<DOC>
[House Journal, 106th Congress, 1st Session, Part 1]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID: f:06rule1.wais]
[Page 2461-2498]
RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
----------------------
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
[[Page 2461]]
SECTION 1. CHANGES IN STANDING RULES
Amend the standing rules to read as follows:
RULE I
The Speaker.
1. The Speaker shall take the Chair on every legislative day precisely
at the hour to which the House last adjourned and immediately call the
House to order. Having examined and approved the Journal of the last
day's proceedings, the Speaker shall announce to the House his approval
thereof. The Speaker's approval of the Journal shall be deemed agreed to
unless a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner demands a vote
thereon. If such a vote is decided in the affirmative, it shall not be
subject to a motion to reconsider. If such a vote is decided in the
negative, then one motion that the Journal be read shall be privileged,
shall be decided without debate, and shall not be subject to a motion to
reconsider.
Preservation of order
2. The Speaker shall preserve order and decorum and, in case of
disturbance or disorderly conduct in the galleries or in the lobby, may
cause the same to be cleared.
Control of Capitol facilities
3. Except as otherwise provided by rule or law, the Speaker shall have
general control of the Hall of the House, the corridors and passages in
the part of the Capitol assigned to the use of the House, and the
disposal of unappropriated rooms in that part of the Capitol.
Signature of documents
4. The Speaker shall sign all acts and joint resolutions passed by the
two Houses and all writs, warrants, and subpoenas of, or issued by order
of, the House. The Speaker may sign enrolled bills and joint resolutions
whether or not the House is in session.
Questions of order
5. The Speaker shall decide all questions of order, subject to appeal
by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner. On such an appeal a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not speak more than once
without permission of the House.
Form of a question
6. The Speaker shall rise to put a question but may state it sitting.
The Speaker shall put a question in this form: ``Those in favor (of the
question), say `Aye.' ''; and after the affirmative voice is expressed,
``Those opposed, say `No.' ''. After a vote by voice under this clause,
the Speaker may use such voting procedures as may be invoked under rule
XX.
Discretion to vote
7. The Speaker is not required to vote in ordinary legislative
proceedings, except when his vote would be decisive or when the House is
engaged in voting by ballot.
Speaker pro tempore
8. (a) The Speaker may appoint a Member to perform the duties of the
Chair. Except as specified in paragraph (b), such an appointment may not
extend beyond three legislative days.
(b)(1) In the case of his illness, the Speaker may appoint a Member to
perform the duties of the Chair for a period not exceeding 10 days,
subject to the approval of the House. If the Speaker is absent and has
omitted to make such an appointment, then the House shall elect a
Speaker pro tempore to act during the absence of the Speaker.
(2) With the approval of the House, the Speaker may appoint a Member
to act as Speaker pro tempore only to sign enrolled bills and joint
resolutions for a specified period of time.
Term limit
9. A person may not serve as Speaker for more than four consecutive
Congresses (disregarding for this purpose any service for less than a
full session in any Congress).
Designation of travel
10. The Speaker may designate a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House to travel on the
business of the House within or without the United States, whether the
House is meeting, has recessed, or has adjourned. Expenses for such
travel may be paid from applicable accounts of the House described in
clause 1(i)(1) of rule X on vouchers approved and signed solely by the
Speaker.
Committee appointment
11. The Speaker shall appoint all select, joint, and conference
committees ordered by the House. At any time after an original
appointment, the Speaker may remove Members, Delegates, or the Resident
Commissioner from, or appoint additional Members, Delegates, or the
Resident Commissioner to, a select or conference committee. In
appointing Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner to
conference committees, the Speaker shall appoint no less than a majority
who generally supported the House position as determined by the Speaker,
shall name those who are primarily responsible for the legislation, and
shall, to the fullest extent feasible, include the principal proponents
of the major provisions of the bill or resolution passed or adopted by
the House.
Declaration of recess
12. To suspend the business of the House for a short time when no
question is pending before the House, the Speaker may declare a recess
subject to the call of the Chair.
Other responsibilities
13. The Speaker, in consultation with the Minority Leader, shall
develop through an appropriate entity of the House a system for drug
testing in the House. The system may provide for the testing of a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
House, and otherwise shall be comparable in scope to the system for drug
testing in the executive branch pursuant to Executive Order 12564 (Sept.
15, 1986). The expenses of the system may be paid from applicable
accounts of the House for official expenses.
RULE II
Other Officers and Officials
Elections
1. There shall be elected at the commencement of each Congress, to
continue in office until their successors are chosen and qualified, a
Clerk, a Sergeant-at-Arms, a Chief Administrative Officer, and a
Chaplain. Each of these officers shall take an oath to support the
Constitution of the United States, and for the true and faithful
exercise of the duties of his office to the best of his knowledge and
ability, and to keep the secrets of the House. Each of these officers
shall appoint all of the employees of his department provided for by
law. The Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Chief Administrative Officer may
be removed by the House or by the Speaker.
Clerk
2. (a) At the commencement of the first session of each Congress, the
Clerk shall call the Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioner to
order and proceed to record their presence by States in alphabetical
order, either by call of the roll or by use of the electronic voting
system. Pending
[[Page 2462]]
the election of a Speaker or Speaker pro tempore, the Clerk shall
preserve order and decorum and decide all questions of order, subject to
appeal by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.
(b) At the commencement of every regular session of Congress, the
Clerk shall make and cause to be printed and delivered to each Member,
Delegate, and the Resident Commissioner a list of the reports that any
officer or Department is required to make to Congress, citing the law or
resolution in which the requirement may be contained and placing under
the name of each officer the list of reports he is required to make.
(c) The Clerk shall--
(1) note all questions of order, with the decisions thereon, the
record of which shall be appended to the Journal of each session;
(2) enter on the Journal the hour at which the House adjourns;
(3) complete the printing and distribution of the Journal to
Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner, together with an
accurate and complete index, as soon as possible after the close of a
session; and
(4) send a printed copy of the Journal to the executive of and to
each branch of the legislature of every State as may be requested by
such State officials.
(d) The Clerk shall attest and affix the seal of the House to all
writs, warrants, and subpoenas issued by order of the House and certify
the passage of all bills and joint resolutions.
(e) The Clerk shall cause the calendars of the House to be printed and
distributed each legislative day.
(f) The Clerk shall--
(1) retain in the library at the Office of the Clerk for the use of
the Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioner, and officers of the
House, and not to be withdrawn therefrom, two copies of all the books
and printed documents deposited there; and
(2) deliver or mail to any Member, Delegate, or the Resident
Commissioner an extra copy, in binding of good quality, of each
document requested by that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
that has been printed by order of either House of Congress in any
Congress in which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
served.
(g) The Clerk shall provide for his temporary absence or disability by
designating an official in the Office of the Clerk to sign all papers
that may require the official signature of the Clerk and to do all other
official acts that the Clerk may be required to do under the rules and
practices of the House, except such official acts as are provided for by
statute. Official acts done by the designated official shall be under
the name of the Clerk. The designation shall be in writing and shall be
laid before the House and entered on the Journal.
(h) The Clerk may receive messages from the President and from the
Senate at any time when the House is not in session.
(i)(1) The Clerk shall supervise the staff and manage the office of a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who has died, resigned, or
been expelled until a successor is elected. The Clerk shall perform
similar duties in the event that a vacancy is declared by the House in
any congressional district because of the incapacity of the person
representing such district or other reason. Whenever the Clerk is acting
as a supervisory authority over such staff, he shall have authority to
terminate employees and, with the approval of the Committee on House
Administration, may appoint such staff as is required to operate the
office until a successor is elected.
(2) For 60 days following the death of a former Speaker, the Clerk
shall maintain on the House payroll, and shall supervise in the same
manner, staff appointed under House Resolution 1238, Ninety-first
Congress (as enacted into permanent law by chapter VIII of the
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1971) (2 U.S.C. 31b-5).
(j) In addition to any other reports required by the Speaker or the
Committee on House Administration, the Clerk shall report to the
Committee on House Administration not later than 45 days following the
close of each semiannual period ending on June 30 or on December 31 on
the financial and operational status of each function under the
jurisdiction of the Clerk. Each report shall include financial
statements and a description or explanation of current operations, the
implementation of new policies and procedures, and future plans for each
function.
(k) The Clerk shall fully cooperate with the appropriate offices and
persons in the performance of reviews and audits of financial records
and administrative operations.
Sergeant-at-Arms
3. (a) The Sergeant-at-Arms shall attend the House during its sittings
and maintain order under the direction of the Speaker or other presiding
officer. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall execute the commands of the House,
and all processes issued by authority thereof, directed to him by the
Speaker.
(b) The symbol of the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms shall be the
mace, which shall be borne by him while enforcing order on the floor.
(c) The Sergeant-at-Arms shall enforce strictly the rules relating to
the privileges of the Hall of the House and be responsible to the House
for the official conduct of his employees.
(d) The Sergeant-at-Arms may not allow a person to enter the room over
the Hall of the House during its sittings; and from 15 minutes before
the hour of the meeting of the House each day until 10 minutes after
adjournment, he shall see that the floor is cleared of all persons
except those privileged to remain.
(e) In addition to any other reports required by the Speaker or the
Committee on House Administration, the Sergeant-at-Arms shall report to
the Committee on House Administration not later than 45 days following
the close of each semiannual period ending on June 30 or on December 31
on the financial and operational status of each function under the
jurisdiction of the Sergeant-at-Arms. Each report shall include
financial statements and a description or explanation of current
operations, the implementation of new policies and procedures, and
future plans for each function.
(f) The Sergeant-at-Arms shall fully cooperate with the appropriate
offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits of
financial records and administrative operations.
Chief Administrative Officer
4. (a) The Chief Administrative Officer shall have operational and
financial responsibility for functions as assigned by the Committee on
House Administration and shall be subject to the policy direction and
oversight of the Committee on House Administration.
(b) In addition to any other reports required by the Committee on
House Administration, the Chief Administrative Officer shall report to
the Committee on House Administration not later than 45 days following
the close of each semiannual period ending on June 30 or December 31 on
the financial and operational status of each function under the
jurisdiction of the Chief Administrative Officer. Each report shall
include financial statements and a description or explanation of current
operations, the implementation of new policies and procedures, and
future plans for each function.
(c) The Chief Administrative Officer shall fully cooperate with the
appropriate offices and persons in the performance of reviews and audits
of financial records and administrative operations.
Chaplain
5. The Chaplain shall offer a prayer at the commencement of each day's
sitting of the House.
Office of Inspector General
6. (a) There is established an Office of Inspector General.
(b) The Inspector General shall be appointed for a Congress by the
Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader, acting jointly.
(c) Subject to the policy direction and oversight of the Committee on
House Administration, the Inspector General shall only--
(1) conduct periodic audits of the financial and administrative
functions of the House and of joint entities;
(2) inform the officers or other officials who are the subject of an
audit of the results of that audit and suggesting appropriate curative
actions;
[[Page 2463]]
(3) simultaneously notify the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the
Minority Leader, and the chairman and ranking minority member of the
Committee on House Administration in the case of any financial
irregularity discovered in the course of carrying out responsibilities
under this clause;
(4) simultaneously submit to the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the
Minority Leader, and the chairman and ranking minority member of the
Committee on House Administration a report of each audit conducted
under this clause; and
(5) report to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
information involving possible violations by a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House of any rule
of the House or of any law applicable to the performance of official
duties or the discharge of official responsibilities that may require
referral to the appropriate Federal or State authorities under clause
3(a)(3) of rule XI.
Office of the Historian
7. There is established an Office of the Historian of the House of
Representatives. The Speaker shall appoint and set the annual rate of
pay for employees of the Office of the Historian.
Office of General Counsel
8. There is established an Office of General Counsel for the purpose
of providing legal assistance and representation to the House. Legal
assistance and representation shall be provided without regard to
political affiliation. The Office of General Counsel shall function
pursuant to the direction of the Speaker, who shall consult with a
Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which shall include the majority and
minority leaderships. The Speaker shall appoint and set the annual rate
of pay for employees of the Office of General Counsel.
RULE III
The Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
Voting
1. Every Member shall be present within the Hall of the House during
its sittings, unless excused or necessarily prevented, and shall vote on
each question put, unless he has a direct personal or pecuniary interest
in the event of such question.
2. (a) A Member may not authorize any other person to cast his vote or
record his presence in the House or the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union.
(b) No other person may cast a Member's vote or record a Member's
presence in the House or the Committee of the Whole House on the state
of the Union.
Delegates and the Resident Commissioner
3. (a) Each Delegate and the Resident Commissioner shall be elected to
serve on standing committees in the same manner as Members of the House
and shall possess in such committees the same powers and privileges as
the other members of the committee.
(b) The Delegates and the Resident Commissioner may be appointed to
any select committee and to any conference committee.
RULE IV
The Hall of the House
Use and admittance
1. The Hall of the House shall be used only for the legislative
business of the House and for caucus and conference meetings of its
Members, except when the House agrees to take part in any ceremonies to
be observed therein. The Speaker may not entertain a motion for the
suspension of this clause.
2. (a) Only the following persons shall be admitted to the Hall of the
House or rooms leading thereto:
(1) Members of Congress, Members-elect, and contestants in election
cases during the pendency of their cases on the floor.
(2) The Delegates and the Resident Commissioner.
(3) The President and Vice President of the United States and their
private secretaries.
(4) Justices of the Supreme Court.
(5) Elected officers and minority employees nominated as elected
officers of the House.
(6) The Parliamentarian.
(7) Staff of committees when business from their committee is under
consideration.
(8) Not more than one person from the staff of a Member, Delegate,
or Resident Commissioner when that Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner has an amendment under consideration (subject to clause
5).
(9) The Architect of the Capitol.
(10) The Librarian of Congress and the assistant in charge of the
Law Library.
(11) The Secretary and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate.
(12) Heads of departments.
(13) Foreign ministers.
(14) Governors of States.
(15) Former Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioners; former
Parliamentarians of the House; and former elected officers and
minority employees nominated as elected officers of the House (subject
to clause 4).
(16) One attorney to accompany a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner who is the respondent in an investigation undertaken by
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct when a recommendation
of that committee is under consideration in the House.
(17) Such persons as have, by name, received the thanks of Congress.
(b) The Speaker may not entertain a unanimous consent request or a
motion to suspend this clause.
3. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), all persons not entitled
to the privilege of the floor during the session shall be excluded at
all times from the Hall of the House and the cloakrooms.
(b) Until 15 minutes of the hour of the meeting of the House, persons
employed in its service, accredited members of the press entitled to
admission to the press gallery, and other persons on request of a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner by card or in writing, may be
admitted to the Hall of the House.
4. (a) Former Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioners; former
Parliamentarians of the House; and former elected officers and minority
employees nominated as elected officers of the House shall be entitled
to the privilege of admission to the Hall of the House and rooms leading
thereto only if--
(1) they do not have any direct personal or pecuniary interest in
any legislative measure pending before the House or reported by a
committee; and
(2) they are not in the employ of, or do not represent, any party or
organization for the purpose of influencing, directly or indirectly,
the passage, defeat, or amendment of any legislative measure pending
before the House, reported by a committee, or under consideration in
any of its committees or subcommittees.
(b) The Speaker shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary
to implement this rule and to ensure its enforcement.
5. A person from the staff of a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner may be admitted to the Hall of the House or rooms leading
thereto under clause 2 only upon prior notice to the Speaker. Such
persons, and persons from the staff of committees admitted under clause
2, may not engage in efforts in the Hall of the House or rooms leading
thereto to influence Members with regard to the legislation being
amended. Such persons shall remain at the desk and are admitted only to
advise the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or committee
responsible for their admission. A person who violates this clause may
be excluded during the session from the Hall of the House and rooms
leading thereto by the Speaker.
