[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2179 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2179

  To require openness in conference committee deliberations and full 
    disclosure of the contents of conference reports and all other 
                              legislation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 18, 2006

   Mr. Obama introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require openness in conference committee deliberations and full 
    disclosure of the contents of conference reports and all other 
                              legislation.

    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 ``Curtailing Lobbyist Effectiveness 
Through Advance Notification, Updates, and Posting Act'' or the ``CLEAN 
UP Act''.

SEC. 2. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Clear Identification of New Material in Conference Reports.--
Rule XXVIII of the Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
    ``7. The joint explanatory statement by a committee of conference 
shall separately identify and explain each provision of the report in 
violation of paragraph 2 or 3 of rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of 
the Senate and, if possible, identify the Member who proposed such 
provision.''.
    (b) Sense of Congress on Conference Committee Protocols.--It is the 
sense of Congress that--
            (1) conference committees should hold regular, formal 
        meetings of all conferees that are open to the public or 
        televised;
            (2) all conferees should be given adequate notice of the 
        time and place of all such meetings; and
            (3) all conferees should be afforded an opportunity to 
        participate in full and complete debates of the matters that 
        such conference committees may recommend to their respective 
        Houses.

SEC. 3. ACTUAL VOTING REQUIRED IN CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEETINGS AND 
              OPPORTUNITY FOR MINORITY VIEWS.

    Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``8. It shall not be in order to consider a conference report 
unless the senior manager from the majority party on the part of the 
Senate as so designated for that purpose by the majority leader and the 
senior manager from the minority party on the part of the Senate as so 
designated for that purpose by the minority leader include in the 
statement of managers accompanying such conference report a signed 
statement that--
            ``(1) all Senate managers have been afforded an opportunity 
        at a meeting of the committee on conference to vote on all 
        amendments and other propositions considered by that committee;
            ``(2) roll call votes have been held in public meetings of 
        the conferees on the matter contained in any motion to instruct 
        conferees passed by the Senate; and
            ``(3) the minority was offered an opportunity to submit 
        dissenting or minority views for the joint statement of 
        managers.''.

SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATION ON THE INTERNET.

    Rule XIV of all the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``11.(a) The reading in full of any bill, resolution, conference 
report, or amendment shall not be dispensed with unless such measure is 
available to all Members and made available to the general public by 
means of the Internet for at least 72 hours before its consideration.
    ``(b) This paragraph may only be waived by \2/3\ of Members, duly 
chosen and sworn.''.

SEC. 5. EARMARKS.

    Rule XVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``8.(a) In this paragraph, the term `earmark' means a provision 
that requires or permits the obligation or expenditure of any amount 
appropriated for the benefit of an identifiable person, program, 
project, entity, or jurisdiction by earmarking or other specification, 
whether by name or description, in a manner that--
            ``(1) discriminates against other persons, programs, 
        projects, entities, or jurisdictions similarly situated that 
        would be eligible, but for the requirement or permission, for 
        the amount appropriated; or
            ``(2) applies only to a single identifiable person, 
        program, project, entity, or jurisdiction, unless the 
        identifiable person, program, project, entity, or jurisdiction 
        is described or otherwise clearly identified in a law or Treaty 
        stipulation (or an Act or resolution previously passed by the 
        Senate during the same session or in the estimate submitted in 
        accordance with law).
    ``(b) No appropriation bill shall be considered unless a list of 
all earmarks in such bill and accompanying reports are available to all 
Members and made available to the general public by means of the 
Internet for at least 72 hours before its consideration.
    ``(c) This paragraph may only be waived by \2/3\ of Members, duly 
chosen and sworn.''.
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