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Absence of a Quorum
The absence of a quorum occurs when it is officially demonstrated that the number of Members required to conduct business is not present on the House or Senate floor. If a quorum call or roll-call vote demonstrates that a quorum is not present, no further debate or other business may be transacted, except a motion to adjourn or a motion to request or require the attendance of absent Members. In the House, the chair can count the Members who are on the floor to determine if a quorum is present. The presiding officer in the Senate usually does not have this authority.
In the Senate, a quorum call is called off by unanimous consent before all Senators' names have been called. The absence of quorum has not been demonstrated, and the Senate may resume its business.
Adjourn, Motion to
A motion to adjourn is a nondebatable motion to end the day's session of the House or Senate or a committee. It sometimes specifies the time or day for reconvening, or makes reconvening subject to the call of Chair. Since a motion to adjourn is of the highest privilege, it must be voted on immediately. It cannot be offered in the House's Committee of the Whole.
Bills
A bill is the most common form of legislation; it proposes to create a new act or to amend or repeal existing law. Bills may be either public or private. They have a prefix of "H.R." when introduced in the House, or "S." when introduced in the Senate, followed by a number assigned sequentially as bills are introduced during a two-year Congress. Most legislative proposals are in the form of bills, and may deal with either domestic or foreign issues. Authorizations (establishing federal programs and agencies) and appropriations (actually providing the money for these programs and agencies) are both in the form of bills.
A bill becomes law when passed with identical language by both houses of Congress and signed by the President, when passed over his veto, of if the President fails to sign it within 10 days after receiving it while Congress is in session.
Standard abbreviations:
H.R. (House bills)
S. (Senate bills)
Bills in Conference
A legislative measure cannot become law until passed in identical form by both the House and the Senate. Either house of Congress may request a conference to reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of a bill.
After both the House and the Senate formally accede to a conference, they select a "conference committee" - a temporary group of Members from both houses assigned the responsibility of reconciling differences in legislation that has been passed in different form by each house.
If the conferees cannot come to agreement on the legislation, they report back the disagreement to their respective chambers. Then, for example, one chamber can either "recede and concur" in the amendment of the other house or continue to "insist on" its own amendment.
When the language of the bill is agreed upon by a simple majority of the conferees of both chambers, a conference report is prepared delineating the changes proposed in the legislation and explaining each side's position.
If conferees are unable to come to a compromise version of the bill before the end of the Congress, the bill dies.
Bills Unsigned by President
Under the Constitution, the President has 10 days (not including Sundays) to approve the bill. If the President accepts it, he writes "approved" on the bill, signs and dates it, and transmits this information to the Senate and the House.
In the event the President does not want to actively approve a bill but is unwilling to veto it, he may, by not signing and returning the bill within the ten-day period after it is presented to him, permit it to become law without his approval when Congress is in session.
Once it has become law, the enrolled bill is delivered to the offices of the Federal Register, where it is designated as a private or public law, depending on its purpose and content, and assigned a number. There are separate series of numbers for public and for private laws, each starting with "1" for each 2-year session of Congress. Laws are identified by series, number, and Congress: e.g., Public Law 104-1, Private Law 104-1. An official copy is sent to the Government Printing Office (GPO) to be used in making a "slip print law," or simply a "slip law."
Calendar
A calendar is a list of legislative measures or other matters in the House or Senate that are eligible for floor action. The House has five legislative calendars; the Senate has one legislative and one executive calendar. Placement of a measure on the calendar does not guarantee consideration. Each chamber determines which measures and matters it will take up, when, and in what order, according to its own rules and practices.
Once a bill has been reported in the House, it is placed on one five legislative calendars:
- Union Calendar: for authorization and appropriations bills and bills raising revenues;
- House Calendar: for all other public bills and resolutions;
- Corrections Calendar: created during the 104th Congress. Measures must first have been reported by the committee of jurisdiction and placed on either the House or Union Calendar. After consulting with the minority leader, the Speaker of the House then decides which bills are to be placed on the Corrections Calendar. On the House floor, the call of the Calendar occurs on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Amendments are restricted, and the measure must pass by a three-fifths vote. Measures failing to pass remain on the calendar to which they were originally referred.
- Private Calendar: for bills of a private nature that usually are passed without debate, e.g., relief of an individual with a claim against the federal government, immigration of individual(s), etc. -- scheduled for the first and third Tuesdays of each month; or
- Discharge Calendar: for motions to discharge committees. In the House, if a committee does not report a bill within 30 days after the measure is referred to it, any member may file a discharge motion. This motion, treated as a petition, needs the signatures of 218 members (a majority of the House). Occasionally, to expedite non-controversial legislative business, a committee is discharged by unanimous consent of the House, and a petition is not required.
In the Senate, only one legislative calendar is kept, and one "executive" calendar -- for treaties and nominations submitted to the Senate for consideration.