Gallery
6. (a) The Speaker shall set aside a portion of the west gallery for
the use of the President, the members of the Cabinet, justices of the
Supreme Court, foreign ministers and suites, and the members of their
respective families. The Speaker shall set aside another portion of the
same gallery for the accommodation of persons to be admitted on the
cards of Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner.
[[Page 2464]]
(b) The Speaker shall set aside the southerly half of the east gallery
for the use of the families of Members of Congress. The Speaker shall
control one bench. On the request of a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, or Senator, the Speaker shall issue a card of admission to
his family, which may include their visitors. No other person shall be
admitted to this section.
Prohibition on campaign contributions
7. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House, or any other person entitled to admission to the Hall of the
House or rooms leading thereto by this rule, may not knowingly
distribute a political campaign contribution in the Hall of the House or
rooms leading thereto.
RULE V
Broadcasting the House
1. The Speaker shall administer a system subject to his direction and
control for closed-circuit viewing of floor proceedings of the House in
the offices of all Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and
committees and in such other places in the Capitol and the House Office
Buildings as he considers appropriate. Such system may include other
telecommunications functions as the Speaker considers appropriate. Any
such telecommunications shall be subject to rules and regulations issued
by the Speaker.
2. (a) The Speaker shall administer a system subject to his direction
and control for complete and unedited audio and visual broadcasting and
recording of the proceedings of the House. The Speaker shall provide for
the distribution of such broadcasts and recordings to news media, for
the storage of audio and video recordings of the proceedings, and for
the closed-captioning of the proceedings for hearing-impaired persons.
(b) All television and radio broadcasting stations, networks,
services, and systems (including cable systems) that are accredited to
the House Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries, and all radio
and television correspondents who are so accredited, shall be provided
access to the live coverage of the House.
(c) Coverage made available under this clause, including any recording
thereof--
(1) may not be used for any political purpose;
(2) may not be used in any commercial advertisement; and
(3) may not be broadcast with commercial sponsorship except as part
of a bona fide news program or public affairs documentary program.
3. The Speaker may delegate any of his responsibilities under this
rule to such legislative entity as he considers appropriate.
RULE VI
Official Reporters and News Media Galleries
Official reporters
1. Subject to the direction and control of the Speaker, the Clerk
shall appoint, and may remove for cause, the official reporters of the
House, including stenographers of committees, and shall supervise the
execution of their duties.
News media galleries
2. A portion of the gallery over the Speaker's chair as may be
necessary to accommodate representatives of the press wishing to report
debates and proceedings shall be set aside for their use. Reputable
reporters and correspondents shall be admitted thereto under such
regulations as the Speaker may prescribe from time to time. The Standing
Committee of Correspondents for the Press Gallery, and the Executive
Committee of Correspondents for the Periodical Press Gallery, shall
supervise such galleries, including the designation of its employees,
subject to the direction and control of the Speaker. The Speaker may
assign one seat on the floor to Associated Press reporters and one to
United Press International reporters, and may regulate their occupation.
The Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may
prescribe, one additional representative of each press association.
3. A portion of the gallery as may be necessary to accommodate
reporters of news to be disseminated by radio, television, and similar
means of transmission, wishing to report debates and proceedings, shall
be set aside for their use. Reputable reporters and correspondents shall
be admitted thereto under such regulations as the Speaker may prescribe.
The Executive Committee of the Radio and Television Correspondents'
Galleries shall supervise such gallery, including the designation of its
employees, subject to the direction and control of the Speaker. The
Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as he may
prescribe, one representative of the National Broadcasting Company, one
of the Columbia Broadcasting System, and one of the American
Broadcasting Company.
RULE VII
Records of the House
Archiving
1. (a) At the end of each Congress, the chairman of each committee
shall transfer to the Clerk any noncurrent records of such committee,
including the subcommittees thereof.
(b) At the end of each Congress, each officer of the House elected
under rule II shall transfer to the Clerk any noncurrent records made or
acquired in the course of the duties of such officer.
2. The Clerk shall deliver the records transferred under clause 1,
together with any other noncurrent records of the House, to the
Archivist of the United States for preservation at the National Archives
and Records Administration. Records so delivered are the permanent
property of the House and remain subject to this rule and any order of
the House.
Public availability
3. (a) The Clerk shall authorize the Archivist to make records
delivered under clause 2 available for public use, subject to paragraph
(b), clause 4, and any order of the House.
(b)(1) A record shall immediately be made available if it was
previously made available for public use by the House or a committee or
a subcommittee.
(2) An investigative record that contains personal data relating to a
specific living person (the disclosure of which would be an unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy), an administrative record relating to
personnel, or a record relating to a hearing that was closed under
clause 2(g)(2) of rule XI shall be made available if it has been in
existence for 50 years.
(3) A record for which a time, schedule, or condition for availability
is specified by order of the House shall be made available in accordance
with that order. Except as otherwise provided by order of the House, a
record of a committee for which a time, schedule, or condition for
availability is specified by order of the committee (entered during the
Congress in which the record is made or acquired by the committee) shall
be made available in accordance with the order of the committee.
(4) A record (other than a record referred to in subparagraph (1),
(2), or (3)) shall be made available if it has been in existence for 30
years.
4. (a) A record may not be made available for public use under clause
3 if the Clerk determines that such availability would be detrimental to
the public interest or inconsistent with the rights and privileges of
the House. The Clerk shall notify in writing the chairman and ranking
minority member of the Committee on House Administration of any such
determination.
(b) A determination of the Clerk under paragraph (a) is subject to
later orders of the House and, in the case of a record of a committee,
later orders of the committee.
5. (a) This rule does not supersede rule VIII or clause 9 of rule X
and does not authorize the public disclosure of any record if such
disclosure is prohibited by law or executive order of the President.
(b) The Committee on House Administration may prescribe guidelines and
regulations governing the applicability and implementation of this rule.
(c) A committee may withdraw from the National Archives and Records
Administration any record of the committee delivered to the Archivist
under this rule. Such a withdrawal shall be on a temporary basis and for
official use of the committee.
[[Page 2465]]
Definition of record
6. In this rule the term ``record'' means any official, permanent
record of the House (other than a record of an individual Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner), including--
(a) with respect to a committee, an official, permanent record of
the committee (including any record of a legislative, oversight, or
other activity of such committee or a subcommittee thereof); and
(b) with respect to an officer of the House elected under rule II,
an official, permanent record made or acquired in the course of the
duties of such officer.
Withdrawal of papers
7. A memorial or other paper presented to the House may not be
withdrawn from its files without its leave. If withdrawn certified
copies thereof shall be left in the office of the Clerk. When an act
passes for the settlement of a claim, the Clerk may transmit to the
officer charged with the settlement thereof the papers on file in his
office relating to such claim. The Clerk may lend temporarily to an
officer or bureau of the executive departments any papers on file in his
office relating to any matter pending before such officer or bureau,
taking proper receipt therefor.
RULE VIII
Response to Subpoenas
1. When a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House is properly served with a subpoena or other
judicial order directing appearance as a witness relating to the
official functions of the House or for the production or disclosure of
any document relating to the official functions of the House, such
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee shall
comply, consistently with the privileges and rights of the House, with
the subpoena or other judicial order as hereinafter provided, unless
otherwise determined under this rule.
2. Upon receipt of a properly served subpoena or other judicial order
described in clause 1, a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House shall promptly notify the Speaker of
its receipt in writing. Such notification shall promptly be laid before
the House by the Speaker. During a period of recess or adjournment of
longer than three days, notification to the House is not required until
the reconvening of the House, when the notification shall promptly be
laid before the House by the Speaker.
3. Once notification has been laid before the House, the Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall
determine whether the issuance of the subpoena or other judicial order
described in clause 1 is a proper exercise of jurisdiction by the court,
is material and relevant, and is consistent with the privileges and
rights of the House. Such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee shall notify the Speaker before seeking judicial
determination of these matters.
4. Upon determination whether a subpoena or other judicial order
described in clause 1 is a proper exercise of jurisdiction by the court,
is material and relevant, and is consistent with the privileges and
rights of the House, the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House shall immediately notify the Speaker
of the determination in writing.
5. The Speaker shall inform the House of a determination whether a
subpoena or other judicial order described in clause 1 is a proper
exercise of jurisdiction by the court, is material and relevant, and is
consistent with the privileges and rights of the House. In so informing
the House, the Speaker shall generally describe the records or
information sought. During a period of recess or adjournment of longer
than three days, such notification is not required until the reconvening
of the House, when the notification shall promptly be laid before the
House by the Speaker.
6. (a) Except as specified in paragraph (b) or otherwise ordered by
the House, upon notification to the House that a subpoena or other
judicial order described in clause 1 is a proper exercise of
jurisdiction by the court, is material and relevant, and is consistent
with the privileges and rights of the House, the Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall comply
with the subpoena or other judicial order by supplying certified copies.
(b) Under no circumstances may minutes or transcripts of executive
sessions, or evidence of witnesses in respect thereto, be disclosed or
copied. During a period of recess or adjournment of longer than three
days, the Speaker may authorize compliance or take such other action as
he considers appropriate under the circumstances. Upon the reconvening
of the House, all matters that transpired under this clause shall
promptly be laid before the House by the Speaker.
7. A copy of this rule shall be transmitted by the Clerk to the court
when a subpoena or other judicial order described in clause 1 is issued
and served on a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House.
8. Nothing in this rule shall be construed to deprive, condition, or
waive the constitutional or legal privileges or rights applicable or
available at any time to a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House, or of the House itself, or the right
of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee,
or of the House itself, to assert such privileges or rights before a
court in the United States.
RULE IX
Questions of Privilege
1. Questions of privilege shall be, first, those affecting the rights
of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its
proceedings; and second, those affecting the rights, reputation, and
conduct of Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner,
individually, in their representative capacity only.
2. (a)(1) A resolution reported as a question of the privileges of the
House, or offered from the floor by the Majority Leader or the Minority
Leader as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered as
privileged under clause 1, section 7, article I of the Constitution,
shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn.
A resolution offered from the floor by a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner other than the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a
question of the privileges of the House shall have precedence of all
other questions except motions to adjourn only at a time or place,
designated by the Speaker, in the legislative schedule within two
legislative days after the day on which the proponent announces to the
House his intention to offer the resolution and the form of the
resolution. Oral announcement of the form of the resolution may be
dispensed with by unanimous consent.
(2) The time allotted for debate on a resolution offered from the
floor as a question of the privileges of the House shall be equally
divided between (A) the proponent of the resolution, and (B) the
Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, or a designee, as determined by
the Speaker.
(b) A question of personal privilege shall have precedence of all
other questions except motions to adjourn.
RULE X
Organization of Committees
Committees and their legislative jurisdictions
1. There shall be in the House the following standing committees, each
of which shall have the jurisdiction and related functions assigned by
this clause and clauses 2, 3, and 4. All bills, resolutions, and other
matters relating to subjects within the jurisdiction of the standing
committees listed in this clause shall be referred to those committees,
in accordance with clause 2 of rule XII, as follows:
(a) Committee on Agriculture.
(1) Adulteration of seeds, insect pests, and protection of birds
and animals in forest reserves.
(2) Agriculture generally.
(3) Agricultural and industrial chemistry.
(4) Agricultural colleges and experiment stations.
(5) Agricultural economics and research.
(6) Agricultural education extension services.
[[Page 2466]]
(7) Agricultural production and marketing and stabilization of
prices of agricultural products, and commodities (not including
distribution outside of the United States).
(8) Animal industry and diseases of animals.
(9) Commodity exchanges.
(10) Crop insurance and soil conservation.
(11) Dairy industry.
(12) Entomology and plant quarantine.
(13) Extension of farm credit and farm security.
(14) Inspection of livestock, poultry, meat products, and seafood
and seafood products.
(15) Forestry in general and forest reserves other than those
created from the public domain.
(16) Human nutrition and home economics.
(17) Plant industry, soils, and agricultural engineering.
(18) Rural electrification.
(19) Rural development.
(20) Water conservation related to activities of the Department of
Agriculture.
(b) Committee on Appropriations.
(1) Appropriation of the revenue for the support of the
Government.
(2) Rescissions of appropriations contained in appropriation Acts.
(3) Transfers of unexpended balances.
(4) Bills and joint resolutions reported by other committees that
provide new entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and referred to the committee under
clause 4(a)(2).
(c) Committee on Armed Services.
(1) Ammunition depots; forts; arsenals; and Army, Navy, and Air
Force reservations and establishments.
(2) Common defense generally.
(3) Conservation, development, and use of naval petroleum and oil
shale reserves.
(4) The Department of Defense generally, including the Departments
of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, generally.
(5) Interoceanic canals generally, including measures relating to
the maintenance, operation, and administration of interoceanic
canals.
(6) Merchant Marine Academy and State Maritime Academies.
(7) Military applications of nuclear energy.
(8) Tactical intelligence and intelligence-related activities of
the Department of Defense.
(9) National security aspects of merchant marine, including
financial assistance for the construction and operation of vessels,
maintenance of the U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair industrial
base, cabotage, cargo preference, and merchant marine officers and
seamen as these matters relate to the national security.
(10) Pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges
of members of the armed forces.
(11) Scientific research and development in support of the armed
services.
(12) Selective service.
(13) Size and composition of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air
Force.
(14) Soldiers' and sailors' homes.
(15) Strategic and critical materials necessary for the common
defense.
(d) Committee on Banking and Financial Services.
(1) Banks and banking, including deposit insurance and Federal
monetary policy.
(2) Bank capital markets activities generally.
(3) Depository institutions securities activities generally,
including activities of any affiliates (except for functional
regulation under applicable securities laws not involving safety and
soundness).
(4) Economic stabilization, defense production, renegotiation, and
control of the price of commodities, rents, and services.
(5) Financial aid to commerce and industry (other than
transportation).
(6) International finance.
(7) International financial and monetary organizations.
(8) Money and credit, including currency and this issuance of
notes and redemption thereof; gold and silver, including the coinage
thereof; valuation and revaluation of the dollar.
(9) Public and private housing.
(10) Urban development.
(e) Committee on the Budget.
(1) Concurrent resolutions on the budget (as defined in section
3(4) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974), other matters
required to be referred to the committee under titles III and IV of
that Act, and other measures setting forth appropriate levels of
budget totals for the United States Government.
(2) Budget process generally.
(3) Establishment, extension, and enforcement of special controls
over the Federal budget, including the budgetary treatment of off-
budget Federal agencies and measures providing exemption from
reduction under any order issued under part C of the Balanced Budget
and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
(f) Committee on Commerce.
(1) Biomedical research and development.
(2) Consumer affairs and consumer protection.
(3) Health and health facilities (except health care supported by
payroll deductions).
(4) Interstate energy compacts.
(5) Interstate and foreign commerce generally.
(6) Exploration, production, storage, supply, marketing, pricing,
and regulation of energy resources, including all fossil fuels,
solar energy, and other unconventional or renewable energy
resources.
(7) Conservation of energy resources.
(8) Energy information generally.
(9) The generation and marketing of power (except by federally
chartered or Federal regional power marketing authorities);
reliability and interstate transmission of, and ratemaking for, all
power; and siting of generation facilities (except the installation
of interconnections between Government waterpower projects).
(10) General management of the Department of Energy and management
and all functions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
(11) National energy policy generally.
(12) Public health and quarantine.
(13) Regulation of the domestic nuclear energy industry, including
regulation of research and development reactors and nuclear
regulatory research.
(14) Regulation of interstate and foreign communications.
(15) Securities and exchanges.
(16) Travel and tourism.
The committee shall have the same jurisdiction with respect to
regulation of nuclear facilities and of use of nuclear energy as it
has with respect to regulation of nonnuclear facilities and of use of
nonnuclear energy.
(g) Committee on Education and the Workforce.
