[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4865 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4865

   To require every Senator and Representative in, and Delegate and 
    Resident Commissioner to, the Congress to obtain copies of the 
  Constitution of the United States of America and distribute them to 
       their staff and require that they all read such document.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 2, 2006

 Mr. Conaway introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

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                                 A BILL


 
   To require every Senator and Representative in, and Delegate and 
    Resident Commissioner to, the Congress to obtain copies of the 
  Constitution of the United States of America and distribute them to 
       their staff and require that they all read such document.

    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 ``AMERICA Act of 2006: A Modest Effort 
to Read and Instill the Constitution Again''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that since we, as Members of Congress, 
swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States, write laws 
regarding the powers granted to the Government, and propose 
constitutional amendments, we should be required to read this important 
document including its amendments.

SEC. 3. DISTRIBUTION AND READING OF THE CONSTITUTION.

    Within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act and during 
each session of Congress thereafter, every Member of Congress shall 
obtain copies of the Constitution of the United States of America, 
including all amendments thereto, read such document, and distribute 
such document to their personal, committee, and subcommittee staff and 
require that each such staffer read such document in its entirety at 
least once during each session of Congress in which they serve or are 
so employed after such date.

SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

    Every Member of Congress and their personal, committee, and 
subcommittee staff are required to report in writing to the Committee 
on House Administration of the House of Representatives or the 
Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate, as applicable, the 
date on which they complete their annual reading of the Constitution. 
Each such committee shall publish on its website the list of the 
Members of its body who have satisfied their requirement.

SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

    As used in this Act, the term ``Member of Congress'' refers to a 
Senator or Representative in, or a Delegate or Resident Commissioner 
to, the Congress.
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