Clerk of The United States House of Representatives - Duties

Duties

Every two years regular congressional elections are held. Only one-third of Senators' terms expire at each of these elections, but the terms of office of the entire House end. The Senate has remained in constant existence since it first went into session in 1789 but the House goes out of existence (and hence a "new" Congress takes office) every two years. To preserve the legal continuity of the House, the existence of the House is vested in the Clerk at the end of each two-year term. Thus, when the newly-elected members of the House gather on January 3, it is the Clerk who summons Representatives and convenes the new Congress for the first time. Accordingly, the Clerk gavels the House into session, chairs the body as it adopts its rules of order, and oversees the election of a Speaker under those rules. The Speaker then takes the chair and the House proceeds with its business (which includes electing a Clerk for the new session). Were the House not to vest such personality in the Clerk, there would be no legally empowered authority to convene the session and lead the House in its first few acts.

As stated in Rule II of the House Rules, the Clerk is required 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 Preservation Commission, the Clerk may be asked to provide staff support and assistance to the Commission.