AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1932 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee this day met, Hon. Edward W. Pou (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen, we have before us three resolutions relating to changes in the rules. One of them is House Resolution. 31, introduced by Mr. Crisp; another is House Resolution 47, introduced by Mr. Purnell. Both of these resolutions relate to amendments in paragraph 3 of rule 13 of the House rules. The third is House Resolution 93, introduced by Mr. Cochran which relates to an amendment in paragraph 34 of rule 11 of the House Rules. Mr. Underhill of Massachusetts would like to be heard at this time. The resolutions under consideration are as follows: [H. Res. 31, Seventy second Congress, first session] Resolved, That paragraph 3 of Rule XIII be, and the same is hereby, amended as follows: Strike out of said paragraph the following words: "On the first Monday of each month immediately after the reading of the Journal, and on the third Monday of each month immediately after the disposition of motions to instruct committees which may be called up"; and insert in lieu thereof: "On the first and third Mondays of each month immediately after the reading of the Journal." [H. Res. 47, Seventy-second Congress, first session] Resolved, That clause 3, Rule XIII, be amended to read as follows: "3. After a bill which has been favorably reported shall be upon either the House or Union Calendar, any Member may file with the Clerk a notice that he desires such a bill placed upon a special calendar to be known as the Consent Calendar." On the first Monday of each month immediately after the reading of the Journal, and on the third Monday of each month immediately after the disposition of motions to instruct committees which may be called up, the Speaker shall direct the Clerk to call the bills which have been for three days upon the "Consent Calendar." Should two objections be made to the consideration of any bill so called, it shall immediately be stricken from such calendar, but such bill may be restored to the calendar at the instance of the Member, and if again objected to by five or more Members, it shall be immediately stricken from such calendar, and shall not thereafter be placed thereon: Provided, That the same bill shall not be called twice on the same legislative day. That clause 6 of Rule XXIV, be amended to read as follows: "On the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, after the disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, the House shall resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House to consider business on the Private Calendar. Bills shall be called up in the order in which they appear on the Private Calendar. When a bill is called up it shall be first read by the Clerk and if there is objection to its consideration, general debate shall be had on the bill. Such debate shall be limited to twenty minutes-ten minutes for and ten minutes against-and the Chairman is charged with the strict enforcement of this limitation on debate. After such debate if five objections are made to the consideration, the bill shall be passed over until the bills remaining on the calendar on that date have first been called. At the expiration of general debate, or after the first reading, if no such debate is had, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. When bills thus objected to are subsequently called for consideration for amendment under the five-minute rule, under this rule they shall be considered unless the question of consideration is raised, in which event debate shall be limited to ten minutesfive minutes for and five minutes against such question. If the Committee of the Whole House determines the question of consideration in the affirmative, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. If, however, the Committee of the Whole House determines the question of consideration in the negative, the bill shall be laid aside until the committee arises, whereupon it shall be reported back to the House with the adverse recommendation. Any bill under this rule reported back to the House with an adverse recommendation shall automatically be recommitted to the standing committee reporting it, and said bill shall not again be reported during the same Congress." [H. Res. 93, Seventy-second Congress, first session] Resolved, That paragraph 34 of Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives be amended by striking out the period at the end of the rule, inserting a semicolon, and adding “and for the investigation of the subjects aforesaid, said committee, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, to administer such oaths, to take such testimony, to have such printing and binding done, and to make such expenditures as it deems necessary, which expenditure shall be paid out of the contingent fund of the House." STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES L. UNDERHILL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS Mr. UNDERHILL. Mr. Chairman, I was in hopes that I might hear the proposition that was before the committee before taking any stand, because I am rather opposed to a change in the rules. I think we should change the method of adjudicating claims rather than the rules. There is a great deal of danger in changing the rules, for this reason, that claims are considered, as a rule, by a minority of the House, a minority of the Members. Most of those Members are persons who are interested in some claims from their own district, some they have introduced. Of course, they are justified in using every possible legitimate means of getting favorable action on the part of the House, but there are many claims that come to the House which are really unfair and unjust to the Government itself, and I think our first duty is to the Government. Now, if you change these rules and liberalize them to such a degree that a man who knows the facts in the case and who heretofore has been enabled to block legislation by an objection, the only resource that is left to him is to raise the question of a quorum, and that is very arbitrary and very extreme, and yet there are times when a Member will be justified in doing that in order to block consideration of the passage of legislation which would be unfair to the Government. As you all know, the House has passed legislation dealing with the question of claims against the Government. I believe that the House showed wisdom; I believe that if that legislation had been enacted by |