question is ordered, unless it shall appear upon an actual count by the Speaker that a quorum is not present.-Ibid., clause 2.

All incidental questions of order arising after a motion is made for the previous question and pending such motion shall be decided, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate.— Ibid., clause 3.

When a question is under debate no motion shall be received but to fix the day to which the House shall adjourn, to adjourn, to take a recess, to lay on the table, for the previous question (which motions shall be decided without debate), to postpone to a day certain, to refer or amend, or to postpone indefinitely, which several motions shall have precedence in the foregoing order. Rule XVI, clause 4.

EFFECT OF.

When there has been debate in Committee of the Whole on a proposition, further debate is precluded by the previous question, although there has been no debate in the House.Journal, 1, 52, pp. 173, 174.

The reading of a report is construed to be debate in the meaning of the rules, and if, after such reading, the previous question be ordered, further debate would not be in order.

A proposition being under consideration, an amendment is proposed and the previous question is ordered on the amend ment and on agreeing to the proposition. There having been debate on the original motion, but no debate on the amendment, further debate is precluded by Rule XVII, clause 1.— Speaker Crisp, Journal, 1, 52, p. 136.

When the previous question has been ordered on a proposí tion, no debate having been had upon it in the form in which it is submitted, the question is debatable for thirty minutes under the rule.-Journal, 2, 50, p. 384.

The effect of the previous question being to "bring the House to a direct vote upon the immediate question or questions on which it has been asked and ordered," if the execution of the order is prevented by an adjournment the question comes up on the following day immediately after the reading of the Journal, even though that day be set apart under the rules for a different class of business, as, for example, Friday or the second or fourth Monday of a month.-Journals, 1, 49, p. 2259; 2, 50, p. 381.

According to the practice, if, after the previous question is ordered on the passage of a bill, the House adjourns before the vote is taken, even on a day set apart by a rule or order of the House for its consideration, the vote on the passage of the bill is the first business in order on the succeeding day; and when it comes up is not subject to the demand of the question of consideration.-Journal, 2, 52, p. 33; ibid., p. 49. Otherwise, if ordered on a question other than the passage, such as the question on ordering the bill to be engrossed and read the third time.-Journal, 1, 52, p. 149.

The previous question having been ordered on the third reading of two bills, and the same coming up on a subsequent day as unfinished business, the bill which has been first considered is first in order. The question of consideration may, however, be raised, inasmuch as the House should have the right to determine which bill should be first considered.-Congressional Record, 1, 48, p. 5543.

The effect of the previous question (Rule XVII, clause 1) is "to bring the House to a direct vote upon the immediate question or questions on which it has been asked and ordered." But of recent years a practice has been tolerated of ordering the previous question on a proposition or on a number of independent propositions, and then passing to the consideration of other business without executing and entirely ignoring the order "that the previous question be now put." Under this practice the effect given the previous question is merely to cut off debate and amendment, but does not bring the House to a direct vote on the immediate question, as the rule requires. The effect of a negative vote on the demand for the previous question is to cause the House to resume the consideration of the subject as though no motion for the previous question had been made.

When the previous question has been ordered on any motion or other question it is not-in order, until after the vote is taken and the previous question exhausted, to move to postpone the further consideration of the subject.-Congressional Record, 1, 49, p. 7393.

An order-that at a certain hour, a bill and pending amendments shall be reported from a Committee of the Whole to the House, and that thereupon the previous question shall be

ordered thereon- is construed as including under the operation of the previous question amendments pending in Committee of the Whole when the Committee rose, as well as those which may have been reported from that committee to the House.-Journal, 1, 52, p. 355.

A motion for the previous question can not be laid on the table.-Journal, 2, 29, p. 252.

Amendments can not be entertained pending the demand for the previous question.-Journal, 1, 53, p. 9.

The "second" of the demand for the previous question, as it was formerly called, and the "order" for the previous question under the present usage, are equivalent terms.

After the previous question has been seconded (ordered) it is not competent for the mover to modify his proposition.Journal, 1, 31, p. 1397. Nor, according to the practice, can he withdraw it after it has been seconded (ordered); but he may withdraw it while the House is dividing on the question of seconding (ordering).-Journal, 2, 29, p. 241; 1, 51, pp. 550, 551. After the previous question has been ordered on a proposition, the motion to lay on the table is not in order.-Journal, 2, 53, pp. 139, 140.