(1) Child labor.
(2) Gallaudet University and Howard University and Hospital.
(3) Convict labor and the entry of goods made by convicts into
interstate commerce.
(4) Food programs for children in schools.
(5) Labor standards and statistics.
(6) Education or labor generally.
(7) Mediation and arbitration of labor disputes.
(8) Regulation or prevention of importation of foreign laborers
under contract.
(9) Workers' compensation.
(10) Vocational rehabilitation.
(11) Wages and hours of labor.
(12) Welfare of miners.
(13) Work incentive programs.
(h) Committee on Government Reform.
(1) Federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel;
[[Page 2467]]
and the status of officers and employees of the United States,
including their compensation, classification, and retirement.
(2) Municipal affairs of the District of Columbia in general
(other than appropriations).
(3) Federal paperwork reduction.
(4) Government management and accounting measures generally.
(5) Holidays and celebrations.
(6) Overall economy, efficiency, and management of government
operations and activities, including Federal procurement.
(7) National archives.
(8) Population and demography generally, including the Census.
(9) Postal service generally, including transportation of the
mails.
(10) Public information and records.
(11) Relationship of the Federal Government to the States and
municipalities generally.
(12) Reorganizations in the executive branch of the Government.
(i) Committee on House Administration.
(1) Appropriations from accounts for committee salaries and
expenses (except for the Committee on Appropriations); House
Information Resources; and allowance and expenses of Members,
Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, officers, and administrative
offices of the House.
(2) Auditing and settling of all accounts described in
subparagraph (1).
(3) Employment of persons by the House, including staff for
Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and committees; and
reporters of debates, subject to rule VI.
(4) Except as provided in paragraph (q)(11), the Library of
Congress, including management thereof; the House Library; statuary
and pictures; acceptance or purchase of works of art for the
Capitol; the Botanic Garden; and purchase of books and manuscripts.
(5) The Smithsonian Institution and the incorporation of similar
institutions (except as provided in paragraph (q)(11)).
(6) Expenditure of accounts described in subparagraph (1).
(7) Franking Commission.
(8) Printing and correction of the Congressional Record.
(9) Accounts of the House generally.
(10) Assignment of office space for Members, Delegates, the
Resident Commissioner, and committees.
(11) Disposition of useless executive papers.
(12) Election of the President, Vice President, Members, Senators,
Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner; corrupt practices;
contested elections; credentials and qualifications; and Federal
elections generally.
(13) Services to the House, including the House Restaurant,
parking facilities, and administration of the House Office Buildings
and of the House wing of the Capitol.
(14) Travel of Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner.
(15) Raising, reporting, and use of campaign contributions for
candidates for office of Representative, of Delegate, and of
Resident Commissioner.
(16) Compensation, retirement, and other benefits of the Members,
Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, officers, and employees of
Congress.
(j) Committee on International Relations.
(1) Relations of the United States with foreign nations generally.
(2) Acquisition of land and buildings for embassies and legations
in foreign countries.
(3) Establishment of boundary lines between the United States and
foreign nations.
(4) Export controls, including nonproliferation of nuclear
technology and nuclear hardware.
(5) Foreign loans.
(6) International commodity agreements (other than those involving
sugar), including all agreements for cooperation in the export of
nuclear technology and nuclear hardware.
(7) International conferences and congresses.
(8) International education.
(9) Intervention abroad and declarations of war.
(10) Diplomatic service.
(11) Measures to foster commercial intercourse with foreign
nations and to safeguard American business interests abroad.
(12) International economic policy.
(13) Neutrality.
(14) Protection of American citizens abroad and expatriation.
(15) The American National Red Cross.
(16) Trading with the enemy.
(17) United Nations organizations.
(k) Committee on the Judiciary.
(1) The judiciary and judicial proceedings, civil and criminal.
(2) Administrative practice and procedure.
(3) Apportionment of Representatives.
(4) Bankruptcy, mutiny, espionage, and counterfeiting.
(5) Civil liberties.
(6) Constitutional amendments.
(7) Federal courts and judges, and local courts in the Territories
and possessions.
(8) Immigration and naturalization.
(9) Interstate compacts generally.
(10) Claims against the United States.
(11) Meetings of Congress; attendance of Members, Delegates, and
the Resident Commissioner; and their acceptance of incompatible
offices.
(12) National penitentiaries.
(13) Patents, the Patent and Trademark Office, copyrights, and
trademarks.
(14) Presidential succession.
(15) Protection of trade and commerce against unlawful restraints
and monopolies.
(16) Revision and codification of the Statutes of the United
States.
(17) State and territorial boundary lines.
(18) Subversive activities affecting the internal security of the
United States.
(l) Committee on Resources.
(1) Fisheries and wildlife, including research, restoration,
refuges, and conservation.
(2) Forest reserves and national parks created from the public
domain.
(3) Forfeiture of land grants and alien ownership, including alien
ownership of mineral lands.
(4) Geological Survey.
(5) International fishing agreements.
(6) Interstate compacts relating to apportionment of waters for
irrigation purposes.
(7) Irrigation and reclamation, including water supply for
reclamation projects and easements of public lands for irrigation
projects; and acquisition of private lands when necessary to
complete irrigation projects.
(8) Native Americans generally, including the care and allotment
of Native American lands and general and special measures relating
to claims that are paid out of Native American funds.
(9) Insular possessions of the United States generally (except
those affecting the revenue and appropriations).
(10) Military parks and battlefields, national cemeteries
administered by the Secretary of the Interior, parks within the
District of Columbia, and the erection of monuments to the memory of
individuals.
(11) Mineral land laws and claims and entries thereunder.
(12) Mineral resources of public lands.
(13) Mining interests generally.
(14) Mining schools and experimental stations.
(15) Marine affairs, including coastal zone management (except for
measures relating to oil and
[[Page 2468]]
other pollution of navigable waters).
(16) Oceanography.
(17) Petroleum conservation on public lands and conservation of
the radium supply in the United States.
(18) Preservation of prehistoric ruins and objects of interest on
the public domain.
(19) Public lands generally, including entry, easements, and
grazing thereon.
(20) Relations of the United States with Native Americans and
Native American tribes.
(21) Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline (except ratemaking).
(m) Committee on Rules.
(1) Rules and joint rules (other than those relating to the Code
of Official Conduct) and the order of business of the House.
(2) Recesses and final adjournments of Congress.
(n) Committee on Science.
(1) All energy research, development, and demonstration, and
projects therefor, and all federally owned or operated nonmilitary
energy laboratories.
(2) Astronautical research and development, including resources,
personnel, equipment, and facilities.
(3) Civil aviation research and development.
(4) Environmental research and development.
(5) Marine research.
(6) Commercial application of energy technology.
(7) National Institute of Standards and Technology,
standardization of weights and measures, and the metric system.
(8) National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
(9) National Space Council.
(10) National Science Foundation.
(11) National Weather Service.
(12) Outer space, including exploration and control thereof.
(13) Science scholarships.
(14) Scientific research, development, and demonstration, and
projects therefor.
(o) Committee on Small Business.
(1) Assistance to and protection of small business, including
financial aid, regulatory flexibility, and paperwork reduction.
(2) Participation of small-business enterprises in Federal
procurement and Government contracts.
(p) Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
The Code of Official Conduct.
(q) Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
(1) Coast Guard, including lifesaving service, lighthouses,
lightships, ocean derelicts, and the Coast Guard Academy.
(2) Federal management of emergencies and natural disasters.
(3) Flood control and improvement of rivers and harbors.
(4) Inland waterways.
(5) Inspection of merchant marine vessels, lights and signals,
lifesaving equipment, and fire protection on such vessels.
(6) Navigation and laws relating thereto, including pilotage.
(7) Registering and licensing of vessels and small boats.
(8) Rules and international arrangements to prevent collisions at
sea.
(9) The Capitol Building and the Senate and House Office
Buildings.
(10) Construction or maintenance of roads and post roads (other
than appropriations therefor).
(11) Construction or reconstruction, maintenance, and care of
buildings and grounds of the Botanic Garden, the Library of
Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution.
(12) Merchant marine (except for national security aspects
thereof).
(13) Purchase of sites and construction of post offices,
customhouses, Federal courthouses, and Government buildings within
the District of Columbia.
(14) Oil and other pollution of navigable waters, including
inland, coastal, and ocean waters.
(15) Marine affairs, including coastal zone management, as they
relate to oil and other pollution of navigable waters.
(16) Public buildings and occupied or improved grounds of the
United States generally.
(17) Public works for the benefit of navigation, including bridges
and dams (other than international bridges and dams).
(18) Related transportation regulatory agencies.
(19) Roads and the safety thereof.
(20) Transportation, including civil aviation, railroads, water
transportation, transportation safety (except automobile safety),
transportation infrastructure, transportation labor, and railroad
retirement and unemployment (except revenue measures related
thereto).
(21) Water power.
(r) Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
(1) Veterans' measures generally.
(2) Cemeteries of the United States in which veterans of any war
or conflict are or may be buried, whether in the United States or
abroad (except cemeteries administered by the Secretary of the
Interior).
(3) Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of
veterans.
(4) Life insurance issued by the Government on account of service
in the Armed Forces.
(5) Pensions of all the wars of the United States, general and
special.
(6) Readjustment of servicemen to civil life.
(7) Soldiers' and sailors' civil relief.
(8) Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
(s) Committee on Ways and Means.
(1) Customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and
delivery.
(2) Reciprocal trade agreements.
(3) Revenue measures generally.
(4) Revenue measures relating to insular possessions.
(5) Bonded debt of the United States, subject to the last sentence
of clause 4(f).
(6) Deposit of public monies.
(7) Transportation of dutiable goods.
(8) Tax exempt foundations and charitable trusts.
(9) National social security (except health care and facilities
programs that are supported from general revenues as opposed to
payroll deductions and except work incentive programs).
General oversight responsibilities
2. (a) The various standing committees shall have general oversight
responsibilities as provided in paragraph (b) in order to assist the
House in--
(1) its analysis, appraisal, and evaluation of--
(A) the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness
of Federal laws; and
(B) conditions and circumstances that may indicate the necessity
or desirability of enacting new or additional legislation; and
(2) its formulation, consideration, and enactment of changes in
Federal laws, and of such additional legislation as may be necessary
or appropriate.
(b)(1) In order to determine whether laws and programs addressing
subjects within the jurisdiction of a committee are being implemented
and carried out in accordance with the intent of Congress and whether
they should be continued, curtailed, or eliminated, each standing
committee (other than the Committee on Appropriations) shall review and
study on a continuing basis--
(A) the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of
laws and programs addressing subjects within its jurisdiction;
(B) the organization and operation of Federal agencies and entities
having responsibilities for the administration and execution of laws
and programs addressing subjects within its jurisdiction;
(C) any conditions or circumstances that may indicate the necessity
or desirability of enacting new or additional legislation addressing
subjects within its jurisdiction (whether or not a bill or resolution
has been introduced with respect thereto); and
(D) future research and forecasting on subjects within its
jurisdiction.
[[Page 2469]]
(2) Each committee to which subparagraph (1) applies having more than
20 members shall establish an oversight subcommittee, or require its
subcommittees to conduct oversight in their respective jurisdictions, to
assist in carrying out its responsibilities under this clause. The
establishment of an oversight subcommittee does not limit the
responsibility of a subcommittee with legislative jurisdiction in
carrying out its oversight responsibilities.
(c) Each standing committee shall review and study on a continuing
basis the impact or probable impact of tax policies affecting subjects
within its jurisdiction as described in clauses 1 and 3.
(d)(1) Not later than February 15 of the first session of a Congress,
each standing committee shall, in a meeting that is open to the public
and with a quorum present, adopt its oversight plan for that Congress.
Such plan shall be submitted simultaneously to the Committee on
Government Reform and to the Committee on House Administration. In
developing its plan each committee shall, to the maximum extent
feasible--
(A) consult with other committees that have jurisdiction over the
same or related laws, programs, or agencies within its jurisdiction
with the objective of ensuring maximum coordination and cooperation
among committees when conducting reviews of such laws, programs, or
agencies and include in its plan an explanation of steps that have
been or will be taken to ensure such coordination and cooperation;
(B) give priority consideration to including in its plan the review
of those laws, programs, or agencies operating under permanent budget
authority or permanent statutory authority; and
(C) have a view toward ensuring that all significant laws, programs,
or agencies within its jurisdiction are subject to review every 10
years.
(2) Not later than March 31 in the first session of a Congress, after
consultation with the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the Minority
Leader, the Committee on Government Reform shall report to the House the
oversight plans submitted by committees together with any
recommendations that it, or the House leadership group described above,
may make to ensure the most effective coordination of oversight plans
and otherwise to achieve the objectives of this clause.
(e) The Speaker, with the approval of the House, may appoint special
ad hoc oversight committees for the purpose of reviewing specific
matters within the jurisdiction of two or more standing committees.
Special oversight functions
3. (a) The Committee on Appropriations shall conduct such studies and
examinations of the organization and operation of executive departments
and other executive agencies (including an agency the majority of the
stock of which is owned by the United States) as it considers necessary
to assist it in the determination of matters within its jurisdiction.
(b) The Committee on the Budget shall study on a continuing basis the
effect on budget outlays of relevant existing and proposed legislation
and report the results of such studies to the House on a recurring
basis.
(c) The Committee on Commerce shall review and study on a continuing
basis laws, programs, and Government activities relating to nuclear and
other energy and nonmilitary nuclear energy research and development
including the disposal of nuclear waste.
(d) The Committee on Education and the Workforce shall review, study,
and coordinate on a continuing basis laws, programs, and Government
activities relating to domestic educational programs and institutions
and programs of student assistance within the jurisdiction of other
committees.
(e) The Committee on Government Reform shall review and study on a
continuing basis the operation of Government activities at all levels
with a view to determining their economy and efficiency.
(f) The Committee on International Relations shall review and study on
a continuing basis laws, programs, and Government activities relating to
customs administration, intelligence activities relating to foreign
policy, international financial and monetary organizations, and
international fishing agreements.
(g) The Committee on Armed Services shall review and study on a
continuing basis laws, programs, and Government activities relating to
international arms control and disarmament and the education of military
dependents in schools.
(h) The Committee on Resources shall review and study on a continuing
basis laws, programs, and Government activities relating to Native
Americans.
(i) The Committee on Rules shall review and study on a continuing
basis the congressional budget process, and the committee shall report
its findings and recommendations to the House from time to time.
(j) The Committee on Science shall review and study on a continuing
basis laws, programs, and Government activities relating to nonmilitary
research and development.
(k) The Committee on Small Business shall study and investigate on a
continuing basis the problems of all types of small business.
Additional functions of committees
4. (a)(1)(A) The Committee on Appropriations shall, within 30 days
after the transmittal of the Budget to Congress each year, hold hearings
on the Budget as a whole with particular reference to--
(i) the basic recommendations and budgetary policies of the
President in the presentation of the Budget; and
(ii) the fiscal, financial, and economic assumptions used as bases
in arriving at total estimated expenditures and receipts.
(B) In holding hearings under subdivision (A), the committee shall
receive testimony from the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget, the Chairman of the Council of
Economic Advisers, and such other persons as the committee may desire.
(C) A hearing under subdivision (A), or any part thereof, shall be
held in open session, except when the committee, in open session and
with a quorum present, determines by record vote that the testimony to
be taken at that hearing on that day may be related to a matter of
national security. The committee may by the same procedure close one
subsequent day of hearing. A transcript of all such hearings shall be
printed and a copy thereof furnished to each Member, Delegate, and the
Resident Commissioner.
(D) A hearing under subdivision (A), or any part thereof, may be held
before a joint meeting of the committee and the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate in accordance with such procedures as the
two committees jointly may determine.
