A Retrospective of House Rules Changes Since the 104th Congress through the 109th Congress

Michael L. Koempel
Senior Specialist in American National Government

Judy Schneider
Specialist on the Congress

One of the majority party’s prerogatives is writing the House rules and using its majority status to effect the chamber’s rules on the day the new House convenes. It is a feature of the House that it must adopt rules at the convening of each Congress. While each new House largely adopts the chamber rules that existed in the previous Congress, each new House also adopts changes to those rules. Institutional and political developments during the Democratic majority, particularly during the 103rd Congress, were a prelude to the rules changes made by the Republicans when they took control of the House in the 104th Congress.

Rules changes made at the convening of the 104th Congress addressed most aspects of the committee system: decision-making autonomy, jurisdictions, internal committee procedures and structure, and staff. Rules changes for the 104th Congress and after also addressed most aspects of legislation deliberations on the House floor and organization of the chamber. For example, the minority was guaranteed the ability to offer the motion to recommit with instructions, commemorative legislation was banned, the names of signatories of discharge petitions were publicized, provisions were made for convening a House with a reduced membership due to a terrorist attack, and the Speaker was subjected to a term limit that was later repealed.

Two of the eight goals of the Republicans’ 1994 Contract with America dealt with budgetary legislation. House rules were changed to require a three-fifths vote to pass a federal income tax rate increase, and cost estimates replaced baselines as the preferred way of understanding the year-to-year changes in federal spending.

Rules changes in the administration of the House were extensive. Offices were abolished and others created. Responsibilities were shifted and accountability clarified. Rules changes affecting ethical standards were largely technical, with most major changes taking place through freestanding and other legislation.

The House rules changes made starting in the 104th Congress reflected a Republican frame of reference that was built over many years as the minority party. Most rules, however, did not change, either at all or substantially, since they had evolved over decades to support the majority in its organization and operation of the House. Rules changes do not necessarily enable a majority to pass legislation, to overcome voter sentiments, or to work smoothly with the minority. Rules facilitate the majority’s organization and operation of the House; they do not dictate to party leaders and others how to run the House or what outcomes can be achieved.

This report describes and analyzes only rules changes made on the opening day of a new Congress, but it references in footnotes selected other legislation and actions that also changed or affected House rules during the 104th Congress and during subsequent Congresses.

This report is the first in a series on House rules changes at the beginning of a Congress. For changes in the 110th, 111th, and 112th Congresses, see CRS Report R42395, A Retrospective of House Rules Changes Since the 110th Congress, by Michael L. Koempel and Judy Schneider. This report will not be updated.


Date of Report: March 8, 2012
Number of Pages: 76
Order Number: RL33610
Price: $29.95

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Cloture Attempts on Nominations

Richard S. Beth
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

Betsy Palmer
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process

Cloture is the only means by which the Senate can vote to limit debate on a matter, and thereby overcome a possible filibuster. It would be erroneous, however, to assume that cases in which cloture is sought are the same as those in which a filibuster occurs. Cloture may be sought when no filibuster is taking place, and filibusters may occur without cloture being sought.

Until 1949, cloture could not be invoked on nominations, and before 1980 this action was attempted only twice. From the 96th Congress (1979-1980) through the 102nd (1991-1992), cloture was never sought on more than three nominations in a single Congress, but in four of the nine Congresses since then a dozen or more nominations were subjected to cloture attempts.

From 1949 through 2010, cloture was sought on 89 nominations, and invoked on 41. The Senate voted to reject cloture on 22 of the remaining 48 nominations, and on the final 26 nominations no cloture motion received a vote. Eighteen of the 89 nominees failed of confirmation, and 11 of these 18 were considered during the 108th Congress (2003-2004). In the 103rd Congress (1993- 1994), the 109th Congress (2005-2006), and the 111th Congress (2009-2010) most of the cloture attempts were to executive branch nominations, but in all other Congresses nominations to the federal bench predominated.

Cloture has been sought on four nominations to the Supreme Court. In 1968, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to consider the nomination of Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice failed. In 1971, when he was first appointed to the court, and again in 1986 when he was nominated to be Chief Justice, opponents of William H. Rehnquist mounted a filibuster. Though the cloture vote in 1971 was unsuccessful, Rehnquist was confirmed to the court; in 1986, the cloture vote was successful. In 2006, the Senate successfully invoked cloture on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court.

The report includes a list of all nominations on which cloture was attempted in past Congresses, showing the outcome of the cloture attempt and the final disposition of the nomination. Similar data for the 112th Congress appear in the Appendix. The tables in the body of the report do not cover actions in the 112th Congress. This report, including the tables in the body, is to be updated after each Congress in which additional nominations are subjected to cloture attempts.

Filibusters and cloture are discussed more generally in CRS Report RL30360, Filibusters and Cloture in the Senate, by Richard S. Beth, Valerie Heitshusen, and Betsy Palmer. The process by which the Senate considers nominations is discussed more generally in CRS Report RL31980, Senate Consideration of Presidential Nominations: Committee and Floor Procedure, by Elizabeth Rybicki, and CRS Report RL31948, Evolution of the Senate’s Role in the Nomination and Confirmation Process: A Brief History, by Betsy Palmer.


