"The consideration of the unfinished business in which the Unfinished business of preceding House may be engaged at an adjournment shall be resumed as day considered. soon as the Journal of the next day is read, and at the same time each day thereafter until disposed of."-Rule 56.

mittees called for.

As soon as the Journal is read, and the unfinished busi- Reports of comness in which the House was engaged at the last preceding adjournment has been disposed of, reports from committees shall be called for and disposed of; in doing which the Speaker shall call upon each standing committee in regular order, and then upon select committees; and if the Speaker shall not get through the call upon the committees before the House passes to other business, he shall resume the next call where he left off-giving preference to the report last under consideration : Provided, That whenever any committee shall have occupied the morning hour on two days, it shall not be in order for such committee to report further until the other committees shall have been called in their turn. [But this proviso does not prevent the House from occupying the morning hour on more than two days in the consideration of a report previously made.Rule 51.-(See MORNING HOUR ON MONDAYS.)

and Territories for resolutions and bills on leave.

Reports from committees having been presented and dis- Call of States posed of, the Speaker shall call for resolutions from the members of each State and delegate from each Territory, beginning with Maine and the Territory last organized, alternately; and they shall not be debated on the very day of their being presented nor on any day assigned by the House for the receipt of resolutions, unless where the House shall direct otherwise, but shall lie on the table to be taken up in the order in which they were presented; and if on any day the whole of the States and Territories shall not be called, the Speaker shall begin on the next day where he left off the previous day: Provided, That no member shall offer more than one resolution, or one series of resolutions, all relating to the same subject, until all the States and Territories shall have been called."-Rule 52. And at this time bills on leave may be introduced.-Rule 115.

Speaker's table.

"After one hour shall have been devoted to reports from Business on the committees and resolutions, it shall be in order, pending the consideration or discussion thereof, to entertain a motion that the House do now proceed to dispose of the business on the Speaker's table, and to the orders of the day-January 5, 1832-which being decided in the affirmative, the Speaker

May be interfered with.

On Friday and Saturday, and

ing on those days.

shall dispose of the business on his table in the following order, viz:

"1st. Messages and other Executive communications.

"2d. Messages from the Senate, and amendments proposed by the Senate to bills of the House.

· 3d. Bills and resolutions from the Senate on their first and second reading, that they be referred to committees and put under way; but if, on being read a second time, no motion being made to commit, they are to be ordered to their third reading, unless objections be made; in which case, if not otherwise ordered by a majority of the House, they are to be laid on the table in the general file of bills on the Speaker's table, to be taken up in their turn.

4th. Engrossed bills and bills from the Senate on their third reading.

"5th. Bills of the House and from the Senate, on the Speaker's table, on their engrossment, or on being ordered to a third reading, to be taken up and considered in the order of time in which they passed to a second reading.

“The messages, communications, and bills on his table having been disposed of, the Speaker shall then proceed to call the orders of the day.”—Rule 54.

[The foregoing is the order of business which may be pursued, under the rules, each day, except Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays; but it is often interfered with by questions of privilege, special orders, privileged questions, &c.]

"Friday and Saturday in every week shall be set apart for mode of proceed the consideration of private bills and private business, in preference to any other, unless otherwise determined by a majority of the House."-Rule 128. [On those days, as soon as the Journal is read, and the unfinished business of the last private bill day is disposed of, the Speaker proceeds to call the committees for reports, of a private nature, which being disposed of, it is his practice, without motion, to lay before the House such private business as may be upon his table. It is then usual for some member (commonly the chairman of the Committee of Claims) to move that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on the private calendar. This motion may be, and often is, made as soon as the Journal is read. Although it takes precedence of the motion to go into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (unless there be a special order pending therein,) and, if made, must be first voted on, the

latter motion is often made and carried, and thus private bills fail to receive consideration.]

Fridays and Satof the

On the first and fourth Friday and Saturday of each First and fourth month the calendar of private bills shall be called over, (the urdays chairman of the Committee of the Whole House commencing the call where he left off the previous day,) and the bills to the passage of which no objection shall then be made shall be first considered and disposed of.-January 25, 1839. But when a bill is again reached, after having been once objected to, the committee shall consider and dispose of the same, unless it shall again be objected to by at least five members."--Rule 129. It has been decided that this rule, so far as relates to the consideration of bills only which are not objected to, applies as well to private bills in the House as in committee.Journal, 1, 31, p. 697.

for resolutions and

"All the States and Territories shall be called for bills on On Monday, call leave and resolutions on every Monday during each session of bills on leave. Congress; and, if necessary to secure the object on said days, all resolutions which shall give rise to debate shall lie over for discussion, under the rules of the House already established; and the whole of said days shall be appropriated to bills on leave and resolutions, until all the States and Territories are called through.--February 6, 1838. And the Speaker shall first call the States and Territories for bills on leave; and all bills so introduced during the first hour after the Journal is read shall be referred, without debate, to their appropriate committees: Provided, however, That a bill so introduced and referred shall not be brought back into the House upon a motion to reconsider. And on said call joint resolutions of State Resolutions and Territorial legislatures for printing and reference may be introduced."--Rule 130.--(See MORNING HOUR ON MONDAYS.) On Monday of every week, at the expiration of one hour after the Journal is read, or earlier if the call of States and Terri- has expired. tories for bills and resolutions is concluded, the Speaker may entertain a motion to suspend the rules.--Rule 145.

