The provisions of law that constituted the Rules of the House at the end of the previous Congress shall govern the House in all cases to which they are applicable, and the rules of parliamentary practice comprised by Jefferson’s Manual shall govern the House in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the Rules and orders of the House.
In these rules words importing one gender include the other as well.
Clause 1 was adopted in 1837 (V, 6757), and amended January 3, 1953, p. 24, when it was also renumbered. When the House recodified its rules in the 106th Congress, clause 1 was transferred from former rule XLII and was modified to reference all provisions of law comprising House rules at the end of the previous Congress (a compilation of which is included in §§1127–1130, infra); and clause 2 was added (H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 1999, p. 47). This rule was redesignated as rule XXVII in the 107th Congress (sec. 2(s), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2001, p. 24), redesignated as rule XXVIII in the 108th Congress (sec. 2(t), H. Res. 5, Jan. 7, 2003, p. 7), and redesignated as rule XXIX in the 110th Congress (sec. 301, P.L. 110–81). Clause 2 was amended in the 111th Congress when gender-based references throughout the rules were eliminated (sec. 2(l), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2009, p. 7). The importance of Jefferson’s Manual as an authority in congressional procedure has been discussed (VII, 1029, 1049; VIII, 2501, 2517, 2518, 3330).
If a measure or matter is publicly available at an electronic document repository operated by the Clerk, it shall be considered as having been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner for purposes of these rules.
This clause was added in the 112th Congress (sec. 2(c)(2), H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 2011, p. 80), and amended in the 115th Congress to specify the electronic document repository maintained by the Clerk instead of a location to be designated by the Committee on House Administration (sec. 2(r), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2017, p. __). Before that amendment, the House had provided a transition rule pending the designation by the committee under the prior form of this clause (sec. 3(n), H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 2011, p. 80; sec. 3(o), H. Res. 5, Jan. 6, 2015, p. __).
Authoritative guidance from the Committee on the Budget concerning the impact of a legislative proposition on the levels of new budget authority, outlays, direct spending, new entitlement authority and revenues may be provided by the chair of the committee.
This clause was added in the 112th Congress (sec. 2(d)(3), H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 2011, p. 80). This authority elucidates the responsibilities of the Committee on the Budget under section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act (see §1127, infra). The 112th Congress authorized the chair of the committee to make specified adjustments under this clause pending the adoption of a certain budget resolution (sec. 3(h), H. Res. 5, Jan. 5, 2011, p. 80). The House in the 115th Congress provided that certain conveyances of Federal land not be considered as providing new budget authority, decreasing revenues, increasing mandatory spending, or increasing outlays (sec. 3(q), H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 2017, p. __).