Postpone Indefinitely has effect of Previous Question?

[samitefan1]

I was reading RONR 11th Ed. and was confused by Page 129, lines 33-35.  

 

[...] If the motion to Postpone Indefinitely is lost, the chair announces the result and immediately states the question on the main motion. [...]

 

This section seems to indicate that, upon the failure of a motion to Postpone Indefinitely, voting begins immediately on the main motion. My confusion emerges from the fact that, upon the failure of the PI motion, I would have thought that debate would recommence, if any members wished to do so. Only when debate was exhausted, or (with a 2/3 affirmative vote) a motion of Previous Question is passed  would the main motion be put to the assembly for voting. The way lines 33-35 are written, the failure of the PI motion seems to be an implicit passage of a PQ. Is this in fact the case, or should the failure of the PI motion move the assembly back into debate instead?

 

My apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere, or is in fact clarified elsewhere in RONR. (I'm only just beginning to truly learn the intricacies of RONR.) 

[jstackpo]

I think your problem arises from a little misunderstanding of what "states the question" means, in the short quote from RONR.

 

It is not an immediate call for the vote, but is just (re)opening the main question for debate, with a Phrase such as "Are you ready for the question?"  The chair may well re-state the question ("The motion before you is...") in case folks have forgotten what it was, and to avoid confusion.  

[Gary Novosielski]

I was reading RONR 11th Ed. and was confused by Page 129, lines 33-35.  

 

This section seems to indicate that, upon the failure of a motion to Postpone Indefinitely, voting begins immediately on the main motion. My confusion emerges from the fact that, upon the failure of the PI motion, I would have thought that debate would recommence, if any members wished to do so. Only when debate was exhausted, or (with a 2/3 affirmative vote) a motion of Previous Question is passed  would the main motion be put to the assembly for voting. The way lines 33-35 are written, the failure of the PI motion seems to be an implicit passage of a PQ. Is this in fact the case, or should the failure of the PI motion move the assembly back into debate instead?

 

My apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere, or is in fact clarified elsewhere in RONR. (I'm only just beginning to truly learn the intricacies of RONR.) 

 

Don't confuse "states the question" with "puts the question".

[Josh Martin]

I was reading RONR 11th Ed. and was confused by Page 129, lines 33-35.  

 

This section seems to indicate that, upon the failure of a motion to Postpone Indefinitely, voting begins immediately on the main motion. My confusion emerges from the fact that, upon the failure of the PI motion, I would have thought that debate would recommence, if any members wished to do so. Only when debate was exhausted, or (with a 2/3 affirmative vote) a motion of Previous Question is passed  would the main motion be put to the assembly for voting. The way lines 33-35 are written, the failure of the PI motion seems to be an implicit passage of a PQ. Is this in fact the case, or should the failure of the PI motion move the assembly back into debate instead?

 

My apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere, or is in fact clarified elsewhere in RONR. (I'm only just beginning to truly learn the intricacies of RONR.) 

 

It is correct that, upon the defeat of the motion to Postpone Indefinitely, debate on the main motion resumes. This is exactly what RONR says. To "state the question" is to place it before the assembly for consideration. Calling for a vote on a motion is to "put the question."

 

See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 37-42, 44-47.