[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 648-659] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] Rule XIV order and priority of business
Sec. 869. The rule for the order of business in the House. | 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. |
Sec. 870. Privileged interruptions of the order of business in the House. | 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 that, 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 |
Sec. 872. The interruption of the order of business by the request for unanimous consent. | 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 Chair, 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 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). |
Sec. 873. Disposal of business on the Speaker's table. | 2. Business on the Speaker's table shall be disposed of as follows: |
Sec. 874. Matters on Speaker's table for action by the House or by the Speaker alone. | 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 are referred. Such portions of Senate messages (House bills with Senate amendments) that do not require consideration in Committee of the Whole may be laid before the House for action. Communications from the President, other than messages; 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) may be 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. 19769). |
Sec. 875. Reference of President's messages from the Speaker's table. | 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). |
Sec. 876. Unfinished business. | 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 |
Sec. 877. Construction of rule as to unfinished business. | 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. 20922; Oct. 2, 1997, p. 20991). 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. 20894). |
Sec. 878. Effect of previous question. | 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 mo |
Sec. 879. Business unfinished in periods set apart for classes of business. | The rule excepts by its terms certain classes of business that 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. |
Sec. 880. The morning hour for the call of committees. | 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 com |
Sec. 881. Procedure in the morning hour. | 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 was 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 that 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 properly be on the House Calendar (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 his decision on statements from the chairman and other members of the committee (IV, 3128). |
Sec. 882. Interruption of the call of committees by motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. | 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 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. |
Sec. 883. Conditions of the motion to go into Committee of the Whole at the end of one hour. | The phrase ``one hour'' has been interpreted to include a shorter time in the case that 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. |