[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1466 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1466

   To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for 
    congressional review of rules establishing or increasing taxes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 29, 1999

 Mr. Thompson (for himself and Mr. Ashcroft) introduced the following 
      bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                          Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for 
    congressional review of rules establishing or increasing taxes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Taxpayer's Defense Act''.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.

    Chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after section 808 the following:

           ``SUBCHAPTER II--MANDATORY REVIEW OF CERTAIN RULES

``Sec. 815. Rules subject to mandatory congressional review
    ``(a) In this section, the term `tax' means a non-penal, mandatory 
payment of money or its equivalent to the extent such payment does not 
compensate the Federal Government or other payee for a specific benefit 
conferred directly on the payer.
    ``(b) A rule that establishes or increases a tax, however 
denominated, shall not take effect before the date of the enactment of 
a bill described in section 816 and is not subject to review under 
subchapter I. This section does not apply to a rule promulgated under 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
``Sec. 816. Agency submission
    ``Whenever an agency promulgates a rule subject to section 815, the 
agency shall submit to each House of Congress a report containing the 
text of only the part of the rule that causes the rule to be subject to 
section 815 and an explanation of that part. An agency shall submit 
such a report separately for each such rule the agency promulgates. The 
explanation shall consist of the concise general statement of the 
rule's basis and purpose required under section 553 and such 
explanatory documents as are mandated by other statutory requirements.
``Sec. 817. Approval bill
    ``(a)(1) Not later than 3 legislative days after the date on which 
an agency submits a report under section 816, the Majority Leader of 
each House of Congress shall introduce (by request) a bill the matter 
after the enacting clause of which is as follows: `The following agency 
rule may take effect:'. The text submitted under section 816 shall be 
set forth after the colon. If such a bill is not introduced in a House 
of Congress as provided in the first sentence of this subsection, any 
Member of that House may introduce such a bill not later than 7 
legislative days after the period for introduction by the Majority 
Leader.
    ``(2) A bill introduced under paragraph (1) shall be referred to 
the Committees in each House of Congress with jurisdiction over the 
subject matter of the rule involved.
    ``(b)(1)(A) Any committee of the House of Representatives to which 
a bill is referred shall report the bill without amendment, and with or 
without recommendation, not later than the 30th calendar day of session 
after the date of its introduction. If any committee fails to report 
the bill within that period, it is in order to move that the House 
discharge the committee from further consideration of the bill. A 
motion to discharge may be made only by a Member favoring the bill (but 
only at a time designated by the Speaker on the legislative day after 
the calendar day on which the Member offering the motion announces to 
the House that Member's intention to do so and the form of the motion). 
The motion is highly privileged. Debate thereon shall be limited to not 
more than 1 hour, the time to be divided in the House equally between 
the proponent and an opponent. The previous question shall be 
considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening 
motion. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed 
to or disagreed to shall not be in order.
    ``(B) After a bill is reported or a committee has been discharged 
from further consideration, it is in order to move that the House 
resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
for consideration of the bill. If reported and the report has been 
available for at least 1 calendar day, all points of order against the 
bill and against consideration of the bill are waived. If discharged, 
all points of order against the bill and against consideration of the 
bill are waived. The motion is highly privileged. A motion to 
reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to 
shall not be in order. During consideration of the bill in the 
Committee of the Whole, the first reading of the bill shall be 
dispensed with. General debate shall proceed, shall be confined to the 
bill, and shall not exceed 1 hour equally divided and controlled by a 
proponent and an opponent of the bill. After general debate, the bill 
shall be considered as read for amendment under the 5-minute rule. At 
the conclusion of the consideration of the bill, the Committee shall 
rise and report the bill to the House without intervening motion. The 
previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final 
passage without intervening motion. A motion to reconsider the vote on 
passage of the bill shall not be in order.
    ``(C) Appeals from decisions of the Chair regarding application of 
the rules of the House of Representatives to the procedure relating to 
a bill shall be decided without debate.
    ``(2)(A) Any bill introduced in the Senate shall be referred to the 
appropriate committee or committees. A committee to which a bill has 
been referred shall report the bill without amendment not later than 
the 30th day of session following the date of introduction of that 
bill. If any committee fails to report the bill within that period, 
that committee shall be automatically discharged from further 
consideration of the bill and the bill shall be placed on the calendar.
    ``(B) When the Senate receives from the House of Representatives a 
bill, such bill shall not be referred to committee and shall be placed 
on the calendar.
    ``(C) A motion to proceed to consideration of a bill under this 
subsection shall not be debatable. It shall not be in order to move to 
reconsider the vote by which the motion to proceed was adopted or 
rejected, although subsequent motions to proceed may be made under this 
paragraph.
    ``(D)(i) After no more than 10 hours of consideration of a bill, 
the Senate shall proceed, without intervening action or debate (except 
as permitted under subparagraph (F)), to vote on the final disposition 
thereof to the exclusion of all motions, except a motion to reconsider 
or to table.
    ``(ii) A single motion to extend the time for consideration under 
clause (i) for no more than an additional 5 hours is in order before 
the expiration of such time and shall be decided without debate.
    ``(iii) The time for debate on the disapproval bill shall be 
equally divided between the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or 
their designees.
    ``(E) A motion to recommit a bill shall not be in order.
    ``(F) If the Senate has read for the third time a bill that 
originated in the Senate, then it shall be in order at any time 
thereafter to move to proceed to the consideration of a bill for the 
same special message received from the House of Representatives and 
placed on the calendar under subparagraph (B), strike all after the 
enacting clause, substitute the text of the Senate bill, agree to the 
Senate amendment, and vote on final disposition of the House bill, all 
without any intervening action or debate.
    ``(G) Consideration in the Senate of all motions, amendments, or 
appeals necessary to dispose of a message from the House of 
Representatives on a bill shall be limited to not more than 4 hours. 
Debate on each motion or amendment shall be limited to 30 minutes. 
Debate on any appeal or point of order that is submitted in connection 
with the disposition of the House message shall be limited to 20 
minutes. Any time for debate shall be equally divided and controlled by 
the proponent and the majority manager, unless the majority manager is 
a proponent of the motion, amendment, appeal, or point of order, in 
which case the minority manager shall be in control of the time in 
opposition.''.

SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Subchapter Heading.--Chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting before section 801 the following:

         ``SUBCHAPTER I--DISCRETIONARY CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW''.

    (b) Table of Sections.--The table of sections for chapter 8 of 
title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the 
reference to section 801 the following:

         ``subchapter i--discretionary congressional review'';
and by inserting after the reference to section 808 the following:

           ``subchapter ii--mandatory review of certain rules
``815. Rules subject to mandatory congressional review.
``816. Agency submission.
``817. Approval bill.''.
    (c) Reference.--Section 804 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ``this chapter'' and inserting ``this subchapter''.
                                 <all>