Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 107th Congress-Section XII.Committee of the Whole

[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 107th Congress]
[107th Congress]
[House Document 106-320]
[Jeffersons Manual of ParliamentaryPractice]
[Pages 151-159]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

sec. xii--committee of the whole

Sec. 326. Parliamentary usage as to Committee of the
Whole.

The speech, messages, and other matters of great concernment are
usually referred to a Committee of the Whole House (6 Grey, 311), where
general principles are digested in the form of resolutions, which are
debated and amended till they get into a shape which meets the
approbation of a majority. These being reported and confirmed by the
House are then referred to one or more select committees, according as
the subject divides itself into one or more bills. Scob., 36, 44.
Propositions for any charge on the people are especially to be first
made in a Committee of the Whole. 3 Hats., 127. The sense of the whole
is better taken in committee, because in all committees everyone speaks
as often as he pleases. Scob., 49. * * *

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reported with recommendations for the reference of various portions to
the proper standing or select committees (V, 6621, 6622), was
discontinued in the 64th Congress (VIII, 3350). The current practice is
to refer the annual message to the Committee of the Whole House on the
state of the Union and order it printed (Jan. 14, 1969, p. 651).
Executive communications submitted to implement the proposals contained
in the State of the Union Message are referred by the Speaker to the
various committees having jurisdiction over the subject matter therein.
This provision is largely obsolete, the House having by its rules and
practice provided specifically for procedure in Committee of the Whole,
and having also by its rules for the order of business left no
privileged status for motions to go into Committee of the Whole on
matters not already referred to that committee. The Committee of the
Whole no longer originates resolutions or bills, but receives such as
have been formulated by standing or select committees and referred to
it; and when it reports, the House usually acts at once on the report
without reference to select or other committees (IV, 4705). The practice
of referring annual messages of the President to Committee of the Whole,
to be there considered and

Sec. 327. Selection of Chairman of Committee of the
Whole.

* * * They generally acquiesce in the chairman named by the Speaker;
but, as well as all other committees, have a right to elect one, some
member, by consent, putting the question, Scob., 36; 3 Grey, 301. * * *

The House (by clause 1 of rule XVIII) gives the authority to appoint
the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to the Speaker (IV, 4704).

Sec. 328. Form of going into Committee of the
Whole.

* * * The form of going from the House into committee, is for the
Speaker, on motion, to put the question that the House do now resolve
itself into a Committee of the Whole to take into consideration such a
matter, naming it. If determined in the affirmative, he leaves the chair
and takes a seat elsewhere, as any other Member; and the person
appointed chairman seats himself at the Clerk's table. Scob., 36. * * *

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This is the form in the House, except that the Chairman of the
Committee of the Whole seats himself in the Speaker's chair. Clause 1(b)
of former rule XXIII (current rule XVIII) was adopted to authorize the
Speaker, and it is the modern practice, when no other business is
pending, to declare the House resolved into Committee of the Whole to
consider a measure at any time after the House has adopted a special
order of business providing for consideration of such measure (and not
require a motion), unless the resolution specifies otherwise (H. Res. 5,
Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).

Sec. 329. Quorum in Committee of the Whole.

* * * Their
quorum is the same as that of the House; and if a defect happens, the
chairman, on a motion and question, rises, the Speaker resumes the chair
and the chairman can make no other report than to inform the House of
the cause of their dissolution. * * *

Until 1890 a quorum of the Committee of the Whole was the same as the
quorum of the House; but in 1890 the rule (former clause 2 of rule
XXIII, current clause 6 of rule XVIII) fixed it at one hundred (IV,
2966). Clause 6 of rule XVIII provides the procedure that is followed in
Committee of the Whole in case of failure of a quorum.

Sec. 330. Rising of committee for reception of
messages.

* * * If a message is announced during a committee, the Speaker
takes the chair and receives it, because the committee can not. 2 Hats.,
125, 126.

In the House, the committee rises informally to receive a message, or
to enable the Speaker to sign and lay before the House an enrolled bill,
at the direction of the Chairman without a formal motion from the floor
(IV, 4786, footnote; Jan. 28, 1980, p. 888; Feb. 8, 1995, p. 4112); but
at this rising the House may not have the message read or transact other
business except by unanimous consent (IV, 4787-4791). However, it is the
general custom for the Speaker to decline to entertain a unanimous-
consent request during an informal rising of the Committee of the Whole
(IV, 4789, Apr. 6, 2000, p. ----).

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approved as the only expedient to suppress the disorder. And every
Member was required, standing up in his place, to engage that he would
proceed no further in consequence of what had happened in the grand
committee, which was done. 3 Grey, 128.