(2) Pursuant to section 401(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, when a committee reports a bill or joint resolution that provides
new entitlement authority as defined in section 3(9) of that Act, and
enactment of the bill or joint resolution, as reported, would cause a
breach of the committee's pertinent allocation of new budget authority
under section 302(a) of that Act, the bill or joint resolution may be
referred to the Committee on Appropriations with instructions to report
it with recommendations (which may include an amendment limiting the
total amount of new entitlement authority provided in the bill or joint
resolution). If the Committee on Appropriations fails to report a bill
or joint resolution so referred within 15 calendar days (not counting
any day on which the House is not in session), the committee
automatically shall be discharged from consideration of the bill or
joint resolution, and the bill or joint resolution shall be placed on
the appropriate calendar.
(3) In addition, the Committee on Appropriations shall study on a
continuing basis those provisions of law that (on the first day of the
first fiscal year for which the congressional budget process is
effective) provide spending authority or permanent budget authority and
shall report to the House from time to time its recommendations for
terminating or modifying such provisions.
(4) In the manner provided by section 302 of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974, the Committee on Appropriations (after consulting with the
Committee
[[Page 2470]]
on Appropriations of the Senate) shall subdivide any allocations made to
it in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference report
on such concurrent resolution, and promptly report the subdivisions to
the House as soon as practicable after a concurrent resolution on the
budget for a fiscal year is agreed to.
(b) The Committee on the Budget shall--
(1) review on a continuing basis the conduct by the Congressional
Budget Office of its functions and duties;
(2) hold hearings and receive testimony from Members, Senators,
Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and such appropriate
representatives of Federal departments and agencies, the general
public, and national organizations as it considers desirable in
developing concurrent resolutions on the budget for each fiscal year;
(3) make all reports required of it by the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974;
(4) study on a continuing basis those provisions of law that exempt
Federal agencies or any of their activities or outlays from inclusion
in the Budget of the United States Government, and report to the House
from time to time its recommendations for terminating or modifying
such provisions;
(5) study on a continuing basis proposals designed to improve and
facilitate the congressional budget process, and report to the House
from time to time the results of such studies, together with its
recommendations; and
(6) request and evaluate continuing studies of tax expenditures,
devise methods of coordinating tax expenditures, policies, and
programs with direct budget outlays, and report the results of such
studies to the House on a recurring basis.
(c)(1) The Committee on Government Reform shall--
(A) receive and examine reports of the Comptroller General of the
United States and submit to the House such recommendations as it
considers necessary or desirable in connection with the subject matter
of the reports;
(B) evaluate the effects of laws enacted to reorganize the
legislative and executive branches of the Government; and
(C) study intergovernmental relationships between the United States
and the States and municipalities and between the United States and
international organizations of which the United States is a member.
(2) In addition to its duties under subparagraph (1), the Committee on
Government Reform may at any time conduct investigations of any matter
without regard to clause 1, 2, 3, or this clause conferring jurisdiction
over the matter to another standing committee. The findings and
recommendations of the committee in such an investigation shall be made
available to any other standing committee having jurisdiction over the
matter involved and shall be included in the report of any such other
committee when required by clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII.
(d)(1) The Committee on House Administration shall--
(A) examine all bills, amendments, and joint resolutions after
passage by the House and, in cooperation with the Senate, examine all
bills and joint resolutions that have passed both Houses to see that
they are correctly enrolled and forthwith present those bills and
joint resolutions that originated in the House to the President in
person after their signature by the Speaker and the President of the
Senate, and report to the House the fact and date of their
presentment;
(B) provide policy direction for, and oversight of, the Clerk,
Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Inspector General;
(C) have the function of accepting on behalf of the House a gift,
except as otherwise provided by law, if the gift does not involve a
duty, burden, or condition, or is not made dependent on some future
performance by the House; and
(D) promulgate regulations to carry out subdivision (C).
(2) An employing office of the House may enter into a settlement of a
complaint under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 that
provides for the payment of funds only after receiving the joint
approval of the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on
House Administration concerning the amount of such payment.
(e)(1) Each standing committee shall, in its consideration of all
public bills and public joint resolutions within its jurisdiction,
ensure that appropriations for continuing programs and activities of the
Federal Government and the government of the District of Columbia will
be made annually to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with the
nature, requirement, and objective of the programs and activities
involved. In this subparagraph programs and activities of the Federal
Government and the government of the District of Columbia includes
programs and activities of any department, agency, establishment, wholly
owned Government corporation, or instrumentality of the Federal
Government or of the government of the District of Columbia.
(2) Each standing committee shall review from time to time each
continuing program within its jurisdiction for which appropriations are
not made annually to ascertain whether the program should be modified to
provide for annual appropriations.
Budget Act responsibilities
(f)(1) Each standing committee shall submit to the Committee on the
Budget not later than six weeks after the President submits his budget,
or at such time as the Committee on the Budget may request--
(A) its views and estimates with respect to all matters to be set
forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget for the ensuing
fiscal year that are within its jurisdiction or functions; and
(B) an estimate of the total amounts of new budget authority, and
budget outlays resulting therefrom, to be provided or authorized in
all bills and resolutions within its jurisdiction that it intends to
be effective during that fiscal year.
(2) The views and estimates submitted by the Committee on Ways and
Means under subparagraph (1) shall include a specific recommendation,
made after holding public hearings, as to the appropriate level of the
public debt that should be set forth in the concurrent resolution on the
budget and serve as the basis for an increase or decrease in the
statutory limit on such debt under the procedures provided by rule
XXIII.
Election and membership of standing committees
5. (a)(1) The standing committees specified in clause 1 shall be
elected by the House within seven calendar days after the commencement
of each Congress, from nominations submitted by the respective party
caucus or conference. A resolution proposing to change the composition
of a standing committee shall be privileged if offered by direction of
the party caucus or conference concerned.
(2)(A) The Committee on the Budget shall be composed of members as
follows:
(i) Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner who are members
of other standing committees, including five who are members of the
Committee on Appropriations and five who are members of the Committee
on Ways and Means;
(ii) one Member from the elected leadership of the majority party;
and
(iii) one Member from the elected leadership of the minority party.
(B) Except as permitted by subdivision (C), a member of the Committee
on the Budget other than one from the elected leadership of a party may
not serve on the committee during more than four Congresses in a period
of six successive Congresses (disregarding for this purpose any service
for less than a full session in a Congress).
(C) A member of the Committee on the Budget who served as either the
chairman or the ranking minority member of the committee in the
immediately previous Congress and who did not serve in that respective
capacity in an earlier Congress may serve as either the chairman or the
ranking minority member of the committee during one additional Congress.
(3)(A) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall be
composed of 10 members, five from the majority party and five from the
minority party.
[[Page 2471]]
(B) Except as permitted by subdivision (C), a member of the Committee
on Standards of Official Conduct may not serve on the committee during
more than three Congresses in a period of five successive Congresses
(disregarding for this purpose any service for less than a full session
in a Congress).
(C) A member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct may
serve on the committee during a fourth Congress in a period of five
successive Congresses only as either the chairman or the ranking
minority member of the committee.
(4)(A) At the beginning of a Congress, the Speaker or his designee and
the Minority Leader or his designee each shall name 10 Members,
Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner from his respective party who
are not members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to be
available to serve on investigative subcommittees of that committee
during that Congress. The lists of Members, Delegates, or the Resident
Commissioner so named shall be announced to the House.
(B) Whenever the chairman and the ranking minority member of the
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct jointly determine that
Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner named under subdivision
(A) should be assigned to serve on an investigative subcommittee of that
committee, each of them shall select an equal number of such Members,
Delegates, or Resident Commissioner from his respective party to serve
on that subcommittee.
(b)(1) Membership on a standing committee during the course of a
Congress shall be contingent on continuing membership in the party
caucus or conference that nominated the Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner concerned for election to such committee. Should a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner cease to be a member of a particular
party caucus or conference, that Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner shall automatically cease to be a member of each standing
committee to which he was elected on the basis of nomination by that
caucus or conference. The chairman of the relevant party caucus or
conference shall notify the Speaker whenever a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner ceases to be a member of that caucus or
conference. The Speaker shall notify the chairman of each affected
committee that the election of such Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner to the committee is automatically vacated under this
subparagraph.
(2)(A) Except as specified in subdivision (B), a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner may not serve simultaneously as a member of more
than two standing committees or more than four subcommittees of the
standing committees.
(B)(i) Ex officio service by a chairman or ranking minority member of
a committee on each of its subcommittees under a committee rule does not
count against the limitation on subcommittee service.
(ii) Service on an investigative subcommittee of the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct under paragraph (a)(4) does not count
against the limitation on subcommittee service.
(iii) Any other exception to the limitations in subdivision (A) must
be approved by the House on the recommendation of the relevant party
caucus or conference.
(C) In this subparagraph the term "subcommittee" includes a panel
(other than a special oversight panel of the Committee on Armed
Services), task force, special subcommittee, or other subunit of a
standing committee that is established for a cumulative period longer
than six months in a Congress.
(c)(1) One of the members of each standing committee shall be elected
by the House, on the nomination of the majority party caucus or
conference, as chairman thereof. In the temporary absence of the
chairman, the member next in rank (and so on, as often as the case shall
happen) shall act as chairman. Rank shall be determined by the order
members are named in resolutions electing them to the committee. In the
case of a permanent vacancy in the elected chairmanship of a committee,
the House shall elect another chairman.
(2) A member of a standing committee may not serve as chairman of the
same standing committee, or of the same subcommittee of a standing
committee, during more than three consecutive Congresses (disregarding
for this purpose any service for less than a full session in a
Congress).
(d)(1) Except as permitted by subparagraph (2), a committee may have
not more than five subcommittees.
(2) A committee that maintains a subcommittee on oversight may have
not more than six subcommittees. The Committee on Appropriations may
have not more than 13 subcommittees. The Committee on Government Reform
may have not more than seven subcommittees.
(e) The House shall fill a vacancy on a standing committee by election
on the nomination of the respective party caucus or conference.
Expense resolutions
6. (a) Whenever a committee, commission, or other entity (other than
the Committee on Appropriations) is granted authorization for the
payment of its expenses (including staff salaries) for a Congress, such
authorization initially shall be procured by one primary expense
resolution reported by the Committee on House Administration. A primary
expense resolution may include a reserve fund for unanticipated expenses
of committees. An amount from such a reserve fund may be allocated to a
committee only by the approval of the Committee on House Administration.
A primary expense resolution reported to the House may not be considered
in the House unless a printed report thereon was available on the
previous calendar day. For the information of the House, such report
shall--
(1) state the total amount of the funds to be provided to the
committee, commission, or other entity under the primary expense
resolution for all anticipated activities and programs of the
committee, commission, or other entity; and
(2) to the extent practicable, contain such general statements
regarding the estimated foreseeable expenditures for the respective
anticipated activities and programs of the committee, commission, or
other entity as may be appropriate to provide the House with basic
estimates of the expenditures contemplated by the primary expense
resolution.
(b) After the date of adoption by the House of a primary expense
resolution for a committee, commission, or other entity for a Congress,
authorization for the payment of additional expenses (including staff
salaries) in that Congress may be procured by one or more supplemental
expense resolutions reported by the Committee on House Administration,
as necessary. A supplemental expense resolution reported to the House
may not be considered in the House unless a printed report thereon was
available on the previous calendar day. For the information of the
House, such report shall--
(1) state the total amount of additional funds to be provided to the
committee, commission, or other entity under the supplemental expense
resolution and the purposes for which those additional funds are
available; and
(2) state the reasons for the failure to procure the additional
funds for the committee, commission, or other entity by means of the
primary expense resolution.
(c) The preceding provisions of this clause do not apply to--
(1) a resolution providing for the payment from committee salary and
expense accounts of the House of sums necessary to pay compensation
for staff services performed for, or to pay other expenses of, a
committee, commission, or other entity at any time after the beginning
of an odd-numbered year and before the date of adoption by the House
of the primary expense resolution described in paragraph (a) for that
year; or
(2) a resolution providing each of the standing committees in a
Congress additional office equipment, airmail and special-delivery
postage stamps, supplies, staff personnel, or any other specific item
for the operation of the standing committees, and containing an
authorization for the payment from committee salary and expense
accounts of the House of the expenses of any of the foregoing items
provided by that resolution, subject to and until enactment of the
[[Page 2472]]
provisions of the resolution as permanent law.
(d) From the funds made available for the appointment of committee
staff by a primary or additional expense resolution, the chairman of
each committee shall ensure that sufficient staff is made available to
each subcommittee to carry out its responsibilities under the rules of
the committee and that the minority party is treated fairly in the
appointment of such staff.
(e) Funds authorized for a committee under this clause and clauses 7
and 8 are for expenses incurred in the activities of the committee.
Interim funding
7. (a) For the period beginning at noon on January 3 and ending at
midnight on March 31 in each odd-numbered year, such sums as may be
necessary shall be paid out of the committee salary and expense accounts
of the House for continuance of necessary investigations and studies
by--
(1) each standing and select committee established by these rules;
and
(2) except as specified in paragraph (b), each select committee
established by resolution.
(b) In the case of the first session of a Congress, amounts shall be
made available under this paragraph for a select committee established
by resolution in the preceding Congress only if--
(1) a resolution proposing to reestablish such select committee is
introduced in the present Congress; and
(2) the House has not adopted a resolution of the preceding Congress
providing for termination of funding for investigations and studies by
such select committee.
(c) Each committee described in paragraph (a) shall be entitled for
each month during the period specified in paragraph (a) to 9 percent (or
such lesser percentage as may be determined by the Committee on House
Administration) of the total annualized amount made available under
expense resolutions for such committee in the preceding session of
Congress.
(d) Payments under this paragraph shall be made on vouchers authorized
by the committee involved, signed by the chairman of the committee,
except as provided in paragraph (e), and approved by the Committee on
House Administration.
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule of the House, or other
authority, from noon on January 3 of the first session of a Congress
until the election by the House of the committee concerned in that
Congress, payments under this paragraph shall be made on vouchers signed
by--
(1) the member of the committee who served as chairman of the
committee at the expiration of the preceding Congress; or
(2) if the chairman is not a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner in the present Congress, then the ranking member of the
committee as it was constituted at the expiration of the preceding
Congress who is a member of the majority party in the present
Congress.
(f)(1) The authority of a committee to incur expenses under this
paragraph shall expire upon adoption by the House of a primary expense
resolution for the committee.
(2) Amounts made available under this paragraph shall be expended in
accordance with regulations prescribed by the Committee on House
Administration.
(3) This clause shall be effective only insofar as it is not
inconsistent with a resolution reported by the Committee on House
Administration and adopted by the House after the adoption of these
rules.
Travel
8. (a) Local currencies owned by the United States shall be made
available to the committee and its employees engaged in carrying out
their official duties outside the United States or its territories or
possessions. Appropriated funds, including those authorized under this
clause and clauses 6 and 8, may not be expended for the purpose of
defraying expenses of members of a committee or its employees in a
country where local currencies are available for this purpose.
(b) The following conditions shall apply with respect to travel
outside the United States or its territories or possessions:
(1) A member or employee of a committee may not receive or expend
local currencies for subsistence in a country for a day at a rate in
excess of the maximum per diem set forth in applicable Federal law.
(2) A member or employee shall be reimbursed for his expenses for a
day at the lesser of--
(A) the per diem set forth in applicable Federal law; or
(B) the actual, unreimbursed expenses (other than for
transportation) he incurred during that day.
(3) Each member or employee of a committee shall make to the
chairman of the committee an itemized report showing the dates each
country was visited, the amount of per diem furnished, the cost of
transportation furnished, and funds expended for any other official
purpose and shall summarize in these categories the total foreign
currencies or appropriated funds expended. Each report shall be filed
with the chairman of the committee not later than 60 days following
the completion of travel for use in complying with reporting
requirements in applicable Federal law and shall be open for public
inspection.
