[House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 104-272]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[Pages 208-212]
[DOCID:hrmanual-36]
sec. xxx.--quasi-committee.
If <<NOTE: Sec. 424. Procedure ``in the House as in Committee of the
Whole.''>> on motion and question the bill be not committed, or if no
proposition for commitment be made, then the proceedings in the Senate
of the United States and in Parliament are totally different. The former
shall be first stated.
The proceeding of the Senate as in a Committee of the Whole, or in
quasi-committee, is precisely as in a real Committee of the Whole,
tak-
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ing no question but on amendments. When through the whole, they
consider the quasi-committee as risen, the House resumed without any
motion, question, or resolution to that effect, and the President
reports that ``the House, acting as in a Committee of the Whole, have
had under their consideration the bill entitled, &c., and have made
sundry amendments, which he will now report to the House.'' The bill is
then before them, as it would have been if reported from a committee,
and the questions are regularly to be put again on every amendment;
which being gone through, the President pauses to give time to the House
to propose amendments to the body of the bill, and, when through, puts
the question whether it shall be read a third time?
In the House of Representatives procedure ``in the House as in
Committee of the Whole'' is by unanimous consent only, as the order of
business gives no place for a motion that business be considered in this
manner (IV, 4923). Where the House grants unanimous consent for the
immediate consideration of a bill on the Union Calendar, or which would
belong on the Union Calendar if reported, the bill is considered in the
House as in the Committee of the Whole (Apr. 6, 1966, p. 7749; Aug. 3,
1970, p. 26918; Procedure, ch. 22, sec. 1.3, and ch. 29, sec. 21). The
Committee on Rules may report a resolution providing a special order for
consideration of a measure in the House as in Committee of the Whole
(Dec. 18, 1974, p. 40858). In the modern practice of the House an order
for this procedure means merely that the bill will be considered as
having been read for amendment and will be open for amendment and debate
under the five-minute rule (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 28050; clause 5 of rule
XXIII), without general debate (IV, 4924, 4925; VI, 639; VIII, 2431,
2432). The Speaker remains in the chair and, when the previous question
is moved, makes no report but puts the question on ordering the previous
question and then on engrossment and third reading and on passage.
For further description of the procedures applicable to the House as
in the Committee of the Whole, and the application of those procedures
to committees of the House of Representatives, see Sec. 427, infra.
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After <<NOTE: Sec. 425. Motion to refer admitted ``in the House as in
Committee of the Whole.''>> progress in amending the bill in quasi-
committee, a motion may be made to refer it to a special committee. If
the motion prevails, it is equivalent in effect to the several votes,
that the committee rise, the House resume itself, discharge the
Committee of the Whole, and refer the bill to a special committee. In
that case, the amendments already made fall. But if the motion fails,
the quasi-committee stands in status quo.-
How <<NOTE: Sec. 426. Motions and procedure in quasicommittee in
Jefferson's time.>> far does this XXVIIIth rule [of the Senate] subject
the House, when in quasi-committee, to the laws which regulate the
proceedings of Committees of the Whole? The particulars in which these
differ from proceedings in the House are the following: 1. In a
committee every member may speak as often as he pleases. 2. The votes of
a committee may be rejected or altered when reported to the House. 3. A
committee, even of the whole, cannot refer any matter to another
committee. 4. In a committee no previous question can be taken; the only
means to avoid an improper discussion is to move that the committee
rise; and if it be apprehended that the same discussion will be
attempted on returning into committee, the House can discharge them, and
proceed itself on the business, keeping down the improper discussion by
the previous question. 5. A committee cannot punish a breach of order in
the House or in the gallery. 9 Grey, 113. It can only rise and report it
to the House, who may
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proceed to punish. The first and second of these
peculiarities attach to the quasi-committee of the Senate, as every
day's practice proves, and it seems to be the only ones to which the
XXVIIIth rule meant to subject them; for it continues to be a House,
and, therefore, though it acts in some respects as a committee, in
others it preserves its character as a House. Thus (3) it is in the
daily habit of referring its business to a special committee. 4. It
admits of the previous question. If it did not, it would have no means
of preventing an improper discussion; not being able, as a committee is,
to avoid it by returning into the House, for the moment it would resume
the same subject there, the XXVIIIth rule declares it again a quasi-
committee. 5. It would doubtless exercise its powers as a House on any
breach of order. 6. It takes a question by yea and nay, as the House
does. 7. It receives messages from the President and the other House. 8.
In the midst of a debate it receives a motion to adjourn, and adjourns
as a House, not as a committee.
In <<NOTE: Sec. 427. Motions and procedure ``in the House as in
Committee of the Whole.''>> the modern practice of the House of
Representatives the rule of Jefferson's Manual is followed to the extent
that the House, while acting ``in the House as in Committee of the
Whole'' may deal with disorder, take the yeas and nays, adjourn, refer
to a committee even though the reading by sections may not have begun
(IV, 4931, 4932), admit the motion to reconsider (VIII, 2793), receive
messages (IV, 4923), and use the previous question (VI, 369; Procedure,
ch. 23, sec. 6.3) (which differs from the previous question of
Jefferson's time). The previous question may not be moved on a single
section of a bill (IV, 4930), but it may be demanded on the bill while
Members yet desire to offer amendments (IV, 4926-4929; VI, 639).
Formerly a motion to close debate on the pending section of a bill being
read by section for amendment in the House as in the Committee of the
Whole was in order (IV, 4935), but under current practice a bill
considered in the House as in Committee of the Whole is considered as
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read and open for amendment at any point (Aug. 10, 1970, p. 28050), and
a motion is in order in the House as in Committee of the Whole to close
debate on the bill or on an amendment (June 26, 1973, pp. 21314-15). An
amendment may be withdrawn at any time before action has been had on it
(IV, 4935; June 26, 1973, p. 21305). An amendment in the nature of a
substitute is in order after perfecting amendments have been considered
(IV, 4933, 4934; V, 5788). The title also is amended after the bill has
been considered (IV, 3416). A quorum of the House (and not of the
Committee of the Whole) is required in the House as in the Committee of
the Whole (VI, 639).
The procedures applicable in the House as in the Committee of the
Whole generally apply to proceedings in committees of the House of
Representatives, except that a measure considered in committee must be
read (by section) for amendment (see Sec. 412, supra). Therefore, in
committee a motion to limit debate under the five-minute rule must be
confined to the portion of the measure then pending. Moreover, although
the previous question may be moved on any pending amendment, it may be
moved on the measure, itself, only when the entire measure has been read
for amendment (or considered as read by unanimous consent).