Supermajority Votes in the House

Supermajority Votes in the House

Supermajority Votes in the House
Updated February 3, 2023
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
98-778

link to page 3 link to page 3 link to page 4 Supermajority Votes in the House

Contents
Constitutional Supermajority Requirements ................................................................................... 1
Supermajority Requirements Under House Rules ........................................................................... 1

Contacts
Author Information .......................................................................................................................... 2

Congressional Research Service

Supermajority Votes in the House

he principle of majority rule dominates the work of the House of Representatives. This
means that most questions are decided by vote of a simple majority, assuming the presence
T of a quorum. For instance, if all 435 lawmakers vote, the winning threshold is at least
218—one more than half the membership of the House. In cases of a tie vote, House Rule XX,
clause 1(c), states that “a question shall be lost.”
Some supermajority votes, however, are explicitly specified in the Constitution. Others are
created by House rules. Under the constitutional power enabling each chamber to determine its
own rules of proceedings (Article I, Section 5), the House may adopt a number of additional
supermajority (sometimes called “extraordinary majority”) requirements.
Constitutional Supermajority Requirements
The Framers of the Constitution generally favored decision making by simple majority vote. On
the other hand, they recognized the virtue of supermajority votes in certain circumstances. In
Federalist No. 58, James Madison found that supermajority votes could serve as a “shield to
some particular interests, and another obstacle generally to hasty and partial measures.”
Alexander Hamilton, too, in Federalist No. 73 highlighted the benefits of requiring an
extraordinary majority of each chamber to overturn a President’s veto. “It establishes a salutary
check upon the legislative body,” he said, “calculated to guard the community against the effects
of faction, precipitancy, or of any impulse unfriendly to the public good, which may happen to
influence a majority of that body.”
The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of the Members voting, a quorum being present, of
either the House, the Senate, or both in five situations: (1) overriding presidential vetoes,1 (2)
voting to convict federal officers in impeachment trials (Senate),2 (3) providing advice and
consent to treaties (Senate),3 (4) expelling Members from the House or Senate,4 and (5) proposing
constitutional amendments.5
In addition, Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, disallows anyone who
engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding any civil or military office unless each house
removed this disability by a two-thirds vote of each chamber. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment,
ratified in 1967, addresses the issues of presidential succession and inability. The amendment
provides that the House and Senate, by a two-thirds vote of each chamber, may determine that
“the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
Supermajority Requirements Under House Rules
The House has four rules that require a supermajority vote of the Members voting, a quorum
being present, to pass legislation:
1. Rule XV, clause 1, requires a two-thirds vote to suspend the rules of the House.
2. Rule XV, clause 5, requires a two-thirds vote to dispense with the call of the
Private Calendar on the first Tuesday of the month.

1 U.S. Const. art. I, § 7, cl. 2.
2 U.S. Const. art. I, § 3, cl. 6.
3 U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 2.
4 U.S. Const. art. I, § 5, cl. 2.
5 U.S. Const. art. V.
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Supermajority Votes in the House

3. Rule XIII, clause 6(a), requires a two-thirds vote to consider a special rule on the
same day that the Rules Committee reports it. This requirement does not apply
during the last three days of a session.
4. Rule XXI, clause 5(b), requires a vote of not less than three-fifths of Members
voting to approve legislation that increases federal income tax rates.6
The House may amend its rules by a simple majority, including House rules that mandate
supermajority votes. In addition, the rules of the House may be waived through means such as
adopting a special rule from the Rules Committee. By contrast, the supermajority votes
established in the Constitution may not be waived by action of either chamber.

Author Information

Jane A. Hudiburg

Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process

Acknowledgments
This report was originally prepared by CRS Senior Specialist in American National Government Walter J.
Oleszek. Congressional staff may direct any inquiries to the current author.

Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and
under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
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copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

6 In the 118th Congress (2023-2024), the House agreed to H.Res. 5, re-establishing a requirement in House rules for a
supermajority vote on legislation increasing federal income tax rates. Such a supermajority vote threshold was initially
adopted in the 104th Congress (1995-1996) but was eliminated from House rules in the 116th Congress (2019-2020) via
H.Res. 6. See CRS Report R45552, Changes to House Rules Affecting the Congressional Budget Process Included in
H.Res. 6 (116th Congress); and CRS Report R47384, Changes to House Rules Affecting the Congressional Budget
Process Included in H.Res. 5 (118th Congress), by James V. Saturno and Megan S. Lynch.
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