TO SUSPEND THE RULES AND CONCUR IN SENATE AMENDMENT TO THE RIVER AND HARBOR APPROPRIATION BILL FOR 1916 (H. R. 20189- 38 STAT. 1049, 3/4/1915), SUBSTITUTING FOR THE BILL AN AP- PROPRIATION OF TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS FOR DISBURSEMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR UNDER SUPERVISION OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, FOR PRESERVING AND MAINTAINING EXISTING RIVER AND HARBOR WORKS, AUTHORIZING MODIFICATION OF PRESENT WORK; AUTHORIZING SECRETARY OF WAR TO RECEIVE SUMS CONTRIBUTED BY PRIVATE PARTIES FOR IMPROVING NAVIGATION; AND AUTHORIZING HIM ALSO TO DEFINE ANCHORAGE GROUNDS FOR VESSELS IN UNITED STATES WATERS. (P.5422-1,2; 5423-1,2; 5424-1,2)

Notes

Where is the Speaker’s vote?

According to current House rules, the Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk.

What’s the difference between aye and yea?

There is no meaningful difference between aye and yea (and nay and no), but the terms are used in different sorts of votes based on Congress’s long tradition of parliamentary procedure. The House and Senate follow the U.S. Constitution strictly when it says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). The House sometimes operates under a special set of rules called the “Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union” (or “Committee of the Whole” for short), which is a sort of pseudo-committee that is made up of every congressman. During this mode of operation, the House uses the terms “aye” and “no” instead. (See the Rules of the House, Rule XX, and House Practice in the section Voting.)