II 109th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2261 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 8, 2006 Mr. Obama introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To provide transparency and integrity in the earmark process.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act of 2006.

2.

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— (1)a list of all earmarks in such bill and the name of the requestor and a short justification for each earmark 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; (2)all earmarks are contained in the text of the bill and not incorporated by reference or directed in the committee report; and (3)all earmarks are germane to the bill. (c)This paragraph may only be waived by 2/3 of Members, duly chosen and sworn. .

3.

Prohibition on Advocating for earmark in which there exists a financial interest

Rule XXXVII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 12.No Member of the Senate may advocate to include an earmark in any bill or joint resolution (or an accompanying report) or in any conference report on a bill or joint resolution (including an accompanying joint statement of managers thereto) if the Member has a financial interest in such earmark. .

4.

Prohibition on buying votes

Rule XXXVII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 13.No Member of the Senate shall condition the inclusion of language to provide funding for an earmark in any bill or joint resolution (or an accompanying report thereof) or in any conference report on a bill or joint resolution (including an accompanying joint statement of managers thereto) on any vote cast by the Member of the Senate in whose State the project will be carried out. .

5.

Lobbying on behalf of recipients of Federal funds

The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 is amended by adding after section 5 the following:

5A.

Reports by recipients of Federal funds

(a)

In general

A recipient of Federal funds shall file a report as required by section 5(a) containing— (1)the name of any lobbyist registered under this Act to whom the recipient paid money to lobby on behalf of the Federal funding received by the recipient; and (2)the amount of money paid as described in paragraph (1). (b)

Definition

In this section, the term recipient of Federal funds means the recipient of Federal funds constituting an award, grant, or loan.

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