Civilian Nomination Lists
Civilian nominations submitted on lists from these federal agencies:
FS: Foreign Service
PHS: Public Health Service
CG: Coast Guard
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Cloture
Cloture is the formal procedure that the Senate can employ to end a filibuster. If three-fifths of all Senators (60 if there are no vacancies) vote for the cloture motion, the Senate must take final action on the pending question by the end of 30 hours of additional consideration. During this 30-hour period, each Senator may speak for one hour and all amendments must be germane. In general, this means that each amendment must deal with the same subject as the text it would amend. The Senate often does not consume the entire 30 hours available for post-cloture consideration.
When cloture has been invoked, no other business can take place until the Senate takes final action on the matter on which it has invoked cloture -- except, of course, by unanimous consent.
Committee of the Whole
The Committee of the Whole (formally, "The Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union") was first put into practice in the Continental Congress and became, from the founding of the House of Representatives, a primary forum for debating, considering and perfecting legislation. The Committee of the Whole is not a House committee in the usual sense, but a committee consisting of all members of the House of Representatives -- a parliamentary construct to expedite House action. Although the Committee of the Whole consists of all 435 members, 100 Members constitute a quorum (unlike in the full House, where a simple majority -- 218 Members -- constitutes a quorum).
Procedures in the Committee of the Whole expedite the consideration of legislation because of its smaller quorum requirement, the prohibition of certain motions, and five-minute rule for debate on amendments. These procedures allow more members to participate in the debate on a measure and offer amendments than the procedure in the full House.
After the House adopts a resolution setting the guidelines for considering a bill, the House convenes as the Committee of the Whole, and the Speaker passes the gavel to a chairman, a member of the majority party selected by the Speaker, who presides over the Committee while it is considering the bill.
The Committee of the Whole debates the measure for an amount of time previously ordered by the House, usually one hour to several hours. It considers amendments to the measure under the "five-minute rule," a House rule that in theory limits debate for and against an amendment offered in the Committee of the Whole to ten minutes, five minutes in support and five minutes in opposition. However, this limit can be circumvented using one of two methods: (1) the offering of pro forma amendments to "strike the last word," each debatable for an additional five minutes; (2) a unanimous consent agreement for a Member to speak for more than five minutes. Thus, debate on an amendment can last for hours. After the first 10 minutes of debate on an amendment, a majority vote or unanimous consent can limit or close off further debate.
One fourth of a quorum, 25 members, is required to demand a recorded vote in the Committee of the Whole. (In the House, a fifth of a quorum of 218 is required to demand a roll call vote.)
The Committee of the Whole cannot pass a bill. Instead, when it is done amending the measure, "the committee rises" and its Chair reports its recommendations on the bill back to the full House, where it is voted on (pass or fail), or recommitted (sent back to the legislative committee from which it was reported).(The House Rules Committee provides a explanation of the motion to recommit.) The House also must vote on the amendments that Members adopted in the Committee of the Whole. Unless a bill is recommitted "with instructions," a successful motion to recommit kills the bill. Although it may not recommit a bill, the Committee of the Whole may recommend to the full House that it entertain a motion to "strike the enacting clause" of a bill. If passed by the House, the motion has the result of killing the bill.
The Committee of the Whole does not permit motions to adjourn, lay a measure on the table, recess, recommit, reconsider or for the previous question -- these motions may only be offered in the full House.
Committee Rises
A committee is said to "rise" when it finishes a meeting. A motion to rise is made and adopted when the Committee of the Whole has completed its work on a measure and reports its recommendations back to the full House.
Concurrent Resolutions
Concurrent resolutions are limited in nature. They are not legislative in character, and are not presented to the President for action. They are used to express facts, opinions, principles and purposes of the two houses, such as fixing the time and date for adjournment of a Congress. Annual congressional concurrent resolutions set forth Congress's revenue and spending targets for the coming fiscal year, and thus have great impact upon other legislation. Upon approval by both chambers, they are published in a special part of the Statutes-at-Large. They do not require Presidential approval, and do not have the force of law.
Standard abbreviations:
H.CON.RES. (House Concurrent Resolution)
S.CON.RES. (Senate Concurrent Resolution)
Conference Reports
When the language of the bill is agreed upon by a simple majority of the conferees of both chambers [see Bills in Conference], a conference report is prepared delineating the changes proposed in the legislation and explaining each side's position. Conference reports are always printed in the Congressional Record.
The report is sent to the full House and Senate for approval. If both chambers approve the conference report, it amounts to the passage of the compromise language of the bill. The bill is enrolled -- that is, certified as the true and correct official final copy of the legislation by the chief officer of the chamber in which is originated. It is printed on parchment and then sent to the President for signing into law.
