[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 87 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. J. RES. 87

  Requiring the President to notify Congress if the President makes a 
 determination at the time of signing a bill into law to ignore a duly 
  enacted provision of such newly enacted law, establishing expedited 
    procedures for the consideration of legislation in the House of 
  Representatives in response to such a determination, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 25, 2006

Mr. Frank of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. Markey, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
 Berman, Ms. Watson, and Ms. McKinney) introduced the following joint 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
  Requiring the President to notify Congress if the President makes a 
 determination at the time of signing a bill into law to ignore a duly 
  enacted provision of such newly enacted law, establishing expedited 
    procedures for the consideration of legislation in the House of 
  Representatives in response to such a determination, and for other 
                               purposes.

Whereas the Constitution requires that Presidents ``take Care that the Laws be 
        faithfully executed'';
Whereas the Constitution does not grant Presidents authority to choose which 
        duly enacted provisions of laws they will obey;
Whereas the practice of selective enforcement of the laws is inconsistent with 
        our constitutional form of government;
Whereas several previous Presidents have made signing statements signaling their 
        intention to ignore provisions of laws duly enacted by Congress on 
        constitutional grounds;
Whereas President George W. Bush has asserted his intent to ignore such 
        provisions more than all other Presidents combined; and
Whereas the President's assertion of the right to ignore a duty violates our 
        constitutional framework by substituting an unchecked presidential 
        prerogative for the role of Congress and the constitutional veto 
        procedure: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REQUIRING NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS OF PRESIDENTIAL 
              DETERMINATION TO IGNORE PROVISION OF NEWLY ENACTED LAW.

    (a) Notification.--If at the time of enactment of a law the 
President makes a determination not to carry out any duly enacted 
provision of the law (as indicated in a statement made by the President 
at the time of enactment or otherwise), not later than 10 days after 
the enactment of the law, the President shall submit a report to 
Congress informing Congress of the determination and including the 
President's reasons for making the determination, except that to the 
extent that the determination is based upon classified material, the 
President shall submit the report only to the congressional 
intelligence committees (as defined in 3(7) of the National Security 
Act of 1947) (50 U.S.C. 401a(7)).
    (b) Treatment of Previously Enacted Laws.--Not later than 30 days 
after the date of the enactment of this joint resolution, the President 
shall submit to Congress a report under subsection (a) with respect to 
each law enacted prior to such date during the One Hundred Seventh, One 
Hundred Eighth, and One Hundred Ninth Congress for which the President 
has made a determination not to carry out a duly enacted provision of 
the law (as indicated in a statement made by the President at the time 
of enactment or otherwise).

SEC. 2. EXPEDITED PROCEDURES IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR 
              LEGISLATION IN RESPONSE TO DETERMINATION.

    (a) Privileged Treatment.--If a Member of the House of 
Representatives (including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the 
Congress) introduces legislation in response to a report submitted by 
the President under section 1(a)--
            (1) a report on the legislation which is filed by any 
        committee to which the legislation is referred may be called up 
        as a privileged question by direction of the committee; and
            (2) if a committee to which the legislation is referred 
        does not file a report on the legislation prior to the 
        expiration of the 30-legislative day period which begins on the 
        date the legislation is introduced, a motion to discharge the 
        committee from its consideration of the legislation shall be 
        privileged.
    (b) Conforming Amendment Regarding Waiver of Minimum Period For 
Availability of Committee Reports Prior to Consideration in House.--
Clause 4(a)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subdivision (D);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subdivision (E) 
        and inserting ``; and''
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subdivision:
            ``(F) a measure responding to a report submitted by the 
        President informing Congress of a determination not to carry 
        out any duly enacted provision of law.''.

SEC. 3. REPORT BY GENERAL COUNSEL OF HOUSE OF POTENTIAL LEGAL ACTIONS 
              TO BE TAKEN BY MEMBERS.

    At the request of any Member of the House of Representatives 
(including a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress), the 
General Counsel of the House shall prepare promptly a report describing 
any legal action which may be brought by the Member to challenge the 
refusal by the President to carry out any duly enacted provision of the 
law.
                                 <all>