State legislatures.

of

On every Mon

day, after one hour

only changed by

"The order of business, as established by the rules, shall Order of business not be changed, except by a vote of at least two-thirds of the two-thirds vote. members present.”—-Rule 145.

BUSINESS-ON THE SPEAKER'S TABLE.

motion

may be made to

"After one hour shall have been devoted to reports from When committees and resolutions, it shall be in order, pending the go to.

30

hour begins.

BUSINESS, UNFINISHED AT END OF A FIRST SESSION.

consideration or discussion thereof, to entertain a motion that the House do now proceed to dispose of the business on the Speaker's table."-Rule 54. [The "hour"-known as the When_morning "morning hour"-is construed to begin from the announcement by the Speaker to the House that reports of committees are in order, and it is not necessary that resolutions shall have been called for. It is an invariable practice, too, to permit a Floor may be member, upon the expiration of the morning hour, to take the ber to make mo- floor, even though another may be occupying it, to make the motion to proceed to business on the Speaker's table.]

taken from mem

tion.

Order of disposing of.

Weekly

statement of, on table.

Bills, resolutions,

"The motion to go to business on the Speaker's table being decided in the affirmative, the Speaker shall dispose of it in the following order, viz:

"1st. Messages and other Executive communications.

"2d. Messages from the Senate, and amendments proposed by the Senate to bills of the House.

"3d. Bills and resolutions from the Senate on their first and second reading, that they be referred to committees and put under way; but if, on being read a second time, no motion being made to commit, they are to be ordered to their third reading, unless objection be made; in which case, if not otherwise ordered by a majority of the House, they are to be laid on the table in the general file of bills on the Speaker's table, to be taken up in their turn.

"4th. Engrossed bills and bills from the Senate on their third reading.

"5th. Bills of the House and from the Senate on the Speaker's table, on their engrossment, or on being ordered to a third reading, to be taken up and considered in the order of time in which they passed to a second reading.

"The messages, communications, and bills on his table having been disposed of, the Speaker shall then proceed to call the orders of the day."-Rule 54.

"The clerk shall make a weekly statement of the resolutions and bills upon the Speaker's table."-Rule 19. [A printed copy of this statement is laid upon each member's table every Monday morning.]

BUSINESS-UNFINISHED AT END OF A FIRST SESSION. "After six days from the commencement of a second or subresumed after six sequent session of any Congress, all bills, resolutions, and reports, which originated in the House, and at the close of the

and reports to be

days.

CALLS ON PRESIDENT AND DEP'TS-CALL OF THE HOUSE. next preceding session remained undetermined, shall be resumed and acted on in the same manner as if an adjournment had not taken place. And all business before committees of the House at the end of one session shall be resumed at the commencement of the next session of the same Congress, as if no adjournment had taken place.”—Rule 136.

[And by the 21st Joint Rule the resumption of all undisposed-of bills, resolutions, and reports, which originated in either house, is in like manner provided for. The word “resolutions" in the foregoing rule has been invariably held to apply to "Joint Resolutions" only.]

CALLS ON THE PRESIDENT AND DEPARTMENTS.

(See PRESIDENT and EXECUTIVE Departments.)

CALL OF THE HOUSE.

31

Before commit

tees, to be resumed

as though no adjournment.

Less than a quothorized to compel

rum may be au

attendance.

By the Constitution of the United States a smaller number than a quorum of each house "may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each house may provide."-Const., 1, 5, p. 8. Any fifteen members (including the Speaker, if there be Fifteen members one) shall be authorized to compel the attendance of absent pel attendance, members."-Rule 34. But where less than that number are present a motion for a call cannot be entertained.-Journal, 1, 28, p. 885.

authorized to com

but not less.

Unless no quorum, not in order previous question is onded.

"A call of the House shall not be in order after the previous question is seconded, unless it shall appear, upon an after actual count by the Speaker, that no quorum is present."Rule 132.

A call of the House may be moved before the Journal is read, if no quorum is present.-Journal, 1, 34, p. 1253.

sec

In order before the Journal is read, if no quorum present.

case of.

Roll to be called

twice.

Door shut.
Excuses

Upon calls of the House, the names of the members shall Proceedings in be called over (alphabetically-Rule 35) by the Clerk, and the absentees noted. After which the names of the absentees shall again be called over. The doors shall then be shut, and those for whom no excuse or insufficient excuses are made may, by order of those present, if fifteen in number, be taken into custody as they appear, or may be sent for and taken into custody wherever to be found, by special messengers to be appointed for that purpose."--Rule 36.

ceived.

re.

Order for arrest

of absentees, &c.

[The order of arrest is not usually made by the House Order of arrest, when usually unless a quorum cannot otherwise be obtained; and upon the made.