Date of Report: March 9, 2012
Number of Pages: 15
Order Number: RL32878
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Congressional Liaison Offices of Selected Federal Agencies

Audrey Celeste Crane-Hirsch
Information Research Specialist

This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls and addressing correspondence to government agencies. In each case, the information was supplied by the agency itself and is current as of the date of publication. Entries are arranged alphabetically in four sections: legislative branch; judicial branch; executive branch; and agencies, boards, and commissions.

Specific telephone numbers for correspondence, publications, and fax transmissions have been provided for each applicable agency. When using fax, it is important to include the entire mailing address on a cover sheet, as many of the listed fax machines are not directly located in the liaison offices. For the convenience of the user, websites are included as well.

A number of agency listings include an e-mail address. When e-mailing agencies please remember to include your name, affiliation, phone number, and return address, to ensure a speedy response. Users should be aware that e-mail is not a confidential means of transmission.


Date of Report: March 14, 2012
Number of Pages: 39
Order Number: 98-446
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Congressional Oversight of Agency Public Communications: Implications of Agency New Media Use

Kevin R. Kosar
Analyst in American National Government

This report intends to assist Congress in its oversight of executive branch agencies’ public communications. Here, “public communications” refers to agency communications that are directed to the public.

Many, and perhaps most, federal agencies routinely communicate with the public. Agencies do so for many purposes, including informing the public of its rights and entitlements, and informing the public of the agency’s activities. Agencies spent more than $900 million on contracts for advertising services in FY2010, a figure that does not include all agency communications expenditures.

Congress frequently has investigated agency public communication activities. For example, in late February 2012 the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management began investigating 11 federal agencies’ public communications activities and expenditures.

Congressional oversight of agency public communications activities is not new; it has occurred frequently since at least the beginning of the 20th century. Congress has enacted three statutory restrictions on agency communications with the public. One limits agencies’ authority to hire publicity experts, another prohibits using appropriated funds to lobby Congress, and a third disallows using appropriated funds for “publicity or propaganda.” For a number of reasons, enforcing these restrictions has been challenging, not least of which is that these statutory prohibitions do not well clarify licit from illicit public communications.

Many federal agencies have adopted new electronic communication technologies over the past two decades. These “new media” technologies include e-mail, websites, weblogs (or blogs), text messaging, and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Agencies’ use of these new media has implications for congressional oversight of agency public communications. Most fundamentally, the ease of use of new media and the nature of digital communications further complicates congressional oversight and enforcement of the public communications restrictions.


Date of Report: March 14, 2012
Number of Pages: 15
Order Number: R42406
Price: $29.95

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African American Members of the United States Congress: 1870-2012

Jennifer E. Manning
Information Research Specialist

Colleen J. Shogan
Senior Specialist in Government and Finance

There are 43 African American Members serving in the 112th Congress, all in the House of Representatives. There have been 132 African American Members of Congress: 126 have been elected to the House; 5 have been elected to the Senate; and 1 has been appointed to the Senate. There have been 103 Democrats, 100 in the House and 3 in the Senate; and 29 Republicans, 26 in the House and 3 in the Senate.

The number of African American Members has steadily increased since the first African Americans entered Congress in 1870. There were fewer than 10 Members until the 91st Congress (1969-1971). In the 98th Congress (1983-1985), the number surpassed 20 for the first time and then jumped to 40 in the 103rd Congress (1993-1995). Since the 106th Congress (1999-2001), the number has remained between 39 and 44 serving at any one time.

The first African American Member of Congress was Hiram Rhodes Revels (R-MS), who served in the Senate in the 41st Congress (served 1870-1871). The first African American Member of the House was Joseph H. Rainey (R-SC), who also served in the 41st Congress.

Shirley Chisholm (D-NY), elected to the 91st through 97th Congresses (1969-1983), was the first African American woman in Congress. Since that time, 30 other African American women have been elected, including Senator Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL, 1993-1999), who is the only African American woman, as well as the first African American Democrat, elected to the Senate.

Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI, 1965-present), the current chair of the House Judiciary Committee, holds the record for length of service by an African American Member (46 years). He was first elected to the 89th Congress (1965-1967) and has served since January 3, 1965. Representative James E. Clyburn (D-SC, 1993-present) and former Representatives William H. Gray III (D-PA, 1979-1991) and J.C. Watts (R-OK, 1995-2003) have been elected to the highest leadership positions held by African American Members of Congress. Representative Clyburn, the House Assistant Democratic leader in the 112th Congress, served as the House majority whip in the 110th and 111th Congresses and as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus in the 108th and 109th Congresses. Representative Gray was chair of the House Democratic Caucus in 1989 (101st Congress). Later in that Congress, when a vacancy occurred, he was elected House majority whip, a position he held until his resignation from Congress in September 1991 (102nd Congress). Representative Watts served as chair of the House Republican Conference in the 106th-107th Congresses (1997-2001).

Twenty African Americans have served as committee chairs, 19 in the House and 1 in the Senate.

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), whose origins date back to 1969, currently has 43 members. Over its 40-year history, the CBC has been one of the most influential caucuses in Congress.


Date of Report: March 6, 2012
Number of Pages: 67
Order Number: RL30378
Price: $29.95

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