The majority and minority caucuses nominate candidates for the House officer positions after the election of the Speaker.

[10] The Speaker is then sworn in, takes the chair, administers oaths to the rest of the members-elect, and the House then proceeds with other business.

[11] Following the 1838 elections, at the first meeting of the 26th Congress in December 1839, House clerk Hugh Garland omitted the names of five Whigs from New Jersey from the roll call.

After days of debate, the Whigs were not seated, effectively creating a Democratic majority in a closely divided House.

Two years later, in December 1865 as the path of Reconstruction was being determined, McPherson omitted the names of members-elect from Tennessee, Virginia, and Louisiana from the roll for the 39th Congress, and allowed no interference or interruption during his call.

After heated debate, in which a member-elect from Tennessee tried to gain floor recognition but was denied, a motion was made by Thaddeus Stevens to proceed to the election of Speaker, which was eventually agreed to.

Its initial order of business was the election of the speaker, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, a representative from Pennsylvania.

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.

LRC also gathers and verifies information on actions by House committees and the President of the United States regarding legislation.

In addition, LRC responds to inquiries from congressional staff and the public regarding legislative information about Congress.

LRC gathers, organizes, and retains disclosure registrations and reports, and makes them accessible to the public, on-site and virtually.

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.

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.