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Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and
Resident Commissioner From Puerto Rico

Christopher M. Davis
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
June 18, 2009
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R40170
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress

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Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner From Puerto Rico

Summary
As officers who represent territories and properties possessed or administered by the United
States but not admitted to statehood, the five House Delegates and the Resident Commissioner
from Puerto Rico are not Members of Congress, and do not enjoy all the same parliamentary
rights as Members. They may vote and otherwise act similarly to Members in legislative
committee; may not vote in the House, but may participate in debate and make most motions
there; and, under the rules of the 111th Congress (2009-2010), may preside over, and vote in,
Committee of the Whole subject to an immediate revote in the House if their votes are decisive.
This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.


Congressional Research Service

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Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner From Puerto Rico

Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
In Legislative Committee ............................................................................................................ 1
In the House................................................................................................................................ 1
In Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union ....................................................... 1

Contacts
Author Contact Information ........................................................................................................ 3

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Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner From Puerto Rico

Introduction
The offices of the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico and the Delegates to the House of
Representatives from American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are created by statute, not by the
Constitution. Because they represent territories and associated jurisdictions, not states, they are
not Members of Congress and do not possess the same parliamentary rights afforded Members.
This report examines the parliamentary rights of the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner in
legislative committee, in the House, and in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union.
In Legislative Committee
Under Clause 3 of Rule III, the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner are elected to serve on
standing committees in the same manner as Representatives and have the same parliamentary
powers and privileges as Representatives there—the right to question witnesses, to debate, offer
amendments, vote, offer motions, raise points of order, include additional views in committee
reports, accrue seniority, and chair committees and subcommittees. The same rule authorizes the
Speaker to appoint Delegates and the Resident Commissioner to conference committees as well
as to service on select and joint committees.
In the House
The Delegates and the Resident Commissioner may not vote in or preside over the House.1 While
they take an oath to uphold the Constitution, they are not included on the Clerk’s roll of
Members-elect, and may not vote for Speaker. They may not file or sign discharge petitions. They
may, however, sponsor and cosponsor legislation, participate in debate, including managing time,
and offer any motion which a Representative may make, except the motion to reconsider.2 A
Delegate may raise points of order and questions of personal privilege, call a Member to order,
appeal rulings of the chair, file reports for committees, object to the consideration of a bill, and
move impeachment proceedings.
In Committee of the Whole House on the State of
the Union

Under Rule III and Rule XVIII, as adopted in the 111th Congress, when the House is sitting as the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, the Delegates and Resident
Commissioner have the same right to vote as Representatives, subject to immediate

1 Legislation has been introduced in the 111th Congress which would add to the House a full voting representative from
the District of Columbia. For more information on this and similar proposals, see District of Columbia Voting
Representation in Congress: An Analysis of Legislative Proposals, by Eugene Boyd.
2 Recognition to offer the motion to reconsider is dependent on having voted on the prevailing side of a question—
something the Delegates and the Resident Commission may not do since they can not vote in the House.
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Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner From Puerto Rico

reconsideration in the House when their recorded votes “have been decisive” in the Committee.
House rules also authorize the Speaker to appoint a Delegate or the Resident Commissioner to
preside as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole.
The rules of the 111th Congress are identical in effect to those in force in the 110th Congress
(2007-2008) and before that, in the 103rd Congress (1993-1994), which permitted the Delegates
and the Resident Commissioner to vote in, and to preside over, the Committee of the Whole.
These provisions were stricken from the rules as adopted in the 104th Congress (1995-1996) and
remained out of effect until readopted in the 110th Congress.3 At the time of the adoption of the
1993 rule, then-Minority Leader Robert H. Michel and 12 other Representatives filed suit against
the Clerk of the House and the territorial delegates, seeking a declaration that the rule was
unconstitutional. The constitutionality of the rule was ultimately upheld on appeal based on its
inclusion of the mechanism for automatic reconsideration of votes in the House.4
The votes of the Delegates and the Resident Commissioner were decisive, and thus subject to
automatic revote by the House, on three occasions in the 103rd Congress.5 There were no
instances identified in the 110th Congress in which the votes of the Delegates and the Resident
Commissioner were decisive. As of this writing, in the 111th Congress (2009-2010), the votes of
the delegates were decisive, and subject to an automatic revote, on one occasion.6
The rule governing voting in the Committee of the Whole by Delegates and the Resident
Commissioner has not been interpreted to mean that any recorded vote with a difference of six
votes or less is subject to automatic reconsideration. In determining whether the votes of the
Delegates and the Resident Commissioner were decisive, the Chair follows a “but for” test—
namely, would the result of a vote have been different if the Delegates and the Commissioner had
not voted?7 If the votes of the Delegates and Resident Commission on a question are determined
to be decisive by this standard, the committee automatically rises and the Speaker puts the
question to a vote. The vote is first put by voice, and any Representative may, with a sufficient
second, obtain a record vote. Once the final result of the vote is announced, the Committee of the
Whole automatically resumes its sitting.8


3 U.S. Congress, House, Constitution, Jefferson’s Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives, H.Doc. 109-157,
109th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 2007), §985.
4 Michel v. Anderson, 14 F.3d 623 (D.C.Cir. 1994).
5 See roll call #63, March 17, 1994; roll call #267, June 23, 1994; and roll call #277, June 24, 1994. The result of roll
call #267 changed when the question was revoted in the House.
6 See roll call #360, June 18, 2009. The result of the roll call did not change when the question was revoted.
7 On May 19, 1993, a series of parliamentary inquiries were directed to the Chair about how the “but for” test is
applied. Congressional Record, vol. 139, May 19, 1993, pp. 10408-10409.
8 It should be noted that these provisions, by which the House automatically reconsiders such decisive votes, are a
different procedure apart from the right of any Member to demand a separate vote in the House on any first degree
amendment reported from the Committee of the Whole.
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Parliamentary Rights of the Delegates and Resident Commissioner From Puerto Rico

Author Contact Information

Christopher M. Davis

Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
cmdavis@crs.loc.gov, 7-0656




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