(c)(1) In carrying out the activities of a committee outside the
United States in a country where local currencies are unavailable, a
member or employee of a committee may not receive reimbursement for
expenses (other than for transportation) in excess of the maximum per
diem set forth in applicable Federal law.
(2) A member or employee shall be reimbursed for his expenses for a
day, at the lesser of--
(A) the per diem set forth in applicable Federal law; or
(B) the actual unreimbursed expenses (other than for transportation)
he incurred during that day.
(3) A member or employee of a committee may not receive reimbursement
for the cost of any transportation in connection with travel outside the
United States unless the member or employee actually paid for the
transportation.
(d) The restrictions respecting travel outside the United States set
forth in paragraph (c) also shall apply to travel outside the United
States by a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House authorized under any standing rule.
Committee staffs
9. (a)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2) and paragraph (f), each standing
committee may appoint, by majority vote, not more than 30 professional
staff members to be compensated from the funds provided for the
appointment of committee staff by primary and additional expense
resolutions. Each professional staff member appointed under this
subparagraph shall be assigned to the chairman and the ranking minority
member of the committee, as the committee considers advisable.
(2) Subject to paragraph (f) whenever a majority of the minority party
members of a standing committee (other than the Committee on Standards
of Official Conduct or the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence)
so request, not more than 10 persons (or one-third of the total
professional committee staff appointed under this clause, whichever is
fewer) may be selected, by majority vote of the minority party members,
for appointment by the committee as professional staff members under
subparagraph (1). The committee shall appoint persons so selected whose
character and qualifications are acceptable to a majority of the
committee. If the committee determines that the character and
qualifications of a person so selected are unacceptable, a majority of
the minority party members may select another person for appointment by
the committee to the professional staff until such appointment is made.
Each professional staff member appointed under this subparagraph shall
be assigned to such committee business as the minority party members of
the committee consider advisable.
(b)(1) The professional staff members of each standing committee--
(A) may not engage in any work other than committee business during
congressional working hours; and
(B) may not be assigned a duty other than one pertaining to
committee business.
[[Page 2473]]
(2) Subparagraph (1) does not apply to staff designated by a committee
as ``associate'' or ``shared'' staff who are not paid exclusively by the
committee, provided that the chairman certifies that the compensation
paid by the committee for any such staff is commensurate with the work
performed for the committee in accordance with clause 8 of rule XXIV.
(3) The use of any ``associate'' or ``shared'' staff by a committee
shall be subject to the review of, and to any terms, conditions, or
limitations established by, the Committee on House Administration in
connection with the reporting of any primary or additional expense
resolution.
(4) This paragraph does not apply to the Committee on Appropriations.
(c) Each employee on the professional or investigative staff of a
standing committee shall be entitled to pay at a single gross per annum
rate, to be fixed by the chairman and that does not exceed the maximum
rate of pay as in effect from time to time under applicable provisions
of law.
(d) Subject to appropriations hereby authorized, the Committee on
Appropriations may appoint by majority vote such staff as it determines
to be necessary (in addition to the clerk of the committee and
assistants for the minority). The staff appointed under this paragraph,
other than minority assistants, shall possess such qualifications as the
committee may prescribe.
(e) A committee may not appoint to its staff an expert or other
personnel detailed or assigned from a department or agency of the
Government except with the written permission of the Committee on House
Administration.
(f) If a request for the appointment of a minority professional staff
member under paragraph (a) is made when no vacancy exists for such an
appointment, the committee nevertheless may appoint under paragraph (a)
a person selected by the minority and acceptable to the committee. A
person so appointed shall serve as an additional member of the
professional staff of the committee until such a vacancy occurs (other
than a vacancy in the position of head of the professional staff, by
whatever title designated), at which time that person is considered as
appointed to that vacancy. Such a person shall be paid from the
applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(i)(1) of rule X.
If such a vacancy occurs on the professional staff when seven or more
persons have been so appointed who are eligible to fill that vacancy, a
majority of the minority party members shall designate which of those
persons shall fill the vacancy.
(g) Each staff member appointed pursuant to a request by minority
party members under paragraph (a), and each staff member appointed to
assist minority members of a committee pursuant to an expense resolution
described in paragraph (a) of clause 6, shall be accorded equitable
treatment with respect to the fixing of the rate of pay, the assignment
of work facilities, and the accessibility of committee records.
(h) Paragraph (a) may not be construed to authorize the appointment of
additional professional staff members of a committee pursuant to a
request under paragraph (a) by the minority party members of that
committee if 10 or more professional staff members provided for in
paragraph (a)(1) who are satisfactory to a majority of the minority
party members are otherwise assigned to assist the minority party
members.
(i) Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(2), a committee may employ
nonpartisan staff, in lieu of or in addition to committee staff
designated exclusively for the majority or minority party, by an
affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the majority party and
of a majority of the members of the minority party.
Select and joint committees
10. (a) Membership on a select or joint committee appointed by the
Speaker under clause 11 of rule I during the course of a Congress shall
be contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus or conference
of which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner concerned was a
member at the time of appointment. Should a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner cease to be a member of that caucus or conference,
that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall automatically
cease to be a member of any select or joint committee to which he is
assigned. The chairman of the relevant party caucus or conference shall
notify the Speaker whenever a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
ceases to be a member of a party caucus or conference. The Speaker shall
notify the chairman of each affected select or joint committee that the
appointment of such Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to the
select or joint committee is automatically vacated under this paragraph.
(b) Each select or joint committee, other than a conference committee,
shall comply with clause 2(a) of rule XI unless specifically exempted by
law.
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
11. (a)(1) There is established a Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence (hereafter in this clause referred to as the ``select
committee''). The select committee shall be composed of not more than 16
Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner, of whom not more than
nine may be from the same party. The select committee shall include at
least one Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from each of
the following committees:
(A) the Committee on Appropriations;
(B) the Committee on Armed Services;
(C) the Committee on International Relations; and
(D) the Committee on the Judiciary.
(2) The Speaker and the Minority Leader shall be ex officio members of
the select committee but shall have no vote in the select committee and
may not be counted for purposes of determining a quorum thereof.
(3) The Speaker and Minority Leader each may designate a member of his
leadership staff to assist him in his capacity as ex officio member,
with the same access to committee meetings, hearings, briefings, and
materials as employees of the select committee and subject to the same
security clearance and confidentiality requirements as employees of the
select committee under this clause.
(4)(A) Except as permitted by subdivision (B), a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner, other than the Speaker or the Minority Leader,
may not serve as a member of the select committee during more than four
Congresses in a period of six successive Congresses (disregarding for
this purpose any service for less than a full session in a Congress).
(B) A member of the select committee who served as either the chairman
or the ranking minority member of the select committee in the
immediately previous Congress and who did not serve in that respective
capacity in an earlier Congress may serve as either the chairman or the
ranking minority member of the select committee during one additional
Congress.
(b)(1) There shall be referred to the select committee proposed
legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating
to the following:
(A) The Central Intelligence Agency, the Director of Central
Intelligence, and the National Foreign Intelligence Program as defined
in section 3(6) of the National Security Act of 1947.
(B) Intelligence and intelligence-related activities of all other
departments and agencies of the Government, including the tactical
intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the Department of
Defense.
(C) The organization or reorganization of a department or agency of
the Government to the extent that the organization or reorganization
relates to a function or activity involving intelligence or
intelligence-related activities.
(D) Authorizations for appropriations, both direct and indirect, for
the following:
(i) The Central Intelligence Agency, the Director of Central
Intelligence, and the National Foreign Intelligence Program as
defined in section 3(6) of the National Security Act of 1947.
(ii) Intelligence and intelligence-related activities of all other
departments and agencies of the Government, including the tactical
intelligence and intelligence-related
[[Page 2474]]
activities of the Department of Defense.
(iii) A department, agency, subdivision, or program that is a
successor to an agency or program named or referred to in (i) or
(ii).
(2) Proposed legislation initially reported by the select committee
(other than provisions solely involving matters specified in
subparagraph (1)(A) or subparagraph (1)(D)(i)) containing any matter
otherwise within the jurisdiction of a standing committee shall be
referred by the Speaker to that standing committee. Proposed legislation
initially reported by another committee that contains matter within the
jurisdiction of the select committee shall be referred by the Speaker to
the select committee if requested by the chairman of the select
committee.
(3) Nothing in this clause shall be construed as prohibiting or
otherwise restricting the authority of any other committee to study and
review an intelligence or intelligence-related activity to the extent
that such activity directly affects a matter otherwise within the
jurisdiction of that committee.
(4) Nothing in this clause shall be construed as amending, limiting,
or otherwise changing the authority of a standing committee to obtain
full and prompt access to the product of the intelligence and
intelligence-related activities of a department or agency of the
Government relevant to a matter otherwise within the jurisdiction of
that committee.
(c)(1) For purposes of accountability to the House, the select
committee shall make regular and periodic reports to the House on the
nature and extent of the intelligence and intelligence-related
activities of the various departments and agencies of the United States.
The select committee shall promptly call to the attention of the House,
or to any other appropriate committee, a matter requiring the attention
of the House or another committee. In making such report, the select
committee shall proceed in a manner consistent with paragraph (g) to
protect national security.
(2) The select committee shall obtain annual reports from the Director
of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of Defense, the
Secretary of State, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Such reports shall review the intelligence and
intelligence-related activities of the agency or department concerned
and the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of foreign
countries directed at the United States or its interests. An
unclassified version of each report may be made available to the public
at the discretion of the select committee. Nothing herein shall be
construed as requiring the public disclosure in such reports of the
names of persons engaged in intelligence or intelligence-related
activities for the United States or the divulging of intelligence
methods employed or the sources of information on which the reports are
based or the amount of funds authorized to be appropriated for
intelligence and intelligence-related activities.
(3) Within six weeks after the President submits a budget under
section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, or at such time as the
Committee on the Budget may request, the select committee shall submit
to the Committee on the Budget the views and estimates described in
section 301(d) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 regarding matters
within the jurisdiction of the select committee.
(d)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), clauses 6(a), (b), and
(c) and 8(a), (b), and (c) of this rule, and clauses 1, 2, and 4 of rule
XI shall apply to the select committee to the extent not inconsistent
with this clause.
(2) Notwithstanding the requirements of the first sentence of clause
2(g)(2) of rule XI, in the presence of the number of members required
under the rules of the select committee for the purpose of taking
testimony or receiving evidence, the select committee may vote to close
a hearing whenever a majority of those present determines that the
testimony or evidence would endanger the national security.
(e) An employee of the select committee, or a person engaged by
contract or otherwise to perform services for or at the request of the
select committee, may not be given access to any classified information
by the select committee unless such employee or person has--
(1) agreed in writing and under oath to be bound by the Rules of the
House, including the jurisdiction of the Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct and of the select committee concerning the security
of classified information during and after the period of his
employment or contractual agreement with the select committee; and
(2) received an appropriate security clearance, as determined by the
select committee in consultation with the Director of Central
Intelligence, that is commensurate with the sensitivity of the
classified information to which such employee or person will be given
access by the select committee.
(f) The select committee shall formulate and carry out such rules and
procedures as it considers necessary to prevent the disclosure, without
the consent of each person concerned, of information in the possession
of the select committee that unduly infringes on the privacy or that
violates the constitutional rights of such person. Nothing herein shall
be construed to prevent the select committee from publicly disclosing
classified information in a case in which it determines that national
interest in the disclosure of classified information clearly outweighs
any infringement on the privacy of a person.
(g)(1) The select committee may disclose publicly any information in
its possession after a determination by the select committee that the
public interest would be served by such disclosure. With respect to the
disclosure of information for which this paragraph requires action by
the select committee--
(A) the select committee shall meet to vote on the matter within
five days after a member of the select committee requests a vote; and
(B) a member of the select committee may not make such a disclosure
before a vote by the select committee on the matter, or after a vote
by the select committee on the matter except in accordance with this
paragraph.
(2)(A) In a case in which the select committee votes to disclose
publicly any information that has been classified under established
security procedures, that has been submitted to it by the executive
branch, and that the executive branch requests be kept secret, the
select committee shall notify the President of such vote.
(B) The select committee may disclose publicly such information after
the expiration of a five-day period following the day on which notice of
the vote to disclose is transmitted to the President unless, before the
expiration of the five-day period, the President, personally in writing,
notifies the select committee that he objects to the disclosure of such
information, provides his reasons therefor, and certifies that the
threat to the national interest of the United States posed by the
disclosure is of such gravity that it outweighs any public interest in
the disclosure.
(C) If the President, personally in writing, notifies the select
committee of his objections to the disclosure of information as provided
in subdivision (B), the select committee may, by majority vote, refer
the question of the disclosure of such information, with a
recommendation thereon, to the House. The select committee may not
publicly disclose such information without leave of the House.
(D) Whenever the select committee votes to refer the question of
disclosure of any information to the House under subdivision (C), the
chairman shall, not later than the first day on which the House is in
session following the day on which the vote occurs, report the matter to
the House for its consideration.
(E) If the chairman of the select committee does not offer in the
House a motion to consider in closed session a matter reported under
subdivision (D) within four calendar days on which the House is in
session after the recommendation described in subdivision (C) is
reported, then such a motion shall be privileged when offered by a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner. In either case such a motion
shall be decided without debate or intervening motion except one that
the House adjourn.
(F) Upon adoption by the House of a motion to resolve into closed
session as
[[Page 2475]]
described in subdivision (E), the Speaker may declare a recess subject
to the call of the Chair. At the expiration of the recess, the pending
question, in closed session, shall be, ``Shall the House approve the
recommendation of the select committee?''.
(G) Debate on the question described in subdivision (F) shall be
limited to two hours equally divided and controlled by the chairman and
ranking minority member of the select committee. After such debate the
previous question shall be considered as ordered on the question of
approving the recommendation without intervening motion except one
motion that the House adjourn. The House shall vote on the question in
open session but without divulging the information with respect to which
the vote is taken. If the recommendation of the select committee is not
approved, then the question is considered as recommitted to the select
committee for further recommendation.
(3)(A) Information in the possession of the select committee relating
to the lawful intelligence or intelligence-related activities of a
department or agency of the United States that has been classified under
established security procedures, and that the select committee has
determined should not be disclosed under subparagraph (1) or (2), may
not be made available to any person by a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House except as provided in
subdivision (B).
(B) The select committee shall, under such regulations as it may
prescribe, make information described in subdivision (A) available to a
committee or a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, and permit a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to attend a hearing of the
select committee that is closed to the public. Whenever the select
committee makes such information available, it shall keep a written
record showing, in the case of particular information, which committee
or which Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner received the
information. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who, and a
committee that, receives information under this subdivision may not
disclose the information except in a closed session of the House.
(4) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall investigate
any unauthorized disclosure of intelligence or intelligence-related
information by a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House in violation of subparagraph (3) and report to the
House concerning any allegation that it finds to be substantiated.
(5) Upon the request of a person who is subject to an investigation
described in subparagraph (4), the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct shall release to such person at the conclusion of its
investigation a summary of its investigation, together with its
findings. If, at the conclusion of its investigation, the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct determines that there has been a
significant breach of confidentiality or unauthorized disclosure by a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
House, it shall report its findings to the House and recommend
appropriate action. Recommendations may include censure, removal from
committee membership, or expulsion from the House, in the case of a
Member, or removal from office or employment or punishment for contempt,
in the case of an officer or employee.
(h) The select committee may permit a personal representative of the
President, designated by the President to serve as a liaison to the
select committee, to attend any closed meeting of the select committee.
