[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3189 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3189

  To prohibit any increase in the amount established for the Members' 
  Representational Allowance during a period of high unemployment and 
                              public debt.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 13, 2009

  Mr. Heller (for himself, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Latta, Mrs. 
   Lummis, and Mr. Roskam) introduced the following bill; which was 
           referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit any increase in the amount established for the Members' 
  Representational Allowance during a period of high unemployment and 
                              public debt.

    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 ``Reduction of Irresponsible MRA 
Growth Act'' or the ``TRIM Growth Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING INCREASE IN MEMBERS' REPRESENTATIONAL ALLOWANCE 
              DURING PERIOD OF HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AND PUBLIC DEBT.

    (a) In General.--Section 101 of the House of Representatives 
Administrative Reform Technical Corrections Act (2 U.S.C. 57b) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(e) Prohibiting Increase During Periods of High Unemployment and 
Public Debt.--The Members' Representational Allowance established for a 
fiscal year may not exceed the Members' Representational Allowance 
established for the previous fiscal year unless--
            ``(1) the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a national 
        unemployment rate of 6 percent or lower for each of the 6 most 
        recent months for which the Bureau published a national 
        unemployment rate which occurred prior to the beginning of the 
        fiscal year; or
            ``(2) the Secretary of the Treasury certifies to the 
        Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives 
        and Senate that the amount of the public debt (as referred to 
        in section 3101 of title 31, United States Code) is not greater 
        than $5,500,000,000,000 as of the first day of the last month 
        of the previous fiscal year.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to fiscal year 2010 and each succeeding fiscal year.
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