The Footprints of Time / And a Complete Analysis of Our American System of Government, with a Concise History of the Original Colonies and of the United States, in Chronological Order

by Charles Bancroft

51. As soon as the journal is read, and the unfinished business 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. On the call for reports from committees on each alternate Monday, which shall commence as soon as the journal is read, all bills reported during the first hour after the journal is read shall be committed, without debate, to the Committee of the Whole, and together with their accompanying reports, printed; and if during the hour all the committees are not called, then, on the next alternate Monday, the Speaker shall commence where such call was suspended: Provided, That no bill reported under the call on alternate Mondays, and committed, shall be again brought before the House by a motion to reconsider.

52. Reports from committees having been presented and disposed 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 are 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.

53. A proposition requesting information from the President of the United States, or directing it to be furnished by the head of either of the Executive departments, or by the Postmaster General—shall lie on the table one day for consideration, unless otherwise ordered by the unanimous consent of the House, and all such propositions shall be taken up for consideration in the order they were presented, immediately after reports are called for from select committees, and when adopted the clerk shall cause the same to be delivered.

54. After one hour shall have been devoted to reports from 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—which being decided in the affirmative, the Speaker 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 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 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.