(i) Subject to the Rules of the House, funds may not be appropriated
for a fiscal year, with the exception of a bill or joint resolution
continuing appropriations, or an amendment thereto, or a conference
report thereon, to, or for use of, a department or agency of the United
States to carry out any of the following activities, unless the funds
shall previously have been authorized by a bill or joint resolution
passed by the House during the same or preceding fiscal year to carry
out such activity for such fiscal year:
(1) The activities of the Central Intelligence Agency and the
Director of Central Intelligence.
(2) The activities of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
(3) The activities of the National Security Agency.
(4) The intelligence and intelligence-related activities of other
agencies and subdivisions of the Department of Defense.
(5) The intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the
Department of State.
(6) The intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, including all activities of the
Intelligence Division.
(j)(1) In this clause the term ``intelligence and intelligence-related
activities'' includes--
(A) the collection, analysis, production, dissemination, or use of
information that relates to a foreign country, or a government,
political group, party, military force, movement, or other association
in a foreign country, and that relates to the defense, foreign policy,
national security, or related policies of the United States and other
activity in support of the collection, analysis, production,
dissemination, or use of such information;
(B) activities taken to counter similar activities directed against
the United States;
(C) covert or clandestine activities affecting the relations of the
United States with a foreign government, political group, party,
military force, movement, or other association;
(D) the collection, analysis, production, dissemination, or use of
information about activities of persons within the United States, its
territories and possessions, or nationals of the United States abroad
whose political and related activities pose, or may be considered by a
department, agency, bureau, office, division, instrumentality, or
employee of the United States to pose, a threat to the internal
security of the United States; and
(E) covert or clandestine activities directed against persons
described in subdivision (D).
(2) In this clause the term ``department or agency'' includes any
organization, committee, council, establishment, or office within the
Federal Government.
(3) For purposes of this clause, reference to a department, agency,
bureau, or subdivision shall include a reference to any successor
department, agency, bureau, or subdivision to the extent that a
successor engages in intelligence or intelligence-related activities now
conducted by the department, agency, bureau, or subdivision referred to
in this clause.
(k) Clause 12(a) of rule XXII does not apply to meetings of a
conference committee respecting legislation (or any part thereof)
reported by the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
RULE XI
Procedures of Committees and Unfinished Business
In general
1. (a)(1)(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B), the Rules of the
House are the rules of its committees and subcommittees so far as
applicable.
(B) A motion to recess from day to day, and a motion to dispense with
the first reading (in full) of a bill or resolution, if printed copies
are available, each shall be privileged in committees and subcommittees
and shall be decided without debate.
(2) Each subcommittee is a part of its committee and is subject to the
authority and direction of that committee and to its rules, so far as
applicable.
(b)(1) Each committee may conduct at any time such investigations and
studies as it considers necessary or appropriate in the exercise of its
responsibilities under rule X. Subject to the adoption of expense
resolutions as required by clause 6 of rule X, each committee may incur
expenses, including travel expenses, in connection with such
investigations and studies.
(2) A proposed investigative or oversight report shall be considered
as read in committee if it has been available to the members for at
least 24 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays except
when the House is in session on such a day).
(3) A report of an investigation or study conducted jointly by more
than
[[Page 2476]]
one committee may be filed jointly, provided that each of the committees
complies independently with all requirements for approval and filing of
the report.
(4) After an adjournment sine die of the last regular session of a
Congress, an investigative or oversight report may be filed with the
Clerk at any time, provided that a member who gives timely notice of
intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views shall be
entitled to not less than seven calendar days in which to submit such
views for inclusion in the report.
(c) Each committee may have printed and bound such testimony and other
data as may be presented at hearings held by the committee or its
subcommittees. All costs of stenographic services and transcripts in
connection with a meeting or hearing of a committee shall be paid from
the applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(i)(1) of rule
X.
(d)(1) Each committee shall submit to the House not later than January
2 of each odd-numbered year a report on the activities of that committee
under this rule and rule X during the Congress ending at noon on January
3 of such year.
(2) Such report shall include separate sections summarizing the
legislative and oversight activities of that committee during that
Congress.
(3) The oversight section of such report shall include a summary of
the oversight plans submitted by the committee under clause 2(d) of rule
X, a summary of the actions taken and recommendations made with respect
to each such plan, a summary of any additional oversight activities
undertaken by that committee, and any recommendations made or actions
taken thereon.
(4) After an adjournment sine die of the last regular session of a
Congress, the chairman of a committee may file an activities report
under subparagraph (1) with the Clerk at any time and without approval
of the committee, provided that--
(A) a copy of the report has been available to each member of the
committee for at least seven calendar days; and
(B) the report includes any supplemental, minority, or additional
views submitted by a member of the committee.
Adoption of written rules
2. (a)(1) Each standing committee shall adopt written rules governing
its procedure. Such rules--
(A) shall be adopted in a meeting that is open to the public unless
the committee, in open session and with a quorum present, determines
by record vote that all or part of the meeting on that day shall be
closed to the public;
(B) may not be inconsistent with the Rules of the House or with
those provisions of law having the force and effect of Rules of the
House; and
(C) shall in any event incorporate all of the succeeding provisions
of this clause to the extent applicable.
(2) Each committee shall submit its rules for publication in the
Congressional Record not later than 30 days after the committee is
elected in each odd-numbered year.
Regular meeting days
(b) Each standing committee shall establish regular meeting days for
the conduct of its business, which shall be not less frequent than
monthly. Each such committee shall meet for the consideration of a bill
or resolution pending before the committee or the transaction of other
committee business on all regular meeting days fixed by the committee
unless otherwise provided by written rule adopted by the committee.
Additional and special meetings
(c)(1) The chairman of each standing committee may call and convene,
as he considers necessary, additional and special meetings of the
committee for the consideration of a bill or resolution pending before
the committee or for the conduct of other committee business, subject to
such rules as the committee may adopt. The committee shall meet for such
purpose under that call of the chairman.
(2) Three or more members of a standing committee may file in the
offices of the committee a written request that the chairman call a
special meeting of the committee. Such request shall specify the measure
or matter to be considered. Immediately upon the filing of the request,
the clerk of the committee shall notify the chairman of the filing of
the request. If the chairman does not call the requested special meeting
within three calendar days after the filing of the request (to be held
within seven calendar days after the filing of the request) a majority
of the members of the committee may file in the offices of the committee
their written notice that a special meeting of the committee will be
held. The written notice shall specify the date and hour of the special
meeting and the measure or matter to be considered. The committee shall
meet on that date and hour. Immediately upon the filing of the notice,
the clerk of the committee shall notify all members of the committee
that such special meeting will be held and inform them of its date and
hour and the measure or matter to be considered. Only the measure or
matter specified in that notice may be considered at that special
meeting.
Temporary absence of chairman
(d) A member of the majority party on each standing committee or
subcommittee thereof shall be designated by the chairman of the full
committee as the vice chairman of the committee or subcommittee, as the
case may be, and shall preside during the absence of the chairman from
any meeting. If the chairman and vice chairman of a committee or
subcommittee are not present at any meeting of the committee or
subcommittee, the ranking majority member who is present shall preside
at that meeting.
Committee records
(e)(1)(A) Each committee shall keep a complete record of all committee
action which shall include--
(i) in the case of a meeting or hearing transcript, a substantially
verbatim account of remarks actually made during the proceedings,
subject only to technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections
authorized by the person making the remarks involved; and
(ii) a record of the votes on any question on which a record vote is
demanded.
(B)(i) Except as provided in subdivision (B)(ii) and subject to
paragraph (k)(7), the result of each such record vote shall be made
available by the committee for inspection by the public at reasonable
times in its offices. Information so available for public inspection
shall include a description of the amendment, motion, order, or other
proposition, the name of each member voting for and each member voting
against such amendment, motion, order, or proposition, and the names of
those members of the committee present but not voting.
(ii) The result of any record vote taken in executive session in the
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct may not be made available for
inspection by the public without an affirmative vote of a majority of
the members of the committee.
(2)(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B), all committee hearings,
records, data, charts, and files shall be kept separate and distinct
from the congressional office records of the member serving as its
chairman. Such records shall be the property of the House, and each
Member, Delegate, and the Resident Commissioner shall have access
thereto.
(B) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, other than members
of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, may not have access
to the records of that committee respecting the conduct of a Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House
without the specific prior permission of that committee.
(3) Each committee shall include in its rules standards for
availability of records of the committee delivered to the Archivist of
the United States under rule VII. Such standards shall specify
procedures for orders of the committee under clause 3(b)(3) and clause
4(b) of rule VII, including a requirement that nonavailability of a
record for a period longer than the period otherwise applicable under
that rule shall be approved by vote of the committee.
[[Page 2477]]
(4) Each committee shall make its publications available in electronic
form to the maximum extent feasible.
Prohibition against proxy voting
(f) A vote by a member of a committee or subcommittee with respect to
any measure or matter may not be cast by proxy.
Open meetings and hearings
(g)(1) Each meeting for the transaction of business, including the
markup of legislation, by a standing committee or subcommittee thereof
(other than the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or its
subcommittee) shall be open to the public, including to radio,
television, and still photography coverage, except when the committee or
subcommittee, in open session and with a majority present, determines by
record vote that all or part of the remainder of the meeting on that day
shall be in executive session because disclosure of matters to be
considered would endanger national security, would compromise sensitive
law enforcement information, would tend to defame, degrade, or
incriminate any person, or otherwise would violate a law or rule of the
House. Persons, other than members of the committee and such
noncommittee Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioner, congressional
staff, or departmental representatives as the committee may authorize,
may not be present at a business or markup session that is held in
executive session. This subparagraph does not apply to open committee
hearings, which are governed by clause 4(a)(1) of rule X or by
subparagraph (2).
(2)(A) Each hearing conducted by a committee or subcommittee (other
than the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or its
subcommittees) shall be open to the public, including to radio,
television, and still photography coverage, except when the committee or
subcommittee, in open session and with a majority present, determines by
record vote that all or part of the remainder of that hearing on that
day shall be closed to the public because disclosure of testimony,
evidence, or other matters to be considered would endanger national
security, would compromise sensitive law enforcement information, or
would violate a law or rule of the House.
(B) Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (A), in the
presence of the number of members required under the rules of the
committee for the purpose of taking testimony, a majority of those
present may--
(i) agree to close the hearing for the sole purpose of discussing
whether testimony or evidence to be received would endanger national
security, would compromise sensitive law enforcement information, or
would violate clause 2(k)(5); or
(ii) agree to close the hearing as provided in clause 2(k)(5).
(C) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not be excluded
from nonparticipatory attendance at a hearing of a committee or
subcommittee (other than the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
or its subcommittees) unless the House by majority vote authorizes a
particular committee or subcommittee, for purposes of a particular
series of hearings on a particular article of legislation or on a
particular subject of investigation, to close its hearings to Members,
Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner by the same procedures
specified in this subparagraph for closing hearings to the public.
(D) The committee or subcommittee may vote by the same procedure
described in this subparagraph to close one subsequent day of hearing,
except that the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed
Services, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the
subcommittees thereof, may vote by the same procedure to close up to
five additional, consecutive days of hearings.
(3) The chairman of each committee (other than the Committee on Rules)
shall make public announcement of the date, place, and subject matter of
a committee hearing at least one week before the commencement of the
hearing. If the chairman of the committee, with the concurrence of the
ranking minority member, determines that there is good cause to begin a
hearing sooner, or if the committee so determines by majority vote in
the presence of the number of members required under the rules of the
committee for the transaction of business, the chairman shall make the
announcement at the earliest possible date. An announcement made under
this subparagraph shall be published promptly in the Daily Digest and
made available in electronic form.
(4) Each committee shall, to the greatest extent practicable, require
witnesses who appear before it to submit in advance written statements
of proposed testimony and to limit their initial presentations to the
committee to brief summaries thereof. In the case of a witness appearing
in a nongovernmental capacity, a written statement of proposed testimony
shall include a curriculum vitae and a disclosure of the amount and
source (by agency and program) of each Federal grant (or subgrant
thereof) or contract (or subcontract thereof) received during the
current fiscal year or either of the two previous fiscal years by the
witness or by an entity represented by the witness.
(5)(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B), a point of order does
not lie with respect to a measure reported by a committee on the ground
that hearings on such measure were not conducted in accordance with this
clause.
(B) A point of order on the ground described in subdivision (A) may be
made by a member of the committee that reported the measure if such
point of order was timely made and improperly disposed of in the
committee.
(6) This paragraph does not apply to hearings of the Committee on
Appropriations under clause 4(a)(1) of Prule X.
Quorum requirements
(h)(1) A measure or recommendation may not be reported by a committee
unless a majority of the committee is actually present.
(2) Each committee may fix the number of its members to constitute a
quorum for taking testimony and receiving evidence, which may not be
less than two.
(3) Each committee (other than the Committee on Appropriations, the
Committee on the Budget, and the Committee on Ways and Means) may fix
the number of its members to constitute a quorum for taking any action
other than the reporting of a measure or recommendation, which may not
be less than one-third of the members.
Limitation on committee sittings
(i) A committee may not sit during a joint session of the House and
Senate or during a recess when a joint meeting of the House and Senate
is in progress.
Calling and questioning of witnesses
(j)(1) Whenever a hearing is conducted by a committee on a measure or
matter, the minority members of the committee shall be entitled, upon
request to the chairman by a majority of them before the completion of
the hearing, to call witnesses selected by the minority to testify with
respect to that measure or matter during at least one day of hearing
thereon.
(2)(A) Subject to subdivisions (B) and (C), each committee shall apply
the five-minute rule during the questioning of witnesses in a hearing
until such time as each member of the committee who so desires has had
an opportunity to question each witness.
(B) A committee may adopt a rule or motion permitting a specified
number of its members to question a witness for longer than five
minutes. The time for extended questioning of a witness under this
subdivision shall be equal for the majority party and the minority party
and may not exceed one hour in the aggregate.
(C) A committee may adopt a rule or motion permitting committee staff
for its majority and minority party members to question a witness for
equal specified periods. The time for extended questioning of a witness
under this subdivision shall be equal for the majority party and the
minority party and may not exceed one hour in the aggregate.
Investigative hearing procedures
(k)(1) The chairman at an investigative hearing shall announce in an
opening statement the subject of the investigation.
(2) A copy of the committee rules and of this clause shall be made
available to each witness.
(3) Witnesses at investigative hearings may be accompanied by their
own
[[Page 2478]]
counsel for the purpose of advising them concerning their constitutional
rights.
(4) The chairman may punish breaches of order and decorum, and of
professional ethics on the part of counsel, by censure and exclusion
from the hearings; and the committee may cite the offender to the House
for contempt.
(5) Whenever it is asserted that the evidence or testimony at an
investigative hearing may tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any
person--
(A) notwithstanding paragraph (g)(2), such testimony or evidence
shall be presented in executive session if, in the presence of the
number of members required under the rules of the committee for the
purpose of taking testimony, the committee determines by vote of a
majority of those present that such evidence or testimony may tend to
defame, degrade, or incriminate any person; and
(B) the committee shall proceed to receive such testimony in open
session only if the committee, a majority being present, determines
that such evidence or testimony will not tend to defame, degrade, or
incriminate any person.
In either case the committee shall afford such person an opportunity
voluntarily to appear as a witness, and receive and dispose of requests
from such person to subpoena additional witnesses.
(6) Except as provided in subparagraph (5), the chairman shall receive
and the committee shall dispose of requests to subpoena additional
witnesses.
(7) Evidence or testimony taken in executive session, and proceedings
conducted in executive session, may be released or used in public
sessions only when authorized by the committee, a majority being
present.
(8) In the discretion of the committee, witnesses may submit brief and
pertinent sworn statements in writing for inclusion in the record. The
committee is the sole judge of the pertinence of testimony and evidence
adduced at its hearing.
(9) A witness may obtain a transcript copy of his testimony given at a
public session or, if given at an executive session, when authorized by
the committee.
