[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 22, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4020-S4021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY RULES OF PROCEDURE
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on May 22, 2011, the Joint Committee on
[[Page S4021]]
the Library organized, elected a chairman, a vice chairman, and adopted
its rules for the 112th Congress. Members of the Joint Committee on the
Library elected Senator Charles E. Schumer as chairman and Congressman
Gregg Harper as vice chairman. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 2, of
the Standing Rules of the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that a copy
of the committee rules be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Rules of Procedure of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library--
112th Congress
Title I--Meetings of the Committee
1. Regular meetings may be called by the chairman, with the
concurrence of the vice-chairman, as may be deemed necessary
or pursuant to the provision of paragraph 3 of rule XXVI of
the Standing Rules of the Senate.
2. Meetings of the committee, including meetings to conduct
hearings, shall be open to the public, except that a meeting
or series of meetings by the committee on the same subject
for a period of no more that 14 calendar days may be closed
to the public on a motion made and seconded to go into closed
session to discuss only whether the matters enumerated in
subparagraphs (A) through (F) would require the meeting to be
closed followed immediately by a recorded vote in open
session by a majority of the members of the committee when it
is determined that the matters to be discussed or the
testimony to be taken at such meeting or meetings--
(A) will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret in
the interests of national defense or the confidential conduct
of the foreign relations of the United States;
(B) will relate solely to matters of the committee staff
personnel or internal staff management or procedures;
(C) will tend to charge an individual with a crime or
misconduct, to disgrace or injure the professional standing
of an individual, or otherwise to expose an individual to
public contempt or obloquy, or will represent a clearly
unwarranted invasion of privacy of an individual;
(D) will disclose the identity of any informer or law
enforcement agent or will disclose any information relating
to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense
that is required to be kept secret in the interest of
effective law enforcement;
(E) will disclose information relating to the trade secrets
or financial or commercial information pertaining
specifically to a given person if--
(1) an Act of Congress requires the information to be kept
confidential by Government officers and employees; or
(2) the information has been obtained by the Government on
a confidential basis, other than through an application by
such person for a specific Government financial or other
benefit, and is required to be kept secret in order to
prevent undue injury to the benefit, and is required to be
kept secret in order to prevent undue injury to the
competitive position of such person; or
(F) may divulge matters required to be kept confidential
under the provisions of law or Government regulation.
(Paragraph 5(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate.)
3. Written notices of committee meetings will normally be
sent by the committee's staff director to all members at
least 3 days in advance. In addition, the committee staff
will email or telephone reminders of committee meetings to
all members of the committee or to the appropriate staff
assistants in their offices.
4. A copy of the committee's intended agenda enumerating
separate items of committee business will normally be sent to
all members of the committee by the staff director at least 1
day in advance of all meetings. This does not preclude any
member of the committee from raising appropriate non-agenda
topics.
5. Any witness who is to appear before the committee in any
hearing shall file with the clerk of the committee at least 3
business days before the date of his or her appearance, a
written statement of his or her proposed testimony and an
executive summary thereof, in such form as the chairman may
direct, unless the chairman waived such a requirement for
good cause.
Title II--Quorums
1. Pursuant to paragraph 7(a)(1) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules, 4 members of the committee shall constitute a
quorum.
2. Pursuant to paragraph 7(a)(2) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules, 2 members of the committee shall constitute a
quorum for the purpose of taking testimony; provided,
however, once a quorum is established, any one member can
continue to take such testimony.
3. Under no circumstance may proxies be considered for the
establishment of a quorum.
Title III--Voting
1. Voting in the committee on any issue will normally be by
voice vote.
2. If a third of the members present so demand, a recorded
vote will be taken on any question by rollcall.
3. The results of the rollcall votes taken in any meeting
upon a measure, or any amendment thereto, shall be stated in
the committee report on that measure unless previously
announced by the committee, and such report or announcement
shall include a tabulation of the votes cast in favor and the
votes cast in opposition to each measure and amendment by
each member of the committee. (Paragraph 7(b) and (c) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules.)
4. Proxy voting shall be allowed on all measures and
matters before the committee. However, the vote of the
committee to report a measure or matters shall require the
concurrence of a majority of the members of the committee who
are physically present at the time of the vote. Proxies will
be allowed in such cases solely for the purpose of recording
a member's position on the question and then only in those
instances when the absentee committee member has been
informed of the question and has affirmatively requested that
he be recorded. (Paragraph 7(a)(3) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules.)
Title IV--Delegation and Authority to the Chairman and Vice Chairman
1. The chairman and vice chairman are authorized to sign
all necessary vouchers and routine papers for which the
committee's approval is required and to decide in the
committee's behalf on all routine business.
2. The chairman is authorized to engage commercial
reporters for the preparation of transcripts of committee
meetings and hearings.
3. The chairman is authorized to issue, on behalf of the
committee, regulations normally promulgated by the committee
at the beginning of each session.
____________________