[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 117th Congress]
[117th Congress]
[House Document 116-177]
[Legislate Procedures Enacted in Law]
[Pages 1354-1357]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            36. Hong Kong Autonomy Act [22 U.S.C. 5701 note]

   Sec. 8. waiver, termination, exceptions, and congressional review 


                                 process


                                  * * *

          (a) National Security Waiver--Unless a disapproval resolution 

        is enacted under subsection (e), the President may waive the 

        application of sanctions under section 6 or 7 with respect to a 

        foreign person or foreign financial institution if the 

        President--

                  (1) determines that the waiver is in the national 

                security interest of the United States; and

                  (2) submits to the appropriate congressional 

                committees and leadership a report on the determination 


[[Page 1355]]

                and the reasons for the determination.

          (b) Termination of Sanctions and Removal From Report--Unless a 

        disapproval resolution is enacted under subsection (e), the 

        President may terminate the application of sanctions under 

        section 6 or 7 with respect to a foreign person or foreign 

        financial institution and remove the foreign person from the 

        report required under section 5(a) or the foreign financial 

        institution from the report required under section 5(b), as the 

        case may be, if the Secretary of State, in consultation with the 

        Secretary of the Treasury, determines that the actions taken by 

        the foreign person or foreign financial institution that led to 

        the imposition of sanctions--

                  (1) do not have a significant and lasting negative 

                effect that contravenes the obligations of China under 

                the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law;

                  (2) are not likely to be repeated in the future; and

                  (3) have been reversed or otherwise mitigated through 

                positive countermeasures taken by that foreign person or 


                foreign financial institution.


                                  * * *

          (e) Congressional Review--

                  (1) Resolutions--

                      (A) Disapproval Resolution--In this section, the 

                    term ``disapproval resolution'' means only a joint 

                    resolution of either House of Congress--

                        (i) the title of which is as follows: ``A joint 

                    resolution disapproving the waiver or termination of 

                    sanctions with respect to a foreign person that 

                    contravenes the obligations of China with respect to 

                    Hong Kong or a foreign financial institution that 

                    conducts a significant transaction with that 

                    person.''; and

                        (ii) the sole matter after the resolving clause 

                    of which is the following: ``Congress disapproves of 

                    the action under section 8 of the Hong Kong Autonomy 

                    Act relating to the application of sanctions imposed 

                    with respect to a foreign person that contravenes 

                    the obligations of China with respect to Hong Kong, 

                    or a foreign financial institution that conducts a 


[[Page 1356]]

                    significant transaction with that person, on ___

                    relating to ___.'', with the first blank space being 

                    filled with the appropriate date and the second 

                    blank space being filled with a short description of 

                    the proposed action.

                      (B) Termination Resolution--In this section, the 

                    term ``termination resolution'' means only a joint 

                    resolution of either House of Congress--

                        (i) the title of which is as follows: ``A joint 

                    resolution terminating sanctions with respect to 

                    foreign persons that contravene the obligations of 

                    China with respect to Hong Kong and foreign 

                    financial institutions that conduct significant 

                    transactions with those persons.''; and

                        (ii) the sole matter after the resolving clause 

                    of which is the following: ``The Hong Kong Autonomy 

                    Act and any sanctions imposed pursuant to that Act 

                    shall terminate on ___.'', with the blank space 

                    being filled with the termination date.

                      (C) Covered Resolution--In this subsection, the 

                    term ``covered resolution'' means a disapproval 

                    resolution or a termination resolution.

                  (2) Introduction--A covered resolution may be 

                introduced--

                      (A) in the House of Representatives, by the 

                    majority leader or the minority leader; and

                      (B) in the Senate, by the majority leader (or the 

                    majority leader's designee) or the minority leader 

                    (or the minority leader's designee).

                  (3) Floor Consideration in House of Representatives--

                If a committee of the House of Representatives to which 

                a covered resolution has been referred has not reported 

                the resolution within 10 legislative days after the date 

                of referral, that committee shall be discharged from 


                further consideration of the resolution.


                                  * * *

                  (5) Rules Relating to Senate and House of 

                Representatives--

                      (A) Treatment of Senate Resolution in House--In 

                    the House of Representatives, the following 

                    procedures shall apply to a covered resolution 


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                    received from the Senate (unless the

                    House has already passed a resolution relating to 

                    the same proposed action):

                        (i) The resolution shall be referred to the 

                    appropriate committees.

                        (ii) If a committee to which a resolution has 

                    been referred has not reported the resolution within 

                    10 legislative days after the date of referral, that 

                    committee shall be discharged from further 

                    consideration of the resolution.

                        (iii) Beginning on the third legislative day 

                    after each committee to which a resolution has been 

                    referred reports the resolution to the House or has 

                    been discharged from further consideration thereof, 

                    it shall be in order to move to proceed to consider 

                    the resolution in the House. All points of order 

                    against the motion are waived. Such a motion shall 

                    not be in order after the House has disposed of a 

                    motion to proceed on the resolution. The previous 

                    question shall be considered as ordered on the 

                    motion to its adoption without intervening motion. 

                    The motion shall not be debatable. A motion to 

                    reconsider the vote by which the motion is disposed 

                    of shall not be in order.

                        (iv) The resolution shall be considered as read. 

                    All points of order against the resolution and 

                    against its consideration are waived. The previous 

                    question shall be considered as ordered on the 

                    resolution to final passage without intervening 

                    motion except 2 hours of debate equally divided and 

                    controlled by the offeror of the motion to proceed 

                    (or a designee) and an opponent. A motion to 

                    reconsider the vote on passage of the resolution 


                    shall not be in order.


                                  * * *

                      (C) Application to Revenue Measures--The 

                    provisions of this paragraph shall not apply in the 

                    House of Representatives to a covered resolution 


                    that is a revenue measure.


                                  * * *