[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4214 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4214

To amend the Antiquities Act to provide for the Congressional approval 
  of the establishment of national monuments, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 1996

  Mr. Orton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Antiquities Act to provide for the Congressional approval 
  of the establishment of national monuments, 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. LIMITATION OF ANTIQUITIES ACT AUTHORITY.

    Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225; 16 U.S.C 431, 
432, 433), commonly known as the Antiquities Act, is amended as 
follows:
            (1) By inserting ``(a) In General.--'' immediately before 
        the first sentence.
            (2) By adding the following after the last sentence: ``Any 
        proclamation of the President under this section declaring any 
        area a national monument shall be submitted to the Congress, 
        and such proclamation shall cease to have any force and effect 
        after the expiration of 180 calendar days of continuous session 
        of Congress after the date of issuance unless the Congress 
        approves such proclamation by adoption of a joint resolution of 
        approval within such 180 day period in accordance with 
        subsection (b).''
            (3) By adding the following at the end thereof:
    ``(b) Congressional Review.--
            ``(1) Sessions of congress.--For purposes of this section--
                    ``(A) continuity of session of Congress is broken 
                only by an adjournment sine die; and
                    ``(B) the days on which either House is not in 
                session because of an adjournment of more than 3 days 
                to a day certain are excluded in the computation of the 
                180-day calendar period.
            ``(2) Procedure.--
                    ``(A) This subsection is enacted by Congress--
                            ``(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking 
                        power of each House of Congress, respectively, 
                        and as such it is deemed a part of the rules of 
                        each House, respectively, but applicable only 
                        with respect to the procedure to be followed in 
                        that House in the case of resolutions described 
                        by subparagraph (B) of this paragraph; and it 
                        supersedes other rules only to the extent that 
                        it is inconsistent therewith; and
                            ``(ii) with full recognition of the 
                        constitutional right of either House to change 
                        the rules (so far as those rules relate to the 
                        procedure of that House) at any time, in the 
                        same manner and to the same extent as in the 
                        case of any other rule of such House.
                    ``(B) For purposes of this section, the term 
                `resolution' means a joint resolution, the resolving 
                clause of which is as follows: ``That the House of 
                Representatives and Senate approve the Presidential 
                decision on the establishment of a national monument 
                submitted to the Congress on XXXXX.''; the blank space 
                therein shall be filled with the date on which the 
                President submits his decision to the House of 
                Representatives and the Senate.
                    ``(C) A resolution once introduced with respect to 
                a Presidential proclamation establishing a national 
                monument shall be referred to one or more committees 
                (and all resolutions with respect to the same 
                Presidential proclamation shall be referred to the same 
                committee or committees) by the President of the Senate 
                or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the 
                case may be.
                    ``(D)(i) If any committee to which a resolution 
                with respect to a Presidential proclamation has been 
                referred has not reported it at the end of 30 calendar 
                days after its referral, it shall be in order to move 
                either to discharge such committee from further 
                consideration of such resolution or to discharge such 
                committee from consideration of any other resolution 
                with respect to such Presidential proclamation which 
                has been referred to such committee.
                    ``(ii) A motion to discharge may be made only by an 
                individual favoring the resolution, shall be highly 
                privileged (except that it may not be made after the 
                committee has reported a resolution with respect to the 
                same Presidential proclamation, and debate thereon 
                shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, to be divided 
                equally between those favoring and those opposing the 
                resolution. An amendment to the motion shall not be in 
                order, and it shall not be in order to move to 
                reconsider the vote by which the motion was agreed to 
                or disagreed to.
                    ``(iii) If the motion to discharge is agreed to or 
                disagreed to, the motion may not be made with respect 
                to any other resolution with respect to the same 
                Presidential proclamation.
                    ``(E)(i) When any committee has reported, or has 
                been discharged from further consideration of, a 
                resolution, but in no case earlier than 30 days after 
                the date of receipt of the President's proclamation to 
                the Congress, it shall be at any time thereafter in 
                order (even though a previous motion to the same effect 
                has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to the 
                consideration of the resolution. The motion shall be 
                highly privileged and shall not be debatable. An 
                amendment to the motion shall not be in order, and it 
                shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote by 
                which the motion was agreed to or disagreed to.
                    ``(ii) Debate on the resolution described in 
                subparagraph (B)(i) of this paragraph shall be limited 
                to not more than 10 hours and on any resolution under 
                this subsection. This time shall be divided equally 
                between those favoring and those opposing such 
                resolution. A motion further to limit debate shall not 
                be debatable. An amendment to, or motion to recommit 
                the resolution shall not be in order, and it shall not 
                be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which 
                such resolution was agreed to or disagreed to or, 
                thereafter within such 180-day period, to consider any 
                other resolution respecting the same Presidential 
                proclamation.
                    ``(F)(i) Motions to postpone, made with respect to 
                the discharge from committee, or the consideration of a 
                resolution and motions to proceed to the consideration 
                of other business, shall be decided without debate.
                    ``(ii) Appeals from the decision of the Chair 
                relating to the application of the rules of the Senate 
                or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, to 
                the procedures relating to a resolution shall be 
                decided without debate.''
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