Members of the House of Representatives have multiple opportunities to participate in the consideration of measures on the floor. They can discuss legislation, propose changes to the pending text, and suggest actions that may facilitate deliberation or expedite decision making. To achieve these legislative objectives, Members rely on standard procedures and phraseology that have evolved over the course of congressional history. An important parliamentary device designed to allow greater participation in debate is the Committee of the Whole (formally, the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union). The Committee of the Whole can be understood as the assembly in a different form; it is a committee of the House composed of every Representative that meets in the House chamber. The House considers most major measures in the Committee of the Whole; in fact, House rules require revenue, appropriations, and authorization measures to be first considered in the Committee of the Whole (House Rule XVIII, clause 3). The House can agree to resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole in one of three ways: by a special rule, by unanimous consent, or by motion. Typically, the House adopts a special rule, a simple resolution reported by the Committee on Rules, authorizing the Speaker to declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole to consider a particular measure. Less frequently, a Member might ask unanimous consent that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole for consideration of a particular measure. Finally, in very limited circumstances a Member may make a motion to resolve into the Committee of the Whole to consider (or further consider) a bill, although it is not done in modern practice. The consideration of a measure in the Committee of the Whole and in the House can be divided into five stages: (1) the House resolves itself into the Committee of the Whole; (2) Members engage in general debate on the measure; (3) Members offer, consider, and vote on amendments to the measure; (4) the Committee of the Whole rises and reports back to the House with a recommendation; and (5) the House votes on the recommendation and then on the measure itself. Various rules and procedures, discussed in this report, govern how and when Members can participate in debate, offer amendments, make motions and requests, and take other actions in the Committee of the Whole. Although there is variation in the language used by Members to engage in these activities, the report also presents some examples of parliamentary phraseology. Before a Member can take any action, the Member must be recognized for such purpose by the chair of the Committee of the Whole. The chair of the Committee of the Whole, who is a Member of the majority party appointed by the Speaker, exercises substantial discretion in recognition. Sometimes, the chair will ask, "for what purpose does the gentleman (or gentlewoman) rise?" before according recognition. Measures considered in the Committee of the Whole typically are subject to conditions governing debate and amendments that are specified by a special rule from the Committee on Rules or a unanimous consent agreement. In either case, the House sets the procedural conditions under which the particular measure is considered in the Committee of the Whole. The Committee of the Whole, even by unanimous consent, may not set aside or substantially modify those conditions. Under those conditions, a Member may be prohibited from gaining recognition to debate or make a certain motion or request in the Committee of the Whole. Members are always limited in the amount of time they can spend speaking on the floor. The manner in which time is obtained, restricted, and distributed in the Committee of the Whole depends on the stage of consideration of the measure and the terms of any special rule or unanimous consent agreement governing the consideration of the measure. After the House resolves itself into the Committee of the Whole to consider a particular bill or resolution, Members engage in general debate on the measure. During the general debate stage, Members discuss the bill and may discuss any amendments they plan to offer, but they may not offer amendments during this time. The next stage of consideration is the amendment process. During this stage, Members seek recognition to offer amendments and to debate their merits. Along with these two distinct stages of debate, there are two different methods by which time is distributed in the Committee of the Whole. Time for debate is either "controlled" or it is not. Under controlled time, a Member is granted a block of time from a Member, called a "manager," who determines which Members may speak, for how long, and in what order. Controlled time is generally divided equally between two managers. If time is not controlled, then a Member gains time to speak by seeking recognition from the chair of the Committee of the Whole. Absent any order of the House governing consideration of a measure, time in the Committee of the Whole would be controlled only during general debate. During the amendment process, the chair would distribute time in five-minute portions as described in the " Debate Under the Five-Minute Rule " section, below. The House usually resolves into the Committee of the Whole under a special rule, however, and these orders of the House always provide for controlled time during general debate and often during the amendment process. Time for general debate in the Committee of the Whole is almost always set and controlled by the terms of a special rule or a unanimous consent agreement. These agreements often limit the time for general debate to one hour, although the length of general debate can vary. In practice, general debate is usually divided between the chair and the ranking minority member of the committee of jurisdiction of the measure under consideration. These Members are referred to as the majority and minority floor managers. If the measure falls under the jurisdiction of multiple committees, then the chair and ranking member of each committee might control a portion of general debate time. Those designated to control the time often begin discussing the measure by yielding to themselves a set number of minutes or, more often, by stating: I yield myself such time as I may consume. The manager then controls the time until it expires or until the manager retains his or her remaining time by saying: I reserve the balance of my time. The presiding officer will then recognize the other floor manager. By reserving his time, a floor manager gives the other floor manager a chance to speak or distribute time. Generally, the chair alternates recognition between managers from each side. Floor managers yield portions of time to Members who let them know in advance they wish to debate the measure. Each floor manager usually, but not necessarily, yields to Members on his or her side of the aisle. By custom, managers do not refer to other Members by name and instead designate them by state. For example, the manager might say: I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from New Hampshire. Alternatively, the floor manager might say: I yield to the gentleman from California as much time as he may consume. If a manager yields a portion of time to another Member, he may not take the time back. Once the time is yielded, it belongs to the Member who is speaking until he finishes and "yields back" his time or until the presiding officer announces that the time has expired. Time is kept by the clerks sitting at the House dais, and managers often ask: Mr./Madam Chairman, how much time is available to each side? In response, the presiding officer will announce how much time the majority and minority floor managers have left. It is not uncommon for the managers to discuss with each other how the remaining time will be distributed. For example, one manager might ask the other how many more Members on his side are waiting to speak. The floor manager from the majority party has the right to speak last in general debate, or "to close," when time is controlled. Toward the conclusion of general debate, the majority floor manager will likely reserve the balance of his time until all the time of the minority manager has been consumed or until the minority manager yields back the balance of his time. Debate ends when all time has expired or all time has been yielded back. The floor managers yield back time by simply stating: I yield back the balance of my time. If the time allowed for general debate has not expired, managers sometimes discuss whether or not to end general debate. The managers might in this way determine that no more Members wish to speak on either side and they might then, in turn, yield back their remaining time. If the length of time for general debate is set by the House, as it nearly always is, the Committee of the Whole cannot extend the length of time for general debate—not even by unanimous consent. If a Member is not the floor manager but wishes to speak, the Member informs the floor manager on her side of her interest in speaking. The floor manager might then yield a portion of time to the Member. When the block of time the Member has been yielded is over, the chair will announce that the time yielded to the Member has expired. If the Member wishes to continue speaking, he can look to the floor manager and request additional time. The floor manager might choose to yield to the speaker an additional portion of time if any of the manager's time remains uncommitted. There is a difference between yielding a portion of time to another Member and yielding to another Member. Any Member who has been recognized for debate may yield, but under modern practice only managers may yield portions of time. A Member who has been yielded time by a manager, in other words, may not yield a specified amount of time, such as 30 seconds or 11 minutes, to another Member and expect the Presiding Officer to enforce the time limit. The Member might, however, "yield to" another Member for a question or a comment, but the yielding Member retains the floor. Thus, any time consumed by the Member yielded to is charged against the portion of time yielded originally by the manager. When a Member is yielded to, he or she is actually using the time of another Member. For this reason, Members ask permission to use another Member's time.