[110th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 109-157]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID:hruletx-13]                         

[Page 148-149]
 
                       sec. vii--call of the house

  On <<NOTE: Sec. 311. Parliamentary rules for call of the House.>> the 
call of the House, each person rises up as he is called, and answereth; 
the absentees are then only noted, but no excuse to be made till the 
House be fully called over. Then the absentees are called a second time, 
and if still absent, excuses are to be heard. Ord. House of Commons, 92.
  They rise that their persons may be recognized; the voice, in such a 
crowd, being an insufficient verification of their presence. But in so 
small a body as the Senate of the United States, the trouble of rising 
cannot be necessary.
  Orders for calls on different days may subsist at the same time. 2 
Hats., 72.

  Rule XX of the House provides for a procedure on call of the House. 
Members of the House do not rise on answering, and quorum calls are 
normally conducted by electronic device (clause 2(a) of rule XX). Clause 
5(c) of rule XX permits the House to operate with a ``provisional 
quorum''

[[Page 149]]

where the House is without a quorum due to catastrophic circumstances 
(see Sec. 1024a, infra).
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