Dilatory Tactics
Dilatory tactics are procedural moves used to prevent or delay action on the floor of either house of Congress or in committee. Examples are a Member speaking indefinitely, as Senate rules permit, offering numerous motions and amendments, demanding quorum calls and recorded votes repeatedly, making constant parliamentary inquiries, and making points of order without cause. Senate rules allow the liberal use of dilatory tactics (especially filibusters), while House rules discourage them, allowing the Speaker to decide whether a motion is dilatory. The Speaker of the House may not prevent a Member from exercising his or her constitutional right to demand a rollcall vote on a question the House has been considering.
Division Votes
In the House and Senate, a division vote is one in which the Chair first counts those in favor of the proposition, and then those against it. Only vote totals are announced; no record is made of how each individual member votes. Division votes may be initiated by the Chair or demanded by any Member if the outcome of a voice vote is in doubt.
In the Senate, the Chair may count raised hands, or ask Senators to stand and be counted; in the House, members are required to stand. Thus a division vote is sometimes called a "standing vote."
Few questions are decided by division vote; usually the losing side will instead request a recorded vote, which has the effect of causing a larger number of Members to be present to vote.
Electronic Voting System
In 1973, an electronic voting system was installed in the House of Representatives to record and tally Member votes. Recorded and roll call votes are generally taken electronically. In addition, quorum calls are generally taken by electronic device.
Each Member is provided with a personalized Vote-ID Card. A Member votes by inserting his/her white plastic voting card into one of 40 voting stations mounted on the backs of chairs along the aisles in the House chamber, then punching a button ("Yes," "No," or "Present") to state his/her position. If a Member is without a Vote-ID Card or wishes to change his/her vote during the last five minutes of a vote, the Member may submit his/her vote by handing a paper ballot to the Tally Clerk, who then records the vote electronically according to the indicated preference of the Member. When the vote is complete, the voting machine records the votes and reports the result. While an electronic vote is taking place, a large electronic board above the press gallery shows the name of each Member beside a light that is green for "yes," red for "no," and amber for "present."
The electronic voting system is used for recording both the "yeas and nays" (constitutionally mandated roll call votes in the whole House) and "ayes" and "noes" (recorded votes, usually taken in the Committee of the Whole). Before the electronic voting system was installed, the Clerk of the House called the roll of the 435-member House, a process that consumed at least one-half hour. The call of the roll is still used when the electronic voting system is malfunctioning.
Enacting Clause
The enacting clause is the beginning language of each bill in the House or Senate: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled... that gives the force of law to bills approved by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President or approved by overriding his veto. If a motion is made and carried to "strike the enacting clause" of a bill, it has the effect of killing the measure.
Filibuster
A filibuster attempts to delay business or block legislation in the U.S. Senate by continuous speeches, prolonged debate, or other procedural actions on the floor. This obstructive and time-consuming parliamentary practice is used by Senators to defeat, modify, or delay the vote on a bill, resolution, amendment, or motion. Filibusters may also be employed to delay passage of -- "hold hostage" -- one bill, which may be urgently needed legislation, in order to force the Senate to act on another bill. Filibusters are effective only because Senate rules contain no motion by which a simple majority of Senators can end a debate. A vote can occur only once debate ends.
The term is derived from the Spanish term filibusteros ("freebooters"), mid-19th century military adventurers who fomented insurrections against various Latin American governments.
Floor Action
The House or Senate chamber where the Members of Congress sit to conduct legislative business is called "the floor." After a bill is reported from committee, the House or Senate is ready to consider the bill and take legislative action on it. Thus "floor action" refers to procedural actions taken during floor consideration of legislation, such as deciding on motions, and taking up, amending, and voting on measures.
Approximately 10,000 bills and resolutions are introduced in each (two-year) Congress. After a bill is introduced in either the House or Senate, almost always it is sent to one or more committees of jurisdiction (i.e., committees charged with reviewing measures in the area of law or policy with which the bill is concerned). The committee(s) of referral most often sends the measure to its specialized subcommittee(s) for study, hearings, revisions and approval. The full House or Senate normally considers, debates, and votes on a bill or resolution only after the committee reports it back to the full House or Senate with a favorable recommendation.
On most major policy issues, many bills are normally introduced dealing with the same subject. Partly for this reason, only about ten percent of bills introduced are ever reported back to the House or Senate for further consideration. Congressional actions on bills after they are reported from committee are referred to as "floor action." For the current Congress, you can limit your search to bills or resolutions that have reached this stage of Congressional consideration in the Bill Text files by selecting the radio button "bills with floor action," and in the Bill Summary and Status files by selecting the "House floor actions" and/or "Senate floor actions" option from the "Stage in the Legislative Process" list on the BSS Advanced Search page. (For past Congresses, your search will be limited to bills that HAD received floor action at the time that Congress ended.)
