    [United States Senate Manual, 116th Congress]
    [S. Doc. 116-1]
    [Cleaves Manual of Conferences and Conference Reports]
    [Pages 332-335]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 332]]

                                TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE

                       Chapter 15C--ALASKA NATURAL GAS TRANSPORTATION

           338  Sec. 719f. Congressional review
                (a) Effectiveness of decision designating transportation
                    system for approval upon enactment of joint resolution
                    Any decision under section 719e(a) of this title or
                subsection (b) designating for approval a transportation
                system for the delivery of Alaska natural gas shall take
                effect upon enactment of a joint resolution within the first
                period of 60 calendar days of continuous session of Congress
                beginning on the date after the date of receipt by the
                Senate and House of Representatives of a decision
                transmitted pursuant to section 719e(b) of this title or
                subsection (b) of this section.
                (b) New decision: statement of reasons for proposal;
                    transmittal to Congress
                    If the Congress does not enact such a joint resolution
                within such 60-day period, the President, not later than the
                end of the 30th day following the expiration of the 60-day
                period, may propose a new decision and shall provide a
                detailed statement concerning the reasons for such proposal.
                The new decision shall be submitted in accordance with
                section 719e(a) of this title and transmitted to the House
                of Representatives and the Senate on the same day while both
                are in session and shall take effect pursuant to subsection
                (a) of this section. In the event that a resolution
                respecting the President's decision was defeated by vote of
                either House, no new decision may be transmitted pursuant to
                this subsection unless such decision differs in a material
                respect from the previous decision.
                (c) Sessions of Congress
                    For purposes of this section--
                                (1) continuity of session of Congress is
                            broken only by an adjournment sine die; and
                                (2) the days on which either House is not in
                            session because of an adjournment of more than 3
                            days to a day certain are excluded in the
                            computation of the 60-day calendar period.
                (d) Rules under rulemaking powers of Congress; change of
                    rules; ``resolution'' defined; referral to Congressional
                    committees; debate limitation; motion for consideration
                    of resolution; debate on resolution; nondebatable
                    motions and appeals from procedural decisions
                    (1) This subsection is enacted by Congress--
                                (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power
                            of each House of Congress, respectively, and as
                            such it is deemed a part of the rules of each
                            House, respectively, but applicable only with
                            respect to the procedure to be followed in that
                            House in the case of resolutions described by
                            paragraph (2) of this subsection; and it
                            supersedes

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                            other rules only to the extent that it is
                            inconsistent therewith; and
                                (B) with full recognition of the
                            constitutional right of either House to change
                            the rules (so far as those rules relate to the
                            procedure of that House) at any time, in the
                            same manner and to the same extent as in the
                            case of any other rule of such House.
                    (2) For purposes of this chapter, the term
                ``resolution'' means (A) a joint resolution, the resolving
                clause of which is as follows: ``That the House of
                Representatives and Senate approve the Presidential decision
                on an Alaska natural gas transportation system submitted to
                the Congress on_____, 19 , and find that any environmental
                impact statements prepared relative to such system and
                submitted with the President's decision are in compliance
                with the Natural Environmental Policy Act of 1969.''; the
                blank space therein shall be filled with the date on which
                the President submits his decision to the House of
                Representatives and the Senate; or (B) a joint resolution
                described in subsection (g).
                    (3) A resolution once introduced with respect to a
                Presidential decision on an Alaska natural gas
                transportation system shall be referred to one or more
                committees (and all resolutions with respect to the same
                Presidential decision on an Alaska natural gas
                transportation system shall be referred to the same
                committee or committees) by the President of the Senate or
                the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may
                be.
                    (4)(A) If any committee to which a resolution with
                respect to a Presidential decision on an Alaska natural gas
                transportation system has been referred has not reported it
                at the end of 30 calendar days after its referral, it shall
                be in order to move either to discharge such committee from
                further consideration of such resolution or to discharge
                such committee from consideration of any other resolution
                with respect to such Presidential decision on an Alaska
                natural gas transportation system which has been referred to
                such committee.
                    (B) A motion to discharge may be made only by an
                individual favoring the resolution, shall be highly
                privileged (except that it may not be made after the
                committee has reported a resolution with respect to the same
                Presidential decision on an Alaska natural gas
                transportation system), and debate thereon shall be limited
                to not more than 1 hour, to be divided equally between those
                favoring and those opposing the resolution. An amendment to
                the motion shall not be in order, and it shall not be in
                order to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion was
                agreed to or disagreed to.
                    (C) If the motion to discharge is agreed to or disagreed
                to, the motion may not be made with respect to any other
                resolution with respect to the same Presidential decision on
                an Alaska natural gas transportation system.
                    (5)(A) When any committee has reported, or has been
                discharged from further consideration of, a resolution, but
                in no case earlier than 30 days after the date of receipt of
                the President's decision to the Congress, it shall be at any
                time thereafter in order (even though a previous motion to
                the same effect has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to
                the consideration of the resolution. The motion shall be
                highly privileged and shall not be debatable. An amendment
                to the motion shall

