[House Report 104-663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 2d Session                                                     104-663
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    PROVIDING FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3754, FISCAL YEAR 1997 
                   LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS

                                _______
                                

July 9, 1996.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

_______________________________________________________________________


    Mr. Dreier, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                       [To accompany H. Res. 473]

    The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration 
House Resolution 473, by a nonrecord vote, report the same to 
the House with the recommendation that the resolution be 
adopted.

               brief summary of provisions of resolution

    The resolution provides for the consideration of H.R. 3754, 
the ``Fiscal Year 1997 Legislative Branch Appropriations'' 
under a modified closed rule. The rule provides one hour of 
general debate divided equally between the chairman and ranking 
minority member of the Committee on Appropriations.
    The rule waives clause 2(l)(6) of rule XI (3 day 
availability requirement for committee reports), clause 7 of 
rule XXI (3 day availability of printed hearings and reports on 
appropriations bills), or section 302 of the Budget Act 
(prohibiting consideration of legislation which exceeds a 
committee's allocation of new entitlement authority) or section 
308 of the Budget Act (requiring a cost estimate in committee 
report on new entitlement authority) against consideration of 
the bill.
    The rule waives clause 2 of rule XXI (prohibiting 
unauthorized appropriations and legislation on general 
appropriations) and clause 6 of rule XXI (prohibiting 
reappropriations) against the bill.
    The rule makes in order only the amendments printed in the 
report on the rule to be offered only in the order printed, by 
the Member specified, and debatable for the time specified in 
the report. The amendments are considered as read and are not 
subject to amendment except as specified in the report or a 
demand for a division of the question in the House or Committee 
of the Whole. All points of order are waived against the 
amendments.
    The rule provides that the chairman of the Committee of the 
Whole may postpone recorded votes on any amendment and that the 
chairman may reduce voting time on postponed questions to 5 
minutes, provided that the vote immediately follows another 
recorded vote and that the voting time on the first in a series 
of votes is not less than 15 minutes.
    Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit, with 
or without instructions.

            summary of amendments made in order by the rule

          (Listed in the order in which they will be offered)

    1. Fazio--Transfers $4 million in funds from the Chief 
Administrative Officer to the Members' Representational 
Allowance. (30 minutes)
    2. Dunn--Reduces the number of 3700 full-time workyears at 
the Government Printing Office by 100. (20 minutes)
    3. Obey--Reduces General Accounting Office contract audits 
by $3.5 million. (30 minutes)
    4. Volkmer--Reduces the aggregate amount of the General 
Accounting Office by $250,000. (20 minutes)
    5. Smith (MI) or Roemer--Extends last year's ``lock-box'' 
which earmarked unspent money from Members' office allowances 
to deficit reduction. (20 minutes)
    6. Campbell--Provides a recommendation that the CBO and 
Joint Tax Committees use dynamic economic modeling for 
informational purposes to complement budgetary estimates on 
certain major spending and tax bills. (20 minutes)
    7. Gutknecht--Reduces all discretionary spending in the 
bill across-the-board by 1.9%. (20 minutes)
    8. Castle--Requires mass mailings sent by Members of the 
House to contain a notice specifying that the mailing was 
prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense, and 
requires the quarterly disclosure of the number and cost of 
mass mailing by each Member. (20 minutes)

1. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Fazio of California or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 30 Minutes

    Page 3, after line 3, insert the following caption: 
``(including transfer of funds)''.
    Page 3, line 6, insert before the period at the end the 
following: ; and, in addition, $4,000,000, which shall be 
derived by transfer from the amount provided in this Act for 
``Office of the Chief Administrative Officer'' under the 
heading ``Salaries, officers and employees'' and shall be 
available for obligation only by members for initiatives to 
promote the increased use of computers and other electronic 
technologies funded by this Act to carry out legislative 
activities.
                              ----------                              


 2. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Dunn of Washington or 
                 Her Designee, Debatable for 20 Minutes

    Page 28, beginning on line 9, strike out ``3,700 
workyears'' and insert in lieu thereof ``3,600 workyears by the 
end of fiscal year 1997''.
                              ----------                              


 3. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Obey of Wisconsin or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 30 Minutes

    Page 29, line 11, strike ``: Provided, That,'' and insert 
the following: ``(reduced by $3,500,000): Provided, That, not 
more than $4,500,000 of such funds shall be available for 
contract audit services: Provided further, That''.
                              ----------                              


4. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Volkmer of Missouri or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 20 Minutes

    Page 31, after line 2, insert the following:
    The aggregate amount otherwise provided under this heading 
is hereby reduced by $250,000, and the amount of such reduction 
shall be retained in the Treasury for purposes of deficit 
reduction and shall not be available for appropriation for any 
other purpose for fiscal year 1997.
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 5. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Smith of Michigan or 
       Roemer of Indiana or a Designee, Debatable for 20 Minutes

    Page 35, after line 22, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 310. Any amount appropriated in this Act for ``HOUSE 
OF REPRESENTATIVES--Salaries and Expenses--Members' 
Representational Allowances'' shall be available only for 
fiscal year 1997. Any amount remaining after all payments are 
made under such allowances for such fiscal year shall be 
deposited in the Treasury, to be used for deficit reduction.
                              ----------                              


6. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Campbell of California 
               or His Designee, Debatable for 20 Minutes

