[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
[104th Congress]
[House Document 103-342]
[Rules of the House of Representatives]
[Pages 353-365]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
Rule IX.
QUESTIONS OF PRIVILEGE.
| Sec. 661. Definition of questions of privilege. | 1. Questions of privilege shall be, first, those affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings; and second, those affecting the rights, reputation, and conduct of Members, individually, in their representative capacity only. |
| Sec. 661a. Precedence of questions of privilege. | 2. (a)(1) A resolution reported as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered from the floor by the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered as privileged under article I, section 7, clause 1 of the Constitution, shall have precedence of all other |
| Sec. 662. Privilege of the House. | The privileges of the House, as distinguished from that of the individual Member, include questions relating to its constitutional prerogatives in respect to revenue legislation and appropriations (II, 1480-1501; VI, 315; Nov. 8, 1979, pp. 31517-18; Oct. 1, 1985, p. 25418; June 16, 1988, p. 14780; June 21, 1988, p. 15425; Aug. 12, 1994, p. ----), when the House is in possession of the papers (June 20, 1968, Deschler's Precedents, vol. 3, ch. 13, sec. 14.2; Aug. 19, 1982, p. 22127), but not otherwise (Apr. 6, 1995, p. ----); including revenue and other treaties (II, 1502-1537); impeachments and matters incidental thereto (Sec. 604, supra); the constitutional prerogatives of the House with respect to bills ``pocket vetoed'' during an intersession adjournment (Nov. 21, 1989, p. 31156); its power to punish for contempt, whether of its own Members (II, 1641- 1665), of witnesses who are summoned to give information (II, 1608, 1612; III, 1666-1724), or of other persons (II, 1597-1640). However, neither the enumeration of legislative powers in article I, section 8 of the Constitution nor the prohibition in the seventh clause of section 9 of that article against any withdrawal from the Treasury except by enactment of an appropriation renders a measure purporting to exercise or limit the exercise of those powers a question of the privileges of the House, because rule IX is concerned not with the privileges of the Congress, as a legislative branch, but only with the privileges of the House, as a House (Speaker Gingrich, Feb. 7, 1995, p. ----). |
| Sec. 663. Privilege of the Member. | The privilege of the Member rests primarily on the Constitution, which gives to him a conditional immunity from arrest (Sec. 90) and an unconditional freedom of debate in the House (III, 2670, Sec. 92, supra). A menace to the personal safety of Members from an insecure ceiling in the Hall was held to involve a question of the highest privilege (III, 2685); and an assault on a Member within the Capitol when the House was not in session, from a cause not connected with the Member's representative capacity, was also held to involve a question of privilege (II, 1624). But there has been doubt as to the right of the House to interfere for the protection of Members, who outside the Hall, get into difficulties not connected with their official duties (II, 1277; III, 2678; footnote). Charges against the conduct of a Member are held to involve privilege when they relate to his representative capacity (III, 1828- 1830, 2716; VI, 604, 612; VIII, 2479); but when they relate to conduct at a time before he became a Member they have not been entertained as of privilege (II, 1287; III, 2691, 2723, 2725). A distinction has |
| Sec. 664. General principles as to precedence of questions of privilege. | The clause of the rule giving questions of privilege precedence of all other questions except a motion to adjourn is a recognition of a principle always well understood in the House, for it is an axiom of the parliamentary law that such a question ``supersedes the consideration of the original question, and must be first disposed of'' (III, 2522, 2523; VI, 595). As the business of the House began to increase it was found |
| Sec. 665. Precedence of questions of privilege as related to pending business. | A question of privilege which relates to a breach of privilege (an assault) occurring during the reading of the Journal may interrupt its reading (II, 1630). A question of privilege may interrupt the reading of the Journal (II, 1630; VI, 637), the consideration of a bill under a special order (III, 2524, 2525), a rule providing for a vote ``without intervening motion'' (VI, 560), a proposition to suspend the rules (III, 2553; VI, 553, 565), the consideration of certain matters on which the previous question has been ordered (III, 2532; VI, 561; VIII, 2688), business in order on Calendar Wednesday (VI, 394; VII, 908-910), reports from the Rules Committee before debate has begun (VIII, 3491; Mar. 11, 1987, p. 5403), call of the Consent Calendar on Monday (VI, 553), before that Calendar was repealed in the 104th Congress (H. Res. 168, June 20, 1995, p. ----), and motions to resolve into Committee of the Whole (VI, 554; VIII, 3461). A question of the privileges of the House takes precedence over unfinished business, privileged under clauses 1 and 3 of rule XXIV (Speaker Albert, June 4, 1975, p. 16860). Since a resolution raising a question of the privileges of the House takes precedence over a motion to suspend the rules, it may be offered and voted on between motions to suspend the rules on which the Speaker has postponed record votes until after debate on all suspensions (May 17, 1983, p. 12486). While a question of privilege is pending a message of the President is received (V, 6640-6642), but is read only by unanimous consent (V, 6639). A motion to reconsider may also be entered but may not be considered (V, 5673-5676). It has been held that only one question of privilege may be pending at a time (III, 2533), but having presented one question of privilege, a Member, before discussing it, may submit a second question of privilege related to the first and discuss both on one recognition (VI, 562). In general one question of privilege may not take precedence over another (III, 2534, 2552, 2581), and the Chair's power of recognition determines which of two matters of equal privilege is considered first (July 24, 1990, p. -- --). While a resolution raising a question of the privileges of the House has precedence over all other questions, it is nevertheless subject to disposition by the ordinary motions permitted under clause 4 of rule XVI, and by the motion to refer under clause 1 of rule XVII (Speaker Albert, Feb. 19, 1976, p. 3914; Apr. 28, 1983, p. 10423; Mar. 22, 1990, p. 4996). While under rule IX a question of the privileges of the House takes precedence over all other questions except the motion to adjourn, the Speaker may, pursuant to his power of recognition under clause 2 of rule XIV, entertain unanimous consent requests for ``one- minute speeches'' pending recognition for a question of privilege, since such unanimous consent requests, if granted, temporarily waive the |
| Sec. 666. Precedence of questions of personal privilege. | When a Member proposes merely to address the House on a question of personal privilege, and does not bring up a resolution affecting the dignity or integrity of the House for action, the practice as to precedence is somewhat different. Thus, a Member rising to a question of personal privilege may not interrupt a call of the yeas and nays (V, 6051, 6052, 6058, 6059; VI, 554, 564), or take from the floor another Member who has been recognized for debate (V, 5002; VIII, 2459, 2528; Sept. 29, 1983, p. 26508; July 23, 1987, p. 20861), but he may interrupt the ordinary legislative business (III, 2531). A Member may address the House on a question of personal privilege even after the previous question has been ordered on a pending bill (VI, 561; VIII, 2688). Under modern practice, a question of personal privilege may not be raised in Committee of the Whole (Sept. 4, 1969, p. 24372; Dec. 13, 1973, p. 41270), the proper remedy being that a demand that words uttered in the Committee of the Whole be taken down pursuant to clause 5 of rule XIV; yet a breach of privilege occurring in Committee of the Whole relates to the dignity of the House and is so treated (II, 1657). A question of personal privilege may not be raised while a question of the privileges of the House is pending (Apr. 30, 1985, p. 9808; May 1, 1985, p. 10003). |
| Sec. 667. Questions of privilege in the absence of a quorum. | During a call of the House in the absence of a quorum, only such questions of privilege as relate immediately to those proceedings may be presented (III, 2545). See also Sec. 771a, infra. |