[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 524 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 524

     Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to impose 
 limitations respecting certain legislation that affects the economy, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 2005

Mr. Brown of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Evans, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Conyers, Mr. 
   Rothman, Mrs. Maloney, and Mr. Grijalva) submitted the following 
        resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to impose 
 limitations respecting certain legislation that affects the economy, 
                        and for other purposes.

Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ``Social Security Protection and 
        Congressional Accountability Rule'';
Whereas at 2:54 a.m. on a Friday, by three votes, the House of Representatives 
        voted to cut veterans benefits;
Whereas at 2:39 a.m. on a Friday, by five votes, the House approved legislation 
        slashing education and health care;
Whereas at 1:56 a.m. on a Friday, by 31 votes, the House passed tax legislation 
        that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest corporations and 
        individuals;
Whereas at 2:33 a.m. on a Friday, by one vote, the House passed the Medicare 
        privatization and prescription drug bill;
Whereas at 12:57 a.m. on a Friday, by one vote, the House eviscerated Head 
        Start;
Whereas at 12:12 a.m. on a Friday in October, the House voted $87 billion for 
        Iraq;
Whereas the House has increasingly resorted to considering important legislation 
        in the middle of the night, after press deadlines have passed, and after 
        the vast majority of Americans had gone to bed;
Whereas though recorded votes in the House are generally concluded after fifteen 
        minutes, House leadership has held votes open for nearly three hours as 
        Members were pressured to support the House leadership's position;
Whereas the House voted on a 3,600-page omnibus spending bill just 16 hours 
        after it was filed, and unwittingly approved a provision included in 
        that bill permitting Members of Congress to access the tax return of any 
        American;
Whereas democracy is weakened by secrecy in government and practices that 
        conceal from the people the actions of their representatives; and
Whereas the American people are not served by a Congress that hides from public 
        scrutiny by acting on important legislation in the middle of the night: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    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 major legislation 
until at least 7 calendar days after the following 3 items have been 
published in the Congressional Record:
            ``(1) The text of the legislation as reported (or as 
        introduced if the bill has not been reported).
            ``(2) The text of a manager's amendment, if any.
            ``(3) The text of any rule or order for the consideration 
        of such legislation or manager's amendment, as applicable.
    ``(b) It shall not be in order to conclude a recorded vote on any 
economically significant legislation or major legislation, or amendment 
thereto or conference report thereon, after 10 p.m. or before 9 a.m.
    ``(c) It shall not be in order to conclude a recorded vote on any 
major legislation, or amendment thereto or conference report thereon, 
more than 30 minutes after the commencement of such recorded vote.
    ``(d) As used in this clause, the term `major legislation' means 
any bill or joint resolution with an anticipated effect of increasing 
or decreasing outlays or revenues during the 5-year period covered by 
the most recently agreed to concurrent resolution on the budget by at 
least $100,000,000.
    ``(e) The applicability of any point of order set forth in this 
clause shall be determined on the basis of estimates made by the 
Committee on the Budget.
    ``(f) The Speaker may recognize the majority leader for the purpose 
of offering a motion to waive this clause on the grounds of national 
security, homeland security, or other emergency. This clause may not be 
waived unless two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present, 
agree to such waiver motion offered by the majority leader.''.
    (b) 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 proposing a waiver of clause 7 of 
        rule XXI.''.
                                 <all>