[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 615-619] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] Rule XIX. OF AMENDMENTS. [[Page 616]]
Sec. 822. Amendments to text and to title. | When a motion or proposition is under consideration a motion to amend and a motion to amend that amendment shall be in order, and it shall also be in order to offer a further amendment by way of substitute, to which one amendment may be offered, but which shall not be voted on until the original matter is perfected, but either may be withdrawn before amendment or decision is had thereon. Amendments to the title of a bill or resolution shall not be in order until after its passage, and shall be decided without debate. |
Sec. 823. Conditions of the motion to amend. | It is not in order to offer more than one motion to amend of the same nature at a time (V, 5755; VIII, 2831), and two independent amendments may be voted on at once only by unanimous consent of the House (V, 5779). Amendments en bloc, once pending, are open to perfecting amendment at any point (June 12, 1991, p. ----). An amendment must contain instructions to the Clerk as to the portion of the bill it seeks to amend and is subject to a point of order if not in proper form (Oct. 3, 1985, pp. 25970-71). A Member may not amend or modify his own amendment except by unanimous consent (Oct. 1, 1985, p. 25453); and where the Chair recognizes the proponent of an amendment to propound such a unanimous consent request before commencing debate, the Chair does not charge time consumed under a reservation of objection against the proponent's time for debate on the amendment (Feb. 3, 1993, p. ----; May 27, 1993, p. ----). Discrete propositions to strike out and insert provisions on diverse pages and lines of a bill and to insert a new section on a separate subject may constitute separate amendments which may be offered en bloc only by unanimous consent, even when the bill has been considered as read and open to amendment at any point (Sept. 16, 1981, Deschler's Precedents, vol. 9, ch. 27, sec. 11.26). But the four motions specified by the rule may be pending at one and the same time (V, 5793; VIII, 2883, 2887). Once a perfecting amendment to an amendment is disposed of, the original amendment, as amended or not, remains open to further perfecting amendment (June 20, 1991, p. ----), and all such amendments are disposed of prior to voting on substitutes for the original amendment and amendments thereto (July 26, 1984, p. 21253). An amendment in the third degree is not specified by the rule and is not permissible (V, 5754; VIII, 2580, 2888, 2891), even when the third degree is in the nature of substitute for an amendment to a substitute (V, 5791; VIII, 2889). However, a substitute amendment may be amended by striking out all after its first word and inserting a new text (V, 5793, 5794), as this, while in effect a substitute, is not technically so, for the substitute always proposes to strike out all after the enacting or resolving words in order to insert a new text (V, 5785, footnote) or to replace all the words of an amendment; and the Chair will not look behind the form of the amendment in determining whether it is a perfecting amendment or a substitute (June 13, 1994, p. ----). To qualify as a substitute an amendment must treat in the same manner the same subject carried by the amendment for which offered (VIII, 2879), and for an amendment inserting new text in a bill, a proposition not only inserting similar language but also striking out original text of the bill is not in order as a substitute (VIII, 2880; Sept. 8, 1976, pp. 29237-38). To an amendment adding a new section, an amendment making perfecting |
Sec. 823a. Relation of point of order to motion to amend. | A point of order against an amendment is timely if made or reserved prior to formal recognition of the proponent to commence debate thereon (July 16, 1991, p. ----), but thereafter comes too late (V, 6894, 6898-6899). To preclude a point of order, debate should be on the merits of the proposition (V, 6901). When enough of an amendment has been read to show that it is out of order, a point of order may be raised without waiting for the reading to be completed (V, 6886-6887; VIII, 2912, 3437), though the Chair may decline to rule until the entire proposition has been read (Dec. 14, 1973, pp. 41716-18). A timely reservation of a point of order by one Member inures to the benefit of any other Member who desires to press a point of order (V, 6906; July 18, 1990, p. ----). |
Sec. 824. Withdrawal of the motion to amend. | While the rule provides that either an ordinary or substitute amendment may be withdrawn in the House (V, 5753) or ``in the House as in Committee of the Whole'' (IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21315), it may not be withdrawn or modified in Committee of the Whole except by unanimous consent (V, 5221; VIII, 2564, 2859). |
Sec. 825. Precedence of the motion to amend. | Pursuant to clause 4 of rule XVI, the motion for the previous question takes precedence of a motion to amend (Nov. 8, 1971, p. 39944); and if the previous question is not ordered, the motion to refer also has precedence of the motion to amend (V, 5555; VI, 373). Amendments reported by a committee are acted on before those offered from the floor (V, 5773; VIII, 2862, 2863), but a floor amendment to the text of a pending section is considered before a committee amendment adding a new section at the end of the pending section (Oct. 4, 1972, pp. 33779-82), and there is a question as to the extent to which the chairman of the committee reporting a bill should be recognized to offer amendments to perfect it in preference to other Members (II, 1450). Amendments may not be offered by proxy (VIII, 2830). The motion to strike out the enacting clause has precedence of the motion to amend, and may be offered while an amendment is pending (V, 5328-5331; VIII, 2622-2624); but the motion to amend takes precedence over a motion that the Committee of the Whole rise and report the bill with the recommendation that it pass (July 27, 1937, p. 7699). |
Sec. 826. Relation of the motion to amend to other motions. | With some exceptions an amendment may attach itself to secondary and privileged motions (V, 5754). Thus, the motions to postpone, refer, amend, for a recess, and to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn may be amended (V, 5754; VIII, 2824). But the motions for the previous question, to lay on the table, to adjourn (V, 5754) and to go into Committee of the Whole to consider a privileged bill may not be amended (IV, 3078, 3079; VI, 723-725). |