3 4.1a 4.1b 4.1c 4.1d RULE III OATHS The oaths or affirmations required by the Constitution and prescribed by law shall be taken and subscribed by each Senator, in open Senate, before entering upon his duties. OATH REQUIRED BY THE CONSTITUTION AND BY LAW TO BE TAKEN BY SENATORS I, A B, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. (5 U.S.C. 3331.) RULE IV COMMENCEMENT OF DAILY SESSIONS 1. (a) The Presiding Officer having taken the chair, following the prayer by the Chaplain, and a quorum being present, the Journal of the preceding day shall be read, and any mistake made in the entries corrected. Except as provided in subparagraph (b) the reading of the Journal shall not be suspended unless by unanimous consent; and when any motion shall be made to amend or correct the same, it shall be deemed a privileged question, and proceeded with until disposed of. (b) Whenever the Senate is proceeding under paragraph 2 of rule XXII, the reading of the Journal shall be dispensed with and shall be considered approved to date. (c) The proceedings of the Senate shall be briefly and accurately stated on the Journal. Messages of the President in full; titles of bills and resolutions, and such parts as shall be affected by proposed amendments; every vote, and a brief statement of the contents of each petition, memorial, or paper presented to the Senate, shall be entered. (d) The legislative, the executive, the confidential legislative proceedings, and the proceedings when sitting as a Court of Impeachment, shall each be recorded in a separate book. 2. During a session of the Senate when that body is in 4.2 continuous session, the Presiding Officer shall temporarily suspend the business of the Senate at noon each day for the purpose of having the customary daily prayer by the Chaplain. RULE V SUSPENSION AND AMENDMENT OF THE RULES 5 1. No motion to suspend, modify, or amend any rule, or 5.1 any part thereof, shall be in order, except on one day's notice in writing, specifying precisely the rule or part proposed to be suspended, modified, or amended, and the purpose thereof. Any rule may be suspended without notice by the unanimous consent of the Senate, except as otherwise provided by the rules. 2. The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Con- 5.2 gress to the next Congress unless they are changed as provided in these rules. RULE VI QUORUM-ABSENT SENATORS MAY BE SENT FOR 1. A quorum shall consist of a majority of the Sena- 6.1 tors duly chosen and sworn. 2. No Senator shall absent himself from the service of 6.2 the Senate without leave. 3. If, at any time during the daily sessions of the Senate, 6.3 a question shall be raised by any Senator as to the presence of a quorum, the Presiding Officer shall forthwith direct the Secretary to call the roll and shall announce the result, and these proceedings shall be without debate. 4. Whenever upon such roll call it shall be ascertained 6.4 that a quorum is not present, a majority of the Senators present may direct the Sergeant at Arms to request, and, when necessary, to compel the attendance of the absent Senators, which order shall be determined without debate; and pending its execution, and until a quorum shall be present, no debate nor motion, except to adjourn, or to recess pursuant to a previous order entered by unanimous consent, shall be in order. 7.1 1. On each legislative day after the Journal is read, the Presiding Officer on demand of any Senator shall lay before the Senate messages from the President, reports and communications from the heads of Departments, and other communications addressed to the Senate, and such bills, joint resolutions, and other messages from the House of Representatives as may remain upon his table from any previous day's session undisposed of. The Presiding Officer on demand of any Senator shall then call for, in the following order: 7.2 7.3 The presentation of petitions and memorials. The introduction of bills and joint resolutions. All of which shall be received and disposed of in such order, unless unanimous consent shall be otherwise given, with newly offered resolutions being called for before resolutions coming over from a previous legislative day are laid before the Senate. 2. Until the morning business shall have been concluded, and so announced from the Chair, or until one hour after the Senate convenes at the beginning of a new legislative day, no motion to proceed to the consideration of any bill, resolution, report of a committee, or other subject upon the Calendar shall be entertained by the Presiding Officer, unless by unanimous consent: Provided, however, That on Mondays which are the beginning of a legislative day the Calendar shall be called under rule VIII, and until two hours after the Senate convenes no motion shall be entertained to proceed to the consideration of any bill, resolution, or other subject upon the Calendar except the motion to continue the consideration of a bill, resolution, or other subject against objection as provided in rule VIII, or until the call of the Calendar has been completed. 3. The Presiding Officer may at any time lay, and it shall be in order at any time for a Senator to move to lay, before the Senate, any bill or other matter sent to the Senate by the President or the House of Representatives for appropriate action allowed under the rules and any question pending at that time shall be suspended for this purpose. Any motion so made shall be determined without debate. 4. Petitions or memorials shall be referred, without 7.4 debate, to the appropriate committee according to subject matter on the same basis as bills and resolutions, if signed by the petitioner or memorialist. A question of receiving or reference may be raised and determined without debate. But no petition or memorial or other paper signed by citizens or subjects of a foreign power shall be received, unless the same be transmitted to the Senate by the President. 5. Only a brief statement of the contents of petitions 7.5 and memorials shall be printed in the Congressional Record; and no other portion of any petition or memorial shall be printed in the Record unless specifically so ordered by vote of the Senate, as provided for in paragraph 4 of rule XI, in which case the order shall be deemed to apply to the body of the petition or memorial only; and names attached to the petition or memorial shall not be printed unless specially ordered, except that petitions and memorials from the legislatures or conventions, lawfully called, of the respective States, Territories, and insular possessions shall be printed in full in the Record whenever presented. 6. Senators having petitions, memorials, bills, or resolu- 7.6 tions to present after the morning hour may deliver them in the absence of objection to the Presiding Officer's desk, endorsing upon them their names, and with the approval of the Presiding Officer, they shall be entered on the Journal with the names of the Senators presenting them and in the absence of objection shall be considered as having been read twice and referred to the appropriate committees, and a transcript of such entries shall be furnished to the official reporter of debates for publication in the Congressional Record, under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate. 1. At the conclusion of the morning business at the 8.1 beginning of a new legislative day, unless upon motion the Senate shall at any time otherwise order, the Senate shall proceed to the consideration of the Calendar of Bills and 8.2 9 9.1 9.2 Resolutions, and shall continue such consideration until 2 hours after the Senate convenes on such day (the end of the morning hour); and bills and resolutions that are not objected to shall be taken up in their order, and each Senator shall be entitled to speak once and for five minutes only upon any question; and an objection may be interposed at any stage of the proceedings, but upon motion the Senate may continue such consideration; and this order shall commence immediately after the call for "other resolutions", or after disposition of resolutions coming "over under the rule", and shall take precedence of the unfinished business and other special orders. But if the Senate shall proceed on motion with the consideration of any matter notwithstanding an objection, the foregoing provisions touching debate shall not apply. 2. All motions made during the first two hours of a new legislative day to proceed to the consideration of any matter shall be determined without debate, except motions to proceed to the consideration of any motion, resolution, or proposal to change any of the Standing Rules of the Senate shall be debatable. Motions made after the first two hours of a new legislative day to proceed to the consideration of bills and resolutions are debatable. RULE IX MESSAGES 1. Messages from the President of the United States or from the House of Representatives may be received at any stage of proceedings, except while the Senate is voting or ascertaining the presence of a quorum, or while the Journal is being read, or while a question of order or a motion to adjourn is pending. 2. Messages shall be sent to the House of Representatives by the Secretary, who shall previously certify the determination of the Senate upon all bills, joint resolutions, and other resolutions which may be communicated to the House, or in which its concurrence may be requested; and the Secretary shall also certify and deliver to the President of the United States all resolutions and other communications which may be directed to him by the Senate. |