[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

[[Page 333]]

                        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

[[Page 334]]

            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

[[Page 335]]

            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