When do congress terms begin

No thank you. LII U. Constitution 20th Amendment. Section 2. Section 3. The long-standing ban on photography in the Chamber led newly sworn members to devise an alternative way of capturing this moment for their families, constituents, and posterity. In earlier years, the vice president invited newly sworn senators and their families into his Capitol office for a reenactment for home-state photographers.

In the reenactment ceremony moved to the restored Old Senate Chamber and has been held in that historic setting ever since. Once the senators-elect have been sworn in, the vice president directs the Senate clerk to call the roll to establish a quorum , which the Constitution requires in order for the Senate to conduct business.

The majority leader then moves to adopt resolutions to notify the House and the president that the Senate has a quorum and is ready to proceed. The language of those resolutions has changed very little over the last years. In the Second Congress convened in Philadelphia.

After senators-elect presented their credentials and the vice president administered the oath of office, the Senate passed the following motion:. Ordered, That Messrs. Butler, Morris, and Dickinson, be a committee to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the Senate is assembled agreeably to the Constitution, and ready to receive any communications he may be pleased to make to the Senate.

Resolved, That a committee consisting of two Senators be appointed to join such committee as may be appointed by the House of Representatives to wait upon the President of the United States and inform him that a quorum of each House is assembled and that the Congress is ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. The Senate next proceeds to other administrative business, which often includes the election of the president pro tempore , the secretary of the Senate , the sergeant at arms , and the chaplain.

The Senate typically adopts a resolution early in the new Congress to set procedures for operating the Senate during the next two years. The resolution may include committee ratios, committee membership, and other agreements made between the majority and minority parties on the operation of the Senate.

This is usually a routine matter approved by unanimous consent agreement , but there have been occasions when the Senate faced unique challenges , making organization difficult. With each new Congress, all pending legislation and nominations of the previous Congress expire, requiring many bills and resolutions to be reintroduced. Guests seated in the Senate galleries and those watching from home will note that members often stand behind their Senate desks to deliver their remarks.

At the start of each Congress, the desks are reapportioned between the two sides of the Chamber based on the number of senators from the two political parties. For many years, the desks were assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

The oath of office may be administered by another Member or by a judge. The location has been at sites in Washington, DC, other than the Capitol and in other parts of the country.

If the swearing-in of a Member is challenged, the Speaker, pursuant to House precedents, will ask the Member-elect to remain seated while the others are sworn in. The House then determines the disposition of the challenge. After the Speaker administers the oath of office, he or she receives reports from the chairs of the two party organizations, the Republican Conference and the Democratic Caucus, who announce their parties' choice for majority leader and minority leader.

The party chairs then announce the names of those elected to serve as majority and minority whips. A simple resolution nominating the slate of candidates is offered by the chair of the caucus or conference of the majority party.

The minority party proposes its own roster of candidates as an amendment to the majority party's resolution. By tradition, neither the resolution nor the amendment is debated, although the slate can be divided with a separate vote on any or all officers.

The Speaker administers the oath to the newly elected officers. Six staff of the minority party leadership are subsequently designated. The House adopts simple resolutions to formally notify the Senate and the President that it has elected its leaders, is assembled, and is ready to receive messages from them. Subsequently, the majority and minority leaders as well as two Senators usually the majority and minority leaders telephone the President with the news that Congress has assembled is ready to begin its work.

The Clerk of the House is also authorized by resolution to inform the President that the House has selected its Speaker and Clerk.

The next order of business is the adoption of the rules of the House. Although the rules of one House do not carry over to the next House, a newly elected House typically approves its rules by adopting the rules of the previous Congress with specific amendments. The majority's proposed rules are offered in the form of a House simple resolution, most often numbered H.

Participants in the debate discuss the majority's proposal and any minority-party alternate proposal. At the end of debate time, the majority manager moves the previous question.

The majority party's numerical advantage assures the adoption of this motion. The effect is to force a nearly immediate vote on the question of final approval of the majority's own rules package. Adoption of the previous question motion ends debate and prevents the minority from actually offering its alternate rules package. With its numerical majority, the majority party is able to prevail in defeating a motion to commit, if offered, 45 and, then, in adopting its rules resolution.

In addition to allowing the adoption of the previous House's rules with specific amendments to those rules, a rules resolution may include other provisions that govern additional House action or activities. Such provisions typically appear as the final sections of the rules resolution, may be extensive, and may be labeled as separate orders, additional orders, or even with a specific name. The separate orders in Section 3 pertained to House rules e. These separate orders and other orders departed from or interpreted these rules in a specific manner and were applicable for the first session of the th Congress or for the duration of the th Congress.

The provisions related to committees, commissions, and House offices in Section 4 continued the existence for the th Congress of resolutions from prior Congresses that created the House Democracy Partnership, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Office of Congressional Ethics. An additional order in Section 5 provided for the reading of the Constitution in the House.

The terms special order and special rule are used somewhat interchangeably. It might also alter specific rules of the House only for the consideration of one or more measures identified in the special order, perhaps permitting an action that would otherwise be prohibited. When the majority party wishes to begin moving quickly in a new Congress on legislation, it might include in the rules resolution special orders making in order the consideration of specified measures or temporarily altering specific rules to allow the consideration of a specified measure.