Sec. 331. Quarrels in Committee of the Whole, and duty of
the Speaker in relation thereto.

In a Committee of the Whole, the tellers
on a division differing as to numbers, great heats and confusion arose,
and danger of a decision by the sword. The Speaker took the chair, the
mace was forcibly laid on the table; whereupon the Members retiring to
their places, the Speaker told the House ``he has taken the chair
without an order to bring the House into order.'' Some excepted against
it; but it was generally

In the House the Speaker has on several occasions taken the chair
``without an order to bring the House into order'' (II, 1648-1653), but
that being accomplished he may yield to the chairman that the committee
may rise in due form (II, 1349). In one instance, the chairman, having
been defied and insulted by a Member, left the chair; and, on the chair
being taken by the Speaker, he reported the facts to the House (II,
1653). In several cases Members who have quarrelled have made
explanation and reconciled their difficulties (II, 1651), or have been
compelled by the House to apologize ``for violating its privilege and
offending its dignity'' (II, 1648, 1650).

Sec. 332. Effect of breaking up of Committee of the Whole by
disorder.

A Committee of the Whole being broken up in disorder, and the
chair resumed by the Speaker without an order, the House was adjourned.
The next day the committee was considered as thereby dissolved, and the
subject again before the House; and it was decided in the House, without
returning into committee. 3 Grey, 130.

This provision is obsolete, since in the practice of the House there
is but one Committee of the Whole, which is in its nature a standing
committee with calendars of business. It is never dissolved, and bills
remain on its calendar until reported in the regular manner after
consideration (IV, 4705). When the Speaker restores order he usually
yields the chair to the chairman, thus permitting the committee later to
rise in due form (II, 1349).

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their consideration such a matter, and have made progress therein; but
not having had time to go through the same, have directed him to ask
leave to sit again. Whereupon a question is put on their having leave,
and on the time the House will again resolve itself into a committee.
Scob., 38. But if they have gone through the matter <> referred
to them, a member moves that the committee may rise, and the chairman
report their proceedings to the House; which being resolved, the
chairman rises, the Speaker resumes the chair, the chairman informs him
that the committee have gone through the business referred to them, and
that he is ready to make report when the House shall think proper to
receive it. If the House have time to receive it, there is usually a cry
of ``now, now,'' whereupon he makes the report; but if it be late, the
cry is ``to-morrow, to-morrow,'' or ``Monday,'' etc., or a motion is
made to that effect, and a question put that it be received to-morrow,
&c. Scob., 38.

Sec. 333. Motions for previous question and to adjourn not
used in Committee of the Whole.

No previous question can be put in a
committee; nor can this committee adjourn as others may; but if their
business is unfinished, they rise, on a question, the House is resumed,
and the chairman reports that the Committee of the Whole have, according
to order, had under

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and may be offered during debate on a pending amendment, except where a
Member has the floor (Aug. 13, 1986, p. 21215; Mar. 22, 1995, p. 8770).
The motion to rise may not include restrictions on the amendment process
or limitations on future debate on amendments (June 6, 1990, p. 13234).
The motion that the Committee of the Whole rise is not debatable (May
17, 2000, p. ----). For a further discussion of the motion to rise, see
Sec. 983, infra.
In the practice of the House the previous question and motion to
adjourn are not admitted in Committee of the Whole; but the rules
(clause 8 of rule XVIII) provide for closing both the general and five-
minute debate. When the committee rises without concluding a matter the
chairman reports that they ``have come to no resolution thereon''; but
leave to sit again is not asked in the modern practice. The permission
of the House is not asked when the chairman reports a matter concluded
in committee. The report is made and received as a matter of course, and
is thereupon before the House for action. When the House has vested
control of general debate in certain Members, their control may not be
abrogated during general debate by another Member moving to rise, unless
they yield for that purpose (May 25, 1967, p. 14121; June 10, 1999, p.
----). A Member yielded time in general debate may not yield to another
for such motion (Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2178; May 17, 2000, p. ----). The
motion that the Committee of the Whole rise is privileged during debate
under the five-minute rule,

Sec. 335. Duties of Speaker and House as to reception of
reports of Committee of the Whole.

