[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 218 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
H. RES. 218

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that, as 
of the date of adoption of this resolution, a proportional distribution 
      of committee seats, staff, and financial resources be made.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2007

Mr. Issa submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                           Committee on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that, as 
of the date of adoption of this resolution, a proportional distribution 
      of committee seats, staff, and financial resources be made.

Whereas the Constitution provides for citizens of the several states to be 
        equally represented in the House of Representatives;
Whereas the Constitution provides for each citizen to receive equal protection 
        of the laws;
Whereas the majority of substantive lawmaking in the House of Representatives 
        occurs through the Committee process;
Whereas the access to financial and staff resources in the legislative process 
        equates to the ability to collect and analyze information essential to 
        lawmaking; and
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Buckley v. Valeo that 
        expenditure of financial resources was so essential to the exercise of 
        free speech that the protections of the first amendment must apply to 
        expenditure of financial resources: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That (a) the Rules of the House of Representatives are 
amended by redesignating rule XXVIII as rule XXIX and by adding after 
rule XXVII the following new rule:

                             ``rule xxviii

 ``proportional distribution of committee seats, staff, and financial 
                               resources

    ``1. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, for each 
Congress the ratio of majority party to minority party members of each 
committee, the ratio of majority party staff to minority party staff of 
each committee, and the ratio of funds made available for majority 
party staff salary and expense accounts to minority party staff salary 
and expense accounts of each committee shall be the same as the ratio 
of majority party membership to minority party membership of the House 
at the beginning of that Congress.
    ``2. Clause 1 shall apply to all standing, select, special, ad hoc, 
and other committees of the House except the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct.''.
    (b) This resolution may be cited as the ``American Citizens Equal 
Representation Rule''.
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