[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 725-741] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] Rule XXIV. order of business.
Sec. 878. The rule for the order of business in the House. | 1. The daily order of business shall be as follows: First. Prayer by the Chaplain. l Second. Reading and approval of the Journal, unless postponed pursuant to the provisions of clause 5(b)(1) of rule I. |
Sec. 879. 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 4(a) of rule XI, clause 9 of rule XVI, and rule
XXVIII) permits the interruption of the order of business by matters
which, in fact, often supplant it entirely for days at a time. 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 adjourn. 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 clauses 6 and 7 of rule XXIV, 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.
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Sec. 881. 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 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. ----). 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; |
Sec. 883. 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 and such portions of Senate messages as, being House bills with Senate amendments, do not require consideration in Committee of the Whole are laid before the House 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). 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 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. 757, supra. 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 |
Sec. 884. 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. 885. Unfinished business. | 3. The consideration of the unfinished business in which the House may be engaged at an adjournment, except business in the morning hour, 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, and 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. |
Sec. 886. Construction of rule as to unfinished business. | 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. ----; Sept. 28, 1993, p. ----). When the House adjourns on the second legislative day after postponement of a question under this clause without resuming proceedings thereon, the question remains the unfinished business on the next legislative day (Oct. 1, 1997, p. ----). When the House adjourns while a motion to instruct under clause 1 of rule XXVIII is pending, the motion to instruct becomes unfinished business on the next day and does not need to be renoticed (Oct. 1, 1997, p. ----). |
Sec. 887. 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 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). |
Sec. 888. Business unfinished in periods set apart for classes of business. | 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. |
Sec. 889. 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, and each committee when named may call up for consideration any bill reported by it on a previous day and on the House Calendar, and if the Speaker shall not complete the call of the Committees before the House passes to other business, he shall resume the next call where he left off, giving preference to the last bill under consideration: Provided, That whenever any committee shall have occupied the morning hour on |
Sec. 890. Procedure in the morning hour. | Originally the morning hour was a fixed period of sixty minutes (IV, 3118); but under the present rules (clause 4 of rule XXIV) 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 sixty minutes votes to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union (clause 5 of rule XXIV; IV, 3134), or unless other privileged matter intervenes (IV, 3131, 3132). Before the expiration of the sixty 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). |
Sec. 891. Interruption of the call of committees by motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. | 5. After one hour shall have been devoted to the consideration of bills called up by committees, it shall be in order, pending consideration or discussion thereof, to entertain a motion to go into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, or, when authorized |
Sec. 892. Conditions of the motion to go into Committee of the Whole at the end of one hour. | The words of the rule ``one hour after'' 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 non- privileged 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 (such as general appropriation bills, which have priority for consideration under clause 9 of rule XVI, and bills reported under the leave to report to the House at any time pursuant to clause 4(a) of rule XI). |
Sec. 893. Interruption of the regular order on Tuesdays for consideration of the Private Calendar. | 6. On the first Tuesday of each month after disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, the Speaker shall direct the Clerk to call the bills and resolutions on the Private Calendar. Should objection be made by two or more Members to the consideration of any bill or resolution so called, it shall be recommitted to the committee which |
Sec. 894. Tuesday as a day for private business. | This provision was adopted in the 62d Congress in lieu of special orders under which pension and private business formerly had been considered. The rule was amended on April 23, 1932 (VII, 846) and was adopted in its present form on March 27, 1935, pp. 4480-89, 4538. A Member serving as an ``official objector'' for the Private Calendar has periodically included in the Record an explanation of how bills on the Private Calendar are considered (see, e.g., Dec. 5, 1995, p. ----; June 17, 1997, p. ----). Clause 2 of rule XXII prohibits consideration of certain private bills. Under clause 6(e)(2) of rule XV, the Speaker may in his discretion recognize a Member to move a call of the House prior to the call of the Private Calendar (July 8, 1987, p. 18972). |
Sec. 895. Methods of considering omnibus bills. | During the consideration of omnibus bills the Chair declines to recognize Members for unanimous-consent requests to address the House (Speaker pro tempore O'Connor, May 7, 1935, p. 7100); motions to strike out the last word are not in order, and requests for extension of time under the five-minute rule are not entertained (Speaker Byrns, Mar. 17, 1936, pp. 3890, 3894-95). |
Sec. 897. Calendar Wednesday business. | 7. On Wednesday of each week no business shall be in order except as provided by clause 4 of this rule unless the House by a two-thirds vote on motion to dispense therewith shall otherwise determine. On such a motion there may be debate not to exceed five minutes for and against. On a call of committees under this rule bills may be called up from either the House or the Union Calendar, excepting bills which are privileged under the rules; but bills called up from the Union Calendar shall be considered in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. This rule shall not apply during the last two weeks of the session. It shall not be in order for the Speaker to entertain a motion for a recess on any Wednesday except during the last two weeks of the session: Provided, That not more |
Sec. 898. Decisions on Calendar Wednesday. | The first portion of this rule was adopted March 1, 1909, and amended March 15, 1909. The first and second provisos were adopted January 18, 1916. The last proviso was adopted December 8, 1931 (VII, 881), and was amended in the 102d Congress to specify that the alphabetical call of the committees under Calendar Wednesday resumes where left off between sessions within a Congress (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1991, p. 39). The rule applies to unprivileged bills only, and when a bill otherwise unprivileged is given a privileged status by unanimous consent or by rule it is automatically rendered ineligible for consideration on Calendar Wednesday (VII, 932- 935). House Calendar bills have no preference over Union Calendar bills (VII, 938). The motion to dispense with a call of committees under this rule is privileged and may be made prior to the consideration of District of Columbia business under clause 8 of this rule (June 11, 1973, pp. 19028-30). |
Sec. 899. District of Columbia. | 8. The second and fourth Mondays in each month, after the disposition of motions to discharge committees and after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, shall, when claimed by the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, be set apart for the consideration of such business relating to the District of Columbia as may be presented by said committee. |