The Amending Process in the House of Representatives
Publication Date: January 2001
Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Author(s):
Research Area: Government
Type:
Abstract:
Most amendments that Representatives propose to legislation on the House floor are offered in Committee of the Whole. Measures considered under suspension of the rules are not amendable on the floor, and few amendments are proposed to bills and resolutions considered in the House, in the House as in Committee of the Whole, or under the Corrections Calendar procedures.
The House’s procedures recognize distinctions between first and second-degree amendments, between perfecting and substitute amendments, and among amendments in the forms of motions to strike, to insert, and to strike out and insert. An amendment in the nature of a substitute proposes to replace the entire text of a bill or resolution. All amendments must be germane to the text they would amend, and they are subject to other general prohibitions such as that against proposing only to re-amend language that already has been fully amended. Additional restrictions apply to appropriations and tax amendments, and the budget process creates various other points of order that Members may make against certain amendments. In general, a Member must make a point of order against an amendment before debate on it begins, unless that point of order is waived by a special rule.
In Committee of the Whole, measures usually are considered for amendment one section or title at a time. Members must offer their amendments to appropriate parts of a bill when it has been read or designated. Each amendment is debated under the five-minute rule. After the first 10 minutes of debate, Members obtain additional time for debate by offering pro forma amendments in the form of motions to strike the last word. Each amendment in Committee of the Whole may be amended by a perfecting amendment or a substitute amendment or both. A substitute for an amendment also is amendable. After the Committee of the Whole disposes of the last amendment to be offered to the bill, it rises and the House then votes again on all the amendments the Committee has approved. A recommittal motion usually offers a final opportunity to amend the bill before the House votes on passing it.