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One-Minute Speeches: Current House Practices

Description: This report examines current House practices governing recognition for one-minute speeches, the delivery of "one minutes," and their insertion in the Congressional Record. The report also discusses various uses of one minutes and reform proposals.
Date: March 16, 2015
Creator: Schneider, Judy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Availability of Legislative Measures in the House of Representatives (The "Three-Day Rule")

Description: This report discuses rules in the House of Representatives governing the length of time legislative measures must be available to Members before being considered on the floor. Generally most measures are required to be available for three calendar days excluding weekends and holidays unless the House is in session on those days. The House has several means by which it can choose to waive these availability requirements and call up, debate, and vote on a measure in a single calendar day, even if… more
Date: June 12, 2017
Creator: Rybicki, Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Questions of Privilege in the House

Description: The House of Representatives distinguishes between privileged business and questions of privilege. Privileged business consists of those bills, resolutions, and other matters that Members can bring up for consideration on the House floor. These matters are privileged to interrupt the regular order of business that is defined in the House's rules. Questions of privilege constitute one form of privileged business. Clause 1 of House Rule IX recognizes two kinds of questions of privilege: questions… more
Date: April 28, 1998
Creator: Bach, Stanley
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Special Rules and Waivers of House Rules

Description: To the extent that a special rule is silent with respect to the terms for considering a measure, the standing rules of the House apply. The standing rules impose various limitations on consideration; however, it is not always in the interest of the House to observe these limitations. Therefore, special rules may sometimes include exemptions from one or more provisions of the standing rules, which appear in the form of waivers of those provisions.
Date: May 5, 1998
Creator: Saturno, James V.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Privileged Business on the House Floor

Description: Privileged business is the legislative business of the House that Members have a right to call up for consideration on the floor when the House is not engaged in considering some other matter. Privileged business consists of various kinds of bills, resolutions, and other matters
Date: March 30, 1998
Creator: Bach, Stanley
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Special Rules in the House of Representatives

Description: The House Rules Committee enables the House to debate and vote on major legislation that is not privileged for floor consideration and that cannot pass by unanimous consent or under suspension of the rules. The Committee reports resolutions, known as rules or special rules, to make individual bills in order for floor action and to affect the procedures for debating, amending, and voting on the bills, usually in Committee of the Whole.
Date: November 12, 1996
Creator: Bach, Stanley
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The House's Corrections Calendar

Description: This report discusses the establishment of the “Corrections Day”, a concept credited to Michigan Governor John Englerwhich, which is a procedure for repealing “the dumbest things the federal government is currently doing and just abolish them.”
Date: March 28, 2001
Creator: Oleszek, Walter J.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Discharge Rule in the House: Principal Features and Uses

Description: The “discharge rule” of the House of Representatives allows a measure to come to the floor for consideration, even if the committee of referral does not report it and the leadership does not schedule it. To initiate this action, a majority of House Members must first sign a petition for that purpose. The rule permits either (1) the committee of referral to be discharged from the measure itself; or (2) the Committee on Rules to be discharged from a special rule for considering the measure. Layov… more
Date: March 26, 2001
Creator: Beth, Richard S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Discharge Rule in the House: Recent Use in Historical Context

Description: The discharge rule of the House of Representatives affords a way for Members to bring to the floor a measure not reported from committee. Before a motion to discharge may be made, 218 Members must sign a petition for that purpose. This report provides summary data on discharge petitions filed since adoption of the present form of discharge rule in 1931. It also identifies the 32 occasions since 1967 on which a committee report or floor action occurred on a measure against which a petition was f… more
Date: August 6, 2001
Creator: Beth, Richard S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Commonly Used Motions and Requests in the House of Representatives

Description: This report identifies the most commonly used motions and requests available to Members during proceedings in the House of Representatives. The report divides the motions and requests into seven broad categories, based on when the motion or request is in order and who can make the motion or request. Daily Business is the category that includes items that are routine to the conduct of business in the House each day, such as the motion to adjourn. Decorum and Privilege covers issues of the rights… more
Date: November 30, 2004
Creator: Palmer, Betsy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Discharge Rule in the House: Recent Use in Historical Context

Description: The discharge rule of the House of Representatives affords a way for Members to bring to the floor a measure not reported from committee. Before a motion to discharge may be made, 218 Members must sign a petition for that purpose. This report provides summary data on discharge petitions filed since adoption of the present form of discharge rule in 1931. It also identifies the 32 occasions since 1967 on which a committee report or floor action occurred on a measure against which a petition was f… more
Date: April 17, 2003
Creator: Beth, Richard S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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