Joint Resolutions
Joint resolutions are legislative measures that Congress uses for purposes other than general legislation. There is little practical difference between bills and joint resolutions, although the latter are not as numerous as bills. Usually joint resolutions concern limited or temporary matters, such as a continuing or emergency appropriation, corrections of errors in existing law, or the establishment of permanent joint committees. Like bills, joint resolutions also have the force of law, upon approval of both houses of Congress and the signature of the President.
A joint resolution is the legislative vehicle used for proposing amendments to the Constitution. This type of joint resolution is not presented to the President for his signature, but instead becomes part of the Constitution when three-fourths of the states have ratified it.
Standard abbreviations:
H.J.RES. (House Joint Resolution)
S.J.RES. (Senate Joint Resolution)
Journal
The Journal, which is constitutionally mandated, is the official record of House and Senate actions, including all motions offered, all votes taken, all amendments agreed to, and all quorum calls conducted. The Journal does not contain speeches, debates, and Member statements. In contrast, the Congressional Record is a substantially verbatim account of all debates, Member speeches and statements, and also includes statements that Members did not actually deliver on the floor, but had "inserted" into Record. The Record also reports all actions that are recorded in the Journal. The Constitution requires (Article 1, Section 5) that House and Senate Journals be published periodically.
Approving the Journal in the House
Among the House Roll Call Votes in the Web pages provided by the Clerk of the House, you will find votes on the question of "Approving the Journal." According to House Rule, the House must approve its Journal for the previous legislative day at the commencement of its next meeting. Usually this requirement is satisfied by the Speaker's announcement that he has read and approved the Journal. However, any House Member may demand a vote on the Speaker's approval of the Journal. Should the vote to approve the Journal fail, a House Member could make a nondebatable motion to require that the Journal be read. If that motion were to succeed, the Journal could be read and might be amended.
However, the vote always upholds the Speaker's approval, and the Journal is never amended. Roll call votes on the Journal are used as a substitute for a quorum call to determine which Members are present, to interrupt committee meetings, or to delay the proceedings of the House, usually for partisan purposes.
Approving the Journal in the Senate
By rule, the Senate must also approve its Journal for the previous legislative day at the commencement of its next meeting. Approval of the Journal in the Senate is routine -- by unanimous consent. In 1986 a rule was adopted in the Senate permitting a non-debatable motion to waive the reading of the previous legislative day's Journal. The rule was adopted to prevent Senators from forcing a reading of the Journal for dilatory purposes . Because a legislative day in the Senate may extend over weeks or even months, the reading of the Journal might consume hours.
Lay on the Table
A motion to lay on the table (or simply to table) a bill, resolution, amendment, point of order, appeal or another question disposes of the question immediately, finally, and adversely. In other words, tabling a question kills it without a direct vote on the substance of the question. A motion to table is not debatable and is adopted by majority vote or by unanimous consent -- without objection. A tabling motion takes precedence over most other motions and amendments, meaning that it can be offered while other motions and amendments are pending. In the House, only a motion to adjourn has higher precedence. The motion to table also is among the most highly privileged motions in the Senate.
Legislative Day
A legislative day is defined as beginning when a house of Congress meets and ending when it adjourns. The House of Representatives almost always adjourns at the end of a daily session, so its calendar day and legislative day coincide. In contrast, the Senate often does not adjourn at the end of a daily session, but instead "recesses," so when the Senate next meets, it continues in the same legislative day. As a result, a legislative day in the Senate may extend over days, weeks, or even months. The Senate practice is a time-saving device, allowing the Senate to circumvent the requirement of a "morning hour" at the beginning of each legislative day. (Morning hour is a two-hour period in which the Senate conducts routine business, known as "morning business," calls the calendar of bills awaiting floor consideration, and allows Senators to deliver "morning hour speeches" on any subject.)
Live Pair
Live pairs are informal voluntary agreements between Members, and are not specifically authorized or recognized by House or Senate rules. Live pairs are agreements which Members employ to nullify the effect of absences on the outcome of recorded votes. If a Member expects to be absent for a vote, s/he may "pair off" with another Member who will be present and who would vote on the other side of the question, but who agrees not to vote. The Member in attendance states that s/he has a live pair, announces how s/he and the paired Member would have voted, and then votes "present." In this way, the other Member can be absent without affecting the outcome of the vote. Because pairs are informal and unofficial arrangements, they are not counted in vote totals; however paired Members' positions do appear in the Congressional Record.
Member Voting Record
There are several different ways of voting in the House and the Senate, one of which is the roll call vote, where the vote of each member is recorded. Not all bills, in fact, the minority of bills, receive a roll call vote.
The THOMAS home page has a link to roll call votes from 1990 in the House and 1989 in the Senate. Each link lists the roll call votes by sequential roll call number. This number is unrelated to the bill number. You can browse the list of roll call numbers, or you can go to Bill Status in Bill Summary & Status for the given bill and find the vote number (and often a direct link to the roll call vote).