It is not in order, except by unanimous consent, to withdraw an amendment proposed to a bill and pending when the previous question is ordered or becomes operative by virtue of a previous order of the House.-Congressional Record, 1, 51, p.

4061.

After the previous question has been ordered upon a pending proposition, it is not then in order to entertain the motion to go into Committee of the Whole.

Where there has been debate in Committee of the Whole on a proposition, further debate is precluded by the previous question, although there has been no debate in the House.-Journal, 1, 52, pp. 173, 174.

An amendment of the Senate not requiring consideration in Committee of the Whole is, when laid before the House for action, subject to the motion to commit and other parliamentary motions, provided the previous question is not demanded and ordered on the motion to concur.—Journal, 2, 52, p. 101. In the latter event the question on concurrence would take precedence.

5585-30

WHEN APPLICABLE.

The previous question is operative before the adoption of rules by the House (Journal 1, 53, p. 23.), being embraced in the parliamentary practice of the House.

It was held in the Forty-eighth and succeeding Congresses that the motion to commit after the previous question is ordered (as provided in Rule XVII, clause 1) was itself subject to the previous question, the motion to commit being amendable.

By analogy to the practice in the consideration of bills, it is in order to move to recommit. a resolution, reported in a contested election case, after the previous question has been ordered on the final disposition thereof.-Journal. 1, 52, p. 156.

The question being on agreeing to resolutions reported by the Committee on Elections, and a substitute being proposed, the previous question was demanded on the amendment and on agreeing to the resolutions recommended by the committee. The question of order being submitted whether it was in order at that stage to move to recommit the report, Speaker Crisp held: The Chair thinks that motion is not in order at this time. The rule provides that a motion to recommit may be made either before or after the previous question is ordered upon the passage of a bill. It has been frequently held by presiding officers that the word "bill" in this case is used as a generic term, applying to and including all legislative propositions which can properly come before the House; so that in this case the House must first dispose of the substitute, which is but an amendment, and after the disposition of that, when the question shall be upon the original resolutions as amended or without amendment, the motion to recommit will be in order.Journal, 1, 52, p. 154.

After the previous question has been ordered on agreeing to a resolution a motion to commit to a select committee is in order according to the practice of the House, even before the House has adopted rules.-Journal, 1, 53, p. 9.

A motion to close debate in the House on a particular section of a bill was by a vote of the House decided to be in order.— Journal 2, 48, p. 127. [This decision is an exception to the established practice under which the only method of closing

debate in the House is by ordering the previous question, by a special order of the House, or by unanimous consent.]

The previous question applies to a question of privilege equally with any other question.-Journals, 2, 27, pp. 573, 576; 1, 28, p. 882.

The previous question is exhausted by an affirmative vote on a motion to refer, and upon a reconsideration of said vote the question stands divested of the previous question.-Journal, 3, 34, p. 452.

When a bill is considered in the House as in Committee of the Whole it is subject to all parliamentary motions, including the motion for the previous question, even though there has been no debate on the bill under the five-minute rule.-Journal, 1, 49, p. 1412.

Under the practice of the House, if a question of order or a motion to reconsider is pending when the previous question is ordered, it applies only to, and is exhausted with the vote upon, such question.

RECONSIDERATION OF ORDER FOR.

Where a vote taken under the operation of the previous question is reconsidered, the question is then divested of the previous question, and is open to debate and amendment.Journals, 1, 27, p. 129; 1, 33, p. 127. These decisions apply only to cases where the previous question was fully exhausted, by votes taken on all the questions covered by it, before the motion to reconsider was made. In any other case the pendency of the previous question would preclude debate. It is in order, pending the demand for the previous question on the passage of a bill, to move a reconsideration of the vote on its engrossment.-Journal, 2, 27, p. 1175. [But such motion is not debatable under the practice which has prevailed for many years.]

It is not in order to move a reconsideration of the vote on ordering the main (now, the previous) question when it is partly executed.-Journal, 1, 31, pp. 1101, 1398.

PRINTING, JOINT COMMITTEE ON.

There shall be a Joint Committee on Public Printing, consisting of three Members of the Senate, appointed by the Pres