Supplemental, minority, or additional views
(l) If at the time of approval of a measure or matter by a committee
(other than the Committee on Rules) a member of the committee gives
notice of intention to file supplemental, minority, or additional views
for inclusion in the report to the House thereon, that member shall be
entitled to not less than two additional calendar days after the day of
such notice (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays except
when the House is in session on such a day) to file such views, in
writing and signed by that member, with the clerk of the committee.
Power to sit and act; subpoena power
(m)(1) For the purpose of carrying out any of its functions and duties
under this rule and rule X (including any matters referred to it under
clause 2 of rule XII), a committee or subcommittee is authorized
(subject to subparagraph (2)(A))--
(A) to sit and act at such times and places within the United
States, whether the House is in session, has recessed, or has
adjourned, and to hold such hearings as it considers necessary; and
(B) to require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and
testimony of such witnesses and the production of such books, records,
correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents as it considers
necessary.
(2) The chairman of the committee, or a member designated by the
chairman, may administer oaths to witnesses.
(3)(A)(i) Except as provided in subdivision (A)(ii), a subpoena may be
authorized and issued by a committee or subcommittee under subparagraph
(1)(B) in the conduct of an investigation or series of investigations or
activities only when authorized by the committee or subcommittee, a
majority being present. The power to authorize and issue subpoenas under
subparagraph (1)(B) may be delegated to the chairman of the committee
under such rules and under such limitations as the committee may
prescribe. Authorized subpoenas shall be signed by the chairman of the
committee or by a member designated by the committee.
(ii) In the case of a subcommittee of the Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct, a subpoena may be authorized and issued only by an
affirmative vote of a majority of its members.
(B) A subpoena duces tecum may specify terms of return other than at a
meeting or hearing of the committee or subcommittee authorizing the
subpoena.
(C) Compliance with a subpoena issued by a committee or subcommittee
under subparagraph (1)(B) may be enforced only as authorized or directed
by the House.
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
3. (a) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has the
following functions:
(1) The committee may recommend to the House from time to time such
administrative actions as it may consider appropriate to establish or
enforce standards of official conduct for Members, Delegates, the
Resident Commissioner, officers, and employees of the House. A letter
of reproval or other administrative action of the committee pursuant
to an investigation under subparagraph (2) shall only be issued or
implemented as a part of a report required by such subparagraph.
(2) The committee may investigate, subject to paragraph (b), an
alleged violation by a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House of the Code of Official Conduct or
of a law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to
the conduct of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer,
or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his
responsibilities. After notice and hearing (unless the right to a
hearing is waived by the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer or employee), the committee shall report to the House its
findings of fact and recommendations, if any, for the final
disposition of any such investigation and such action as the committee
may consider appropriate in the circumstances.
(3) The committee may report to the appropriate Federal or State
authorities, either with the approval of the House or by an
affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the committee, any
substantial evidence of a violation by a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House, of a law applicable
to the performance of his duties or the discharge of his
responsibilities that may have been disclosed in a committee
investigation.
(4) The committee may consider the request of a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House for an
advisory opinion with respect to the general propriety of any current
or proposed conduct of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee. With appropriate deletions to ensure the privacy
of the person concerned, the committee may publish such opinion for
the guidance of other Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner,
officers, and employees of the House.
(5) The committee may consider the request of a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House for a written
waiver in exceptional circumstances with respect to clause 4 of rule
XXIV.
(b)(1)(A) Unless approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of its
members, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct may not report a
resolution, report, recommendation, or advisory opinion relating to the
official conduct of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer
or employee of the House, or, except as provided in subparagraph (2),
undertake an investigation of such conduct.
(B)(i) Upon the receipt of information offered as a complaint that is
in compliance with this rule and the rules of the committee, the
chairman and ranking minority member jointly may appoint members to
serve as an investigative subcommittee.
(ii) The chairman and ranking minority member of the committee jointly
may gather additional information
[[Page 2479]]
concerning alleged conduct that is the basis of a complaint or of
information offered as a complaint until they have established an
investigative subcommittee or either of them has placed on the agenda of
the committee the issue of whether to establish an investigative
subcommittee.
(2) Except in the case of an investigation undertaken by the committee
on its own initiative, the committee may undertake an investigation
relating to the official conduct of an individual Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House only--
(A) upon receipt of information offered as a complaint, in writing
and under oath, from a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner and
transmitted to the committee by such Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner; or
(B) upon receipt of information offered as a complaint, in writing
and under oath, from a person not a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner provided that a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner certifies in writing to the committee that he believes
the information is submitted in good faith and warrants the review and
consideration of the committee.
If a complaint is not disposed of within the applicable periods set
forth in the rules of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct,
the chairman and ranking minority member shall establish jointly an
investigative subcommittee and forward the complaint, or any portion
thereof, to that subcommittee for its consideration. However, if at any
time during those periods either the chairman or ranking minority member
places on the agenda the issue of whether to establish an investigative
subcommittee, then an investigative subcommittee may be established only
by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee.
(3) The committee may not undertake an investigation of an alleged
violation of a law, rule, regulation, or standard of conduct that was
not in effect at the time of the alleged violation. The committee may
not undertake an investigation of such an alleged violation that
occurred before the third previous Congress unless the committee
determines that the alleged violation is directly related to an alleged
violation that occurred in a more recent Congress.
(4) A member of the committee shall be ineligible to participate as a
member of the committee in a committee proceeding relating to the
member's official conduct. Whenever a member of the committee is
ineligible to act as a member of the committee under the preceding
sentence, the Speaker shall designate a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner from the same political party as the ineligible member to
act in any proceeding of the committee relating to that conduct.
(5) A member of the committee may disqualify himself from
participating in an investigation of the conduct of a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House upon the
submission in writing and under oath of an affidavit of disqualification
stating that the member cannot render an impartial and unbiased decision
in the case in which the member seeks to be disqualified. If the
committee approves and accepts such affidavit of disqualification, the
chairman shall so notify the Speaker and request the Speaker to
designate a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner from the same
political party as the disqualifying member to act in any proceeding of
the committee relating to that case.
(6) Information or testimony received, or the contents of a complaint
or the fact of its filing, may not be publicly disclosed by any
committee or staff member unless specifically authorized in each
instance by a vote of the full committee.
(7) The committee shall have the functions designated in titles I and
V of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, in sections 7342, 7351, and
7353 of title 5, United States Code, and in clause 11(g)(4) of rule X.
(c)(1) Notwithstanding clause 2(g)(1) of rule XI, each meeting of the
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or a subcommittee thereof
shall occur in executive session unless the committee or subcommittee,
by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members, opens the meeting
to the public.
(2) Notwithstanding clause 2(g)(2) of rule XI, each hearing of an
adjudicatory subcommittee or sanction hearing of the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct shall be held in open session unless the
committee or subcommittee, in open session by an affirmative vote of a
majority of its members, closes all or part of the remainder of the
hearing on that day to the public.
(d) Before a member, officer, or employee of the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct, including members of a subcommittee of
the committee selected under clause 5(a)(4) of rule X and shared staff,
may have access to information that is confidential under the rules of
the committee, the following oath (or affirmation) shall be executed:
``I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will not disclose, to any
person or entity outside the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct, any information received in the course of my service with the
committee, except as authorized by the committee or in accordance with
its rules.''
Copies of the executed oath shall be retained by the Clerk as part of
the records of the House. This paragraph establishes a standard of
conduct within the meaning of paragraph (a)(2). Breaches of
confidentiality shall be investigated by the Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct and appropriate action shall be taken.
(e)(1) If a complaint or information offered as a complaint is deemed
frivolous by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the committee may take such
action as it, by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members,
considers appropriate in the circumstances.
(2) Complaints filed before the One Hundred Fifth Congress may not be
deemed frivolous by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
Audio and visual coverage of committee proceedings
4. (a) The purpose of this clause is to provide a means, in conformity
with acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, and decorum, by which
committee hearings or committee meetings that are open to the public may
be covered by audio and visual means--
(1) for the education, enlightenment, and information of the general
public, on the basis of accurate and impartial news coverage,
regarding the operations, procedures, and practices of the House as a
legislative and representative body, and regarding the measures,
public issues, and other matters before the House and its committees,
the consideration thereof, and the action taken thereon; and
(2) for the development of the perspective and understanding of the
general public with respect to the role and function of the House
under the Constitution as an institution of the Federal Government.
(b) In addition, it is the intent of this clause that radio and
television tapes and television film of any coverage under this clause
may not be used, or made available for use, as partisan political
campaign material to promote or oppose the candidacy of any person for
elective public office.
(c) It is, further, the intent of this clause that the general conduct
of each meeting (whether of a hearing or otherwise) covered under
authority of this clause by audio or visual means, and the personal
behavior of the committee members and staff, other Government officials
and personnel, witnesses, television, radio, and press media personnel,
and the general public at the hearing or other meeting, shall be in
strict conformity with and observance of the acceptable standards of
dignity, propriety, courtesy, and decorum traditionally observed by the
House in its operations, and may not be such as to--
(1) distort the objects and purposes of the hearing or other meeting
or the activities of committee members in connection with that hearing
or meeting or in connection with the general work of the committee or
of the House; or
(2) cast discredit or dishonor on the House, the committee, or a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner or bring the House, the
committee,
[[Page 2480]]
or a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner into disrepute.
(d) The coverage of committee hearings and meetings by audio and
visual means shall be permitted and conducted only in strict conformity
with the purposes, provisions, and requirements of this clause.
(e) Whenever a hearing or meeting conducted by a committee or
subcommittee is open to the public, those proceedings shall be open to
coverage by audio and visual means. A committee or subcommittee chairman
may not limit the number of television or still cameras to fewer than
two representatives from each medium (except for legitimate space or
safety considerations, in which case pool coverage shall be authorized).
(f) Each committee shall adopt written rules to govern its
implementation of this clause. Such rules shall contain provisions to
the following effect:
(1) If audio or visual coverage of the hearing or meeting is to be
presented to the public as live coverage, that coverage shall be
conducted and presented without commercial sponsorship.
(2) The allocation among the television media of the positions or
the number of television cameras permitted by a committee or
subcommittee chairman in a hearing or meeting room shall be in
accordance with fair and equitable procedures devised by the Executive
Committee of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries.
(3) Television cameras shall be placed so as not to obstruct in any
way the space between a witness giving evidence or testimony and any
member of the committee or the visibility of that witness and that
member to each other.
(4) Television cameras shall operate from fixed positions but may
not be placed in positions that obstruct unnecessarily the coverage of
the hearing or meeting by the other media.
(5) Equipment necessary for coverage by the television and radio
media may not be installed in, or removed from, the hearing or meeting
room while the committee is in session.
(6)(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B), floodlights,
spotlights, strobelights, and flashguns may not be used in providing
any method of coverage of the hearing or meeting.
(B) The television media may install additional lighting in a
hearing or meeting room, without cost to the Government, in order to
raise the ambient lighting level in a hearing or meeting room to the
lowest level necessary to provide adequate television coverage of a
hearing or meeting at the current state of the art of television
coverage.
(7) In the allocation of the number of still photographers permitted
by a committee or subcommittee chairman in a hearing or meeting room,
preference shall be given to photographers from Associated Press
Photos and United Press International Newspictures. If requests are
made by more of the media than will be permitted by a committee or
subcommittee chairman for coverage of a hearing or meeting by still
photography, that coverage shall be permitted on the basis of a fair
and equitable pool arrangement devised by the Standing Committee of
Press Photographers.
(8) Photographers may not position themselves between the witness
table and the members of the committee at any time during the course
of a hearing or meeting.
(9) Photographers may not place themselves in positions that
obstruct unnecessarily the coverage of the hearing by the other media.
(10) Personnel providing coverage by the television and radio media
shall be currently accredited to the Radio and Television
Correspondents' Galleries.
(11) Personnel providing coverage by still photography shall be
currently accredited to the Press Photographers' Gallery.
(12) Personnel providing coverage by the television and radio media
and by still photography shall conduct themselves and their coverage
activities in an orderly and unobtrusive manner.
Pay of witnesses
5. Witnesses appearing before the House or any of its committees shall
be paid the same per diem rate as established, authorized, and regulated
by the Committee on House Administration for Members, Delegates, the
Resident Commissioner, and employees of the House, plus actual expenses
of travel to or from the place of examination. Such per diem may not be
paid when a witness has been summoned at the place of examination.
Unfinished business of the session
6. All business of the House at the end of one session shall be
resumed at the commencement of the next session of the same Congress in
the same manner as if no adjournment had taken place.
RULE XII
Receipt and Referral of Measures and Matters
Messages
1. Messages received from the Senate, or from the President, shall be
entered on the Journal and published in the Congressional Record of the
proceedings of that day.
Referral
2. (a) The Speaker shall refer each bill, resolution, or other matter
that relates to a subject listed under a standing committee named in
clause 1 of rule X in accordance with the provisions of this clause.
(b) The Speaker shall refer matters under paragraph (a) in such manner
as to ensure to the maximum extent feasible that each committee that has
jurisdiction under clause 1 of rule X over the subject matter of a
provision thereof may consider such provision and report to the House
thereon. Precedents, rulings, or procedures in effect before the Ninety-
Fourth Congress shall be applied to referrals under this clause only to
the extent that they will contribute to the achievement of the
objectives of this clause.
(c) In carrying out paragraphs (a) and (b) with respect to the
referral of a matter, the Speaker--
(1) shall designate a committee of primary jurisdiction;
(2) may refer the matter to one or more additional committees for
consideration in sequence, either initially or after the matter has
been reported by the committee of primary jurisdiction;
(3) may refer portions of the matter reflecting different subjects
and jurisdictions to one or more additional committees;
(4) may refer the matter to a special, ad hoc committee appointed by
the Speaker with the approval of the House, and including members of
the committees of jurisdiction, for the specific purpose of
considering that matter and reporting to the House thereon;
(5) may subject a referral to appropriate time limitations; and
(6) may make such other provision as may be considered appropriate.
(d) A bill for the payment or adjudication of a private claim against
the Government may not be referred to a committee other than the
Committee on International Relations or the Committee on the Judiciary,
except by unanimous consent.
Petitions, memorials, and private bills
3. If a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner has a petition,
memorial, or private bill to present, he shall endorse his name, deliver
it to the Clerk, and may specify the reference or disposition to be made
thereof. Such petition, memorial, or private bill (except when judged by
the Speaker to be obscene or insulting) shall be entered on the Journal
with the name of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
presenting it and shall be printed in the Congressional Record.
4. A private bill or private resolution (including an omnibus claim or
pension bill), or amendment thereto, may not be received or considered
in the House if it authorizes or directs--
(a) the payment of money for property damages, for personal injuries
or death for which suit may be instituted under the Tort Claims
Procedure provided in title 28, United States Code, or for a pension
(other than to carry out a provision of law or treaty stipulation);
(b) the construction of a bridge across a navigable stream; or
[[Page 2481]]
(c) the correction of a military or naval record.
Prohibition on commemorations
5. (a) A bill or resolution, or an amendment thereto, may not be
introduced or considered in the House if it establishes or expresses a
commemoration.
(b) In this clause the term ``commemoration'' means a remembrance,
celebration, or recognition for any purpose through the designation of a
specified period of time.
Excluded matters
6. A petition, memorial, bill, or resolution excluded under this rule
shall be returned to the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner from
whom it was received. A petition or private bill that has been
inappropriately referred may, by direction of the committee having
possession of it, be properly referred in the manner originally
presented. An erroneous reference of a petition or private bill under
this clause does not confer jurisdiction on a committee to consider or
report it.
