[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 121 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 121

 Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the 
                            budget process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 17, 2005

  Mr. Cooper (for himself, Mr. Tanner, Mr. Cardoza, Mr. Matheson, Mr. 
    Boyd, Mr. Ross, Mr. Barrow, Mr. Case, Mr. Michaud, Mr. Davis of 
  Tennessee, Mr. Salazar, Ms. Harman, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. 
Costa, Mr. Boswell, Ms. Herseth, Mr. Melancon, Mr. Moore of Kansas, Mr. 
Scott of Georgia, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford, Mr. Berry, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. 
Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Schiff, and Mr. Taylor of Mississippi) submitted 
 the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the 
                            budget process.

    Resolved, That (a) the last sentence of clause 7(e) of rule XXII of 
Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by inserting ``and 
shall contain the estimate of costs described in section 308(a)(2) of 
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974'' before the period.
    (b) Clause 7 of rule XXII of Rules of the House of Representatives 
is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(f) It shall not be in order to consider a conference report 
unless it contains an estimate of costs as described in the last 
sentence of paragraph (e).''.

       roll call votes required for new spending over $50,000,000

    Sec. 2. Clause 10 of rule XX of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by inserting ``authorizing or providing new 
budget authority of not less than $50,000,000'' before ``making general 
appropriations'' and by adding at the end the following new sentence: 
``The Speaker may not entertain a unanimous consent request or motion 
to suspend this clause.''.

                      repeal of the gephardt rule

    Sec. 3. The Rules of the House of Representatives are amended by 
repealing rule XXVII (relating to the statutory limit on public debt) 
and by redesignating rule XXVIII as rule XXVII.

           same-day consideration of rules committee reports

    Sec. 4. In rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 
clause 6(a) is amended by striking ``the same day'' and inserting ``the 
same calendar day or less than 17 hours after that''.

       two-thirds requirement for certain waivers under the rules

    Sec. 5. (a) Two-Thirds Requirement.--Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of 
the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by striking the 
period and inserting a semicolon at the end of subparagraph (2) and by 
adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
            ``(3) a rule or order which would waive the layover 
        requirement of clause 8 of rule XXII concerning the 
        availability of reports, would waive the three-day layover 
        requirement or the three-day Internet availability requirement 
        of clause 4(a)(1) of this rule or of clause 8(a)(1) of rule 
        XXII, or would waive the scope requirement of the last sentence 
        of clause 9 of rule XXII by a vote of less than two-thirds of 
        the Members voting, a quorum being present.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Clause 6(a) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives is amended by striking subparagraph (2), 
by inserting ``or'' after the semicolon at the end of subparagraph (1), 
and by redesignating subparagraph (3) as subparagraph (2).

  two-thirds requirement for availability of certain measures on the 
                                internet

    Sec. 6. (a) Clause 4(a)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives is amended by inserting ``and until the third such 
calendar day on which the underlying measure or matter has been made 
available by the Committee on Rules on its Internet site'' before the 
period.
    (b) Clause 8(a)(1)(A) of rule XXII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by inserting ``and until the third such 
calendar day on which such conference report and joint explanatory 
statement have been made available by the standing committee of the 
House with subject matter jurisdiction over the underlying legislation 
on its Internet site'' before the semicolon.

                   written justification for earmarks

    Sec. 7. Clause 2 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
    ``(g) The report that accompanies any general appropriation bill 
shall contain a separate written justification for each earmark 
contained in such bill or report.''.

                          mandatory oversight

    Sec. 8. Clause 2(d) of rule X of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph:
    ``(3) Not later than July 1 in the first session of a Congress, and 
at six-month intervals thereafter during that Congress, each committee 
shall submit reports to the Speaker and the minority leader respecting 
the committee's compliance with its oversight plan. Committees shall 
make these reports available to the public.''.
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