[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3233 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3233

 To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 
  to limit the annual cost of appropriation earmarks and to make them 
             more predictable, equitable, and transparent.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 16, 2009

 Mrs. Lummis (for herself and Mrs. Kirkpatrick of Arizona) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and 
    in addition to the Committee on the Budget, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 
  to limit the annual cost of appropriation earmarks and to make them 
             more predictable, equitable, and transparent.

    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 ``Predictable, Equitable, and 
Transparent (PET) Project Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. PREDICTABLE AND EQUITABLE EARMARKING.

    (a) Allocation.--Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
            ``(6) Further division of amounts for appropriation 
        earmarks.--
                    ``(A) In the senate.--In the Senate, of the amount 
                allocated to the Committee on Appropriations for the 
                first fiscal year of the resolution, not more than one 
                half of one percent shall be allocated solely to 
                appropriation earmarks. Within that appropriation 
                earmark allocation, each Senator shall be entitled to 
                request of the committee not more than \1/100\th of 
                that amount. If a Senator makes no such request or 
                requests less than is permitted under this 
                subparagraph, then the unused amount shall be used to 
                reduce the deficit. If the committee denies any request 
                of a Senator such that his total amount of 
                appropriation earmarks is less than his \1/100\th 
                share, then the chairman and ranking minority member of 
                the committee shall provide the Senator written 
                justification for the denial of the request signed by 
                both the chairman and ranking minority member.
                    ``(B) In the house.--In the House of 
                Representatives, of the amount allocated to the 
                Committee on Appropriations for the first fiscal year 
                of the resolution, not more than one half of one 
                percent shall be allocated solely to appropriation 
                earmarks. Within that appropriation earmark allocation, 
                each Member, Delegate, and Resident Commissioner shall 
                be entitled to request of the committee not more than 
                \1/441\ of that amount. If a Member, Delegate, or 
                Resident Commissioner makes no such request or requests 
                less than is permitted under this subparagraph, then 
                the unused amount shall be used to reduce the deficit. 
                If the committee denies any request of a Senator such 
                that his total amount of appropriation earmarks is less 
                than his \1/441\ share, then the chairman of the 
                committee shall provide the Member, Delegate, or 
                Resident Commissioner written justification for the 
                denial of the request signed by both the chairman and 
                ranking minority member.
                    ``(C) Point of order.--It shall not be in order in 
                the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider 
                any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or 
                conference report providing new budget authority for 
                appropriation earmarks if--
                            ``(i) the enactment of that bill or 
                        resolution as reported;
                            ``(ii) the adoption and enactment of that 
                        amendment; or
                            ``(iii) the enactment of that bill or 
                        resolution in the form recommended in that 
                        conference report;
                would cause the level of total new budget authority or 
                total outlays for appropriation earmarks, as adjusted, 
                set forth in the applicable concurrent resolution on 
                the budget for the first fiscal year to be exceeded or 
                would cause the individual allocation of any Member, 
                Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator to be 
                breached for that fiscal year.''.
    (b) Definition.--Section 3 of the Congressional Budget and 
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(11) The term `appropriation earmark' has the meaning 
        given to the term `congressional earmark' in clause 9 of rule 
        XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives.''.

SEC. 3. TRANSPARENT EARMARKING.

    (a) In General.--Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``transparent earmarking in the house of representatives and the senate

    ``Sec. 316.  (a)(1) In the House of Representatives, a Member, 
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who requests an appropriation 
earmark shall, within 5 legislative days after making such request--
            ``(A) include the amount requested, the project name, and a 
        project description of the matter that is the subject of that 
        appropriation earmark, and submit such information to the Clerk 
        for posting on the website of the Clerk; and
            ``(B) insert in the Congressional Record a written 
        statement--
                    ``(i) including the amount requested, the project 
                name, and a project description of the matter that is 
                the subject of that appropriation earmark; and
                    ``(ii) certifying that neither the Member, 
                Delegate, or Resident Commissioner nor any family 
                member (as defined in clause 15 of rule XXIII of the 
                Rules of the House of Representatives) of that Member, 
                Delegate, or Resident Commissioner has any financial 
                interest in the appropriation earmark.
    ``(2) The website of the Clerk of the House of Representatives 
shall include an up-to-date, comprehensive and searchable database that 
is downloadable, sortable, and comprised of all requests for 
appropriation earmarks transmitted to the Clerk for the current fiscal 
year and the budget year pursuant to subsection (a).
    ``(b)(1) In the Senate, a Senator who requests an appropriation 
earmark shall, within 5 legislative days after making such request--
            ``(A) include the amount requested, the project name, and a 
        project description of the matter that is the subject of that 
        appropriation earmark, and submit such information to the Clerk 
        for posting on the website of the Clerk; and
            ``(B) insert in the Congressional Record a written 
        statement--
                    ``(i) including the amount requested, the project 
                name, and a project description of the matter that is 
                the subject of that appropriation earmark; and
                    ``(ii) certifying that neither the Senator nor any 
                family member (as used in rule XXXV of the Standing 
                Rules of the Senate) of that Senator has any financial 
                interest in the appropriation earmark.
    ``(2) The website of the Clerk of the Senate shall include an up-
to-date, comprehensive and searchable database that is downloadable and 
sortable and comprised of all requests for appropriation earmarks 
transmitted to the Clerk for the current fiscal year and the budget 
year pursuant to subsection (a).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents set forth in 
section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 
1974 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 315 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 316. Transparent earmarking in the House of Representatives and 
                            the Senate.''.

SEC. 4. HOUSE AND SENATE RULES AMENDMENTS RESPECTING EARMARKS IN 
              CONFERENCE REPORTS.

    (a) In the House of Representatives.--Paragraph (b) of clause 9 of 
rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended to 
read as follows:
    ``(b) It shall not be in order to consider a conference report to 
accompany a regular general appropriation bill if that bill or the 
accompanying joint explanatory statement contains any congressional 
earmark that was not committed to the conference committee by either 
House nor in a report of a committee of either House on such bill or on 
a companion measure.''.
    (b) In the Senate.--[Language to be inserted.]

SEC. 5. RULEMAKING POWER.

    This Act is enacted by the Congress--
            (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of 
        Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and as such they 
        shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, 
        respectively, or of that House to which they specifically 
        apply, and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the 
        extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and
            (2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of 
        either House to change such rules (so far as relating to such 
        House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent 
        as in the case of any other rule of such House.
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