    Page 35, after line 22, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 310. (a) In addition to any other estimates the 
Director is required to make pursuant to the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 and the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office shall, upon the request of the chairman of the Committee 
on the Budget of the House of Representatives (after 
consultation with the ranking minority member of that 
committee), prepare an estimate for any major spending 
legislation, as designated by the majority leader of the House 
of Representatives (after consultation with the minority leader 
of the House), of the change in spending and revenues resulting 
from that legislation on the basis of assumptions that estimate 
the probable dynamic macroeconomic feedback effects of such 
legislation, and shall include a statement identifying those 
assumptions. Such estimates shall be submitted to the chairmen 
and ranking minority members of the Committee on the Budget and 
of the committees of subject-matter jurisdiction, and, if 
timely submitted, shall be included in the reports on such 
legislation.
    (b)(1) The Joint Committee on Taxation shall conduct a 
study of the feasibility of providing fiscal estimates of the 
dynamic macroeconomic feedback effects of tax legislation. Such 
study shall analyze--
          (A) the difficulty of predicting--
                  (i) monetary responses to tax legislation,
                  (ii) international responses to domestic 
                policy changes, including changes in 
                international flows of capital,
                  (iii) short-term changes in the labor supply, 
                interest rates, and savings rates,
                  (iv) the effect that changes in investment 
                will have on growth rates, and
                  (v) changes in economic efficiencies,
          (B) how significant a proposal should be in order to 
        warrant a dynamic macroeconomic feedback estimate,
          (C) under what circumstances it is appropriate to 
        estimate microeconomic effects or sector effects even 
        when there is no macroeconomic effect,
          (D) whether it is feasible to quantify the 
        reliability of dynamic macroeconomic feedback 
        estimates,
          (E) whether there are procedural complexities in 
        making such estimates where such estimates involve 
        variables outside traditional revenue models, and
          (F) whether it is appropriate to make such estimates 
        for tax legislation if such estimates are not made for 
        other legislation.
    (2) If the Joint Committee on Taxation determines that 
fiscal estimates of dynamic macro-economic feedback effects of 
tax legislation are feasible, such study shall include examples 
of such estimates for several hypothetical tax policy changes.
    (3) The report of such study shall be submitted not later 
than May 1, 1997, to--
          (A) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
        Representatives,
          (B) the Committee on Finance of the Senate,
          (C) the Speaker, Majority Leader, and Minority Leader 
        of the House of Representatives, and
          (D) the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the 
        Senate.
    (4) Pending completion of such study, the Joint Committee 
on Taxation shall continue its current practice of taking into 
account the following behavioral effects (among others): 
changes in the timing of transactions; shifts between corporate 
and noncorporate income; changes in the mix of employee 
compensation between cash and nontaxable fringe benefits; 
changes in relative prices and resulting shifts in demand 
between taxed and untaxed commodities; capital gains 
realization effects; and portfolio shifts between taxable and 
nontaxable assets.
    (5) The Joint Committee on Taxation may continue its 
current practice of contracting with nationally recognized 
macroeconomic modeling firms to investigate macroeconomic 
feedback effects of hypothetical tax policy changes.
    (c) Estimates made pursuant to this section are to be used 
for informational purposes only.
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7. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Gutknecht of Minnesota 
               or His Designee, Debatable for 20 Minutes

    Page 35, after line 22, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 310. Each amount appropriated or otherwise made 
available by this Act that is not required to be appropriated 
or otherwise made available by a provision of law is hereby 
reduced by 1.9 percent.
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 8. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Castle of Delaware or 
                 His Designee, Debatable for 20 Minutes

    Page 35, after line 22, insert the following new section:
    Sec. 310. (a) Each mass mailing sent by a Member of the 
House of Representatives shall bear in a prominent place on its 
face, or on the envelope or outside cover or wrapper in which 
the mail matter is sent, the following notice: ``THIS MAILING 
WAS PREPARED, PUBLISHED, AND MAILED AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE.'', or 
a notice to the same effect in words which may be prescribed 
under subsection (c). The notice shall be printed in a type 
size not smaller than 7-point.
    (b)(1) There shall be published in the itemized report of 
disbursements of the House of Representatives as required by 
law, a summary tabulation setting forth, for the office of each 
Member of the House of Representatives, the total number of 
pieces of mass mail mailed during the period involved and the 
total cost of those mass mailings.
    (2) Each such tabulation shall also include--
          (A) the total cost (as referred to in paragraph (1)) 
        divided by the number (as determined by the Postmaster 
        General) of addresses (other than business possible 
        delivery stops) in the Congressional district from 
        which the Member was elected (as such addresses are 
        described in section 3210(d)(7)(B) of title 39, United 
        States Code); and
          (B) the total number of pieces of mass mail (as 
        referred to in paragraph (1)) divided by the number (as 
        determined by the Postmaster General) of addresses 
        (other than business possible delivery stops) in the 
        Congressional district from which the Member was 
        elected (as such addresses are described in section 
        3210(d)(7)(B) of title 39, United States Code).
    (c) The Committee on House Oversight shall prescribe such 
rules and regulations and shall take such other action as the 
Committee considers necessary and proper for Members to conform 
to the provisions of this subsection and applicable rules and 
regulations.
    (d) For purposes of this section--
          (1) the term ``Member of the House of 
        Representatives'' means a Representative in, or a 
        Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress; and
          (2) the term ``mass mailing'' has the meaning given 
        such term by section 3210(a)(6)(E) of title 39, United 
        States Code.
    (e) This section shall apply with respect to sessions of 
Congress beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.