THOMAS does not compile votes by members of Congress. However, the Government Resources page contains resources related to congressional votes.
Additional information can be found in Compiling A Member Voting Record.
Motion
A motion is a formal proposal that a procedural action be taken: for example, a motion to consider a measure, to amend a bill, to lay a bill on the table, to recess, to adjourn, etc.). Usually a motion is offered by a Member when s/he is formally recognized by the chair. The circumstances in which various motions may be offered depend on House and Senate rules. For example, a motion to adjourn or to lay a measure on the table is not permitted in the Committee of the Whole, only in the full House. Normally a motion becomes operative when the House or Senate agrees to it by vote or by unanimous consent. However, by previous agreement, the House or Senate may decide in advance (by unanimous consent in the House or Senate, or by adoption of a special rule in the House) that a motion will automatically take effect at a certain stage of the proceedings.
Overriding a Veto
A Public Law may be enacted over a President's veto, when Congress is successful in its attempt to override the President's veto. Upon reconsideration and debate, the President's veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote in the chamber of origin of the bill (a quorum must be present). If the President's veto is not overridden, the bill does not become law.
If the vote succeeds, an endorsement is made on the back of the bill affirming that one chamber has overridden the veto, and it is sent, with the accompanying message, to the other chamber for its action. If it is likewise reconsidered and passes with a two-thirds vote in the other chamber, the Presidential veto is again overridden, and the bill is similarly endorsed. When both chambers thus override the Presidential veto, the bill is enacted into law. It is not presented again to the President, but is delivered directly for deposit in the National Archives and Records Administration. It is printed, with the attestations of the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate to its passage over the President's veto.
Point of Order
In both the House and Senate, a Member may make a point of order during floor proceedings to object to an alleged violation of a House or Senate rule of procedure and to demand that the chair enforce the rule. Proceedings are delayed while the chair rules on whether or not the point of order is valid.
In the Senate, any Senator may appeal the ruling of the chair. The Senate then decides the point of order, usually by majority vote, when it votes on the appeal; occasionally the ruling of the chair is overturned. The chair also has the option of submitting a point of order to the Senate for a decision without first ruling on it, but is only required to do so when constitutional questions or certain Senate rules are involved.
In the House, appeals to overturn the chair's ruling are also possible, but they are rarely demanded and almost never succeed.
President Pro Tempore
Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution provides for the president pro tempore -- or president "pro tem" -- an officer elected to act as the Senate's presiding officer during the absence of the Vice President of the United States. Although the Constitution names the Vice President of the United States the "President of the Senate," in reality, he rarely presides. The Vice President is most likely to preside when a tie vote may occur because the Constitution empowers the Vice President to vote in case of a tie. The most senior Senator of the majority party usually is elected the president pro tempore. In practice, however, various Senators of the majority party preside over the Senate's floor proceedings during the course of a day's meeting.
Previous Question, Motion for
A motion for the previous question is a debate-limiting practice used in the House of Representatives. When agreed to by majority vote, it precludes further debate on a measure, disallows the offering of any additional amendments, and usually leads to an immediate vote on the pending measure. It is not allowed in the Committee of the Whole or in the Senate. If the previous question is ordered on a measure that has not as yet received any debate at all, the proposal may be debated for forty minutes.
Private Bills
Private bills are restricted to one or more specifically named persons, corporations, institutions, or organizations, usually to grant relief when no other legal means is available. Private bill titles normally begin with the phrase: "For the relief of ...." Most private bills deal with claims against the United States federal government, immigration and naturalization matters, land titles, or appeals for special treatment for a corporate or private person. If approved by both houses of Congress (the House and the Senate) in identical form and signed by the President, they become "Private Laws."
Since the mid 19th century, Congress has sharply reduced the number of private bills it considers by authorizing executive branch agencies to resolve private claims or appeals.
Pro Forma Amendments
Pro forma amendments -- amendments "in form only" -- are offered in the Committee of the Whole and sometimes in the House, presumably to change a measure or another amendment by making a motion to "strike the last word" or "to strike the requisite number of words." The real purpose in offering a pro forma amendment is not to amend the measure or amendment, but to qualify for five minutes of additional debate time. No vote ever takes place on a pro forma amendment.
Public Bills
Public bills deal with general legislative matters national in scope, or that apply to the Federal government or broadly to a entire class of persons or organizations. If approved by both houses of Congress (the House and the Senate) in identical form and signed by the President (or re-passed by the Congress over a Presidential veto), they become "Public Laws."
Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of Representatives or Senators who must be present on the floor in order to conduct business. The Constitution specifies, in Article I, Section 5, that a quorum consists of a simple majority of the full House (currently 218) or the Senate (currently 51).
