order, the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner making the call to order shall indicate the words excepted to, which shall be taken down in writing at the Clerk's desk and read aloud to the House. |
Sec. 961. Words taken down and other calls to order for unparliamentary debate. | Members transgressing the rules of debate and decorum may be called to order by the Speaker (VIII, 2481, 2521, 3479), a Member (II, 1344; V, 5154, 5161-5163, 5175, 5192), or a Delegate (II, 1295). A Member may initiate a call to order either by making a point of order that a Member is transgressing the rules or by formally demanding that words be taken down under this clause (Sept. 12, 1996, pp. 22897, 22899; Sept. 17, 1996, p. 23426; Sept. 18, 1996, p. 23535; Sept. 25, 1996, p. 24759). A Member's comportment in debate may constitute a breach of decorum even though the content of the Member's speech is not, itself, unparliamentary (July 29, 1994, p. 18609). Except for naming the offending Member, the Speaker may not otherwise censure or punish him (II, 1345; VI, 237; Sept. 18, 1996, p. 23535; see also Sec. 366, supra). The House may by proper motions under this clause dictate the consequences of a ruling by the Chair that a Member was out of order (May 26, 1983, p. 14048). As an exercise of recognition, the Chair's determination that a Member's time in debate has expired is not subject to appeal (Mar. 22, 1996 p. 6086; see also Sec. Sec. 622, 629, supra). Furthermore, a Member speaking while not under recognition (as when speaking beyond the allotted time) is not entitled to in-House amplification (Mar. 16, 1988, p. 4081; see also Sec. 684, supra). |
962. Decorum of Members in the Hall. | 5. When the Speaker is putting a question or addressing the House, a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not walk out of or across the Hall. When a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner is speaking, a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not pass between the person speaking and the Chair. During the session of the House, a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not wear a hat or remain by the Clerk's desk during the call of the roll or the counting of ballots. A person may not smoke or use a wireless telephone or personal computer on the floor of the House. The Sergeant-at-Arms is charged with the strict enforcement of this clause. |
963. Objections to use of exhibits. | 6. When the use of an exhibit in debate is objected to by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, the Chair, in his discretion, may submit the question of its use to the House without debate. |
Sec. 964. History of former rule on reading of papers. | The earlier form of the rule (formerly rule XXX), originally adopted in 1794 and amended in 1802 and 1880 (V, 5257), addressed reading from papers. It recognized the right of a Member under the general parliamentary law to have read the paper on which the House is to vote (V, 5258), but when that paper had been read once, the reading could not be repeated unless by order of the House (V, 5260). The right could be abrogated by suspension of the rules (V, 5278-5284; VIII, 3400); but was not abrogated simply by the fact that the current procedure was taking place under the rule for suspension (V, 5273-5277). On a motion to refer a report, the reading of it could be demanded as a matter of right, but the latest ruling left to the House to determine whether or not an accompanying record of testimony should be read (V, 5261, 5262). In general the reading of a report was held to be in the nature of debate (V, 5292); but where a report presented facts and conclusions but no legislative proposition, it was read if submitted for action (IV, 4663). Where a paper is offered as involving a matter of privilege it may be read to the House (III, 2597; VI, 606; VIII, 2599), rather than by the Speaker privately (III, 2546), but a Member may not, as a matter of right, require the reading of a book or paper on suggestion that it contains matter infringing on the privileges of the House (V, 5258). |
Sec. 965. Earlier practice. | The reading of papers other than those on which the vote was about to be taken was usually permitted without question (V, 5258), and the Member in debate usually read such papers as he pleased. However, this privilege was subject to the authority of the House if another Member objected (V, 5285-5291; VIII, 2597, 2602; Dec. 19, 1974, p. 41425; Dec. 10, 1987, p. 34669). This principle applied even to the Member's own written speech (V, 5258; VIII, 2598), to a report that he proposed to have read in his own time or to read in his place (V, 5293), and to excerpts from the Congressional Record (VIII, 2597). After the previous question was ordered, a Member could not ask the decision of the House on a request for the reading of a paper not before the House for action (V, 5296), even though it be the report of the committee (V, 5294, 5295). For further discussion, see Sec. Sec. 432-436, supra. Pursuant to the former form of this rule, the consent of the House for a Member to read a paper in debate only permitted the Member seeking such permission |
966. Gallery occupants not to be introduced. | 7. During a session of the House, it shall not be in order for a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to introduce to or to bring to the attention of the House an occupant in the galleries of the House. The Speaker may not entertain a request for the suspension of this rule by unanimous consent or otherwise. |
967. Revisions of remarks in debate. | 8. (a) 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, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner making the remarks. |
Sec. 968. Standard of conduct. | (c) This clause establishes a standard of conduct within the meaning of clause 3(a)(2) of rule XI. |
969. Secret session of the House. | 9. When confidential communications are received from the President, or when the Speaker or a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner informs the House that he has communications that he believes ought to be kept secret for the present, the House shall be cleared of all persons except the Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioner, and officers of the House for the reading of such communications, and debates and proceedings thereon, unless otherwise ordered by the House. |