Three Types Of Special Rules In The House Of Representatives

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A special rule in the House of Representatives determines consideration and how a debate will occur on legislation. The rule can define the amount of time (and allocation of it) for a debate, as well as how the amendment process will work. After another committee requests it, the Rules Committee sets up a hearing and marks up the special rules. Once the markup is finished, the special rule is filed and put on the House floor for debate. The House debates for one hour on the rule and is monitored by the majority party leader within the Rules Committee. There are three types of special rules: open, closed, and structured. Open rules allow for any House member to propose appropriate amendments, while a closed rule allows no amendments. A structured rule limits the type of amendments that can be made. The House uses special rules to help put legislation up for debate on the floor, manage the legislation process, and waive points of order. By waiving any objections, a special rule can allow further control for the majority party within the House. …show more content…

The committee has tremendous power because they control special rules from start to end. The Committee on Rules has a majority/minority ratio of 2:1 and, therefore, when special rules are marked up and then debated on the floor, the majority party controls the process. An example of their control is that the majority leader within the committee has first dibs on amending the rule. In essence, the Committee on Rules determines how legislation will be brought on the floor through special rules and since the House’s main purpose is legislation, the committee has great

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