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When a question is under debate, motions have precedence

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When a bill is taken up in committee, or on its second read. ing, they postpone the preamble till the other parts of the bill are gone through. The reason is that, on consideration of the body of the bill, such alterations may therein be made as may also occasion the alteration of the preamble.-Manual, p. 115. In the case of a resolution with a preamble, there is no difficulty as to the time at which the preamble is to be considered, nor in any case in Committee of the Whole; but in the House, in the case of a bill with a preamble, there is some uncertainty as to the particular stage in which the bill must be when it is proper to consider the preamble. It would seem that it might appropriately be done after the bill has been ordered to be engrossed and read a third time and before the third reading takes place. By this course the bill can be engrossed either with or without the preamble, as the House shall have determined. But where a separate vote on the preamble is not asked for before the bill is read a third time the preamble is considered as adopted.

The preamble is not covered by the previous question ordered upon the passage of the resolution, but is itself subject to a separate demand of the previous question.-Journal, 1, 34, p. 1217.

Unless a separate vote is specially called for, however, the preamble and the title as reported to the House are considered adopted upon the passage of the bill or resolution.

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them with respect to the time of adjournment he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.-Const., 2, 3, p. 17.

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated.

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If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevents its return, in which case it shall not be a law.-Const., 1, 7, 2, 6.

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.-Const., 1, 7, 3, 6.

Where a House bill is allowed to become a law by the failure of the President to return it, it is usual for him to notify the House of that fact.-Journal, 2, 36, pp. 424, 480; Stat. L., Vol. 12, pp. 893, 998; Journal, 2, 39, p. 479. [And also where he approves a bill, giving the date of approval.]

When the President is prevented by adjournment from returning a bill with his objections, it was formerly usual for him at the next session to communicate to the House where it originated his reasons for not approving it.-Journal, 2, 12 p. 544; 1, 30, p. 82; 2, 35, p. 151, but such has not been the practice for many years.

(See Veto; Messages from the President.)

Article 12, Amendments to the Constitution, requires that

the certificate of electoral votes in the respective States for President and Vice-President shall be opened by the Presi dent of the Senate in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the vote shall then be counted.

(See Electoral Vote.)

The act of Congress entitled "An act to provide for the performance of the duties of the office of President in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice-President," approved January 19, 1886 (first session Forty-ninth Congress), Statutes, vol. 24, p. 1, provides:

That in case of removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and Vice-President of the United States, the Secretary of State, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Treasury, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of War, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Attorney-General, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Postmaster-General, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Navy, or if there be none, or in case of his removal, death, resignation, or inability, then the Secretary of the Interior shall act as President until the disability of the President or Vice-President is removed or a President shall be elected: Provided, That whenever the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States shall devolve upon any of the persons named herein, if Congress be not then in session, or if it would not meet in accordance with law within twenty days thereafter, it shall be the duty of the person upon whom said powers and duties shall devolve to issue a proclamation convening Congress in extraordinary session, giving twenty days' notice of the time of meeting.

SEC. 2. That the preceding section shall only be held to describe and apply to such officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the offices therein named, and such as are eligible to the office of President under the Constitution, and not under impeachment by the House of Representatives of the United States at the time the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon them respectively.

SEC. 3. That sections one hundred and forty-six, one hundred and fortyseven, one hundred and forty-eight, one hundred and forty-nine, and one hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes are hereby repealed.

PREVIOUS QUESTION.

The original intent and effect of the previous question as it prevailed in Parliament was, by a negative vote, to remove the question from before the House and was substantially equivalent to the question of consideration as it prevails in the

House of Representatives; the principal difference being that the question of consideration can not be demanded after consideration has commenced, while the previous question could be moved at any stage of consideration. If carried in the negative the consideration of the question upon which it was moved, i. e., the main question, at once terminated; but, if decided in the affirmative, the consideration proceeded without limitation.

The effect of the previous question as it exists in the House of Representatives is entirely different from that given in Parliament; a negative vote on the motion for the previous question under our practice, leaving the main question statu quo, while an affirmative vote terminates debate, precludes further amendment, and brings the House to an immediate vote on the pending question or questions.

In the first Code of Rules adopted by the House in the First Congress, April 7, 1789, the previous question was recognized, it being provided that it should be entertained only when demanded by five Members. On December 23, 1811, the rule was changed so as to require the demand to be seconded by onefifth of the Members present, and again modified February 24, 1812, by providing that it should only be admitted when demanded by a majority, the practice under the later modification being to simply dispense with the preliminary second by one-fifth.

In the early Congresses the effect of the ordering of the previous question was not uniformly construed, it being sometimes held that its effect was to cut off debate, and at others that debate was not thereby precluded.

Thus, in 1801, the Speaker held that debate was not in order after the previous question was ordered, and, on appeal, that decision was sustained by a vote of 60 yeas, 42 nays.-Journal, 2,6, p. 811. But in 1807 a similar decision by the Speaker was overwhelmingly reversed, 14 Members sustaining the decision and 103 opposing it.-Journal, 1, 10, p. 79. In 1811, however, the Speaker again decided that the effect of the previous question was to cut off debate, which latter decision was affirmed by the House, yeas 63, nays 36.-Journal, 3, 11, p. 611.

The uncertainty prevailing as to the effect of the previous question was brought to an end by the rule adopted August 5, 1848, which provided that the effect of the previous question "shall be to put an end to all debate and bring the House to a direct vote, etc.," and such has since been the practice of the House.

Previously to January, 1840, the effect of ordering the previous question was to preclude a vote on a pending amendment, the vote being taken directly on the main proposition with such amendments, if any, as had already been agreed to before the previous question was demanded. In the several revisions of the rules, January 14, 1840, August 5, 1848, March 16, 1860, and in the present rules its operation has been by degrees extended to embrace pending amendments, or other incidental motions, and include the engrossment, third reading, and passage of a bill.

RULES CONCERNING.

There shall be a motion for the previous question, which, being ordered by a majority of Members present, if a quorum, shall have the effect to cut off all debate and bring the House to a direct vote upon the immediate question or questions on which it has been asked and ordered: Provided, That when the previous question is ordered on any proposition on which there has been no debate, it shall be in order to debate the proposition to be voted on for thirty minutes, one-half of such time to be given to debate in favor of, and one-half to debate in opposition to such proposition. The previous question may be asked and ordered upon a single motion, a series of motions allowable under the rules, or an amendment or amendments, or may be made to embrace all authorized motions or amendments and include the bill to its passage or rejection. It shall be in order, pending the motion for or after the previous question shall have been ordered on its passage, for the Speaker to entertain and submit a motion to commit, with or without instructions, to a standing or select committee; and a motion to lay upon the table shall be in order on the second and third reading of a bill.-Rule XVII, clause 1.

A call of the House shall not be in order after the previous

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