[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]
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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