and yields to Privileged [§ 9] and Incidental [§ 8] Questions, and to the motion to Lie on the Table [§ 19]. It is not debatable, and cannot be amended or have any other subsidiary [$ 7] motion applied to it. It applies to questions of privilege [§ 12] as well as to any other debatable questions. It is allowable for a member to submit a resolution and at the same time move the previous question thereon. It shall require a two-thirds[1] vote for its adoption.
When a member calls for the previous question, and the call is seconded, the presiding officer must immediately put the question, “Shall the main question be now put?” If it fails, the discussion continues as if this motion had not been made.
If adopted, its Effect is as follows: [See the illustrations near the close of this section.]
(1) Its effect [excepting when to Amend or to Commit is pending] is to instantly close
- ↑ In the House of Representatives it must be seconded by a majority [to avoid the yeas and nays], and then it can be adopted by a majority vote; in the U. S. Senate it is not allowed. It is sometimes called the “gag law,’’ which name is deserved when a bare majority can adopt it. The right of debate should be considered as an established rule of every deliberative assembly, which cannot be interfered with excepting by a vote that is competent to suspend any other rule. [See note to § 39.]
