[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. * * * |
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. * * * |
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. * * * |
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. * * * |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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 |
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). |
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). |
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).
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