Why It Matters
The motion to recommit (MTR) lets House minority members propose sending a bill back to committee before final passage, but MTRs almost always fail. A rules change adopted at the start of the 117th Congress removed the motion's ability to include instructions and its debate time, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
Since that change, members may no longer use the motion to directly propose amendments to legislation, and debate on the motion was eliminated entirely.
The Big Picture
House Rule XIX, clause 2, guarantees the minority an opportunity to offer the MTR before any final passage vote on legislation considered under a special rule, and House Rule XIII, clause 6(c), bars the Rules Committee from reporting a special rule that blocks it.
Before the 117th Congress, the motion could include instructions directing a committee to immediately report the bill back with specified amendments, giving the minority a late-stage amendment opportunity; the rules package adopted at the start of that Congress eliminated both the 10 minutes of debate and the option to include instructions.
Since that change, only one MTR has succeeded: the motion on H.R. 2925, a mining claims bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), which passed 210–204 on May 1, 2024, when six majority Republicans crossed party lines. The House brought the bill back to the floor seven days later and passed it 216–195 on May 8, showing that even a successful MTR did not kill the measure.
At the other extreme, the MTR on H.R. 8035, the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024, failed by 248 votes, 88–336, after all voting Democrats joined 126 Republicans to defeat it.
Minority members have described amendments they would have offered during general debate and, in some cases, inserted that text into the Congressional Record, a practice the report documents for H.R. 140 and H.R. 4468. Such insertions highlight a policy position but do not constitute a motion with instructions, as House rules no longer permit that form.
The Bottom Line
The MTR is used in roughly half the circumstances where it is available, making it one of the most common roll call votes in the House, yet committees face no obligation to act on a recommitted measure.
Among the bills the report cites, the H.R. 2925 recommittal is the only post-117th-Congress success on record as of the report's Oct. 16 update.
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