A member of the house of representatives

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The newly elected MPs must file an extract from the register of births to the House of Representatives, as well as a declaration disclosing all public offices they hold, or an administrative office. Together these documents are called the appointee’s “credentials”. The Committee on the Examination of the Credentials of the House of Representatives, composed of “sitting” members of the House, examines every appointee’s credentials. On the basis of the reports issued by the polling stations, the committee also examines whether the elections were conducted properly.

THE SWEARING IN OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The chairperson of the Committee on the Examination of the Credentials reports on the examination of the credentials of the newly elected MPs in the last sitting of the “old” House. In the next sitting all the newly elected MPs are sworn in by the President of the House. MPs who are appointed in the course of a parliamentary session must also send in their credentials. They are sworn in at the beginning of the next sitting of the House.

At the swearing-in ceremony in the House of Representatives every MP has to take the oath or the affirmation:

“I swear (declare) that in order to be appointed member of the States-General, I have not promised or given, directly or indirectly, any gifts or presents to any person under any name or pretext whatsoever.

 I swear (declare and affirm) that in order to do or refrain from doing anything whatsoever in this office, I have not accepted and will not accept, directly or indirectly, any promises or presents from anyone whomsoever.

 I swear (affirm) allegiance to the King, to the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands and to the Constitution.

I swear (affirm) that I will faithfully perform all the duties which the office lays upon me.

So help me,  Almighty God! (This I declare and affirm!)”

THE ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Since 2002, the House of Representatives has chosen its own President, shortly after the swearing in of the House in its new composition. Before 2002, the political groups used to decide among themselves who would become the new President of the House. Nowadays, every MP can apply for the post, simply by submitting a letter of application to their fellow MPs. The candidates are given the opportunity to elaborate on their motivation. Subsequently, the House of Representatives votes on who may hold the post in the coming four years. Mr Frans Weisglas was the first elected President of the House of Representatives, in 2002. From 2006 until 2012, Ms Gerdi Verbeet was President of the House. From 25 September 2012 until 12 December 2015, the post was held by Ms Anouchka van Miltenburg and since 13 January 2016 Ms Khadija Arib has been President of the House of Representatives.

Since the mid-19th century most representatives have been members of the Democratic or Republican parties. The larger of the two groups at any given time is called the majority party and has primary responsibility for organizing the House.

The presiding officer of the House is the Speaker, who is traditionally the leader of the majority party. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of each 2-year term of Congress by the full membership of the House. Some Speakers have been vested with great formal powers that enabled them to dominate the House. Among the most powerful Speakers were Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine (1889–91, 1895–99) and Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois (1903–11). After Cannon, the formal authority granted to Speakers became more limited. Widely regarded as the most effective recent Speaker was Sam Rayburn of Texas, who served more years (1940–47, 1949–53, 1955–61) than any other Speaker. Newt Gingrich of Georgia (1995–98) sought to recentralize power in the Speaker's position. Nancy Pelosi of California (2007–10) was the first woman to hold this post.

Other important leaders of the House are the majority and minority floor leaders and their deputies, the majority and minority whips. Floor leaders are elected at the beginning of each new Congress by the members of their own parties. Their primary responsibilities are to set the agenda, to schedule the business of the House, and to facilitate the formation of legislative coalitions on individual bills and amendments. Traditionally, party discipline was not strictly enforced, and members often crossed party lines to support or oppose legislation. Since the late 20th century, parties have become more polarized and cross-party voting has become less common.

The most important decision-making units within the House are its committees. In 2015 the House had 20 standing committees; a permanent select committee on intelligence; a select committee to investigate the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya; and 4 joint committees (with the U.S. Senate). These panels had various subcommittees that handled most of the initial work of studying and drafting legislation. Members are assigned to committees by their parties, and the partisan division on each such body usually reflects the party ratio within the House as a whole.

For most of the 20th century, the House followed the rule of seniority in selecting committee chairpersons—that is, the member of the majority party with the longest continuous service on each committee automatically became its chairperson. The Democrats modified this system in the early 1970s; all majority party members were permitted to participate by secret ballot in selecting committee chairpersons. After Republicans became the majority party in 1995, they set term limits for committee chairpersons at 6 years, and in 2001, 13 House committees gained new leaders. The Democrats have not adopted that rule, which they see as undermining institutional memory.

The House establishes the rules of its own proceedings at the beginning of each new Congress. The Speaker, as presiding officer, is the principal arbiter of the rules and is assisted by the House parliamentarian, who is an appointed official. A majority of the members may overrule the Speaker's interpretations or applications of the procedural rules.

Any member of the House may introduce legislation, usually called a bill. Bills are referred to appropriate committees by the Speaker, following precedent. Committees and subcommittees hold public hearings on some bills and prepare them for consideration by the full House. Debate on the House floor is regulated by the Committee on Rules, which recommends the length of time to be devoted to each bill and the conditions under which amendments may be considered. The recommendations of the Committee on Rules must be approved by the full House before a bill is debated. At the close of the time allotted for debate and amendment, the full House votes on a bill, usually by a recorded roll call.