[110th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 109-157]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID:hruletx-16]
[Page 152-155]
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sec. xi--committees
Standing <<NOTE: Sec. 317. Appointment of standing committees; and
designation and duties of chairmen thereof.>> committees, as of
Privileges and Elections, &c., are usually appointed at the first
meeting, to continue through the session. The person first named is
generally permitted to act as chairman. But this is a matter of
courtesy; every committee having a right to elect their own chairman,
who presides over them, puts questions, and reports their proceedings to
the House. 4 inst., 11, 12; Scob., 9; 1 Grey, 122.
Before the 62d Congress, standing as well as select committees and
their chairmen were appointed by the Speaker, but under the present form
of rule X, adopted in 1911, continued as a part of the Legislative
Reorganization Act of 1946, and revised under the Committee Reform
Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470),
standing committees and their respective chairmen are elected by the
House (IV, 4448; VIII, 2178). Owing to their number and size, committees
are not usually elected immediately, but resolutions providing for such
elections are presented by the majority and minority parties pursuant to
clause 5 of rule X as soon as they are able to perfect the lists. A
committee may order its report to be made by the chairman, or by some
other member (IV, 4669), even by a member of the minority party (IV,
4672, 4673), or by a Delegate (July 1, 1958, p. 12871 (Burns of
Hawaii)); and the chairman sometimes submits a report in which he has
not concurred (IV, 4670). Clause 2 of rule XIII requires that a report
that has been approved by the committee must be filed with the House
within seven calendar days after a written request from a majority of
the committee is submitted to the committee clerk.
At <<NOTE: Sec. 318. Parliamentary law as to debate in standing and
select committees.>> these committees the members are to speak standing,
and not sitting; though there is reason to conjecture it was formerly
otherwise. D'Ewes, 630, col. 1; 4 Parl. Hist., 440; 2 Hats., 77.
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Their <<NOTE: Sec. 319. Secrecy of committee procedure.>> proceedings
are not to be published, as they are of no force till confirmed by the
House. Rushw., part 3, vol. 2, 74; 3 Grey, 401; Scob., 39.* * *
In the House it is entirely within rule and usage for a committee to
conduct its proceedings in secret (IV, 4558-4564; see also clause 2(g)
of rule XI), and the House itself may not abrogate the secrecy of a
committee's proceedings except by suspending the rule (IV, 4565). The
House has no information concerning the proceedings of a committee not
officially reported by the committee (VII, 1015) and it is not in order
in debate to refer to executive session proceedings of a committee that
have not formally been reported to the House (V, 5080-5083; VIII, 2269,
2485, 2493; June 24, 1958, pp. 12120, 12122; Apr. 5, 1967, p. 8411).
However, a complaint that certain remarks that might be uttered in
debate would improperly disclose executive-session material of a
committee is not cognizable as a point of order in the House where the
Chair is not aware of the executive-session status of the information
(Nov. 5, 1997, p. 24648). On one occasion a Member was permitted to
refer to the unreported executive session proceedings of a subcommittee
to justify his point of order that a resolution providing for a select
committee to inquire into action of the subcommittee was not privileged
(June 30, 1958, p. 12690). In one case the House authorized the clerk of
a committee to disclose by deposition its proceedings (III, 2604). Where
a committee takes testimony it is sometimes very desirable that the
proceedings be secret (III, 1694), as in the investigation in the Bank
of the United States in 1834, when the committee determined that its
proceedings should be confidential, not to be attended by any person not
invited or required (III, 1732). Clause 2(k) of rule XI establishes the
procedure for closing a hearing because of defamatory, degrading, or
incriminating testimony. Clause 11(d) of rule X establishes special
rules governing the closing of hearings of the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence.
Under clause 2 of rule XI, all hearings and business meetings
conducted by standing committees shall be open to the public, except
when a committee, in open session, by record vote, with a majority
present, determines to close the meeting or hearing for that day for the
reasons stated in that clause.
<<NOTE: Sec. 320. Reception of petitions by committees.>> * * * Nor
can they receive a petition but through the House. 9 Grey, 412.
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When <<NOTE: Sec. 321. Parliamentary law of procedure when a committee
inquiry involves a Member.>> a committee is charged with an inquiry, if
a Member prove to be involved, they can not proceed against him but must
make a special report to the House; whereupon the Member is heard in his
place, or at the bar, or a special authority is given to the committee
to inquire concerning him. 9 Grey, 523.
While <<NOTE: Sec. 322. Practice of House when a committee inquiry
involves a Member.>> the authority of this principle has not been
questioned by the House, there have in special instances been deviations
from it. Thus, in 1832, when a Member had been slain in a duel, and the
fact was notorious that all the principals and seconds were Members of
the House, the committee, charged only with investigating the causes and
whether or not there had been a breach of privilege, reported with their
findings recommendations for expulsion and censure of the Members found
to be implicated. There was criticism of this method of procedure as
deviating from the rule of Jefferson's Manual, but the House did not
recommit the report (II, 1644). In 1857, when a committee charged with
inquiring into accusations against Members not named found certain
Members implicated, they gave them copies of the testimony and
opportunities to explain to the committee, under oath or otherwise, as
they individually might prefer (III, 1845), but reported recommendations
for expulsion without first seeking the order of the House (II, 1275;
III, 1844). In 1859 and 1892 a similar procedure occurred (III, 1831,
2637). But the House, in a case wherein an inquiry had incidentally
involved a Member, evidently considered the parliamentary law as
applicable, since it admitted as of privilege and agreed to a resolution
directing the committee to report the charges (III, 1843). And in cases
wherein testimony taken before a joint committee incidentally impeached
the official characters of a Member and a Senator, the facts in each
case were reported to the House interested (III, 1854). A select
committee, appointed to report upon the right of a Member-elect to be
sworn (H. Res. 1, 90th Cong., pp. 14-27, Jan. 10, 1967), invited him to
appear, to testify, and permitted him to be accompanied by counsel (see
H. Rept. 90-27).
And <<NOTE: Sec. 323. Inquiries involving Members of other
House.>> where one House, by its committee, has found a Member of the
other implicated, the testimony has been transmitted (II, 1276; III,
1850, 1852, 1853). Where such testimony was taken in open session of the
committee, it was not thought necessary that it be under seal when sent
to the other House (III, 1851).
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So <<NOTE: Sec. 324. Duty of chairman of a committee when the House
sits.>> soon as the House sits, and a committee is notified of it, the
chairman is in duty bound to rise instantly, and the members to attend
the service of the House. 2 Nals., 319.
For the current practice of the House, see the annotation following
clause 2(i) of rule XI (Sec. 801, infra).
It <<NOTE: Sec. 325. Action of joint committees.>> appears that on
joint committees of the Lords and Commons each committee acted
integrally in the following instances: 7 Grey, 261, 278, 285, 338; 1
Chandler, 357, 462. In the following instances it does not appear
whether they did or not: 6 Grey, 129; 7 Grey, 213, 229, 321.
It is the practice in Congress that joint committees shall vote per
capita, and not as representatives of the two Houses (IV, 4425),
although the membership from the House is usually, but not always (IV
4410), larger than that from the Senate (III, 1946; IV, 4426-4431). But
ordinary committees of conference appointed to settle differences
between the two Houses are not considered joint committees, and the
managers of the two Houses vote separately (V, 6336), each House having
one vote. A quorum of a joint committee seems to have been considered to
be a majority of the whole number rather than a majority of the
membership of each House (IV, 4424). The first named of the Senate
members acted as chairman in one notable instance (IV, 4424), and in
another the joint committee elected its chairman (IV, 4447).