Search Penny Hill Press

Friday, December 10, 2010

Speaking on the House Floor: Gaining Time and Parliamentary Phraseology


Elizabeth Rybicki
Specialist on the Congress and the Legislative Process

House rules and precedents structure Members’ opportunities to speak on the floor about pending legislation. Under some circumstances, Members arrange to speak on legislation by communicating with the leaders of the committee that reported the bill. Sometimes the arrangements can be made on the floor during the debate, and at other times they are made prior to floor consideration. The committee leaders from both sides of the aisle manage the consideration of a bill on the floor, under what is known as controlled time, by allocating the debate time among several Members. In certain other procedural circumstances, most often when the House is amending legislation under an “open” special rule, legislators instead seek recognition to speak, usually for up to five minutes, directly from the presiding officer. A Member who has been recognized can yield to another during debate, but continues to hold the floor; and the time used by the Member yielded to is taken from the time allocated to the Member holding the floor.


Date of Report: November 30, 2010
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number: RS22991
Price: $19.95

Follow us on TWITTER at
http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail
Penny Hill Press  or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.