STRUCTURING THE AMENDMENT PROCESS

Reading for amendment. A bill is read for amendment one section at a time (or one paragraph at a time for appropriations bills) unless a special rule provides otherwise. A special rule may provide that a bill be read by broader portions, such as by title, or that it be open for amendment at any point.

Five Minute Rule. Unless otherwise provided in a special rule, a proponent and opponent of each amendment may speak for five minutes each, after which other Members may gain the floor for five minutes apiece by moving to "strike the last word" or the "requisite number of words" (pro-forma amendments).

Self-executing provisions. If specified, the House’s adoption of a special rule may also have the effect of amending the underlying bill (or occasionally of approving other, unrelated actions, such as adopting a simple resolution or passing an unrelated conference report).

Perfecting amendments. These are simply first degree amendments to bills or second degree amendments to other amendments that do not replace the entire texts that they amend.

En bloc amendments. With the exception of appropriations bills (which permit en bloc amendments that do not increase budget authority or outlays in the bill), unless a special rule authorizes several amendments to be offered and considered as a group, a Member seeking to offer amendments en bloc must obtain unanimous consent if they amend portions of the bill not yet open to amendment. If not precluded by a special rule, an amendment to insert or strike may be divided into two or more parts and voted on separately (demand for a division of the question) if each part represents a separate stand-alone proposition. House rules permit separate grammatical and substantive provisions in an amendment to be divided or separated for voting. Often if a rule makes in order en bloc amendments as a single proposition, it will preclude a demand for division of the question to prevent separate votes.

Amendment in the nature of a substitute as an original bill for purposes of amendment. A special rule may provide that the committee substitute (or an alternatively negotiated substitute) be considered as an original bill for purpose of amendment. This is done to permit second degree amendments to be offered. Otherwise, the substitute would be considered a first degree amendment, and would only be subject to further non-amendable amendments.

Priority recognition. Open rules customarily grant the Chair discretion to give priority in recognition to Members who have pre-printed their amendments in the Congressional Record. The Chair will likely still recognize a Member of the reporting committee over a non-Member, even if the former Member’s amendment is not pre-printed. But absent this provision, the Chair would follow the custom of giving preferential recognition to Members, based on seniority, who serve on the reporting committee, alternating between the parties.

Most votes win. This is a descendent of the King-of-the-Hill procedure (last substitute to gain a majority vote wins). A special rule may permit Members to vote on two or more amendments in the nature of a substitute to the same bill, or parts of the same bill. If more than one substitute attracts a majority of votes, the Committee of the Whole reports only the one that receives the largest number of votes.