dressing the House, none shall walk out of or across the Honse; nor in such case, or when a member is speaking, shall entertain private discourse; nor while a member is speaking, shall pass between him and the Chair.—April 7, 1789. Every member shall remain uncovered during the session of the House.-September 14, 1837. No member or other person shall visit or remain by the Clerk's table while the ayes and noes are calling, or ballots are counting.-September 14, 1837. Smoking is prohibited within the bar of the House or gallery.-February 28, 1871. 66. All questions relating to the priority of business to be acted on shall be decided without debate.-February 21, 1803. OF COMMITTEES. 67. All committees shall be appointed by the Speaker, unless otherwise specially directed by the House, in which case they shall be appointed by ballot ;* and if upon such ballot the number required shall not be elected by a majority of the votes given, the House shall proceed to a second ballot, in which a plurality of votes shall prevail; and in case a greater number than is required to compose or complete a committee shall have an equal number of votes, the House shall proceed to a further ballot or ballots.-January 13, 1790. 68. The first named member of any committee shall be the chairman; and in his absence, or being excused by the House, the next named member, and so on, as often as the case shall happen, unless the committee, by a majority of their number, elect a chairman.t-December 28, 1805. * The rule as originally adopted, April 17, 1789, directed that the Speaker should appoint all committees, unless the number was directed to consist of more than three members; in which case, the ballot was to be resorted to. + The occasion of this rule was this: Mr. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, had been chairman of the Committee of Claims for several years, and on the 5th November, 1804, was reappointed. On the succeeding day he was excused from service on the committee, and his colleague, Samuel W. Dana, was ap pointed in his stead." The committee considered Mr. Dana its chairman; he 69. Any member may excuse himself from serving on any committee at the time of his appointment, if he is then a member of two other committees. --April 13, 1789. 70. It shall be the duty of a committee to meet on the call of any two of its members, if the chairman be absent, or decline to appoint such meeting.-December 20, 1805. 71. The several standing committees of the House shall have leave to report by bill or otherwise.-March 13, 1822. 72. No committee shall sit during the sitting of the House without special leave. -November 13, 1794. 73. No committee shall be permitted to employ a clerk at the public expense, without first obtaining leave of the House for that purpose. -December 14, 1838. 74. Thirty-four standing committees shall be appointed at the commencement of each Congress,* viz: declined to act, contending that he was the tail. Being unable to agree, the committee laid the case before the House on the 20th November. Up to this time there was no rule or regulation as to the head of a committee. The usage had been that the first named member acted; but it was usage only. The subject was referred to a committee. On the 22d November, 1804, the committee reported, and recommended that the first named member be the chairman; and in case of his absence, or of his being excused by the House, the committee should appoint a chairman by a majority of its votes. The House rejected this proposition. The Committee of Claims the next day notified the House that, unless some order was taken in the premises, no business could be done by the committee during the session; and thereupon, on the 20th December, 1805, the House adopted the above rule. In this case the Committee of Claims availed itself of the privilege contained in the last clause of the rule, and elected Mr. Dana chairman, much against his wishes. * Prior to the revision of the rules, in March, 1860, it was provided that the standing committees should be appointed at the commencement of each session. At the said revision the Committee on Engraving was abolished, and its duties transferred to the House members of the Committee on Public Printing.-(See Rule 100.) Originally the Committee of Claims was charged with revolutionary and land claims, and all sorts of pensions. On the 22d December, 1813, the duties of that committee were divided, and a committee was appointed called the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims. On the 9th of December, 1825, a separate committee on Revolutionary Pensions was created, leaving the business of Invalid pensions to the committee created on the 22d December, A Committee of Elections.-Nov. 13, 1789. -A Committee of Ways and Means.-Jan. 7, 1802. A Committee on Appropriations.-March 2, 1865. A Committee on Banking and Currency.-March 2, 1865. A Committee on the Pacific Railroad.-March 2, 1865. A Committee on Commerce.-Dec. 14, 1795.t A Committee on Public Lands.-Dec. 17, 1805.‡ A Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.-Nov. 9, 1808. § A Committee for the District of Columbia -Jan. 27, 1808.** A Committee on the Judiciary.-June 3, 1813. -A Committee on War-Claims.-Dec. 2, 1873. || A Committee on Public Expenditures.-Feb. 26, 1814. A Committee on Private Land Claims.-April 29, 1816.¶ To consist of eleven members each. (March 3, 1873.) 