COINAGE, ETC., COM. ON-COMMERCE, COM. ON--COMMIT, MOTION TO. 47

resolution of February 18, 1856; on Public Lands, by resolution of May 27, 1862; and on Appropriations, by resolution. of December 12, 1865]

COINAGE, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES, COMMITTEE ON.

and of what num

There shall be appointed, at the commencement of each When appointed, Congress, a Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, ber. to consist of seven members, and to this committee shall be Duties of referred all bills, resolutions, and communications to the House upon that subject.-Rule 148.

COMMERCE, COMMITTEE ON.

and of what num

There shall be appointed, at the commencement of each When appointed, Congress, a Committee on Commerce, to consist of nine mem- ber. bers.-Rule 74.

"It shall be the duty of the Committee on Commerce to take Duties of. into consideration all such petitions and matters or things touching the commerce of the United States as shall be presented, or shall or may come into question, and be referred to them by the House, and to report, from time to time, their opinion thereon."-Rule 79.

[This committee was originally a Committee on Commerce and Manufactures. On the 8th December, 1819, a separate Committee on Manufactures was constituted, and the duties of the original Committee on Commerce and Manufactures have been confirmed, as above, by leaving out the words "and Manufactures." There are no duties assigned in the Rules to the Committee on Manufactures.]

COMMIT, MOTION TO.

received.

Precedence with reference to other

"When a question is under debate, no motion shall be When it may be received but to adjourn, to lie on the table, for the previous question, to postpone to a day certain, to commit or amend, to postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the order in which they are arranged; and no motion to commit, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, motions. shall be again allowed on the same day, and at the same stage Not to be repeated same day of the bill or proposition."-Rule 42. [When any one of the and stage of bill. foregoing motions is received, the practice is not to receive one of lower dignity until the former is disposed of.]

Where different committees

proposed.

are

May be amended.

With instructions not divisible.

A bill

when

ready for commit

ment.

Debate on.

Effect of pre

vious question up.

"When a resolution shall be offered, or a motion made to refer any subject, and different committees shall be proposed, the question shall be taken in the following order: the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union; the Committee of the Whole House; a standing committee; a select committee."-Rule 43.

A motion to commit may be amended by the addition of instructions. Also by striking out one committee and inserting another. Journals, passim.

A division of the question is not in order on a motion to commit with instructious, or on the different branches of instructions.-Journals, 1, 17, p. 507; 1, 31, pp. 1395, 1397; 1, 32, p. 611.

"Upon the second reading of a bill, the Speaker shall state it as ready for commitment."-Rule 118.

[On a motion to commit, the whole question is open to debate.]

After the previous question is ordered, if no motion to poston motion to com- pone is pending, the House is brought first "to a direct vote on the motion to commit, if such motion shall have been made." Rule 132.

mit.

Motions and reports may be committed.

"Motions and reports may be committed at the pleasure of the House."-Rule 47.

COMMITTEES.

Standing committees to be ap

commencement of each Congress.

Thirty-four standing committees shall be appointed at the pointed at the commencement of each Congress, viz: Of Elections, of Ways and Means, on Appropriations, on Banking and Currency, on the Pacific Railroad, of Claims, on Commerce, on the Public Lands, on the Post Office and Post Roads, for the District of Columbia, on the Judiciary, on Revolutionary Claims, on Public Expenditures, on Private Land Claims, on Manufactures, on Agriculture, on Indian Affairs, on Military Affairs, on the Militia, on Naval Affairs, on Foreign Affairs, on the Territories, on Revolutionary Pensions, on Invalid Pensions, on Roads and Canals, on Mines and Mining, on Freedmen's Affairs, on Education and Labor-to consist of nine members each; on Coinage, Weights and Measures-to consist of seven members; on Patents, on Public Buildings and Grounds, of Revisal and Unfinished Business, of Accounts, and on Mileage -to consist of five members each.-Rule 74.

Joint committees

ment of each Con

There shall be a joint committee on Enrolled Bills, to con- to be appointed sist of two members of each House, (Joint Rule 7;) there shall at the commencebe a joint committee on the Library of Congress, to consist of gress. three members of each House, (Joint Rule 20;) there shall be a joint committee on the Public Printing, to consist of three members of each House. (Stat. at Large, Vol. X, p. 34.) [The rules do not designate for what period these joint committees shall be appointed; but the practice is for the Speaker to appoint them at the commencement of each Congress.]

com

mittees to be ap

mencement of each

There shall be appointed, at the commencement of the first Standing session in each Congress, six additional standing committees, pointed at the comwhose duties shall continue until the first session of the ensu- Congress. ing Congress, viz: On Expenditures in the Department of State, on Expenditures in the Treasury Department, on Expenditures in the War Department, on Expenditures in the Post Office Department, on Expenditures in the Navy Department, on Expenditures in the Interior Department, on Expend itures on the Public Buildings, to consist of five members each.-Rule 102.