Unless challenged by a point of order, both the Senate and the House assume that a quorum is present as they conduct daily business. Consequently, often they conduct business when a quorum is not actually present.
Quorum Call
A quorum call is a procedure used in both houses of Congress to bring to the floor the number of Members of the House or Senate who must be present for it to conduct its business.
In the Senate, a Senator who has the floor can force a quorum call at almost any time by suggesting the absence of quorum. The presiding officer usually cannot count to determine whether or not a quorum is present. So when a Senator "suggests the absence of a quorum," the presiding officer directs the Clerk to call the roll of Senators aloud by name. If a majority of Senators respond, a quorum is present and the Senate can return to its business.
However, a quorum call in the Senate usually has a different purpose: most often it is a strategic move that is used to delay proceedings for a variety of reasons -- for example, to conduct informal negotiations on or off the Senate floor, or to await a Senator who is expected to make a speech or propose an amendment. If the purpose of a quorum call actually is to bring a majority of Senators to the floor, it is known as a "live" quorum call.
A quorum call in the House seeks to bring a majority of Members to the floor to record their presence after the absence of a quorum has been established. In the House, a Member makes a point of order that a quorum is not present, usually only when a vote is taking place. The Speaker (or the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole) then counts to determine if a quorum is present. If a majority of Members fail to respond to a quorum call, the House must adjourn or take steps to secure the attendance of enough Members to constitute a quorum.
By long-standing practice, both the House and Senate normally presume that a quorum is present. Since a quorum is assumed, much of the business of Congress takes place -- even the passage of bills -- when only a small number of Members is present on the floor.
Recommit, Motion to
A motion made on the floor after the engrossment and third reading of a bill or resolution, but prior to the Chair's putting the question on final passage. Preference is given to a Member who is opposed to the bill, and is reserved by tradition to the Minority party. The Speaker usually gives priority recognition to the bill's Minority floor manager. The motion to recommit may be without instructions (which is non-debatable and has the effect of killing the bill), or with instructions (subject to 10 minutes or sometimes an hour of debate split between a proponent and opponent, and usually directs the reporting committee to amend 'forthwith' (immediately) or rewrite the bill in a specified way). The motion to recommit does not apply to simple resolutions or concurrent resolutions, but may apply to conference reports where the House acts first.
Reconsider, Motion to
A motion to reconsider is a parliamentary practice that gives the House (or Senate) one opportunity to review its action on a motion, amendment, or measure.
Motions to reconsider are routinely laid on the table -- or killed. If a motion to reconsider is adopted, it requires a vote be held again on whatever the House has voted to reconsider. Only Members who voted on the winning side may move to reconsider a vote. Members have been known to change their votes at the last minute in order to be eligible to offer the motion.
If the original vote on a question is close, enough members might be persuaded to change their position, or absent members could come to the floor, vote to reconsider, then reverse the outcome of the original vote.
Typically, however, after announcing the result of a vote, the Speaker states that, "without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table." This uses up the one opportunity to reconsider, and makes the result of the vote final.
Recorded Votes
In the House of Representatives, the constitutional right to demand a yea-and-nay vote doesn't extend to the Committee of the Whole, which procedurally is very different from the whole House. Thus the electronic votes taken in the Committee of the Whole are technically not roll call votes. Electronic votes taken in the Committee of the Whole are instead recorded votes, and Members are listed as voting "aye" or "no" (instead of "yea" or "nay") in order to distinguish this kind of vote from a constitutionally demanded roll call vote.
Before 1971, there were no recorded votes in the Committee of the Whole at all -- all votes were voice, division or teller votes.) Although it is also possible for a recorded vote to occur in the House, electronically recorded votes on which Members are shown as having voted "aye" or "no" occur primarily in the Committee of the Whole. However, both types of votes are taken by the same electronic voting system.
Recorded votes have been taken by an electronic voting system on the House floor since 1973. In the Committee of the Whole, if a Member requests a recorded vote, that request must be supported by at least 25 Members. Members usually have a minimum of 15 minutes in which to record their votes from the time the recorded vote is ordered. The Speaker may reduce the period for voting to five minutes on subsequent votes when there has been no intervening debate or business.
During the 60s, objections began to be raised to unrecorded votes in the Committee of the Whole -- where most amending of legislation is done -- since Members could not be held accountable to their constituents for their votes. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 provided for "tellers with clerks," or recorded teller votes, where Members were required to write their names on green (signifying "aye") or red (signifying "no") cards and hand them to tellers, who then recorded an individual vote for a Member. After the installation of the electronic voting system in 1973, the cards were dispensed with, and the "recorded teller votes" became simply "recorded votes." Until this time, "yea" and "nay" votes in the full House were the only votes individually recorded for Members. Representatives who do not wish to vote may answer "present."
