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HOUSE PROTOCOL:

A Guide to Process and Procedure in the House of Representatives

Class #5 - Floor Process and Procedures

I. General floor Information

A. What you see around you

1. Cloakroom
2. Floor (seats, galleries, etc.) Access through lobby
3. Well--card voting
4. Rostrum--Why all those chairs?

B. Rules to remember

1. Staff access
a. Committee--list with Sgt at Arms
b. Personal--yellow card

C. Where to sit and stand

1. The Well
2. Committee and Leadership tables
3. The Rail
4. The Cloakroom

II. Preparing for Floor Action

A. What to bring

1. Script for Member to bring up legislation
2. Hearing and mark-up records--include amendments and votes thereon
3. Previous votes on similar legislation
4. Handouts
a. Staff cannot hand out
b. Must be attributed to Member
5. Amendments--20-25 copies

III. General Advice

A. When controlling time, don't overcommit

1. e.g., if all time on gen. debate is taken, sometimes Member can speak on the Rule (check with Rules before committing time)
2. How to get time
a. If time is controlled, as on gen. debate or on rule, get time from manager.
b. If amendment is pending, rise in support or opposition or move to strike the last word.
c. Pecking order by committee and by seniority for recognition
3. Understand the Rule which governs the legislation
4. If your Member is controlling time, 2 ways of determining how much time is left
a. Parliamentary inquiry of the Chair--this does not come out of your time
b. Staff may walk up to the timekeeper and ask
5. Votes--if immediately after debate, stay until entire vote is complete if postponed, come back to Floor when vote begins--you are the expert on your issue and need to be there to answer questions
6. Last minute glitches--H-220 for typing, faxing, etc.

IV. Decorum

A. Dress--Men and Women

B. Behavior

1. No smoking, eating or drinking on Floor--smoking in the Speaker's Lobby is permitted
2. Member may have water at the tables or in the well
3. Members must address the Chair, not each other; use state ("the gentlewoman or gentleman from ____"); cannot refer to people in in the galleries, or the TV audience
4. No well-walking

V. Floor Staff

A. Leadership staff
1. Here to help you and your Member

a. identify Members
b. how to and when to questions
2. Strategy--Speaker's staff, Majority Leader's staff, Whip's staff
3. Whip calls

B. Parliamentarians

1. Appointed by Speaker--non-partisan
2. Experts in procedure and precedents and points of order

C. Timekeepers

D. Congressional Record Clerks

1. Correction of remarks
a. Member request in person, or staff can call 5-5621
b. Remarks usually available in about one hour
c. Sent to your office by page, or you can come to Speaker's Lobby to correct
d. Return to Floor or HT-60 in timely manner (as soon as possible or before House adjourns--in some cases, as soon as possible after House adjourns)
e. Clerk may ask for printed remarks after speech, or help with hard-to-spell names, etc.

VI. Full House v. Committee of the Whole

A.. 3 motions in House not in CoW

1. Adjourn
2. Lay on the Table
3. Previous Question

B. Hour Rule in the House--5 minute rule in the CoW

C. Quorum in House =218; in CoW =100

D. Mace up in House--Speaker; Mace down in CoW--Chairman

E. House--suspensions, rules, conference reports, unanimous consents, recommit and passage on all bills CoW--general debate and amendments

VII. Methods of Voting

A. House

1. Yeas and Nays--1/5 of those present
2. Recorded vote--1/5 of a quorum (44)
3. When no quorum present, object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order that a quorum is not present
4. Division
5. On suspensions when postponing votes
a. Yeas and Nays--automatic vote if 1/5 of those present stand
b. Object to vote on grounds that a quorum is not present, etc. question will be put de novo (i.e., the question will be put again--you must be present to ask for the vote when the question is put again)

B. CoW--25 is the key

1. Recorded vote--1/4 of a quorum=25
2. Ask for a recorded vote and pending that make a quorum is not present
a. If Chair says a quorum is not present, a quorum is automatic; If Member calling for vote withdraws point of no quorum, Chair often counts "25" even though 25 Members are not actually standing
3. Chair's discretion
a. 15 min. quorum call and 5 min. vote
b. Short or funny quorum and 15 min. vote
c. 15 min. quorum and 15 min. vote

C. If your Member misses a vote

1. Missed vote sheet at Leadership table
2. Written statement from staff
3. Unanimous consent
4. Pairs

VIII. Special Orders and Extensions of Remarks