The Speaker recognizes only reports
from the Committee of the Whole made by the chairman thereof (V, 6987),
and a matter alleged to have arisen therein but not reported may not be
brought to the attention of the House (VIII, 2429, 2430) even on the
claim that a question of privilege is involved (IV, 4912; V, 6987; VIII,
2430). In one instance, however, the committee reported with a bill a
resolution relating to an alleged breach of privilege (V, 6986). When a
bill is reported the Speaker must assume that it has passed through all
the stages necessary for the report (IV, 4916). When the committee
reported not only what it had done but by whom it had been prevented
from doing other things, the Speaker held that the House might not amend
the report, which stood (IV, 4909). But a committee may not report a
recommendation which, if carried into effect, would change a rule of the
House (IV, 4907, 4908) unless a measure proposing amendments to House
rules has initially been referred to the Committee of the Whole by the
House. When an amendment is reported by the committee it may not be
withdrawn, and a question as to its validity is not considered by the
Speaker (IV, 4900). When a committee, directed by order of the House to
consider certain bills, reported also certain other bills, the Speaker
held that so much of the report as related to the latter bills could be
received only by unanimous consent (IV, 4911). When a report is ruled
out as in excess of the committee's power, the accompanying bill stands
recommitted (IV, 4784, 4907). A report from a Committee of the Whole
could not formerly be received in the absence of a quorum (VI, 666;
clause 7 of rule XX).

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further amended clause 2 to permit only the Majority Leader or a
designee to offer that motion (sec. 215(a), H. Res. 6, Jan. 4, 1995, p.
468). The 105th Congress elevated the Majority Leader's preferential
motion in clause 2 to take precedence of any motion to amend at that
stage (H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 1997, p. ----). The practice of the House,
based originally on a rule (IV, 4904), requires amendments to be
reported from the Committee of the Whole in their perfected forms, and
this holds good even in the case of an amendment in the nature of a
substitute, which may have been amended freely (IV, 4900-4903). If a
Committee of the Whole amends a paragraph and subsequently strikes out
the paragraph as amended, the first amendment fails, and is not reported
to the House or voted on (IV, 4898; V, 6169; VIII, 2421, 2426), and when
the Committee of the Whole adopts two amendments that are subsequently
deleted by an amendment striking out and inserting new text, only the
latter amendment is reported to the House (June 20, 1967, p. 16497).
Where two amendments proposing inconsistent motions to strike and insert
a pending section are considered as separate first degree amendments
(not one as a substitute for the other) before either is finally
disposed of under a special procedure permitting the Chair to postpone
requests for a recorded vote, the Chair's order of voting on the matter
as unfinished business determines which amendment (if both were adopted)
would be reported to the House (Aug. 6, 1998, p. ----). Normally, if the
Committee of the Whole perfects a bill by adopting certain amendments
and then adopts an amendment striking out all after section one of the
bill and inserting a new text, only the bill, as amended by the motion
to strike out and insert, is reported to the House; but when the bill is
being considered under a special rule permitting a separate vote in the
House on any of the amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to
the bill or the committee substitute, all amendments adopted in the
Committee are reported to the House regardless of their consistency (May
26, 1960, pp. 11302-04). Where a separate vote is demanded in this type
of situation in the House only on an amendment striking out a section of
a committee substitute, but not on perfecting amendments which have been
previously adopted in Committee of the Whole to that section, rejection
in the House of the motion to strike the section results in a vote on
the committee substitute in its original form and not as perfected,
since the perfecting amendments have been displaced in the Committee of
the Whole and have not been revived on a separate vote in the House
(Speaker O'Neill, Oct. 13, 1977, pp. 33622-24). But where the Committee
of the Whole reports a bill to the House with an adopted amendment in
the nature of a substitute and the special order of business in question
does not provide for separate House votes on amendments thereto, a
separate vote may not be demanded on an amendment to such amendment,
since only one amendment in its perfected form has been reported back to
the House (Nov. 17, 1983, p. 33463).

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Sec. 336. Amendments in Committee of the
Whole.

The Committee of the Whole, like any other committee, may amend a proposition either
by an ordinary amendment or by a substitute amendment (IV, 4899), but
these amendments must be reported to the House for action. Amendments
rejected by the committee are not reported (IV, 4877). Ordinarily all
amendments must be disposed of before the committee may report (IV,
4752-4758); but sometimes a special order of business requires a report
at a specified time, in which case pending amendments are reported (IV,
3225-3228) or not (IV, 4910) as the terms of the order may direct. In
the 98th Congress, clause 2 of rule XXI was amended to give precedence
to the motion that the Committee rise and report a general appropriation
bill at the conclusion of its reading for amendment and prior to or
between consideration of amendments proposing certain limitations or
retrenchments (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34). The 104th Congress

Sec. 337. Committee of the Whole amendments in the
House.

