The Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives is an employee of the United States House of Representatives. Along with the other House officers, the Clerk is elected every 2 years when the House organizes for a new Congress. The majority and minority caucuses nominate candidates for the House officer positions after the election of the Speaker. The full House adopts a resolution to elect the officers, who will begin serving the Membership after they have taken the oath of office. The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States. ... The term Speaker is usually the title given to the presiding officer of a countrys lower house of parliament or congress (ie: the House of Commons or House of Representatives). ...

The current Clerk is Karen L. Haas, of Maryland. The current Deputy Clerk is Gerasimos C. Vans.

Duties

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 deceased, resigned, or expelled Member 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.

History

On April 1, 1789, the House of Representatives convened with its first quorum. Its initial order of business was the election of the Speaker, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, a Representative from Pennsylvania. The next order of business was the election of the Clerk, John Beckley, a citizen of Virginia. Although the Clerk's title is derived from that of the Clerk of the British House of Commons, the duties are similar to those prescribed for the Secretary of the Continental Congress in March 1785. April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (January 1, 1750 - June 4, 1801), American politician, was the first speaker of the United States House of Representatives, elected April 1, 1789. ... John James Beckley (August 4, 1757 – April 8, 1807) was the first U.S. Librarian of Congress, serving from 1802 to 1807. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and is now the dominant branch of Parliament. ...

In addition to the duties involved in organizing the House and presiding over its activities at the commencement of each Congress, the Clerk is charged with a number of legislative functions; some of these, such as the constitutional requirement of maintaining the House Journal, have existed from the time of the first Congress, whereas others have been added over the years because of changes in procedure and organization. It has been suggested that List of members of the first U.S. Senate be merged into this article or section. ...

Along with the other House officers, the Clerk is elected every 2 years when the House organizes for a new Congress. The majority and minority caucuses nominate candidates for the House officer positions after the election of the Speaker. The full House adopts a resolution to elect the officers, who will begin serving the Membership after they have taken the oath of office.

List of Clerks

John James Beckley (August 4, 1757 – April 8, 1807) was the first U.S. Librarian of Congress, serving from 1802 to 1807. ... John James Beckley (August 4, 1757 – April 8, 1807) was the first U.S. Librarian of Congress, serving from 1802 to 1807. ... Patrick Magruder (1768-December 24, 1819) was the second U.S. Librarian of Congress, serving from 1807 to 1815. ... This article is about the California politician, for the Scottish poet, see: Thomas Campbell Thomas J. Campbell (b. ... Richard Montgomery Young (February 20, 1798–November 28, 1861) was a U.S. Senators from Illinois. ... Jim Kerr was the lead singer of a hugely successful pop/rock band called Simple Minds ... William Tyler Page William Tyler Page, best known for his authorship of the Americans Creed, was born in 1868, a descendent of a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Carter Braxton) and the tenth U.S. President (John Tyler). ...

Offices and Services

In addition to the Clerk's Main Office, located in H154 of the U.S. Capitol, there are nine offices that fall under the Clerk's jurisdiction.

Capitol Service Groups

The Capitol Service Groups provide support services to the maintenance of the Republican and Democratic Cloakrooms, the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women’s Reading Room, the Members and Family Committee Room, and the Capitol Prayer Room.

House Page Program

Pages are high school students who serve as support staff for the U.S. House of Representatives, either for a full school year or for one of two summer sessions. A US House Page (Congressional Page or simply Page) is a non-partisan federal employee serving the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC. Under the direction of the Office of the Clerk, Pages, who are specially-appointed high school juniors, provide supplemental administrative support to House operations in varying...

Legislative Computer Systems (LCS)

The Legislative Computer Systems office provides technical support for offices under the Clerk and maintains the electronic voting system on the House Floor.

Legislative Resource Center (LRC)

The Legislative Resource Center provides information services to the House and the public through its four divisions:

• Public Information (House documents, public access to statutory filings, legislative information),
• Records and Registration (point of entry for statutory filings),
• Library Services (research and reference of the House Library), and
• Historical Services]] (House history, archival and curatorial services).

The Legislative Resource Center assists with the retrieval of legislative information and records of the House for congressional offices and the public. The Legislative Resource Center provides centralized access to all published documents originated and produced by the House and its committees, to the historical records of the House, and to public disclosure documents. The Legislative Resource Center combines the responsibilities of several previously separate offices–the House Library, House Historical Services, the House Document Room, the Office of Legislative Information, and the Office of Records and Registration.

Under Rule II of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Clerk of the House is charged with the responsibility of maintaining two copies of printed documents of the House as well as the House Journal "in the library at his office" for use by the Members and staff. The Clerk has maintained a legislative and legal reference library since the Second Congress in 1792. Since the 104th Congress, the library services have been provided by Legislative Resource Center (LRC). The LRC has a small staff available to assist researchers and maintains a study area for library patrons.

