[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 7, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H572-H573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               AMENDMENTS

  Under clause 8 of rule XVIII, proposed amendments were submitted as 
follows:

                                S. 2038

                          Offered By Mr. Flake

       Amendment No. 1: Add at the end the following new title:

                     TITLE III--EARMARK ELIMINATION

     SEC. 301. SHORT TITLE.

       This title may be cited as the ``Earmark Elimination Act of 
     2012''.

                  Subtitle A--House of Representatives

     SEC. 311. PROHIBITING CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATION CONTAINING 
                   EARMARKS.

       (a) Prohibition.--
       (1) In general.--It shall not be in order in the House of 
     Representatives to consider any bill, joint resolution, 
     amendment, or conference report if the bill, joint 
     resolution, amendment, or conference report, or any 
     accompanying report or joint explanatory statement of 
     managers, includes a congressional earmark, limited tax 
     benefit, or limited tariff benefit.
       (2) Procedure.--If a point of order is raised under 
     paragraph (1) with respect to a congressional earmark, 
     limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit and the point 
     of order is sustained, the congressional earmark, limited tax 
     benefit, or limited tariff benefit shall be deemed to be 
     stricken from the measure involved.
       (3) Special procedure for conference report and amendments 
     between the houses.--
       (A) In general.--If a point of order is raised and 
     sustained under paragraph (1) with respect to a conference 
     report or a motion that the House recede from its 
     disagreement to a Senate amendment and concur therein, with 
     or without amendment, then after disposition of all such 
     points of order the conference report or motion, as the case 
     may be, shall be considered as rejected and the matter 
     remaining in disagreement shall be disposed of under 
     subparagraph (B) or (C), as the case may be.
       (B) Conference reports.--After the House has sustained one 
     or more points of order under paragraph (1) with respect to a 
     conference report--
       (i) if the conference report accompanied a House measure 
     amended by the Senate, the pending question shall be whether 
     the House shall recede and concur in the Senate amendment 
     with an amendment consisting of so much of the conference 
     report as was not rejected; and
       (ii) if the conference report accompanied a Senate measure 
     amended by the House, the pending question shall be whether 
     the House shall insist further on the House amendment.
       (C) Motions.--After the House has sustained one or more 
     points of order under paragraph (1) with respect to a motion 
     that the House recede and concur in a Senate amendment, with 
     or without amendment, the following motions shall be 
     privileged and shall have precedence in the order stated:
       (i) A motion that the House recede and concur in the Senate 
     amendment with an amendment in writing then available on the 
     floor.
       (ii) A motion that the House insist on its disagreement to 
     the Senate amendment and request a further conference with 
     the Senate.
       (iii) A motion that the House insist on its disagreement to 
     the Senate amendment.
       (b) Determination by House.--If a point of order is raised 
     under this section and the Chair is unable to ascertain 
     whether a provision constitutes a congressional earmark, 
     limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit, the Chair 
     shall put the question to the House and the question shall be 
     decided without debate or intervening motion.
       (c) Conforming Amendment.--Rule XXI of the Rules of the 
     House of Representatives is amended by striking clause 9.

     SEC. 312. DEFINITIONS.

       In this subtitle--
       (1) the term ``congressional earmark'' means a provision or 
     report language included primarily at the request of a 
     Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator 
     providing, authorizing or recommending a specific amount of 
     discretionary budget authority, credit authority, or other 
     spending authority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, 
     grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with or to an 
     entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or 
     Congressional district, other than through a statutory or 
     administrative formula-driven or competitive award process;
       (2) the term ``limited tax benefit'' means--
       (A) any revenue-losing provision that--
       (i) provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or 
     preference to 10 or fewer beneficiaries under the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986, and
       (ii) contains eligibility criteria that are not uniform in 
     application with respect to potential beneficiaries of such 
     provision; or
       (B) any Federal tax provision which provides one 
     beneficiary temporary or permanent transition relief from a 
     change to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and
       (3) the term ``limited tariff benefit'' means a provision 
     modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
     in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities.

                           Subtitle B--Senate

     SEC. 321. PROHIBITION ON EARMARKS.

       (a) Bills and Joint Resolutions, Amendments, Amendments 
     Between the Houses, and Conference Reports.--
       (1) In general.--It shall not be in order in the Senate to 
     consider a bill or resolution introduced in the Senate or the 
     House of Representatives, amendment, amendment between the 
     Houses, or conference report that includes an earmark.
       (2) Procedure.--Upon a point of order being made by any 
     Senator pursuant to paragraph (1) against an earmark, and 
     such point of order being sustained, such earmark shall be 
     deemed stricken.
       (b) Conference Report and Amendment Between the Houses 
     Procedure.--When the Senate is considering a conference 
     report on, or an amendment between the Houses, upon a point 
     of order being made by any Senator pursuant to subsection 
     (a), and such point of order being sustained, such material 
     contained in such conference report shall be deemed stricken, 
     and the Senate shall proceed to consider the question of 
     whether the Senate shall recede from its amendment and concur 
     with a further amendment, or concur in the House amendment 
     with a further amendment, as the case may be, which further 
     amendment shall consist of only that portion of the 
     conference report or House amendment, as the case may be, not 
     so stricken. Any such motion in the Senate shall be debatable 
     under the same conditions as was the conference report. In 
     any case in which such point of order is sustained against a 
     conference report (or Senate amendment derived from such 
     conference report by operation of this subsection), no 
     further amendment shall be in order.
       (c) Waiver.--Any Senator may move to waive any or all 
     points of order under this section by an affirmative vote of 
     two-thirds of the Members, duly chosen and sworn.
       (d) Definitions.--
       (1) Earmark.--For the purpose of this section, the term 
     ``earmark'' means a provision or report language included 
     primarily at the request of a Senator or Member of the House 
     of Representatives as certified under paragraph 1(a)(1) of 
     rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate--
       (A) providing, authorizing, or recommending a specific 
     amount of discretionary budget authority, credit authority, 
     or other spending authority for a contract, loan, loan 
     guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with 
     or to an entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or 
     Congressional district, other than through a statutory or 
     administrative formula-driven or competitive award process;
       (B) that--
       (i) provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or 
     preference to a particular beneficiary or limited group of 
     beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and

[[Page H573]]

       (ii) contains eligibility criteria that are not uniform in 
     application with respect to potential beneficiaries of such 
     provision; or
       (C) modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
     States in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities.
       (2) Determination by the senate.--In the event the Chair is 
     unable to ascertain whether or not the offending provision 
     constitutes an earmark as defined in this subsection, the 
     question of whether the provision constitutes an earmark 
     shall be submitted to the Senate and be decided without 
     debate by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members, 
     duly chosen and sworn.
       (e) Application.--This section shall not apply to any 
     authorization of appropriations to a Federal entity if such 
     authorization is not specifically targeted to a State, 
     locality or congressional district.