The House considers bills and resolutions on the floor under several different sets of procedures governing the time for debate and the opportunities for amendment. Some procedures allow 40 or 60 minutes for debate; others permit debate to continue until a majority of Members vote to end it. Some procedures prohibit most or all floor amendments; others allow Members to offer any amendments that meet the requirements

of the House’s rules and precedents. Notwithstanding these differences, the rules, precedents, and practices of the House generally are designed to permit the majority to work its will in a timely manner. This report provides a brief overview of this procedure

Bach, Stanley

Rybicki, Elizabeth

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1 This report was written by Stanley Bach, a former Senior Specialist in the Legislative Processat CRS.  The other listed author updated the report and can respond to inquiries on the subject.Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code 97-236 GOVUpdated March 15, 2005Floor Procedure in the House ofRepresentatives: A Brief OverviewElizabeth Rybicki and Stanley BachGovernment and Finance DivisionSummaryThe House considers bills and resolutions on the floor under several different setsof procedures governing the time for debate and the opportunities for amendment.  Someprocedures allow 40 or 60 minutes for debate; others permit debate to continue until amajority of Members vote to end it.  Some procedures prohibit most or all flooramendments; others allow Members to offer any amendments that meet therequirements of the House’s rules and precedents.  Notwithstanding these differences,the rules, precedents, and practices of the House generally are designed to permit themajority to work its will in a timely manner.In GeneralUnderlying the complicated legislative procedures of the House of Representativesis the general principle that the majority should be able to prevail without undue delay bythe minority.1  In support of this principle, the House imposes limits on debate.  Thesedebate restrictions prevent filibusters on the House floor and severely constrain the abilityof Members to delay action that is supported by a unified and determined majority of theHouse.In many cases, the House’s rules limit the amount of time that is available to allRepresentatives for debating a measure or motion.  In others, the rules enable a simplemajority to end a debate — for example, by voting to “order the previous question.”Opportunities for individual Members to participate in debate also are controlled.  NoMember can speak in the House for more than an hour at a time, except by unanimousconsent, and debate time often is limited much more severely.  For example, Membersusually are recognized for only five minutes each to speak on amendments being debatedon the floor.CRS-2Alternate ProceduresThe House does not use the same procedure to debate, amend, and vote on every billand resolution it considers.  Instead, there are several alternative procedures that theHouse employs for considering measures on the floor, depending on how muchcontroversy and disagreement each measure inspires.  These procedures differ in theopportunities they allow Members to debate and to propose amendments, and sometimesin the majorities they require for passage.For instance, bills that evoke virtually no opposition are called up and passed byunanimous consent;  there normally is very little floor debate and no significantamendments.  Private legislation, affecting individual persons or entities, also isconsidered under very abbreviated procedures.The House considers many more bills, which enjoy overwhelming but notunanimous support, under “suspension of the rules.”  Under this procedure, all debate onthe bill is limited to 40 minutes, no floor amendments can be proposed, and a two-thirdsvote is required for passage.When a bill is considered “in the House,” debate usually ends after no more than onehour.  At the end of this hour, a majority almost always votes to order the previousquestion, which brings the House to a prompt vote on passing the bill by simple majorityvote, without further debate and with no amendments from Members on the floor.  Therecan be a second hour of debate during which an amendment can be offered, but only if theprevious question is not ordered, which rarely occurs in practice.  For these reasons, fewbills that most Members want to debate at length and amend are considered “in theHouse.”Most major bills are considered under a more elaborate procedure that involves theCommittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.  When the House resolves intoCommittee of the Whole to consider a particular bill, there first is a period for generaldebate, lasting for an hour or more.  Members then may consider amendments (includingcommittee amendments), usually to one section or title of the bill at a time.  As eachamendment to the bill is debated, Members can offer perfecting amendments to it and asubstitute for it, which also is amendable, before any votes occur.  During this process, each Representative may debate an amendment for only fiveminutes, usually by moving “to strike the last word,” unless everyone agrees to allow himor her more time.  But a majority can vote to end the debate (but not to order the previousquestion) on any amendment or on the part of the bill that has been read.  When theCommittee has disposed of the last amendment to be offered, it “rises” and reports the billback to the House with the amendments it has approved.  The House then votes on theseamendments before considering a motion to recommit, if offered by a minority partymember, and then voting on passing the bill as it has been amended.CRS-3Privileges and Special RulesTo be considered on the floor in any one of these ways, a bill must be called up byunanimous consent or it must be “privileged,” meaning that it may interrupt the regulardaily order of business established by the House’s rules.  For instance, the order ofbusiness may be interrupted by motions to suspend the rules on each Monday,  Tuesday,and Wednesday.  General appropriations bills and certain kinds of resolutions may becalled up for consideration whenever another matter is not already pending. Most major bills become privileged, however, only when a majority of the Housevotes to adopt a resolution for that purpose recommended by the Rules Committee.  Eachof these resolutions, which also are known as “rules” or “special rules,” proposes that theHouse act on a particular measure, most often in Committee of the Whole, usually afterthe committee with jurisdiction over it has recommended its passage.  Equally important, a special rule can have a significant effect on the amendingprocess.  Many of these resolutions are “open” rules under which Members can proposeany amendments that satisfy the usual requirements of House rules and precedents.  Butthe Rules Committee also may propose “closed” rules under which no floor amendmentsare in order, or rules restricting the amendments that Members can offer withoutprohibiting them altogether.  Finally, special rules may waive points of order that Members otherwise might makeagainst considering a bill or some amendment to it.  In the absence of such a waiver, forexample, each bill must be accompanied by a committee report that includes an estimateof its cost and each amendment must be germane to the text it proposes to change.There are additional rules governing bills and amendments that affect federalrevenues and spending.  For instance, appropriations bills originate in the House and mostof them may not provide for spending that has not already been authorized by law.  By thesame token, these appropriations bills (and amendments to them) are not supposed tomake changes in permanent law, though under some circumstances they may limit thepurposes for which funds may be spent.  Appropriations and revenue bills and other measures affecting the federal budget alsoare subject to provisions of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended by the so-called Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act of 1985 and the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.For example, the Budget Act directs Congress to adopt a budget resolution each year asthe context in which to act on individual spending and tax bills.Reaching Agreement With the SenateOnce the Senate amends and passes a bill the House already has passed (or the Houseamends and passes a Senate bill), the two houses begin to resolve their legislativedifferences.  The House might accept the Senate’s position or it might further amend theSenate amendment.  The House may also propose creation of a conference committee toresolve the differences between them.  The House debates the resulting conference report,signed by a majority of House conferees and a majority of Senate conferees, for an hourCRS-4and with no amendments in order.  Motions to dispose of any amendments that remainin disagreement between the two houses also are debated under the hour rule.  The House and Senate must resolve all their disagreements concerning a bill or jointresolution before it can be “enrolled” and presented to the President for his approval orveto.Related CRS ReportsCRS Report 98-995.  The Amending Process in the House of Representatives.CRS Report 96-708.  Conference Committee and Related Procedures: An IntroductionCRS Report RL32200.  Debate, Motions, and Other Actions in Committee of the Whole.CRS Report 98-996.  Legislative Procedures and the Legislative Agenda in the House ofRepresentatives.CRS Report 95-563.  The Legislative Process on the House Floor: An Introduction. 

Floor Procedure in the House of Representatives: A Brief Overview

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Floor Procedure in the House of Representatives: A Brief Overview

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