Clerk of the United States House of Representatives

Organization of the House When the newly elected members of the House gather on January 3, it is the clerk of the House who summons representatives and convenes the new Congress for the first time. Accordingly, the clerk calls the House to order by gaveling it into session. After a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, the clerk then calls the roll of representatives-elect, which is done as an electronic quorum call in the modern era, and then oversees the election of a speaker. During these processes, the clerk must "preserve order and decorum and decide all questions of order," which is subject to appeal. The speaker is then sworn in, takes the chair, administers oaths to the rest of the members-elect, and the House then proceeds with other business. Disputes in 19th century In the 19th century, the power of the preceding House clerk to organize the House played a significant role at the beginning of several congresses. Following the 1838 elections, at the first meeting of the 26th Congress in December 1839, House clerk Hugh Garland omitted the names of five Whigs from New Jersey from the roll call. After days of debate, the Whigs were not seated, effectively creating a Democratic majority in a closely divided House. Only then was the roll call completed and a speaker elected. In 1863, at the beginning of the 38th Congress during the Civil War, House clerk Emerson Etheridge called the roll, excluding 16 members from five pro-Union states (Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia, Kansas, and Oregon) while including three members from Louisiana. The effort failed, a motion was made to add the missing delegations, and a speaker was then elected. Edward McPherson was then elected to replace Etheridge as clerk for the 38th Congress. Two years later, in December 1865 as the path of Reconstruction was being determined, McPherson omitted the names of members-elect from Tennessee, Virginia, and Louisiana from the roll for the 39th Congress, and allowed no interference or interruption during his call. After heated debate, in which a member-elect from Tennessee tried to gain floor recognition but was denied, a motion was made by Thaddeus Stevens to proceed to the election of Speaker, which was eventually agreed to. This enabled the Radical Republicans to firmly control Congress, ultimately imposing stricter conditions on readmission of Southern states and enabling Congress to override many vetoes from President Andrew Johnson. Other duties Federal law requires the clerk to notify each state government of the number of seats apportioned to the state no later than January 25 of the year immediately following each decennial census. Rule II of the House Rules requires the clerk to: • prepare the roll of members-elect. • call the members-elect to order at the commencement of each Congress; to call the roll of Members-elect, and, pending the election of the speaker, to preserve order and decorum; and to decide all questions of order. • prepare and distribute at the beginning of every session a list of reports required to be made to Congress. • note all questions of order, and decisions thereon, and to print these as an appendix to the Journal of each session of the House. • prepare and print the House Journal after each session of Congress, and to distribute the Journal to members and to the executive and the legislature of each State. • attest and affix the seal of the House to all writs, warrants, and subpoenas and formal documents issued by the House. • certify the passage by the House of all bills and joint resolutions. • receive messages from the president and the Senate when the House is not in session. • prepare and deliver messages to the Senate and otherwise as requested by the House. • retain, in the official library, a permanent set of the books and documents generated by the House. • manage the office and supervise the staff of any vacant member (the vacancy may have occurred by expulsion, resignation, or death) until a successor is elected. In addition, the clerk: • acts as custodian of all noncurrent records of the House, pursuant to Rule VII. • is responsible, under the supervision and direction of the U.S. House of Representatives Fine Arts Board, for the administration, maintenance, and display of the works of fine art and other similar property of the Congress for display or for other use in the House wing of the Capitol, the House Office Buildings, or any other location under the control of the House (P.L. 100-696). In addition, pursuant to the rules of the United States Capitol Preservation Commission, the clerk may be asked to provide staff support and assistance to the commission. == History ==