[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1008 Introduced in House (IH)]


109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1008

   Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for 
                   transparency of earmarks requests.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 13, 2006

Mr. Moore of Kansas (for himself, Mr. Barrow, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Cuellar, 
Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Jackson-Lee of 
  Texas, Mr. Delahunt, Ms. Hooley, Ms. Berkley, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. 
 Israel, and Mr. Van Hollen) submitted the following resolution; which 
                 was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for 
                   transparency of earmarks requests.

    Resolved, That (a) rule XXI of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
clause:
    ``7. (a) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or joint 
resolution containing an earmark unless--
            ``(1) a written request for the inclusion of such earmark 
        is sent to the chairman and ranking member of the committee of 
        primary jurisdiction (and, in the case of the Committee on 
        Appropriations, also to the chairman and ranking member of the 
        subcommittee of jurisdiction) at least 7 days before such 
        earmark or bill including such earmark is scheduled to be voted 
        on by the committee or by the House;
            ``(2) such request includes the name of the Member, 
        Delegate, or Resident Commissioner sponsoring the earmark; the 
        name and address of the intended recipient of the earmark; the 
        purpose of the earmark; and a statement of whether the Member, 
        Delegate, or Resident Commissioner sponsoring the earmark has a 
        financial interest in the earmark or in the intended recipient 
        of the earmark;
            ``(3) the applicable committee makes available on its 
        Internet website the information sent to it pursuant to this 
        clause respecting such earmark when such bill or joint 
        resolution is ordered reported.
    ``(b) As used in this clause, the term `earmark' means any 
provision of a bill or joint resolution, or report thereon, that 
specifies the identity of an entity, including States and local units 
of government, but excluding any Federal agency, Federal facility, or 
Federal lands, to receive any moneys, grant, loan, loan guarantee, 
contract, or tax benefit, which is included in an appropriation, 
authorization or tax measure.
    ``(c) A rule or order reported by the Committee on Rules that 
waives this clause or all or unspecified points of order may not be 
called up for consideration over the objection of any Member, except 
when so determined by a vote of two-thirds of the total membership of 
the House. A question of consideration under this clause is debatable 
for 30 minutes, equally divided by a proponent of the question and an 
opponent.''.
    (b) Rule XXII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 
amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
    ``13. (a)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a conference 
report on a bill or joint resolution referred to in clause 7 of rule 
XXI unless the joint explanatory statement accompanying such conference 
report includes a list of earmarks in the conference report or joint 
statement (and the names of Members of the House who submitted requests 
to the committee for earmarks included in such list and all other 
information required under such clause) that were not committed to the 
conference committee by either House.
    ``(2) It shall not be in order to consider a rule or order that 
waives the application of subparagraph (1).
    ``(3) As used in this clause, the term `earmark' has the meaning 
given such term in clause 7 of rule XXI and language in an accompanying 
joint statement of managers.
    ``(d) It shall not be in order to consider a conference report 
until 48 hours after the list and other information required under 
paragraph (a) is made available on its Internet website by the 
committee with primary subject matter jurisdiction over such conference 
report.''.
    (c) Clause 2 of rule II of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
    ``(l) The Clerk shall maintain, and make available to the public 
over the Internet, without a fee or other access charge, in a 
searchable, sortable, and downloadable manner, an electronic database 
that would link to all committee Internet websites to provide access to 
the information regarding earmarks that is made available by such 
committees pursuant to clause 7 of rule XXI and clause 13 of rule 
XXII.''.
                                 <all>