1813. On the 13th December, 1825, four days after its institution, the designation of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions was changed to the Committee on Military Pensions, and it was charged with both revolutionary and invalid pensions. On the 10th January, 1831, the Committee on Military Pensions became the present Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, and an additional committee was created called the Committee on Invalid Pensions; and the pension business was apportioned to the two committees, as set out in the duties assigned to the committees. This committee was originally a Committee on Commerce and Manufactures. On the 8th December, 1819, a Committee on Manufactures was constituted, but no duties have been assigned to that committee in the rules. The 3d of January, 1805, was the first time at which it was proposed to appoint a Committee on Public Lands. The proposition was then made by Mr. John Boyle, of Kentucky, and was rejected. On the 17th December, 1805, the committee was constituted for the first time. Previous to that day the business relating to the lands of the United States was either sent to the Committee of Claims or to a select committee, and frequently in parts to both. § From the earliest stages of the government a select committee was annually raised upon the subject of "the Post Office and Post Roads," and was always composed of a member from each State. A standing committee was instituted on the 9th November, 1808, and, like the select committees, was directed to be composed of a member from each State. On the 23d December, 1811, it was directed to be composed of the same number of members as the other standing committees. Sce note (*) page 179. When the Committee on Private Land Claims was first constituted, it was composed of five members-two less than the other committees. On the 19th December, 1817. it was directed to be composed of seven members. ** By Rule 162 the Speaker is directed to appoint the Delegate from the said District an additional member of the said committee. A Committee on Manufactures.-Dec. 8, 1819.* A Committee on Railways and Canals. -April 9, 1869. A Committee on Freedmen's Affairs.-Dec. 4, 1866. -A Committee on Education and Labor.-March 21, 1867. To consist of eleven mem bers each. (March 3,1873.) A Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures.-Jan.) To consist of seven 21, 1864-March 2, 1867. } members. A Committee on Patents.-Sept. 15, 1837.) -A Committee of Accounts.-Nov. 7, 1804. To consist of five member each. -A Committee on Mileage.-Sept. 15, 1837. ) 75. It shall be the duty of the Committee of Elections to examine and report upon the certificates of election, or other credentials, of the members returned to serve in this House, and to take into their consideration al! such petitions and other matters touching elections and returns as shall or may be presented or come into question, and be referred to them by the House.-November 13, 1789; November 13, 1794. 76. It shall be the duty of the Committee on Appropria tions to take into consideration all executive communications and such other propositions in regard to carrying on the several departments of the government as may be presented and referred to them by the House.-March 2, 1865. In *There are no duties assigned to the Committees on Manufactures, Agriculture, and Indian Affairs, in the Rules. + See note ( * ), page 179. The Committee of Accounts was first constituted as a select committee on the 7th of November, 1804. It was made a standing committee December 17, 1805. By Rule 162 the Speaker is directed to appoint one of the Delegates an additional member of the said committee. preparing bills of appropriations for other objects, the Committee on Appropriations shall not include appropriations for carrying into effect treaties made by the United States; and where an appropriation bill shall be referred to them for their consideration, which contains appropriations for carrying a treaty into effect, and for other objects, they shall propose such amendments as shall prevent appropriations for carrying a treaty into effect being included in the same bill with appropriations for other objects.-March 2, 1865. 77. It shall also be the duty of the Committee on Appropriations, within thirty days after their appointment, at every session of Congress, commencing on the first Monday of December, to report the general appropriation bills-September 14, 1837for legislative, executive, and judicial expenses; for sundry civil expenses; for consular and diplomatic expenses; for the army; for the navy; for the expenses of the Indian department; for the payment of invalid and other pensions; for the support of the Military Academy; for fortifications; for the service of the Post Office Department, and for mail transportation by ocean steamers; or, in failure thereof, the reasons of such failure. And said committee shall have leave to report said bills (for reference only) at any time.—March 2, 1865.* In all cases where appropriations cannot be made specific in amount, the maximum to be expended shall be stated, and each appropriation bill, when reported from the committee, shall, in the concluding clause, state the sum total of all the items contained in said bill.-March 15, 1867. 78. It shall be the duty of the Committee of Claims to take into consideration all such petitions and matters or things By the rule of September 14, 1837, the general appropriation bills were declared to be the “civil and diplomatic," "army,” “navy,” and “ Indian.” The present enumeration includes all that in the recent practice of the House have been treated as general appropriation bills. The authority to the Com mittee of Ways and Means to report said bills at any time (for reference) was first conferred on the 19th March, 1860, and when the duty of reporting the appropriation bills was imposed upon the Committee on Appropriations, like authority was conferred on the latter committee. By rule 119 these bills may, at any time, by a majority vote, be made special orders. |