[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 105th Congress] [105th Congress] [House Document 104-272] [Rules of the House of Representatives] [Pages 694-702] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] Rule XXII. of petitions, memorials, bills, and resolutions.
Sec. 849a. Introduction and reference of petitions, memorials, and private bills. | 1. Members having petitions or memorials or bills of a private nature to present may deliver them to the Clerk, endorsing their names and the reference or disposition to be made thereof; and said petitions and memorials and bills of a private nature, except such as, in the judgment of the Speaker, are of an obscene or insulting character, shall be entered on the Journal, with the names of the Members presenting them, and the Clerk shall furnish a transcript of such entry to the official reporters of debates for publication in the Record. |
Sec. 849b. Duties of Speaker and Members in presenting petitions. | Petitions, memorials, and other papers addressed to the House may be presented by the Speaker as well as by a Member (IV, 3312). Petitions from the country at large are presented by the Speaker in the manner prescribed by the rule (III, 2030; IV, 3318; VII, 1025). A Member may present a petition from people of a State other than his own (IV, 3315, 3316). The House itself may refer one portion of a petition to one committee and another portion to another committee (IV, 3359, 3360), but ordinarily the reference of a petition does not come before the House |
Sec. 850. As to division of bills for reference. | The parliamentary law provides that the House may commit a portion of a bill, or a part to one committee and part to another (V, 5558), yet under the practice of the House until January 3, 1975, a bill or joint resolution could not be divided for reference, although it might contain matters properly within the jurisdiction of several committees (IV, 4372, 4376). On that date, the Speaker was given authority over referral of bills as prescribed in clause 5 of rule X. |
Sec. 851. Fraudulent introduction of a bill. | The fraudulent introduction of a bill involves a question of privilege, and a bill so introduced was ordered stricken from the files (IV, 3388). As the result of the unauthorized introduction of several bills without the knowledge of the Members listed as sponsors, the Speaker directed that all bills and resolutions must be signed by the prime sponsor thereof in order to be accepted for introduction (Speaker Albert, Feb. 3, 1972, p. 2521). |
Sec. 852. Certain private and commemorative bills prohibited. | 2. (a) No private bill or resolution (including so-called omnibus claims or pension bills), and no amendment to any bill or resolution, authorizing or directing (1) the payment of money for property damages, for personal injuries or death for which suit may be instituted under the Tort Claims Procedure as provided in Title 28, United States Code, or for a pension (other than to carry out a provision of law or treaty stipulation); (2) the construction of a bridge across a navigable stream; or (3) the correction of a military or naval record, shall be received or considered in the House. |
Sec. 853. Correction of errors in reference; and relation to jurisdiction. | 3. Any petition or memorial or bill or resolution excluded under this rule shall be returned to the Member from whom it was received; and petitions and private bills which have been inappropriately referred may, by the direction of the committee having possession of the same, be properly referred in the manner originally presented; and an erroneous reference of a petition or private bill under this clause shall not confer jurisdiction upon the committee to consider or report the same. |
Sec. 854. Introduction, reference, and change of reference of public bills, memorials, and resolutions. | 4. (a) All other bills, memorials, and resolutions may, in like manner, be delivered, endorsed with the names of Members introducing them, to the Speaker, to be by him referred, and the titles and references thereof and of all bills, resolutions, and documents referred under the rules shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Record of the next day, and correction in case of error of reference may be made by the House, without debate, in accordance with rule X on any day immediately after the reading of the Journal, by unanimous consent, or on motion of a committee claiming jurisdiction, or on the report of the committee to which the bill has been erroneously referred. Two or more Members may introduce jointly any bill, or resolution to which this paragraph applies. |
Sec. 855. Resolution of inquiry. | 5. All resolutions of inquiry addressed to the heads of executive departments shall be reported to the House within fourteen legislative days after presentation. |