Collection Contents

In addition to a reference collection of encyclopedias, congressional biographies, and statistical information about Congress, the following holdings are available:

• House and Senate Journals (1st Congress to present)
• Congressional Record and Its Predecessors (1st Congress to present)
• House Reports and Documents (4th Congress to present)
• House Bills and Resolutions (6th Congress to present)
• House Committee Hearings (61st Congress to present)
• Senate Reports (30th Congress to present)
• Senate Documents (15th Congress to present)
• Congressional Directories (34th Congress to present)
• Precedents (Hinds & Cannon's, Deschlers)

The collection also consists of additional information related to legislation or the federal government:

• Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
• Federal Register
• Compilation of Presidential Documents
• United States Statutes at Large
• United States Code
• United States Code Annotated
• Federal Reporter (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Series)
• Federal Supplement
• U.S. Reports
• United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
• Treaties
• Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
• Congressional Quarterly (Weekly Reports, Almanacs, and Others)

Use of Collection

The research and library materials of the LRC are maintained in closed stacks and can be retrieved by the LRC staff on request. Materials can be reviewed in the LRC reading room. Inquiries can be made at the main LRC desk. To facilitate research, it is most advantageous to call ahead to insure availability of materials and to have them retrieved before you visit.

Library Users

Members and permanent employees of the House may check out books and other materials for short-term loans. No materials may leave the LRC before they are first signed out by a permanent staff member. As the LRC also functions as the permanent archives of House documents, some materials are deemed irreplaceable and may only be borrowed with the specific written permission of the Clerk. No LRC materials from the permanent collection may be removed from the Capitol compound or sent to district offices.

Senate Bills and Hearings

The LRC retains Senate Journals, Reports, and Documents. However, we do not maintain Senate bills nor hearings. For more information about Senate bills and hearings, please visit the Senate's Legislative Activities section.

Serial Set

The Serial Set is the compilation of all House and Senate Reports, Conference Reports, and House and Senate Documents published and bound into one set of documents. The LRC holds a complete Serial Set of House materials since the 4th Congress and of Senate material since the 30th Congress. When requesting these materials, please include the Congress from which the report or document originated.

Office of History and Preservation (OHP)

Main article: Historian of the United States House of Representatives

The Office of History and Preservation collects, preserves, and interprets the heritage of the House. It provides a variety of services concerning historical publications, the House Collection, and the records of the House. Historical publications include maintaining the House entries of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress along with other publications mandated by the House. OHP curates the House Collection, activities which include acquisition and care of collection objects, processing of artifact loans, and services to Members and staff. This office also processes the records of the House, oversees their eventual safe transfer to the National Archives, and provides advice to Committee staff and Member office staff on records management. The Historian of the United States House of Representatives is an official appointed by that legislative body to study and document its past. ...

Office of House Employment Counsel (OHEC)

This office provides advice about employment practices and acts as legal representation for all employing authorities in the House.

Office of Legislative Operations

This office coordinates the services of the Bill and Enrolling Clerks, the Journal Clerks, the Tally Clerks, the Daily Digests, and the Floor Action Reporting.

The Office of Legislative Operations provides support pertaining to the Clerk's legislative duties. Among the duties of this office are receiving and processing official papers; compiling and publishing the daily minutes of House proceedings; operating the electronic voting system and overseeing the recording of votes; preparing messages to the Senate regarding passed legislation; and reading the bills, resolutions, amendments, motions, and Presidential messages that come before the House. The Office of Legislative Operations also prepares the summaries and schedules of House activities published in the Daily Digest section of the Congressional Record.

Bill Clerks

A Bill Clerk receives and processes official papers including introduced bills and resolutions, amendments and additional co-sponsors.

Journal Clerks

A Journal Clerk compiles the daily minutes of House proceedings and publishes these in the House Journal at the end of each session. The House Journal is the official record of the proceedings maintained in accordance with Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution.

Tally Clerks

A Tally Clerk operates the electronic voting system, oversees the recording of votes on the House Floor, receives reports of Committees, and prepares the Calendar of the United States House of Representatives and History of Legislation.

Enrolling Clerks

An Enrolling Clerk prepares all messages to the Senate regarding passed legislation, the official engrossed copy of all House-passed measures, and the official enrollment of all House-originated measures that have cleared both bodies of Congress.

Reading Clerks

Main article: Reading Clerk of the United States House of Representatives

A Reading Clerk is responsible for the reading of all bills, resolutions, amendments, motions and Presidential Messages that come before the House; reports formally to the Senate all legislative actions taken by the House. The Reading Clerk of the United States House of Representatives reads bills, motions, and other papers before the House and keeps track of changes to legislation made on the floor. ...

Office of Publication Services (OPS)

This office processes official print orders, such as those for letterhead and envelopes, for the House and produces official House publications, including the Official List of Members, the Capitol Directory Card, and the House Telephone Directory. This office also develops and maintains the Clerk’s official Web site and the Kids in the House Web site.

Official Reporters

This office transcribes House proceedings verbatim for publication in the Congressional Record and provides stenographic support to committees for all hearings, meetings, and mark-up sessions.

Contact information

Mailing Address: U.S. Capitol, Room H154, Washington, DC 20515-6601 Telephone Number: (202) 225-7000 Office Hours : 9:00 AM–6:00 PM, Monday–Friday

External links

• Official site
• Kids in the House