In the th Congress, Section 5 of H. The special order was a closed rule, meaning that no amendments could be offered. A similar provision in Section 5 of H. This provision also expanded the debate time of 40 minutes under the rule on suspension of the rules to 2 hours. The House agreed to H. On January 9, it considered H.

In the th Congress, special orders were included in H. On the day of convening or shortly thereafter, the Speaker customarily announces the Speaker's policies with respect to certain floor practices for the duration of the Congress. These policies are grounded in authority or discretion granted the Speaker in the rules. The 10 policies in effect for the th Congress address—. In recent Congresses, the majority leader has initiated a set of written protocols to guide the scheduling or consideration of legislation during a two-year Congress.

The protocols cover matters involving the content of authorization bills, the availability of measures scheduled for consideration under the suspension of the rules procedure, and other items. Both parties' rules also contain guidance on scheduling or considering legislation. For example, both parties' rules contain guidance on legislation qualifying to be considered under the suspension of the rules procedure.

These protocols and party rules are not printed in the Congressional Record. The Speaker, the chair of the Rules Committee, or the chairs of relevant committees might submit memoranda of understanding for printing in the Congressional Record. These memoranda most often provide guidance to the Speaker on the referral of legislation where an ambiguity is present, possibly triggered by a change in rules.

In the th Congress, for example, the Speaker inserted three memoranda of understanding between the chair of the Judiciary Committee and, respectively, the chairs of the Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means Committees. The Speaker might alternately include a policy statement in the Speaker's announcements for a Congress. The Speaker also appoints Members who may sign enrolled bills and joint resolutions. The House establishes its daily hour of meeting for the first session of the new Congress by a simple resolution.

It must therefore be renewed for the next session of Congress. The House by unanimous consent allows a period preceding House sessions called Morning Hour. In Morning Hour, Members may speak up to five minutes on topics of their choice.

To eliminate a routine daily unanimous consent request, the House agrees by unanimous consent at the beginning of a Congress that Members may publish remarks and include supporting information in the Extension of Remarks section of the Congressional Record.

The House adopts a concurrent resolution H. The committee assignment process occurs largely within the party groups—the Republican Conference and the Democratic Caucus. The conference and the caucus have their own rules governing committee assignments. The only action visible on the chamber floor is the adoption of simple resolutions that implement the committee nominations recommended by the conference and the caucus.

The adoption of such resolutions is routine and occurs without debate or amendment because of the tacit understanding that each party has a right to establish its own internal distribution of committee assignments. The House may take up one or more assignment resolutions on opening day, but the consideration of additional assignment resolutions extends throughout January and possibly for several additional weeks.

The House typically in March adopts a funding resolution for its committees. Interim funding through March would have been provided by the House in the preceding Congress. Other routine organizational business may be taken up on the House floor on the first day.

Concurrent resolutions may be adopted providing for a joint session of Congress to receive the President's State of the Union message, or providing for an adjournment of the House and Senate. Some resolutions are dependent on specific circumstances that might not occur in every new Congress. For example, following a presidential election, the new House adopts resolutions providing for the counting by the new Congress of electoral votes cast for the President and Vice President of the United States; 72 continuing the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies; and authorizing the use of the Capitol and its grounds for inaugural activities.

After the House has completed its initial organizational proceedings, it might then turn to legislative 74 or routine business, which normally completes its legislative day. Routine business might include the introduction of bills and resolutions, 75 receipt and referral of messages from the President and executive agencies, 76 receipt of messages from the Senate, 77 one-minute and special-order speeches, 78 and notices and announcements required by House rule or regulation.

Koempel, a former senior specialist in American National Government, made significant contributions to earlier versions of this report. Paige Whitaker out of print but available to congressional clients upon request. For information on the convening of the House, see Charles W. Johnson, John V. Sullivan, and Thomas J. Wickham Jr. Hereinafter, House Practice. The House concluded the th Congress pursuant to the terms of H. The resolution permitted the chair the Speaker or the Speaker pro tempore to set dates for pro forma sessions through January 3, No law like P.

See House Rule II, cl. Wickham, H. Hereinafter, House Rules and Manual. The House Rules and Manual for the th Congress, containing rules adopted at the convening of the new Congress and updated parliamentarian's notes, is expected to be published in August In the interim, the th Congress rules incorporating changes made in the rules resolution are available as a print, available on the Rules Committee website: U.

Haas, Clerk of the House of Representatives, th Cong. A guest chaplain might also offer this prayer, as occurred in when the Very Reverend Paul Ugo Arinze offered the prayer. Generally, children under 12 years of age may accompany Members on the floor for the opening-day ceremonies. By law, the term of service of Delegates is also two years, but the term of service of the Resident Commissioner is four years. In the th Congress, the Clerk announced the receipt of a letter from Rep.

The Clerk [Karen L. Haas], "Resignation from the House of Representatives," letter, Congressional Record , daily edition, vol. In the th Congress, the Clerk announced the receipt of letters declining to serve in the House from Reps. Jackson has previously resigned from the th Congress November 21, Speaker pro tempore, "Resignation from the House of Representatives," letters, Congressional Record , daily edition, vol.

For background on Rep. Jackson Jr. Jim DeMint. In the th Congress, the Clerk announced receipt of a letter of resignation since the election from Rep.

The Clerk [Lorraine C. In the th Congress, the Clerk announced that he had received a letter from Rep. The Clerk [Jeffrey J. At the beginning of the th Congress, the Clerk announced the death of Rep.