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                not be in order, and it shall not be in order to move to
                reconsider the vote by which the motion was agreed to or
                disagreed to.
                    (B) Debate on the resolution described in paragraph
                (2)(A) of this subsection shall be limited to not more than
                10 hours and on any resolution described in subsection (g)
                to one hour. This time shall be divided equally between
                those favoring and those opposing such resolution. A motion
                further to limit debate shall not be debatable. An amendment
                to, or motion to recommit the resolution shall not be in
                order, and it shall not be in order to move to reconsider
                the vote by which such resolution was agreed to or disagreed
                to or, thereafter within such 60-day period, to consider any
                other resolution respecting the same Presidential decision.
                    (6)(A) Motions to postpone, made with respect to the
                discharge from committee, or the consideration of a
                resolution and motions to proceed to the consideration of
                other business, shall be decided without debate.
                    (B) Appeals from the decision of the Chair relating to
                the application of the rules of the Senate or the House of
                Representatives, as the case may be, to the procedures
                relating to a resolution shall be decided without debate.
                (e) Presidential finding respecting and supplementation or
                    modification of environmental impact statement;
                    submittal to Congressional committees
                    The President shall find that any required environmental
                impact statement relative to the Alaska natural gas
                transportation system designated for approval by the
                President has been prepared and that such statement is in
                compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
                1969 [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.]. Such finding shall be set
                forth in the report of the President submitted under section
                719e of this title. The President may supplement or modify
                the environmental impact statements prepared by the
                Commission or other Federal officers or agencies. Any such
                environmental impact statement shall be submitted
                contemporaneously with the transmittal to the Senate and
                House of Representatives of the President's decision
                pursuant to section 719e(b) of this title or subsection (b)
                of this section.
                (f) Report of Commission: submittal to Congress; Council on
                    Environmental Quality: hearings, report, submittal to
                    Congress; Congressional committee hearings
                    Within 20 days of the transmittal of the President's
                decision to the Congress under section 719e(b) of this title
                or under subsection (b) of this section, (1) the Commission
                shall submit to the Congress a report commenting on the
                decision and including any information with regard to that
                decision which the Commission considers appropriate, and (2)
                the Council on Environmental Quality shall provide an
                opportunity to any interested person to present oral and
                written data, views, and arguments on any environmental
                impact statement submitted by the President relative to any
                system designated by him for approval which is different
                from any system reported on by the Commission under section
                719c(c) of this title, and shall submit to the Congress a
                report summarizing any such views received. The committees
                in each House of Congress to which a resolution has been
                referred under subsection (d)(3) shall conduct hearings on
                the Council's report and include in any report of the
                committee respecting such resolution the findings of the
                committee

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                on the legal and factual sufficiency of any environmental
                impact statement submitted by the President relative to any
                system designated by him for approval.
                (g) Waiver; submittal to Congress
                    (1) At any time after a decision designating a
                transportation system is submitted to the Congress pursuant
                to this section, if the President finds that any provision
                of law applicable to actions to be taken under subsection
                (a) or (c) of section 719g of this title require waiver in
                order to permit expeditious construction and initial
                operation of the approved transportation system, the
                President may submit such proposed waiver to both Houses of
                Congress.
                    (2) Such provision shall be waived with respect to
                actions to be taken under subsection (a) or (c) of section
                719g of this title upon enactment of a joint resolution
                pursuant to the procedures specified in subsections (c) and
                (d) of this section (other than subsection (d)(2) thereof)
                within the first period of 60 calendar days of continuous
                session of Congress beginning on the date after the date of
                receipt by the Senate and House of Representatives of such
                proposal.
                    (3) The resolving clause of the joint resolution
                referred to in this subsection is as follows: ``That the
                House of Representatives and Senate approve the waiver of
                the provision of law ( ) as proposed by the President,
                submitted to the Congress on ______, 19__.'' The first blank
                space therein being filled with the citation to the
                provision of law and the second blank space therein being
                filled with the date on which the President submits his
                decision to the House of Representatives and the Senate.
                    (4) In the case of action with respect to a joint
                resolution described in this subsection, the phrase ``a
                waiver of a provision of law'' shall be substituted in
                subsection (d) for the phrase ``the Alaska natural gas
                transportation system.''. (Pub. L. 94-586, Sec. 8, Oct. 22,
                1976, 90 Stat. 2909.)
                                   16 u.s.c.--conservation

                       united states senate procedures enacted in law