Sec. 856. Forms of resolutions of inquiry and delivery thereof. | Resolutions of inquiry are usually simple rather than concurrent in form (III, 1875), and are never joint resolutions (III, 1860). A resolution authorizing a committee to request information has been treated as a resolution of inquiry (III, 1860). It has been considered proper to use the word ``request'' in asking for information from the President and ``direct'' in addressing the heads of departments (III, 1856, footnote, 1895). It is usual for the House in calling on the President for information, especially with relation to foreign affairs, to use the qualifying clause ``if not incompatible with the public interest'' (II, 1547; III, 1896-1901; V, 5759; VI, 436). But in some instances the House has made its inquiries of the President without condition, and has even made the inquiry imperative (III, 1896-1901). Resolutions of inquiry are delivered under direction of the Clerk (III, 1879) |
Sec. 857. Privileged status of resolutions of inquiry. | The practice of the House gives to resolution of inquiry a privileged status. Thus, they are privileged for report and consideration at any time after their reference to a committee (III, 1870; VI, 413, 414), but not before (III, 1857), and are in order for consideration only on motion directed to be made by the committee reporting the same (VI, 413; VIII, 2310). They are privileged for consideration on ``Suspension days'' and took precedence of the former Consent Calendar (VI, 409) before its abolishment in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. ----), but are not in order on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 896-898). And only resolutions addressed to the President and the heads of the executive departments have the privilege (III, 1861-1864; VI, 406). To enjoy the privilege a resolution should call for facts rather than opinions (III, 1872, 1873; VI, 413, 418-432; July 7, 1971, pp. 23810-11), should not require investigations (III, 1872-1874; VI, 422, 427, 429, 432), and should not present a preamble (III, 1877, 1878; VI, 422, 427); but if a resolution on its face calls for facts, the Chair will not investigate the probability of the existence of the facts called for (VI, 422). However, a resolution inquiring for such facts as would inevitably require the statement of an opinion to answer such inquiry is not privileged (Speaker Longworth, Feb. 11, 1926, p. 3805). |
Sec. 858. Discharge of a committee from a resolution of inquiry. | Committees are required to report resolutions of inquiry back to the House within one week (now fourteen days) of the reference, and this time is construed to be legislative days (VIII, 3368; Speaker Rayburn, Feb. 9, 1950, p. 1755) exclusive of either the first or last day (III, 1858, 1859). If a committee refuses or neglects to report the resolution back, the House may reach the resolution only by a motion to discharge the committee (III, 1865). The ordinary motion to discharge a committee is not privileged (VIII, 2316); but the practice of the House has given privilege to the motion in cases of resolutions of inquiry (III, 1866-1870). And this motion to discharge is privileged at the end of the time period, though the resolution may have been delayed in reaching the committee (III, 1871). The motion to discharge is not debatable (III, 1868; VI, 415). However, if the motion is agreed to, the resolution is debatable under the hour rule unless the previous question is ordered (VI, 416, 417). If a committee reports a privileged resolution of inquiry, it may then be called up only by an authorized member of the reporting committee and not by another Member of the |
Sec. 859. Resolutions of inquiry as related to the Executive. | The President having failed to respond to a resolution of inquiry, the House respectfully reminded him of the fact (III, 1890). In 1796 the House declared that its constitutional requests of the Executive for information need not be accompanied by a statement of purposes (II, 1509). As to the kind of information which may be required, especially as to the papers that may be demanded, there has been much discussion (III, 1700, 1738, 1888, 1902, 1903; VI, 402, 435). There have been several conflicts with the Executive (II, 1534, 1561; III, 1884, 1885- 1889, 1894) over demands for papers and information, especially when the resolutions have called for papers relating to foreign affairs (II, 1509-1513, 1518, 1519). |
Sec. 860. Introduction of bills, resolutions, or memorials by request. | 6. When a bill, resolution, or memorial is introduced ``by request'', these words shall be entered upon the Journal and printed in the Record. |