[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1515 Introduced in House (IH)]

110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1515

 Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the 
point of order against the consideration of congressional earmarks, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 27, 2008

  Mr. Sali (for himself, Mr. Bartlett of Maryland, and Mr. Sessions) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
  on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the 
point of order against the consideration of congressional earmarks, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Resolved, That clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended as follows:
            (1) In paragraph (a)(1)--
                    (A) after ``such list'' insert ``, certified by the 
                chairman of the relevant committee as the official 
                action of the referring committee on the bill or joint 
                resolution,''; and
                    (B) before the semicolon insert ``to be printed in 
                the Congressional Record and made available on a list 
                accessible to and searchable by the public via the 
                Internet on the website of the Clerk under paragraph 
                (h)(1) at least 48 hours prior to its consideration by 
                the full House''.
            (2) In paragraph (a)(2)--
                    (A) strike ``each committee of initial referral'' 
                and insert ``the conference committee that reports such 
                bill or joint resolution to the House'';
                    (B) after ``such list'' insert ``, certified by the 
                chairman of the relevant committee as the official 
                action of the referring committee on the bill or joint 
                resolution,''; and
                    (C) strike ``prior to its consideration'' and 
                insert ``and made available on a list accessible to and 
                searchable by the public via the Internet on the 
                website of the Clerk under paragraph (h)(1) at least 48 
                hours prior to its consideration by the full House''.
            (3) Paragraph (b) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b)(1) Any list of congressional earmarks required by paragraph 
(a) or paragraph (d)(2) shall include for each earmark, as a part of 
that list, the name of any Member who requested that earmark, the total 
amount of new budget authority provided for that earmark, the name of 
any person or entity that is to receive the earmarked funds, and a 
brief, accurate description of the purpose or program for which those 
funds shall be expended.
    ``(2) For the purposes of this clause, any provision or report 
language that is inserted by the chairman of a standing committee or 
any subcommittee thereof with subject matter jurisdiction over the 
measure containing such provision or report language, and that would be 
a congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit 
but for the fact that it was not requested by any Member, Delegate, 
Resident Commissioner, or Senator, and that is either targeted to the 
congressional district of such chairman or unrelated to the purpose of 
the underlying measure, shall be required to be included in the 
applicable list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or 
limited tariff benefits with the respective chairman designated as the 
person requesting the earmarked funds.
    ``(3) It is the permanent and continuing sense of the House that 
there is no legislative intent for any agency of the Federal Government 
to obligate funds for any congressionally earmarked funds unless such 
earmarked funds are, in full compliance with these rules, included on 
the appropriate list of congressional earmarks required by these 
rules.''.
            (4)(A) Paragraph (c) is amended by inserting before the 
        first sentence the following new sentence: ``It shall not be in 
        order to consider a rule or order that waives the application 
        of paragraph (a) or paragraph (d).''.
            (B) Paragraph (c) is amended by inserting ``, or any 
        inaccuracy in the list required by paragraph (a) or any 
        inaccuracy in such statement'' before the period at the end.
            (5) Redesignate paragraphs (d), (e), and (f) as paragraphs 
        (e), (f), and (g), respectively, and insert after paragraph (c) 
        the following new paragraph:
    ``(d)(1) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or joint 
resolution, or amendment thereto or conference report thereon, 
described in paragraph (a) if--
            ``(A) any earmark is contained in such measure or in any 
        accompanying report or joint statement (as applicable) or in 
        any other accompanying documentation and that earmark does not 
        appear on the applicable searchable list accessible to the 
        public on the Internet as required by paragraph (a);
            ``(B) any such earmark is sought by any individual, 
        including any entity employing or retaining such individual, 
        who was within the prior 18 months employed by the Member, 
        Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who submitted a request to 
        any committee for that earmark;
            ``(C) any such earmark will financially benefit the Member, 
        Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who submitted a request to 
        the committee for that earmark or any family member (as such 
        term is defined by clause 15(c)(2) of rule XXIII) or any staff 
        employed by that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner or 
        any family member (as such term is defined by clause 15(c)(2) 
        of rule XXIII as if that definition applied to staff instead of 
        a Member) of any such staff; or
            ``(D) any such earmark will benefit any entity that was 
        established by or at the request or with the assistance of the 
        Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, who submitted a 
        request to any committee for that earmark.
    ``(2) It shall not be in order to consider a conference report to 
accompany a general appropriation bill unless the joint explanatory 
statement prepared by the managers on the part of the House and the 
managers on the part of the Senate includes a list of all congressional 
earmarks in the conference report or joint statement (and the name of 
any Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator who submitted a 
request to the respective House or Senate committee for each respective 
earmark included on such list) that were not committed to the 
conference committee by either House, not in a report on such bill, and 
not in a report of a committee of the Senate on a companion measure.''.
            (6) At the end, add the following new paragraph:
            ``(h)(1) The Clerk shall establish a website accessible to 
        and searchable by the public and upon which shall appear, for 
        the budgeting process for each fiscal year, a list of every 
        congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff 
        benefit requested by any Member, Delegate, Resident 
        Commissioner, or Senator pursuant to this clause and included 
        in any reported bill or joint resolution or accompanying report 
        thereto, or in any conference report to accompany any bill or 
        joint resolution or in any accompanying joint explanatory 
        statement.
            ``(2) The chairman of any committee reporting a bill or 
        joint resolution and the Member who from a committee of 
        conference submits a conference report shall immediately submit 
        a list of the congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and 
        limited tariff benefits included in that measure or 
        accompanying report or statement (and, for each such 
        congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff 
        benefit, the name of the Member, Delegate, Resident 
        Commissioner, or Senator who requested that earmark or benefit) 
        to the Clerk to be used by the Clerk to carry out subparagraph 
        (1) .''.
    Sec. 2.  Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by striking ``or'' at the end of 
subparagraph (1), by striking the period and inserting a semicolon at 
the end of subparagraph (2), and by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraphs:
            ``(3) a rule or order that waives the application of clause 
        6 of rule XXI; or
            ``(4) a rule or order that waives the application of 
        paragraph (a) or (d) of clause 9 of rule XXI.''.
    Sec. 3.  Clause 17(a) of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of 
subparagraph (4), by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (5) 
and inserting ``; and'', and by inserting at the end the following new 
subparagraph:
            ``(6) in the case of a congressional earmark which is 
        requested by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who 
        is a candidate for election for any public office, the name and 
        address of any person who asked the Member, Delegate, or 
        Resident Commissioner to request the earmark and made a 
        contribution to the Member's, Delegate's, or Resident 
        Commissioner's campaign for election for any public office 
        during the 18-month period which ends on the date of such 
        request.''.
    Sec. 4. (a) Whenever a Member of the House of Representatives 
provides a written statement under clause 17(a)(6) of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives (as added by section 3) to the chairman and 
ranking minority member of a committee, such chairman shall provide the 
statement simultaneously in electronic form to the Clerk of the House 
of Representatives.
    (b) Upon receiving a statement from a chairman under subsection 
(a), the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall post the statement 
on a publicly accessible website of the Office of the Clerk in a format 
which permits individuals to search for categories of information among 
all such statements.
    (c) In this section, a ``Member of the House of Representatives'' 
includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Congress.
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