II 111th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3475 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 10, 2010 Mr. Bennet introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To provide tighter control over and additional public disclosure of earmarks.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Clean Up Earmarks Act of 2010 or the CUE Act of 2010.

2.

GAO audit of Senate earmarks

(a)

In general

Not later than March 31 of each year, the Comptroller General shall submit an audit to Congress of 5 percent of Senate earmarks for the current fiscal year chosen at random. (b)

Details

The audit required by subsection (a) shall include— (1)an adequate amount of earmarks of small and large programs; (2)50 percent of earmarks that have been requested by at least one Democratic Senator and 50 percent requested by at least one Republican Senator; and (3)50 percent of earmarks requested by members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and 50 percent requested by Senators not on the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

3.

Strengthening point of order against airdropped items in conference reports

Subparagraphs (c) and (d) of paragraph 8 of rule XLIV of the Standing rules of the Senate are amended by striking three-fifths and inserting two-thirds.

4.

Improving earmarks Web site

The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall take such steps as are necessary to improve the Web site earmarks.gov to— (1)make earmarks more easily searchable by the requesting member of Congress and by any federally registered lobbyist who requested such earmark; and (2)ensure that the Web site is user friendly and does not include extraneous information.

5.

Hearings on earmarks

It is the sense of the Senate that— (1)the subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations should hold hearings on earmark requests in excess of $1,000,000, during which Members who request said earmarks should be invited to testify; and (2)the subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations shall hold hearings on earmark requests in excess of $5,000,000, during which Members who request said earmarks shall be invited to testify.

6.

Increased earmark transparency and prohibiting earmarks to private for-profit entities

Rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: 13.(a)All congressionally directed spending items shall be included in the text of an appropriations or authorization bill and any conference report related to that appropriations or authorization bill. (b)Not later than 48 hours after the request, each request for a congressionally directed spending item for an appropriations or authorization bill made by a Senator shall be posted on the Senator’s Web site. The posting of the request for a congressionally directed spending item shall include the name and location of the specifically intended recipient, the purpose of the congressionally directed spending item, the name of any federally registered lobbyist who materially participated in requesting that the earmark submission be made by that Senator, and the dollar amount requested. If there is no specifically intended recipient, the posting shall include the intended location of the activity, the purpose of the congressionally directed spending item, and the dollar amount requested. (c)It shall not be in order to consider an appropriations or authorization bill, amendment, or conference report if it contains a congressionally directed spending item for a private for-profit entity. .

7.

Disclosure by non-profits of private for-profit earmark beneficiaries

Each Senator shall— (1)require any eligible entity that requests an earmark submission from that Senator to include a written disclosure in that earmark request of the identity of any for profit, private company that might directly benefit financially from the award of the earmark; and (2)submit the identity of the beneficiary disclosed under paragraph (1) in writing to the Senate Committee on Appropriations with any corresponding earmarks request made by the Senator and include the beneficiary disclosure in the disclosure of earmarks required to be posted on the Web site of the Senator by paragraph 13 of rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate.

8.

Amendment to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 requiring reporting information on the employer of a lobbyist

Section 5(b) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1604(b)) is amended— (1)in paragraph (4), by striking the and after the semicolon; (2)in paragraph (5), by striking the period and inserting ; and; and (3)by inserting at the end the following: (6)for each client, the amount of congressional earmarks requested from Congress on behalf of the client and a detailed accounting of each such earmark. .