[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5689-5690]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS ON THE LIBRARY

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                           RULES OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, on April 6, 2017, the Joint Committee of 
Congress on the Library organized, elected a chairman, a vice chairman, 
and adopted committee rules for the 115th Congress. Members of the 
Joint Committee on the Library elected Congressman Gregg Harper as 
chairman and Senator Richard Shelby 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--
                             115th 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 Standings 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 than 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 
     personal 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

[[Page 5690]]

     order to prevent undue injury to the competitive position of 
     such person; or
       (F) may divulge matters required to 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 roll call.
       3. The results of the roll call 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.

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