Reporting a Measure
After a bill is introduced on the House or Senate floor, it is referred to the committee of jurisdiction (i.e., the committee charged with reviewing measures in the area of law or policy with which the bill is concerned). The committee of referral most often sends the measure to its specialized subcommittee(s) for study, hearings, revisions and approval.
For most bills, the committee or subcommittee fails to take further action on the referred bill, effectively "killing" the measure at this point.
If the bill passes the subcommittee with a favorable vote, it is sent back to the full committee, reported, for further consideration, hearings, amendment, and vote. If a committee votes out or "reports favorably" a bill back to the full House or Senate, it is then "calendared" or scheduled for floor debate and vote in the full chamber. Each measure sent to the full chamber by the committee of reporting is accompanied by a committee report on the legislation.
Roll Call Vote
Roll Call Votes in the House
In Article 1, Section 5, the Constitution refers to entering "yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question . . . on the journal." Most electronic votes taken in the House are roll call votes that occur pursuant to this constitutional provision, so Members are recorded as voting "yea" or "nay." The Constitution requires a yea-nay vote when a demand for it is supported by one-fifth of the Members present, and it also requires a yea-nay vote on overriding a presidential veto.
Since 1973 the House has used its electronic system for a roll call, but if the system is not working, the Speaker directs the clerk to read the names of the Members. When the roll call is complete, the clerk re-reads the names of Members who did not respond the first time and asks if they now wish to respond.
House Members wishing to change their vote may present themselves in the well of the House and seek recognition for that purpose before the chair has announced the vote result.
Roll Call Votes in the Senate
In Article 1, Section 5, the Constitution refers to entering "yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question . . . on the journal. Thus, in the Senate, "yeas and nays" is the term for a roll-call vote. Unlike the House, the Senate does not have an electronic voting system; the clerk calls the roll. Senators call out yea or nay when their name is called, or signal the clerk with a thumbs up or down.
In the Senate, before the chair has announced the results of a roll call vote, Senators are permitted to ask how they have been recorded on the vote and to change their vote, if they wish. As a dilatory tactic, sometimes a number of Senators rise, one after another, to inquire how their vote was recorded. Delaying the announcement of the vote result allows time for absent Senators to make their way to the Senate floor and cast their vote.
Secretary of the Senate
One of the two chief officers of the Senate, the other being the Sergeant at Arms. The Secretary is elected by resolution or by order of the Senate, and is usually the candidate recommended by the majority leader. The Secretary manages a large number of Senate administrative functions, as well as those supporting the legislative process -- for example, document management, lobbyist registration, and recordkeeping (e.g., keeping track of bills, amendments, votes, etc.).
The Secretary supervises the work of the Senate's legislative officials, such as the Parliamentarian, Bill Clerk, Legislative Clerk, and Executive Clerk. Also part of the Secretary's office are the Senate's Public Records Office and its Library and Historical Office.
Simple Resolutions
Simple resolutions are measures concerning the operation of either house alone -- for example, waiving certain parliamentary procedures for consideration of a specific bill, fixing the spending levels for certain legislative committees, or changing the standing rules of a single house of Congress. For example, the House Rules Committee uses the simple resolution as the vehicle for proposing changes in House rules. Resolutions may also be used to express a nonbinding opinion of one house or the other on a matter of domestic or foreign policy or to convey condolences to the family of a deceased Member. Simple resolutions are considered in, adopted in, and effective only in the chamber in which they were proposed, and are not sent to the President for approval or signature. They are consecutively numbered in the order of their introduction during each two-year Congress.
Standard abbreviations:
H.RES. (House Resolution)
S.RES. (Senate Resolution)
Sine Die
Latin for "without a day." Without any future date being designated for resumption. An adjournment sine die signifies the end of an annual or special session of Congress.
Special Reports
Special reports are those committee reports that do not relate to a specific piece of legislation or measure. They are either investigative in nature or are a product of the oversight function of committees. Examples of some special reports (not a comprehensive list) in the 105th Congress are:
- House Rept. 105-37: A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records (Committee on Government Reform and Oversight)
- House Rept. 105-44:Oversight Plans for all House Committees (Committee on Government Reform and Oversight)
- House Rept. 105-182: Report on the Revised Subdivision of Budget Totals for FY 1998 (Committee on Appropriations)
- House Rept. 105-388: Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses (Committee on Government Reform and Oversight)
- House Rept. 105-393: Report of the Joint Economic Committee on the 1997 Economic Report of the President
- Senate Rept. 105-160: History, Jurisdiction, and a Summary of Activities of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources during the 104th Congress (Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources)
Special reports in the House are most often placed on the Union Calendar for consideration.
Statutes-at-Large
The Statutes-at-Large are a chronological arrangement of the laws enacted in each session of Congress. Though indexed, the laws are not arranged by subject matter nor is there an indication of how they affect previously enacted laws. Volumes of the Statutes are numbered by Congress, and the laws are cited by their volume and page number. To find law as it currently stands, arranged by subject matter -- i.e., "Titles" -- consult the latest edition of the U.S. Code.
