[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 730 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 730

To prohibit Members of the House of Representatives from using official 
  funds for the production or mailing of newsletters, to reduce by 50 
 percent the amount which may be made available for the Official Mail 
         Allowance of any such Member, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 1997

 Mr. Poshard introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on House Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit Members of the House of Representatives from using official 
  funds for the production or mailing of newsletters, to reduce by 50 
 percent the amount which may be made available for the Official Mail 
         Allowance of any such Member, 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. PROHIBITION OF THE USE OF OFFICIAL FUNDS BY MEMBERS OF THE 
              HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR NEWSLETTERS.

    Notwithstanding any other law or any rule or other authority, a 
Member of the House of Representatives may not use any official funds 
for the production or mailing of a newsletter.

SEC. 2. REDUCTION RELATING TO THE OFFICIAL MAIL ALLOWANCE.

    (a) In General.--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''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 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.

SEC. 3. UNOBLIGATED FUNDS TO BE APPLIED TOWARD DEFICIT REDUCTION.

    Any unobligated funds remaining in the Official Mail Allowance of a 
Member of the House of Representatives 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. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purpose of this Act--
            (1) the term ``Member of the House of Representatives'' 
        means a Representative in, or a Delegate or Resident 
        Commissioner to, the Congress; and
            (2) the term ``newsletter'' means any congressional 
        newsletter, as referred to in section 3210(a)(3)(B) of title 
        39, United States Code.
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