The motion is in order in the House, but not in the Committee of the Whole (formally, Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union). A motion to recommit must be offered after the previous question is ordered on a measure, but before the vote on final passage takes place. Only one valid motion can be offered, and it can take one of two forms: a simple (or "straight") motion, or a motion with instructions . The report emphasizes motions to recommit bills and conference reports because they represent the overwhelming majority of all recommittal motions each Congress. A simple motion to recommit a bill gives the minority a final opportunity to reject that measure. When the House adopts a simple recommittal motion, the underlying bill goes back to committee and is considered to have been rejected by the House. By contrast, a motion to recommit with instructions provides the minority a last chance to amend a bill. The amendment was agreed to. A simple motion to recommit a conference report proposes only to send the report back to conference for further negotiation; adopting this motion does not necessarily "kill" the bill. When the House adopts a motion to recommit a conference report (simple or with instructions), the House conferees "carry the original papers back to conference" and the "same conferees remain appointed." Table 3 provides data on motions to recommit conference reports from the 101 st Congress through the 109 th Congress. The overwhelming majority (85%) of motions offered to recommit conference reports contained instructions. Rule XIII, clause 6(c)(2), as amended in 1995, states that the Committee on Rules shall not "report a rule or order which would prevent the motion to recommit a bill or joint resolution from being made as provided in clause 2(b) of rule XIX, including a motion to recommit with instructions to report back an amendment otherwise in order, if offered by the Minority Leader or a designee, except with respect to a Senate bill or resolution for which the text of a House-passed measure has been substituted." Offering the Motion to Recommit: The Minority's Prerogative

In modern House practice, offering the motion to recommit is the prerogative of a member of the minority party. This rules change added the following new language to the last sentence of Rule XIII, clause 6(c)(2), concerning motions to recommit bills and joint resolutions:
... including a motion to recommit with instructions to report back an amendment otherwise in order, if offered by the Minority Leader or a designee, except with respect to a Senate bill or resolution for which the text of a House-passed measure has been substituted
With the addition of this language, the House's rules explicitly recognize the minority's prerogative to offer a motion to recommit, with or without instructions, to bills and joint resolutions . Consideration of the Motion to Recommit

		Debate on the Motion

Debate is not allowed on a simple motion to recommit, except by unanimous consent. If the House rejects that motion, House precedents provide that "a Member who in the Speaker's determination led the opposition to the previous question on the motion to recommit, such as the chairman of the committee reporting the bill, is entitled to offer an amendment to the motion regardless of party affiliation." The House must approve an amendment to a recommittal motion by a simple majority vote. Motions to Recommit Adopted by the House: 101st Congress - 109th Congress
Recommittal motions can take one of two forms: a simple (or "straight") motion to recommit or a motion to recommit with instructions. Bills and conference reports can be recommitted, but the motion to recommit does not have the same effect on measures at both stages of the legislative process.
A simple motion to recommit a bill gives the minority party a final opportunity to "kill" a measure before the House votes on whether to pass it. When the House adopts a simple motion, the underlying bill goes back to committee and is considered to have been rejected by the House. A simple motion to recommit a conference report proposes to return the report to conference, but does not necessarily "kill" the bill in question.
A motion to recommit a bill with instructions provides the minority a last chance to amend a bill before the House votes on its passage. When the House recommits a bill with instructions, the measure goes back to committee, but typically with binding directions that the committee report the bill back to the House instantaneously with an amendment that is included in the instructions. The recommittal of a conference report with instructions returns the report to conference with non-binding directions to the House conferees only (e.g., to insist on disagreeing to a specific Senate amendment). Most motions to recommit bills and conference reports contain instructions.
The motion to recommit is in order in the House, but not in the Committee of the Whole. The motion must be offered after the previous question has been ordered, but before the vote on passing a bill or agreeing to a conference report. Debate is allowed only on motions to recommit with instructions that are offered to bills and joint resolutions. Debate is not permitted on simple motions or on any motions to recommit conference reports, except by unanimous consent. The House must approve the motion by a simple majority vote. From the 101st Congress through the 109th Congress, the House adopted 7.6% of all motions to recommit.
In modern House practice, the right to offer the motion to recommit is the prerogative of a minority party Representative who is opposed to the underlying measure. Until the 104th Congress, however, House precedents only guaranteed the minority's right to offer a simple motion to recommit. The House Rules Committee was allowed to report "special rules" that limited or prohibited instructions in motions to recommit.
Since the beginning of the 104th Congress, the Rules Committee has been prohibited from reporting any special rules that restrict or preclude instructions in motions to recommit offered to bills and joint resolutions, provided the motion is "offered by the minority leader or his designee."
This report will be updated at the end of each Congress.