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OF

THE TWO HOUSES.

1. In every case of an amendment of a bill agreed to in one House, and dissented to in the other, if either House shall request a conference, and appoint a Committee for that purpose, and the other House shall also appoint a Committee to confer, such Committees shall, at a convenient hour, to be agreed on by their chairman, meet in the conference chamber, and state to each other verbally, or in writing, as either shall choose, the reasons of their respective Houses, for and against the amendment, and confer freely thereon.

2. When a message shall be sent from the Senate to the House of Representatives, it shall be announced at the door of the House by the Door-keeper, and shall be respectfully communicated to the chair, by the person by whom it may be sent.

3. The same ceremony shall be observed, when a message shall be sent from the House of Representatives to the Senate.

4. Messages shall be sent by such persons, as a sense of propriety in each House may determine to be proper. 5. While bills are on their passage between the two Houses, they shall be on paper, and under the signature of the Secretary or Clerk of each House, respectively.

6. After a bill shall have passed both Houses it shall be duly enrolled on parchment, by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or the Secretary of the Senate, as the bill may have originated in the one or the other House, before it shall be presented to the President of the United States.

7. When bills are enrolled, they shall be examined by a Joint Committee of two from the Senate, and two from the House of Representatives, appointed as a

Standing Committee for that purpose, who shall carefully compare the enrolment with the engrossed bills, as passed in the two Houses, and, correcting any errors that may be discovered in the enrolled bills, make their report forthwith to their respective Houses.

8. After examination and report, each bill shall be signed in the respective Houses, first by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, then by the President of the Senate.

9. After a bill shall have been thus signed in each House, it shall be presented by the said Committee to the President of the United States, for his approbation, it being first endorsed on the back of the roll, certifying in which House the same originated; which endorsement shall be signed by the Secretary or Clerk (as the case may be) of the House in which the same did originate, and shall be entered on the journal of each House. The said Committee shall report the day of presentation to the President, which time shall also be carefully entered on the journal of each House.

10. All orders, resolutions, and votes, which are to be presented to the President of the United States for his approbation, shall, also, in the same manner, be previously enrolled, examined, and signed, and shall be presented in the same manner, and by the same Committee, as provided in cases of bills.

11. When the Senate and House of Representatives shall judge it proper to make a joint address to the President, it shall be presented to him in his audience chamber, by the President of the Senate, in the presence of the Speaker and both Houses.

12. When a bill or resolution, which shall have passed in one House, is rejected in the other, notice thereof shall be given to the House in which the same shall have passed.

13. When a bill or resolution, which has been passed in one House, shall be rejected in the other, it shall not be brought in during the same session, without a notice of ten days, and leave of two-thirds of that House in which it shall be renewed.

14. Each House shall transmit to the other all papers on which any bill or resolution shall be founded.

15. After each House shall have adhered to their disagreement, a bill or resolution shall be lost.

16. No bill that shall have passed one House, shall be sent for concurrence to the other, on either of the three last days of the session.

17. No bill or resolution, that shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall be presented to the President of the United States, for his approbation, on the last day of the session.

AND

ORDERS FOR CONDUCTING BUSINESS

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Touching the duty of the Speaker.

1. He shall take the chair every day precisely at the hour to which the House shall have adjourned on the preceding day; shall immediately call the members to order; and, on the appearance of a quorum, shall cause the journal of the preceding day to be read.

2. He shall preserve order and decorum; may speak to points of order in preference to other members, rising from his seat for that purpose; and shall decide questions of order, subject to an appeal to the House by any two members; on which appeal no member shall speak more than once, unless by leave of the House. 3. He shall rise to put a question, but may state it sitting.

4. Questions shall be distinctly put in this form, to wit: "As many as are of opinion that (as the question may be,) say Ay;" and, after the affirmative voice is expressed, "As many as are of the contrary opinion say No." If the Speaker doubts, or a division be called for, the House shall divide: those in the affirmative of the question shall first rise from their seats, and afterwards those in the negative. If the Speaker still doubts, or a count be required, the Speaker shall name two members, one from each side, to tell the members in the affirmative, which being reported, he shall then name two others, one from each side, to tell those in the negative, which being also reported, he shall rise and state the decision to the House.

5. When any motion or proposition is made, the question, "Will the House now consider it?" shall not

be put, unless it is demanded by some member, or is deemed necessary by the Speaker.

6. The Speaker shall examine and correct the Journal before it is read. He shall have a general direction of the Hall. He shall have the right to name any member to perform the duties of the chair, but such substitution shall not extend beyond an adjournment.

7. All committees shall be appointed by the Speaker, unless otherwise specially directed by the House, in which case they shall be appointed by ballot; and if, upon such ballot, the number required shall not be elected by a majority of the votes given, the House shall proceed to a second ballot, in which a plurality of votes shall prevail; and, in case a greater number than is required to compose or complete a committee shall have an equal number of votes, the House shall proceed to a further ballot or ballots.

8. In all other cases of ballot than for committees, a majority of the votes given shall be necessary to an election; and when there shall not be such a majority on the first ballot, the ballot shall be repeated until a majority be obtained.

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9. In all cases of ballot by the House, the Speaker shall vote in other cases he shall not vote, unless the House be equally divided, or unless his vote, if given to the minority, will make the division equal; and in case of such equal division, the question shall be lost.

10. In all cases where other than members of the House may be eligible to any office by the election of the House, there shall be a previous nomination.

11. All acts, addresses, and joint resolutions, shall be signed by the Speaker; and all writs, warrants, and subpoenas, issued by order of the House, shall be under his hand and seal, attested by the Clerk.

12. In case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct in the galleries or lobby, the Speaker (or Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House) shall have power to order the same to be cleared.

13. No person, except members of the Senate, their Secretary, Heads of Departments, the Treasurer, Comptroller, Register, Auditor, Postmaster General,

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