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The Whole Committee is a parliamentary order in the US House of Representatives that involves all members in debates and eases strict rules. The entire House becomes a committee, and votes have the same effect as any House committee. The US Senate abolished this device in 1986.
The Whole Committee, officially the Whole House Committee on the State of the Union, is a parliamentary order regularly invoked in the United States House of Representatives to ease some of the strict rules members must observe while the House is in session , and to involve all members in the debate. Technically, the entire House becomes a congressional committee, often for the initial consideration of bills, but for other purposes as well. Membership in both bodies is identical, but they do not exist simultaneously. The House resolves itself into the Committee of the Whole, and then the committee dissolves back into the House of Representatives.
While sitting as the United States House of Representatives, the speaker of the house is the president and a quorum of 218 is required to conduct business. When the Assembly resolves to the Committee of the Whole, however, the speaker appoints another member to chair and a quorum of only 100 is required. One of the major benefits of this process is that instead of relegating a matter to a standing committee or shortlist whose members are only a small fraction of the members of the House, all members can actively participate in the debate and contribute their opinions, within the limits of the rules.
When the Committee votes, it does not have the effect of a House vote, but has the same effect as any House committee. This allows some non-voting members of the House, such as delegates from the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, the same voting rights on the Whole Committee as they have on congressional committees, even if the their votes may not be the deciding votes. Also, votes in the Whole Committee are not recorded unless requested by 25 members. One of the amusing aspects of the Whole Committee’s approach is that the House essentially makes recommendations to itself. For example, the House meeting as the Whole Committee might vote to pass an amendment to a pending piece of legislation, but the amendment will not go into effect until the Committee dissolves itself and the entire House has passed it.
Many legislative bodies around the world use the Committee of the Whole approach to relax hard rules in their deliberations when inclusion of all members in the process is preferred rather than relegating the matter to a single committee. Interestingly, the US Senate does not use this device, having abolished it completely in 1986.
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