All amendments to a bill reported from the Committee of the Whole
stand on an equal footing and must be voted on by the House (IV, 4871)
in the order in which they are reported, although they may be
inconsistent, one with another (IV, 4881, 4882), and are subject to
amendment in the House unless the previous question is ordered (VIII,
2419). Two amendments being reported as distinct were considered
independently, although apparently one was a proviso attaching to the
other (IV, 4905); and an entire and distinct amendment may not be
divided, but must be voted on by the House as a whole (IV, 4883-4892;
VIII, 2426). It is a frequent practice for the House by unanimous
consent, to act at once on all the amendments to a bill reported from
the Committee of the Whole, but it is the right of any Member to demand
a separate vote on any amendment (IV, 4893, 4894; VIII, 2419). Where a
special rule permits en bloc consideration of certain amendments in
Committee of the Whole, those amendments if reported back to the House
may also be considered en bloc for a separate vote in the House on
demand of any Member (Speaker O'Neill, Sept. 7, 1978, p. 28425). A
Member may demand a separate vote in the House on an amendment to a
committee amendment in the nature of a substitute adopted in the
Committee of the Whole where the bill is being considered under a
special rule permitting separate votes in the House on any of the
amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or
committee amendment (Sept. 30, 1971, p. 34337), but where a special rule
``self-executes'' an amendment as a modification of an amendment in the
nature of a substitute to be considered as an original bill, that
modification is not separately voted on upon demand in the House
(Speaker Foley, Feb. 3, 1993, p. 2043). A Member may withdraw a demand
for a separate vote in the House on an amendment reported from Committee
of the Whole prior to the Speaker's putting the question thereon, and
unanimous consent is not required (May 28, 1987, p. 14030). When demand
is made for separate votes in the House on several amendments adopted in
the Committee of the Whole, the amendments are voted on in the House in
the order in which they appear in the bill (July 24, 1968, pp. 23093-95;
May 28, 1987, p. 14030; June 11, 1997, p. ----), except when amendments
have been considered under a special rule prescribing the order for
their consideration where the bill is considered as read, in which case
they are voted on upon demand in the order in which considered in
Committee of the Whole (Mar. 11, 1993, p. 4733; Mar. 25, 1993, pp. 6358,
6359).

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Whole does not prevent it from being offered as an amendment when the
subject comes up in the House (IV, 4878-4880; VIII, 2700). A substitute
amendment may be offered to a bill reported from committee, and then the
previous question may be ordered on the substitute, on all other
amendments, and on the bill to final passage (V, 5472). An amendment in
the nature of a substitute reported from committee is treated like any
other amendment (V, 5341), and if the House rejects the substitute the
original bill without amendment is before the House (VIII, 2426).
Depending on the will of the House as expressed on the question of
ordering the previous question (IV, 4895; V, 5794; VIII, 2419), when a
bill is reported with amendments, it is in order to submit additional
amendments after disposition of the committee amendments (IV, 4872-
4876). However, in modern practice the opportunity to submit amendments
is normally foreclosed by the ordering of the previous question under a
special rule. The fact that a proposition has been rejected by the
Committee of the

Sec. 338. Bills from Committee of the Whole in the
House.

Where a series of bills are reported from Committee of the Whole, the
House considers them in the order in which they are reported (IV, 4869,
4870; VIII, 2417). A proposition reported for action has precedence over
an independent resolution on the same subject offered by a Member from
the floor (V, 6986), and where a bill and a resolution relating to an
alleged breach of privilege were reported together the question was put
first on the bill (V, 6986). A bill read in full and considered in
Committee of the Whole (IV, 3409, 3410), or presumed to have been so
read (IV, 4916), is not read in full again in the House when reported
and acted on. The Chairman of the Committee of the Whole which reports a
bill does not become entitled to prior recognition for debate in the
House (II, 1453); but on an adverse report an opponent is recognized to
make a motion for disposition of the bill (IV, 4897; VIII, 2430), or for
debate (VII, 2629). The recommendation of the committee being before the
House, the motion to carry out the recommendation is usually considered
as pending without being offered from the floor (IV, 4896), but when a
bill was reported with a recommendation that it lie on the table, a
question was raised as to whether or not this motion, which prevents
debate, should be considered as pending (IV, 4897). The House considers
an amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole to the preamble of
a Senate joint resolution following disposition of amendments to the
text and pending third reading (May 25, 1993, pp. 11036, 11037).

Sec. 339. Discharge of the Committee of the Whole.

A motion
to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the consideration of a
matter committed to it is not privileged as against a demand for the
regular order (IV, 4917). When the committee is discharged from
consideration of a bill the House, in lieu of the report of the
chairman, accepts the minutes of the Clerk as evidence of amendments
agreed to (IV, 4922).
<> In other things the rules or proceedings are to be the same
as in the House. Scob., 39.

The House provides by rule (clause 12 of rule XVIII) that the rules of
proceeding in the House shall apply in Committee of the Whole so far as
they may be applicable.