[110th Congress House Rules Manual -- House Document No. 109-157]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office Online Database]
[DOCID:hruletx-34]
[Page 220-223]
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,
taking 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?
[[Page 221]]
The House may proceed ``in the House as in Committee of the Whole''
only by unanimous consent (IV, 4923) or special rule (Dec. 18, 1974, p.
40858). 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; Deschler, ch. 22, Sec. 2.2). 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 XVIII), 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, see Sec. 427, infra.
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
[[Page 222]]
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 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.
[[Page 223]]
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, 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 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, p. 21314). 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, 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, the previous question may be
moved on any pending amendment.