Strike from the Record
If any Member takes objection to remarks made on the House floor by another Member, s/he may make a point of order against those remarks and request that the "words be taken down" -- that is, expunged from the record of debate. The accused Member's remarks are then read to the House so the Chair may decide if they are offensive and violate House rules. The alleged violator is required to cease debate, sit down and await the Chair's ruling. If the words are ruled out of order, a motion may be made to strike them from the debate as published in the Congressional Record.
Teller Votes
In the House of Representatives, before 1971, votes in the Committee of the Whole sometimes were taken by teller vote, which did not record the positions of individual Members. Instead, the Chair appointed two Members as "tellers" representing opposite sides of the question, and Members walked up the center aisle of the House between them to be counted -- first the "ayes," then the "noes." Only vote totals were taken. The House's rules no longer permit teller votes.
Unanimous Consent
Unanimous consent refers to the practice of agreeing to an action without dissent or objection by any Member.
A request for unanimous consent either expressly or implicitly asks for permission to act outside of or contrary to one or more House or Senate rules, and is usually used, on the floor or in committee, to speed up proceedings.
The Senate relies on unanimous consent agreements more heavily than the House because the Senate has few other rules of procedure to expedite the conduct of its business. When a Senator makes a unanimous consent request, the Presiding Officer asks, "Is there objection?" If no Senator objects, the Presiding Officer then announces that, "Without objection, it is so ordered." However, any Senator may object to any unanimous consent request. If a Senator does object, the Senate continues to operate under the terms of its regular rules. Sometimes a Senator will "reserve the right to object" to a unanimous consent request in order to ask that the request be clarified or modified in some way. The Senator who reserves the right to object ultimately does object or withdraws his or her reservation.
Likewise in the House, when a Member makes a unanimous consent request, the Speaker usually puts the question to the House: "Is there objection to the request?" In response, any Representative can object or reserve the right to object. Also in the House, the Speaker may object to any unanimous consent request, but he usually just refuses to even entertain requests to which he objects, especially requests to bring up measures for immediate floor consideration if those requests have not already been cleared with majority and minority party leadership.
When there appears to be no opposition to a bill or amendment that either the House or Senate is considering, the Member who is presiding sometimes will state that, "Without objection, the bill is passed [or the amendment is agreed to]." This is a way to expedite final action on the bill or amendment without conducting a formal vote. When the Member presiding makes such a statement, however, any other Member can object and require that a formal vote be conducted.
Union Calendar
The Union Calendar in the House of Representatives is a calendar for the consideration of bills and resolutions that raise revenues or appropriate or authorize the expenditure of money or property, either directly or indirectly. Measures are placed on the Union Calendar in the order in which they were reported out of committee. Bills must be considered in the Committee of the Whole before the whole House may act on the measure.
Oversight reports and reports that are investigative in nature ("special reports") are also placed on the Union Calendar for consideration.
Vetoes
A veto is the President's disapproval of a legislative measure passed by Congress.
After both houses of Congress have passed a bill, it is enrolled, then is sent to the President for his action. Under the Constitution, the President has 10 days (not including Sundays) to approve the bill. When the ten-day period (excluding Sundays) extends beyond the date of the adjournment of the Congress, and the President does not sign the bill prior to the expiration of that period, it fails to become law. This is known as a pocket veto.
More often, if the President disapproves of a bill, he actively vetoes it and returns it to the house of origin without his approval, along with his objections to the bill -- known as his "veto message." If Congress does not act to override the veto, the bill dies.
Voice Votes
A voice vote is the fastest and usually the first method employed when a question is first put to the House or Senate. The presiding officer, the Chair, first calls for the "ayes" and then for the "noes," and members shout out their vote in unison. The Chair determines the result on a comparison of the volume of ayes and noes. No individual votes or even total vote counts are recorded with this method.
The term "voice vote" is also used to denote affirmative action on a question by unanimous consent or without objection.
Well
The well is the open space at the front of the House and Senate chambers between the rostrum and Members' seats. House Members often speak from the podium in the well on their party's side of the center aisle, while Senators normally address the Senate chamber from their assigned desks.
"The well" in the House of Representatives
Photo provided by the Office of the Clerk of the House
Yea-and-Nay Votes
In Article I, Section 5, the Constitution refers to entering "yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question . . . on the journal." Votes taken in the Senate and most electronic votes taken in the House are roll call votes that occur pursuant to this constitutional provision, so Members are recorded as voting "yea" or "nay." The Constitution requires a yea-nay vote when a demand for it is supported by one-fifth of the Members present, and it also requires a yea-nay vote on overriding a presidential veto.