The Office of the Parliamentarian in theHouse and Senate

Updated November 28, 2018

Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
RS20544The Office of the Parliamentarian in the House and SenateThe House and the Senate each has an Office of the Parliamentarian to provide expert
advice and assistance on questions relating to the meaning and application of thatchamber’s legislative rules, precedents, and practices. The Speaker began naming aparliamentarian in 1927;1 the Senate first formally recognized its parliamentarian in 1935.2

The responsibilities of the two offices are similar. These derive from the need of Representatives
and Senators, and their staff, for access to confidential and nonpartisan expertise regarding theintricacies of the legislative process. The parliamentarians and their assistants/deputies make theirauthoritative knowledge available to all Members on the floor during plenary sessions and fromtheir offices at other times.
The most visible service that each office provides is in advising the Member presiding over
House or Senate plenary sessions as to the appropriate procedure to be followed, the appropriate
way in which to phrase any statements the chair needs to make, and the appropriate responses by
the chair to parliamentary inquiries and points of order. Whenever the House or Senate is insession, the parliamentarian or one of the office’s deputies/assistants is present on the floor at alltimes. In the House, the parliamentarian on duty sits or stands near the right hand of the Member
who is presiding. In the Senate, the parliamentarian on duty is always seated at the rostrum
immediately below the presiding officer’s desk.
Because of the complexity of the legislative procedures that govern the floor sessions of eachhouse, Representatives and Senators have long felt the need for expert professional assistance,
especially for those called upon to preside. The parliamentarians and their staffs provide thisassistance in several ways. For routine situations and situations that can be anticipated in advance,
the office may prepare written guidance for the Members who are presiding to inform them as towhat they are expected to say or do to implement the applicable procedures of that house. In othercircumstances, the parliamentarians convey their advice verbally to the presiding Representativeor Senator—for example, when that Member needs to respond to a parliamentary inquiry or rule
on a point of order.
As a staff official, neither parliamentarian is empowered to make decisions that are binding on theHouse or Senate. The parliamentarians and their deputies/assistants only offer advice that thepresiding Representative or Senator may accept or reject; individual Members may appeal
rulings. For more information on appeals, see CRS Report 98-306, Points of Order, Rulings, andAppeals in the Senate and CRS Report 98-307, Points of Order, Rulings, and Appeals in theHouse of Representatives, both by Valerie Heitshusen.
The House and Senate parliamentarians and their deputies/assistants have various other closelyrelated duties. They recommend the referral of most measures to committee, acting on behalf of
the Speaker of the House or the presiding officer of the Senate. They refer measures on the basisof House and Senate rules and precedents that define committee jurisdictions. Each office of theparliamentarian is also responsible for maintaining, compiling, and publishing the rules andprecedents of its chamber. The publications for which the Senate office is responsible include theStanding Rules of the Senate, published periodically, and Riddick’s Senate Procedure, the onevolume collection of precedents last published in 1992. (Senate offices may also access online,
via Webster, a number of additional precedents compiled in the Electronic Senate Precedents[ESP].) The House office prepares the biennial editions of the House Rules and Manual, the1 For more information, see “Parliamentarian of the House,” at https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/officers-

and-organizations/parliamentarian-of-the-house.
2 For more information, see “First Official Parliamentarian,” at https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/First_Official_Parliamentarian.htm.

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multi-volume Precedents,3 and the one-volume House Practice: A Guide to the Rules, Precedents
and Procedures of the House, the most recent edition of which was published in 2017.
The parliamentarians and their deputies/assistants in each house are also available to confer withall Members and their legislative staff about the meaning and application of their chamber’s rules
and precedents. For example, Members and staff may consult with the parliamentarian before
introducing a bill to gain insight into how that bill might be referred to committee. Members andstaff may also seek explanations, either during floor sessions or in preparation for them, about
what procedures may be available or invoked during House or Senate consideration of aparticular measure, amendment, or motion. Although the offices of the parliamentarians are notresponsible for providing procedural assistance during House or Senate committee meetings, they
may offer (in advance or during such meetings) interpretation of House or Senate rules that areapplicable during committee proceedings.
The House and Senate parliamentarians and their respective deputies/assistants are charged with
providing information and assistance to all Representatives and Senators, and their staffs, on astrictly nonpartisan and confidential basis. Organizationally, the office of the Senate
Parliamentarian is within the office of the Secretary of the Senate, whom the Senate elects at therecommendation of the Senate majority leader. The Speaker appoints the Parliamentarian of theHouse.

Author Information
Valerie Heitshusen
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

Acknowledgments
This report was written by former CRS Senior Specialist Stanley Bach, but has been updated by the current
author, who is available to answer inquiries from congressional clients on the topic.

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 andunder the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes otherthan public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress inconnection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are notsubject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed inits entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images ormaterial from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish tocopy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

3 The Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives collection contains four series of volumes of precedent:

Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives (2017 series), Deschler’s Precedents (1936-2013), Cannon’sPrecedents (1907-1936), and Hinds’ Precedents (1789-1907).

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