[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1169 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1169

 To amend the formula for determining the Official Mail Allowance for 
Members of the House of Representatives; to prevent Members from using 
 the franking privilege to send congressional newsletters; to require 
  that unobligated funds in the Official Mail Allowance of Members be 
      used to reduce the Federal deficit; and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 2, 1993

   Mr. Goss introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the formula for determining the Official Mail Allowance for 
Members of the House of Representatives; to prevent Members from using 
 the franking privilege to send congressional newsletters; to require 
  that unobligated funds in the Official Mail Allowance of Members be 
      used to reduce the Federal deficit; and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FORMULA REDUCTION.

    Section 311(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Legislative Branch Appropriations 
Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 59e(e)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ``3'' and 
inserting ``1.5''.

SEC. 2. NEWSLETTERS.

    (a) Intent of Congress.--Section 3210(a) of title 39, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(8) It is the intent of Congress that a Member of or Member-elect 
to Congress (other than a Senator or a Senator-elect) may not mail a 
congressional newsletter as franked mail.''.
    (b) Exclusion from List of Frankable Mail.--Section 3210(a)(3) of 
title 39, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B) by inserting ``subject to paragraph 
        (8),'' before ``the usual and customary''; and
            (2) in subparagraphs (I) and (J) by striking ``newsletter 
        or other''.
    (c) Exclusion Relating to Mass Mailings.--Section 3210(a)(6)(E) of 
title 39, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in clause (ii) by striking ``or'' after the semicolon;
            (2) in clause (iii) by striking the period and inserting 
        ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding after clause (iii) the following:
            ``(iv) of congressional newsletters, to the extent intended 
        by Congress to be nonmailable as franked mail under subsection 
        (a)(8).''.
    (d) Exclusion Relating to Permissible Forms of Franked Mail.--
Section 3210(c) of title 39, United States Code, is amended by striking 
``subsection (a)(4) and (5) of this section.'' and inserting 
``paragraph (4), (5), or (8) of subsection (a).''.

SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS' OFFICIAL MAIL ALLOWANCE.

    (a) Definitions.--For the purpose of this subsection--
            (1) the term ``Member'' means a Member of the House of 
        Representative, as defined by section 311(g)(1) of the 
        Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1991 (2 U.S.C. 
        59e(g)(1)); and
            (2) the term ``Official Mail Allowance'', as used with 
        respect to a Member, means the Official Mail Allowance of such 
        Member under section 311(e) of such Act.
    (b) Rule Against Fund Transfers.--Section 101(c)(2) of the 
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1993 (2 U.S.C. 95b(c)(2)) is 
amended by striking `` `official mail costs', ''.
    (c) Deficit Reduction.--Any unobligated funds remaining in the 
Official Mail Allowance of a Member at the end of a session of Congress 
shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury of the United 
States and applied toward the reduction of the Federal budget deficit.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), this Act and the 
amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Special Rule.--The amendment made by section 1 shall apply with 
respect to sessions of Congress beginning with the first regular 
session of Congress beginning after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.

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