Duties of the committees.

appointed.

For the duties of the several committees, see under their respective names. "All committees shall be appointed by the Speaker, unless Committees, how 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."-Rule 67. [The latter mode of appointing committees is, of late years, never resorted to; but the practice has been for the House to adopt an order "that the Speaker be authorized to appoint the regular standing committees." And after adopting such order, it is usual for the House to adjourn over for two or three days to enable him to make the appointments.]

Member may be

appointed on, be

Before a return be made a member elected may be named of a committee, and is to every extent a member, except that fore he is sworn. he cannot vote until he is sworn.-Manual, p. 57. [While this is the law, it has never been the practice in the House to appoint a member on a committee until he has been sworn.]

Who shall be chairman of a com.

mittee.

Who may be ex

cused from serving

"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."-Rule 68.

"Any member may excuse himself from serving on any on a committee. committee at the time of his appointment, if he is then a member of two other committees."-Rule 69. [And under the practice, it is sufficient for him to offer such an excuse at any subsequent period of the session.]

Who shall call a meeting of a committee.

Committees shall

not sit while House

leave.

66

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."-Rule 70.

66

No committee shall sit during the sitting of the House is sitting, without without special leave."-Rule 72. And "so soon as the House sits, and a committee is notified of it, the chairman is in duty bound to rise instantly, and the members to attend the service of the House."-Manual, p. 66. [But upon the suggestion to the House by a member of a committee that it is important to the despatch of public business that they should have such leave, it is usually granted, especially near the close of a session.]

Committees sitting during recess.

mittees.

"Committees may be appointed to sit during a recess by adjournment, but not by prorogation. Neither house can continue any portion of itself in any parliamentary function beyond the end of the session without the consent of the other two branches. When done, it is by a bill constituting them commissioners for the particular purpose."-Manual, p. 132. [This has been construed (and, in view of the distinction which exists between a "session" of Parliament and of Congress, very properly so) not to restrain a committee of the House, with the leave of the House, from sitting during the recess between a first and second session of Congress.]—(See Journal, 1, 32, p. 1119.)

Clerks of com- "No committee shall be permitted to employ a clerk at the public expense without first obtaining leave of the House for that purpose."-Rule 73. [Such leave is usually granted to a portion of the committees for a part or the whole of the session, as they may deem the service necessary; and three of the committees have permanent clerks, viz: of Claims, by resolution of February 18, 1843; of Ways and Means, by

resolution of February 18, 1856; and on Public Lands, by

resolution of May 27, 1862.]

Precedence

of

"When a resolution shall be offered, or a motion made to different motions refer any subject, and different committees shall be proposed, to refer. the question shall be taken in the following order: the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union; the Committee of the Whole House; a standing committee; a select committee.-Rule 43. [But where more than one standing committee is proposed, the last one proposed is first voted upon, as an amendment to strike out and insert.]

· of

motion to commit other motions, and of others

"When a question is under debate, no motion shall be re- Precedence ceived but to adjourn, to lie on the table, for the previous over question, to postpone to a day certain, to commit or amend, over it. to postpone indefinitely; which several motions shall have precedence in the order in which they are arranged; and no motion to postpone to a day certain, to commit, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, shall be again allowed on the same day, and at the same stage of the bill or proposition."Rule 42.

Upon the second reading of a bill, the Speaker shall state it as ready for commitment."-Rule 118.

66

Motion to commit at same stage on

not to be repeated

same day.

A bill, when ready for commit

ment.

Previons question brings the

After the previous question is ordered, if no motion to postpone is pending, the House is first brought to a direct House to vote first vote on the motion to commit, if such motion shall have been mit. made."-Rule 132.

on motion to com

only act when met

"A committee meet when and where they please, if the Committee can House has not ordered time and place for them; but they can together. only act when together, and not by separate consultation and consent, nothing being the report of a committee but what has been agreed to in committee actually assembled."— Manual, p. 85.

A quorum of a

committee.

Not necessary

that committee be

full.

Nor that every

fied of an

ad

"A majority of the committee constitutes a quorum for business."-Manual, p. 85. But it is not necessary that the committee shall be full when a paper is acted upon.-Journal, 1, 34, p. 1143. Nor is it even necessary that every member member was noti shall have been notified of an adjourned meeting, if it shall journed meeting. appear that at such meeting a quorum was present, and that a majority of such quorum authorized a report to be made.Same Journal, pp. 1433, 1434.

[Committees very frequently appoint sub-committees to make investigations] and in such case no member of the com

Sub-committees.