[House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 104-272]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[Pages 146-155]
[DOCID:hrmanual-19]
sec. xii.--committee of the whole.
The <<NOTE: Sec. 326. Parliamentary usage as to Committee of the
Whole.>> speech, messages, and other matters of great concernment are
usually referred to a Committee of the Whole House (6 Grey, 311), where
general
[[Page 147]]
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. * * *
This provision is largely obsolete, the House of Representatives
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 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.
* * * <<NOTE: 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. * * *
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The House of Representatives (by clause 1 of rule XXIII) gives the
authority to appoint the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to the
Speaker (IV, 4704).
* * * <<NOTE: 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. * * *
This is the form in the House of Representatives, except that the
Chairman of the Committee of the Whole seats himself in the Speaker's
chair. In the 97th Congress, clause 1(b) was added to rule XXIII to
authorize the Speaker, 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 providing for
consideration of such measure, unless the resolution specifies otherwise
(H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1983, p. 34).
* * * <<NOTE: 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 Committees of the Whole was the same as the
quorum of the House; but in 1890 the rule (clause 2 of rule XXIII) fixed
it at one hundred (IV, 2966). Clause 2 of rule XXIII and clauses 2 and 5
of rule XV provide the procedures that are followed in Committees of the
Whole in case of failure of a quorum.
[[Page 149]]
* * * <<NOTE: 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 of Representatives, 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. ----
; Feb. 8, 1995, p. ----); but at this rising the House may not have the
message read or transact other business except by unanimous consent (IV,
4787-4791).
In <<NOTE: Sec. 331. Quarrels in Committee of the Whole, and duty of
the Speaker in relation thereto.>> 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 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.
In the House of Representatives 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, a
Member having defied and insulted the chairman, he left the chair, and,
on the chair being taken by the Speaker, 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).
[[Page 150]]
A <<NOTE: Sec. 332. Effect of breaking up of Committee of the Whole by
disorder.>> 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 of
Representatives there are but two committees of the whole, which are in
their nature standing committees, with calendars of business. They are
never dissolved, and bills remain on their calendars 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).
No <<NOTE: Sec. 333. Motions for previous question and to adjourn not
used in Committee of the Whole.>> 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 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 <<NOTE: Sec. 334. Parliamentary law as to reports from Committee
of the Whole.>> 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
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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.
In the practice of the House the previous question and motion to
adjourn are not admitted in Committee of the Whole; but the rules
(clauses 5 and 6 of rule XXIII) 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 in 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). A Member
yielded time in general debate may not yield to another for such motion
(Feb. 22, 1950, p. 2178). The motion that the Committee of the Whole
rise is privileged during debate under the five-minute rule, 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. ----). The motion
to rise may not include restrictions on the amendment process or
limitations on future debate on amendments (June 6, 1990, p. 13234). For
a further discussion of the motion to rise, see Sec. 864, infra.
The <<NOTE: Sec. 335. Duties of Speaker and House as to reception of
reports of Committee of the Whole.>> 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
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(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; see clause 6 of rule XV). The Committee of the <<NOTE: Sec.
336. Amendments in Committee of the Whole.>> 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
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 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. ----). 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, pp. 16497-98).
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
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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 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).
All <<NOTE: Sec. 337. Committee of the Whole amendments in the
House.>> 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. ----). A Member may withdraw a demand
for a separate vote in the House on an amendment reported from Commit-
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tee 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. ----; Mar. 25, 1993, p. ----).
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 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).
Where <<NOTE: Sec. 338. Bills from Committee of the Whole in the
House.>> 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
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following disposition of amendments to the text and pending third reading
(May 25, 1993, p. ----).
A <<NOTE: Sec. 339. Discharge of the Committee of the Whole.>> 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).
<<NOTE: Sec. 340. Application of House rules in Committee of the
Whole.>> In other things the rules or proceedings are to be the same
as in the House. Scob., 39.
The House of Representatives provides by rule (clause 9 of rule XXIII)
that the rules of proceeding in the House shall apply in Committee of
the Whole so far as they may be applicable.