Watching the U.S. House of Representatives in Action

Watching proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives can be fun and informative.  In this year of heightened political awareness and activity, more people are tuning in to view live broadcasts from the floor of the House.  Live coverage of floor proceedings is now made available on C-SPAN television and through live streaming from the House website (www.house.gov).

Getting the most out of viewing House proceedings begins with a little preparation.  The House website provides a detailed schedule of the next week’s debate.  If, for example, you have decided to watch the House debate the annual Defense Authorization bill, setting forth spending limits and policies for our military services, you can read up on the background of the bill.  You will then most likely see a hard fought and usually illuminating discussion of important defense spending and policy issues.  Remember., though, that much work has already gone into the bill in committee and in informal deliberations off the floor.

It helps to be familiar with the patterns and nuances of how House members speak during floor proceedings.  Why is the presiding officer sometimes referred to as Speaker and sometimes as Chair? In fact, when bills are debated for amendment by all the members of the House, that is done within a parliamentary construct called the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, or Committee of the Whole, for short.  Hence, the presiding officer will then be Mr. Chairman or Madame Chair. (Some non-controversial bills are debated in the full House under streamlined rules with no amendments permitted.)

There is a certain courtly nature to proceedings in the House.  One thing you will notice is that members throughout the debate will address their remarks to the Chair.  Members are not permitted to address each other directly and must be civil.  If you should hear a member say “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” you will soon hear the gavel sounding and the Chair will remind the offender that all remarks are to be addressed to the Chair.  That’s why you hear so much polite talking in the third person, such as: “Mr. Chairman, the gentleman is mistaken in his conclusion on this issue.”

Before debate on the Defense bill, you will first see a debate about the Rule for the debate. Every bill debated for amendments has its own Rule setting the amount of time for general debate, time for amendments, and sometimes specifying which amendments are permitted to be offered.  The debate on the Rule can be spirited, and it always includes posturing: the majority saying the Rule is fair and expansive with the minority saying that important amendments are unfairly being blocked. 

The majority party almost always prevails on Rules votes.  When a Rule fails, pandemonium often prevails, as it did in 2008 when the Rule providing for consideration of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act failed, only to pass the next day after the stock market plummeted.  

Once a Rule is adopted and the House has “resolved” itself into the Committee of the Whole to consider the bill, you will see the Armed Services Committee Chair act as floor manager and the Ranking Minority Member of that committee will manage time for the minority members.  If there is an open Rule, the Committee of the Whole will operate under the “five-minute rule” wherein each member can speak for up to five minutes on each pending amendment.  In seeking recognition, a member will sometimes move to “strike the last word” or “strike the requisite number of words”, in essence proposing a pro forma amendment to the pending amendment.  The member may also claim five minutes by saying: “I rise in opposition to (or support of) the amendment.” 

When the Committee of the Whole has completed work, it votes on whether to recommend the bill to the full House.  You will actually see the transformation of the Committee of the Whole into the full House.  The Chair will leave the rostrum and the Speaker or Speaker’s designee will take the chair. The Chair of the Committee of the Whole will actually report, saying:  “ Mr. Speaker, the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union has had under consideration (such and such a bill) and reports it back to the House with a recommendation that the bill do pass.” 

For me this is always a moment that represents the culmination of hard work of individual members, staff, committees and leadership of both parties.  Even in times of fierce partisanship and disappointing (for some) outcomes, the rules and customs of the House, while always evolving, maintain a certain dignity, even majesty, to the way our nation makes its laws.

 

William Gilmartin, leader of the Government Accountability Task Force of Gettysburg Area Democracy for America, can be reached at bgilmartin49@yahoo.com

William Gilmartin