"[N]othing tended more to throw power into the hands of the administration, and those who acted with a majority of the House of Commons, than a neglect of, or departure from the rules of proceedings: that these forms, as instituted by our ancestors, operated as a check and control on the actions of the majority, and that they were, in many instances, a shelter and protection to the minority, against the attempts of power."

Thomas Jefferson's recollection in Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice of an observation by Speaker Onslow, who presided over the House of Commons during the reign of George II.

After the third reading of a bill (or joint resolution), but before the Speaker orders the vote on final passage of the bill (or joint resolution), a motion to recommit the bill, either with or without instructions, to the committee which originally reported it is in order. (Rule XVI and XVII) This motion is traditionally the right of the Minority and gives them one last chance to amend or kill the bill. Under the Republican changes to the rules of the House incorporated at the beginning of the 104^th Congress, the Rules Committee may not report a special rule that denies a motion to recommit with instructions if offered by the Minority Leader or his designee (Rule XI, clause 4(b)).

There are two types of motions to recommit under the rules of the House:

1. If the motion to recommit is without instructions, adoption of the motion has the practical impact of killing the bill without a final vote on its passage. In other words, the House has said, "send it back to the committee from whence it came. We don't want it as it is." The motion is not debatable if it does not include instructions.
2. If the motion to recommit is with instructions, the originating committee to which the bill is returned is bound to follow those instructions. Usually the instruction is for the committee to "report the bill back to the House forthwith with the following amendment." The text of the amendment is then given in full. In effect, this is a last chance for the Minority to make a germane change in the bill. The motion to recommit with instructions is debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided, but not controlled (which means neither side may yield time) between the proponent and the opponent, although the time may be extended to one hour at the request of the Majority Floor manager. If the bill is recommitted with such "forthwith" instructions, the bill is immediately reported back to the House on the spot with the amendment, the amendment is voted on, and the House proceeds to final passage of the bill. The bill does not disappear into some legislative limbo as some seem to think. It either is killed (by adoption of a straight motion to recommit without instructions) or comes immediately back (by adoption of the "forthwith" motion to recommit with instructions).

The motion to recommit is the prerogative of the Minority party. In order of priority, the Minority leader and then Minority party Members on the committee handling the bill, by seniority, have the right to offer the motion. They "qualify" to offer the motion if they state that they oppose the bill, at least in its current form. The Member who qualifies and offers the motion should also vote against final passage of the bill if the motion to recommit fails.

It is also worth noting that a motion to recommit need not instruct that an amendment be adopted. The motion may also direct that further hearings be held, or that an investigation be conducted and that a report of that investigation be made to the House, so long as the instruction is germane to the bill as amended. However, in the case of such general instructions, the committee cannot be required to report the bill back to the House forthwith, although it is certainly not precluded from doing so.

Under House Rule XXVII, it is in order on Monday and Tuesday of each week, and during the last six days of a session (unable to determine unless an adjournment resolution has been adopted in advance), for the Speaker to entertain motions to suspend the Rules and pass legislation. Bills brought up under suspension of the Rules are referred to as "suspensions". There is not a suspension calendar. The purpose of considering bills under suspension is to dispose of non-controversial measures expeditiously. Consideration of legislation under suspension of the Rules on other days of the week is possible by unanimous consent or by a special rule reported by the Rules Committee.

A motion to suspend the Rules requires a vote of two-thirds of the Members present and voting, and no amendments are in order unless submitted with the bill by its manager at the time the motion to suspend the Rules is offered.

Debate on a bill brought up under suspension is limited to 40 minutes -- 20 minutes controlled by a Member who supports the bill and 20 minutes controlled by a Member in opposition. A division does not always follow party lines depending on the issue. For control of the opposition time, priority is given to a Minority Member of the committee which has jurisdiction over the bill. Often the 20 minutes "in opposition" is controlled by the ranking Minority member of the committee or subcommittee who may not be opposed to the measure because no one rises in opposition, but he may be challenged for control of the opposition time by another Minority party member.

The Majority Leadership usually schedules several bills under suspension of the Rules on the same day and the Chair announces beforehand that recorded votes on passage of each suspension, if ordered, will be postponed until the debate is concluded on all such suspensions (or for up to two legislative days).

At the conclusion of debate, the postponed votes may be "clustered" and put before the House. If several votes have been ordered and the Chair has announced that the time for voting will be reduced, the first vote in the series will consume not less than 15 minutes and all subsequent roll calls will take not less than 5 minutes each. It is important to know when a 5-minute vote is expected, so that it will not be missed.

In the case of a series of two or more votes in which any votes after the first one are five minute votes, Members will be summoned to the Floor by two bells followed by five bells.

KEY DEFINITIONS:

Privilege - A status relating to the rights of the House and its Members and the priority of motions and actions on the floor of the House. "Privileged questions" relate to the order of legislative business while "questions of privilege" relate to matters affecting the safety, dignity or integrity of the House, or the rights, reputation or conduct of a Member acting as a representative.

Yielding - Once a member has been recognized by the Speaker (or Chair) to speak, he controls the floor; in general, no other Member may speak without being granted permission to do so by the Member recognized. Another Member who wishes to speak will ask the recognized Member to yield by saying, "Will the gentleman yield to me?"

Upcoming in the months of August and September:

There will be no Parliamentary Outreach Program briefings during the month of August.

"The Use and Application of the Line Item Veto" September 15, 1997 11:00-12:00 HC-5

"Unfunded Mandates and Points of Order" September 29, 1997 11:00-12:00 HC-5

Additional Parliamentary Procedure reference material can be found on the Rules Committee web page at http://www.house.gov/rules/ .