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For practical purposes, a quorum call is a delaying measure that permits the Senate leadership to work out some difficulty or to await a Senator's arrival. [1] [2] Because of differences in procedure between the two bodies, quorum calls in the House are fairly rare, but they are quite common in the Senate.
A quorum of 6,000 was required for ostracism under the Athenian democracy, according to Plutarch; a similar quorum was necessary in the following century for grants of citizenship. [1] A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. [2]
According to Robert's Rules of Order, a widely used guide to parliamentary procedure, a meeting is a gathering of a group of people to make decisions. [1] This sense of "meeting" may be different from the general sense in that a meeting in general may not necessarily be conducted for the purpose of making decisions.
An agenda lists the items of business to be taken up during a meeting or session. [3] It may also be called a "calendar". [4] A meeting agenda may be headed with the date, time and location of the meeting, followed by a series of points outlining the order in which the business is to be conducted.
In many cases, suspension of the rules may take place with unanimous consent. [5] Typically, a member will make a request to consider particular business or take a special action not permitted by the rules. The chair will ask if there is any objection; if there is no objection, the rules are suspended. [5] [6]
Once raised a point of order results in the suspension of all other business until the Speaker has given a ruling. [7] A member may dissent from the ruling of a speaker, which must be declared at once, a motion submitted in writing to that effect and the motion must be seconded. The Speaker must then propose the question, which is debatable. [9]
Under the rules and customs of the Senate, a quorum is always assumed to be present unless a quorum call explicitly demonstrates otherwise. Any senator may request a quorum call by "suggesting the absence of a quorum"; a clerk then calls the roll of the Senate and notes which members are present. In practice, senators almost always request ...
A quorum, or minimum number of members, is required to be present at a meeting in order to validly conduct business. The business that is to come up in a meeting could be listed in an order of business or an agenda. Each member could get a chance to speak through assignment of the floor and debate. Debate may be limited in the number of ...