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I was trying to read the debates in the US about the term restriction for president and found that Congress had a "debate" on that on Feb. 6th, 1947. In the official records a remark by remark by Mr. Sabath caught my eye:

If I am not mistaken, this is the first time that any resolution amending the Constitution that has served us so well for 170 years has been brought before the House under a rule which permits only two short hours for general debate. O I recollect in days and years gone by that on many occasions the Republicans demanded not 2 but 6 and 8 hours, sometimes even 3 and 4 days, on minor and inconsequential proposals; but on this resolution weighted with such grave importance, proposing to change the Constitution of the United States and to limit the right of the people to choose their own President, they are liberal enough to allow only two measly hours for general debate ...

If that's true, then, I ask who and how they got to impose such a time constraint? Were there any other debates (not "general" maybe?) about the 22nd Amendment in Congress? If so where are they to be found?

Rick Smith
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discipulus
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    Remember that Congress isn't the final arbiter of constitutional amendments, it also has to be ratified by the states. So there will be lots more debate over it. – Barmar Jan 19 '24 at 20:28
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    And also by the time something reaches the state of debate among the full houses, it has gone through back-room negotiation and debate in committee. – Barmar Jan 19 '24 at 20:31

2 Answers2

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From Article I Section 5 of the US Constitution:

Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

In more direct language: The US House of Representatives is competent to determine, by simple majority, all of its own rules and procedures, including the amount of time allotted for any given debate. In practice, many of these decisions are delegated to the House Committee on Rules, and I would tend to assume that they had some influence over the amount of time given for debating the 22nd Amendment. Of course, this would only limit debate in the House. Amendments must also be passed through the Senate. Unlike in some parliamentary bodies around the world, the upper house of the US Congress is not a rubber stamp, and shares roughly equal power with the House (plus a few special responsibilities such as confirming appointments and ratifying treaties). If you want to see more of the Congressional record on the 22nd Amendment, I would suggest looking at the Senate's records.

It must be emphasized that the "debate" on the floor of either house of Congress is largely a formality, especially in the modern era of TV and radio (while I imagine the role of radio would have been greatly limited in 1947 compared to today's media, it cannot be entirely discounted). All of the important decisions would already have been made in committee long before it came to the floor. In practice, the Senate does engage in a certain amount of informal political horse-trading on its floor through the use of quorum calls, but those discussions have a very different character to formal floor debates like the two-hour period described in the question (most importantly, they are not an official part of the Senate record, and are usually not audible on C-SPAN or other media, so they are de facto unpublished).

Kevin
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    "All of the important decisions would already have been made in committee long before it came to the floor." – Anecdote: When I was in high school, we visited the State Parliament as part of a school trip. There was a debate going on on the floor, but the floor was almost empty. A classmate asked our guide whether that means that those few MPs are the only ones who are working and all the others are just slacking off. Our guide explained that it is actually the other way around: all the MPs not on the floor are busy working in committees, town halls, doing research, writing bills, etc. – Jörg W Mittag Jan 20 '24 at 20:25
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Q: I ask who and how they got to impose such a time constraint?

The time constraint was set by the House Committee on Rules. The rules for debate were given in H. Res. 91. See the reference for "Made special order [H. Res. 91]" below for the text of the resolution.

The Rules Committee has ... broad categories of jurisdiction: special orders for the consideration of legislation ... provide[] the terms and conditions of debate on a measure or matter ....

Q: Were there any other debates (not "general" maybe?) about the 22nd Amendment in Congress?

Most of the debate occurred in the Senate. The Senate also amended the original House resolution.

Q: If so where are they to be found?

From the Bill History for H. J. Res. 27:

H. J. Res. 27-Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to the terms of office of the President.

  • Mr. Michener; Committee on the Judiciary, 48.
  • Reported with amendment (H. Rept. 17), 816. (Mr. Springer?)
  • Minority views (H. Rept. 17, pt. 2), 816. (Mr. Allen?)
  • Made special order [H. Res. 91], 841.
  • [Debated] 845.
  • Passed House, 872.
  • Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 885.
  • Reported with amendments (S. Rept. 34), 1261.
  • [Debated] 1611, 1680, 1704, 1770, 1794, 1818, 1862, 1938, 1939, 1944, 1965, 1977.
  • Passed Senate, 1978.
  • Senate insists upon its amendments and requests a conference, 1978.
  • Conferees appointed, 1978.
  • House concurs in Senate amendments, 2389.
  • Examined and signed, 2424, 2482.
  • Presented to the Secretary Of State of the United States, 2482.

Notes:

  1. Links are to files of the Congressional Record containing the page numbers for the start of the item referenced. It may continue for one paragraph or many pages.

  2. When perusing the files, be advised that the same file may contain two or more sequential items from the above list.

  3. The Senate debate is spread over five files (five dates).

Rick Smith
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