Sponsorship
7. (a) All other bills, memorials, petitions, and resolutions,
endorsed with the names of Members, Delegates, or the Resident
Commissioner introducing them, may be delivered to the Speaker to be
referred. The titles and references of all bills, memorials, petitions,
resolutions, and other documents referred under this rule shall be
entered on the Journal and printed in the Congressional Record. An
erroneous reference may be corrected by the House in accordance with
rule X on any day immediately after the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
by unanimous consent or motion. Such a motion shall be privileged if
offered by direction of a committee to which the bill has been
erroneously referred or by direction of a committee claiming
jurisdiction and shall be decided without debate.
(b)(1) The primary sponsor of a public bill or public resolution may
name cosponsors. The name of a cosponsor added after the initial
printing of a bill or resolution shall appear in the next printing of
the bill or resolution on the written request of the primary sponsor.
Such a request may be submitted to the Speaker at any time until the
last committee authorized to consider and report the bill or resolution
reports it to the House or is discharged from its consideration.
(2) The name of a cosponsor of a bill or resolution may be deleted by
unanimous consent. The Speaker may entertain such a request only by the
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner whose name is to be deleted
or by the primary sponsor of the bill or resolution, and only until the
last committee authorized to consider and report the bill or resolution
reports it to the House or is discharged from its consideration. The
Speaker may not entertain a request to delete the name of the primary
sponsor of a bill or resolution. A deletion shall be indicated by date
in the next printing of the bill or resolution.
(3) The addition or deletion of the name of a cosponsor of a bill or
resolution shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the
Congressional Record of that day.
(4) A bill or resolution shall be reprinted on the written request of
the primary sponsor. Such a request may be submitted to the Speaker only
when 20 or more cosponsors have been added since the last printing of
the bill or resolution.
(5) When a bill or resolution is introduced ``by request,'' those
words shall be entered on the Journal and printed in the Congressional
Record.
Executive communications
8. Estimates of appropriations and all other communications from the
executive departments intended for the consideration of any committees
of the House shall be addressed to the Speaker for referral as provided
in clause 2 of rule XIV.
RULE XIII
Calendars and Committee Reports
Calendars
1. (a) All business reported by committees shall be referred to one of
the following three calendars:
(1) A Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of
the Union, to which shall be referred public bills and public
resolutions raising revenue, involving a tax or charge on the people,
directly or indirectly making appropriations of money or property or
requiring such appropriations to be made, authorizing payments out of
appropriations already made, releasing any liability to the United
States for money or property, or referring a claim to the Court of
Claims.
(2) A House Calendar, to which shall be referred all public bills
and public resolutions not requiring referral to the Calendar of the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.
(3) A Private Calendar as provided in clause 5 of rule XV, to which
shall be referred all private bills and private resolutions.
(b) There is established a Corrections Calendar as provided in clause
6 of rule XV.
(c) There is established a Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees
as provided in clause 2 of rule XV.
Filing and printing of reports
2. (a)(1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), all reports of
committees (other than those filed from the floor as privileged) shall
be delivered to the Clerk for printing and reference to the proper
calendar under the direction of the Speaker in accordance with clause 1.
The title or subject of each report shall be entered on the Journal and
printed in the Congressional Record.
(2) A bill or resolution reported adversely shall be laid on the table
unless a committee to which the bill or resolution was referred requests
at the time of the report its referral to an appropriate calendar under
clause 1 or unless, within three days thereafter, a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner makes such a request.
(b)(1) It shall be the duty of the chairman of each committee to
report or cause to be reported promptly to the House a measure or matter
approved by the committee and to take or cause to be taken steps
necessary to bring the measure or matter to a vote.
(2) In any event, the report of a committee on a measure that has been
approved by the committee shall be filed within seven calendar days
(exclusive of days on which the House is not in session) after the day
on which a written request for the filing of the report, signed by a
majority of the members of the committee, has been filed with the clerk
of the committee. The clerk of the committee shall immediately notify
the chairman of the filing of such a request. This subparagraph does not
apply to a report of the Committee on Rules with respect to a rule,
joint rule, or order of business of the House, or to the reporting of a
resolution of inquiry addressed to the head of an executive department.
(c) All supplemental, minority, or additional views filed under clause
2(l) of rule XI by one or more members of a committee shall be included
in, and shall be a part of, the report filed by the committee with
respect to a measure or matter. When time guaranteed by clause 2(l) of
rule XI has expired (or, if sooner, when all separate views have been
received), the committee may arrange to file its report with the Clerk
not later than one hour after the expiration of such time. This clause
and provisions of clause 2(l) of rule XI do not preclude the immediate
filing or printing of a committee report in the absence of a timely
request for the opportunity to file supplemental, minority, or
additional views as provided in clause 2(l) of rule XI.
Content of reports
3. (a)(1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), the report of a
committee on a measure or matter shall be printed in a single volume
that--
(A) shall include all supplemental, minority, or additional views
that have been submitted by the time of the filing of the report; and
(B) shall bear on its cover a recital that any such supplemental,
minority, or additional views (and any material submitted under
paragraph (c)(3) or (4)) are included as part of the report.
(2) A committee may file a supplemental report for the correction of a
technical error in its previous report on a measure or matter.
(b) With respect to each record vote on a motion to report a measure
or matter of a public nature, and on any
[[Page 2482]]
amendment offered to the measure or matter, the total number of votes
cast for and against, and the names of members voting for and against,
shall be included in the committee report. The preceding sentence does
not apply to votes taken in executive session by the Committee on
Standards of Official Conduct.
(c) The report of a committee on a measure that has been approved by
the committee shall include, separately set out and clearly identified,
the following:
(1) Oversight findings and recommendations under clause 2(b)(1) of
rule X.
(2) The statement required by section 308(a) of the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974, except that an estimate of new budget authority
shall include, when practicable, a comparison of the total estimated
funding level for the relevant programs to the appropriate levels
under current law.
(3) An estimate and comparison prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974 if timely submitted to the committee before the
filing of the report.
(4) A summary of oversight findings and recommendations by the
Committee on Government Reform under clause 4(c)(2) of rule X if such
findings and recommendations have been submitted to the reporting
committee in time to allow it to consider such findings and
recommendations during its deliberations on the measure.
(d) Each report of a committee on a public bill or public joint
resolution shall contain the following:
(1) A statement citing the specific powers granted to Congress in
the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint
resolution.
(2)(A) An estimate by the committee of the costs that would be
incurred in carrying out the bill or joint resolution in the fiscal
year in which it is reported and in each of the five fiscal years
following that fiscal year (or for the authorized duration of any
program authorized by the bill or joint resolution if less than five
years);
(B) A comparison of the estimate of costs described in subdivision
(A) made by the committee with any estimate of such costs made by a
Government agency and submitted to such committee; and
(C) When practicable, a comparison of the total estimated funding
level for the relevant programs with the appropriate levels under
current law.
(3)(A) In subparagraph (2) the term ``Government agency'' includes
any department, agency, establishment, wholly owned Government
corporation, or instrumentality of the Federal Government or the
government of the District of Columbia.
(B) Subparagraph (2) does not apply to the Committee on
Appropriations, the Committee on House Administration, the Committee
on Rules, or the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and does
not apply when a cost estimate and comparison prepared by the Director
of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 has been included in the report under
paragraph (c)(3).
(e)(1) Whenever a committee reports a bill or joint resolution
proposing to repeal or amend a statute or part thereof, it shall include
in its report or in an accompanying document--
(A) the text of a statute or part thereof that is proposed to be
repealed; and
(B) a comparative print of any part of the bill or joint resolution
proposing to amend the statute and of the statute or part thereof
proposed to be amended, showing by appropriate typographical devices
the omissions and insertions proposed.
(2) If a committee reports a bill or joint resolution proposing to
repeal or amend a statute or part thereof with a recommendation that the
bill or joint resolution be amended, the comparative print required by
subparagraph (1) shall reflect the changes in existing law proposed to
be made by the bill or joint resolution as proposed to be amended.
(f)(1) A report of the Committee on Appropriations on a general
appropriation bill shall include--
(A) a concise statement describing the effect of any provision of
the accompanying bill that directly or indirectly changes the
application of existing law; and
(B) a list of all appropriations contained in the bill for
expenditures not previously authorized by law (except classified
intelligence or national security programs, projects, or activities).
(2) Whenever the Committee on Appropriations reports a bill or joint
resolution including matter specified in clause 1(b)(2) or (3) of rule
X, it shall include--
(A) in the bill or joint resolution, separate headings for
``Rescissions'' and ``Transfers of Unexpended Balances''; and
(B) in the report of the committee, a separate section listing such
rescissions and transfers.
(g) Whenever the Committee on Rules reports a resolution proposing to
repeal or amend a standing rule of the House, it shall include in its
report or in an accompanying document--
(1) the text of any rule or part thereof that is proposed to be
repealed; and
(2) a comparative print of any part of the resolution proposing to
amend the rule and of the rule or part thereof proposed to be amended,
showing by appropriate typographical devices the omissions and
insertions proposed.
(h)(1) It shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint resolution
reported by the Committee on Ways and Means that proposes to amend the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 unless--
(A) the report includes a tax complexity analysis prepared by the
Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation in accordance with
section 4022(b) of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and
Reform Act of 1998; or
(B) the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means causes such a
tax complexity analysis to be printed in the Congressional Record
before consideration of the bill or joint resolution.
(2) A report from the Committee on Ways and Means on a bill or joint
resolution designated by the Majority Leader, after consultation with
the Minority Leader, as major tax legislation may include a dynamic
estimate of the changes in Federal revenues expected to result from
enactment of the legislation. The Joint Committee on Internal Revenue
Taxation shall render a dynamic estimate of such legislation only in
response to a timely request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways
and Means, after consultation with the ranking minority member. A
dynamic estimate under this paragraph may be used only for informational
purposes.
(3) In this paragraph the term ``dynamic estimate'' means a projection
based in any part on assumptions concerning probable effects of
macroeconomic feedback. A dynamic estimate shall include a statement
identifying all such assumptions.
Availability of reports
4. (a)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in
order to consider in the House a measure or matter reported by a
committee until the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or
legal holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on
which each report of a committee on that measure or matter has been
available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner.
(2) Subparagraph (1) does not apply to--
(A) a resolution providing a rule, joint rule, or order of business
reported by the Committee on Rules considered under clause 6;
(B) a resolution providing amounts from the applicable accounts
described in clause 1(i)(1) of rule X reported by the Committee on
House Administration considered under clause 6 of rule X;
(C) a resolution presenting a question of the privileges of the
House reported by any committee;
(D) a measure for the declaration of war, or the declaration of a
national emergency, by Congress; and
(E) a measure providing for the disapproval of a decision,
determination, or action by a Government agency that would become, or
continue to be, effective unless disapproved or otherwise invalidated
by
[[Page 2483]]
one or both Houses of Congress. In this subdivision the term
``Government agency'' includes any department, agency, establishment,
wholly owned Government corporation, or instrumentality of the Federal
Government or of the government of the District of Columbia.
(b) A committee that reports a measure or matter shall make every
reasonable effort to have its hearings thereon (if any) printed and
available for distribution to Members, Delegates, and the Resident
Commissioner before the consideration of the measure or matter in the
House.
(c) A general appropriation bill reported by the Committee on
Appropriations may not be considered in the House until the third
calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays except
when the House is in session on such a day) on which printed hearings of
the Committee on Appropriations thereon have been available to Members,
Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner.
Privileged reports, generally
5. (a) The following committees shall have leave to report at any time
on the following matters, respectively:
(1) The Committee on Appropriations, on general appropriation bills
and on joint resolutions continuing appropriations for a fiscal year
after September 15 in the preceding fiscal year.
(2) The Committee on the Budget, on the matters required to be
reported by such committee under titles III and IV of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
(3) The Committee on House Administration, on enrolled bills, on
contested elections, on matters referred to it concerning printing for
the use of the House or the two Houses, on expenditure of the
applicable accounts of the House described in clause 1(i)(1) of rule
X, and on matters relating to preservation and availability of
noncurrent records of the House under rule VII.
(4) The Committee on Rules, on rules, joint rules, and the order of
business.
(5) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, on resolutions
recommending action by the House with respect to a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House as a result
of an investigation by the committee relating to the official conduct
of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee.
(b) A report filed from the floor as privileged under paragraph (a)
may be called up as a privileged question by direction of the reporting
committee, subject to any requirement concerning its availability to
Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner under clause 4 or
concerning the timing of its consideration under clause 6.
Privileged reports by the Committee on Rules
6. (a) A report by the Committee on Rules on a rule, joint rule, or
the order of business may not be called up for consideration on the same
day it is presented to the House except--
(1) when so determined by a vote of two-thirds of the Members
voting, a quorum being present;
(2) in the case of a resolution proposing only to waive a
requirement of clause 4 or of clause 8 of rule XXII concerning the
availability of reports; or
(3) during the last three days of a session of Congress.
(b) Pending the consideration of a report by the Committee on Rules on
a rule, joint rule, or the order of business, the Speaker may entertain
one motion that the House adjourn. After the result of such a motion is
announced, the Speaker may not entertain any other dilatory motion until
the report shall have been disposed of.
(c) The Committee on Rules may not report--
(1) a rule or order proposing that business under clause 7 of rule
XV be set aside by a vote of less than two-thirds of the Members
voting, a quorum being present;
(2) a rule or order that would prevent the motion to recommit a bill
or joint resolution from being made as provided in clause 2(b) of rule
XIX, including a motion to recommit with instructions to report back
an amendment otherwise in order, if offered by the Minority Leader or
a designee, except with respect to a Senate bill or resolution for
which the text of a House-passed measure has been substituted.
(d) The Committee on Rules shall present to the House reports
concerning rules, joint rules, and the order of business, within three
legislative days of the time when they are ordered. If such a report is
not considered immediately, it shall be referred to the calendar. If
such a report on the calendar is not called up by the member of the
committee who filed the report within seven legislative days, any member
of the committee may call it up as a privileged question on the day
after the calendar day on which the member announces to the House his
intention to do so. The Speaker shall recognize a member of the
committee who rises for that purpose.
(e) An adverse report by the Committee on Rules on a resolution
proposing a special order of business for the consideration of a public
bill or public joint resolution may be called up as a privileged
question by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner on a day when
it is in order to consider a motion to discharge committees under clause
2 of rule XV.
(f) If the House has adopted a resolution making in order a motion to
consider a bill or resolution, and such a motion has not been offered
within seven calendar days thereafter, such a motion shall be privileged
if offered by direction of all reporting committees having initial
jurisdiction of the bill or resolution.
(g) Whenever the Committee on Rules reports a resolution providing for
the consideration of a measure, it shall (to the maximum extent
possible) specify in the resolution the object of any waiver of a point
of order against the measure or against its consideration.
Resolutions of inquiry
7. A report on a resolution of inquiry addressed to the head of an
executive department may be filed from the floor as privileged. If such
a resolution is not reported to the House within 14 legislative days
after its introduction, a motion to discharge a committee from its
consideration shall be privileged.
RULE XIV
Order and Priority of Business
1. The daily order of business (unless varied by the application of
other rules and except for the disposition of matters of higher
precedence) shall be as follows:
First. Prayer by the Chaplain.
Second. Reading and approval of the Journal, unless postponed under
clause 9(a) of rule XX.
Third. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Fourth. Correction of reference of public bills.
Fifth. Disposal of business on the Speaker's table as provided in
clause 2.
Sixth. Unfinished business as provided in Pclause 3.
Seventh. The morning hour for the consideration of bills called up
by committees as provided in clause 4.
Eighth. Motions that the House resolve into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union subject to clause 5.
Ninth. Orders of the day.
2. Business on the Speaker's table shall be disposed of as follows:
(a) Messages from the President shall be referred to the appropriate
committees without debate.
(b) Communications addressed to the House, including reports and
communications from heads of departments and bills, resolutions, and
messages from the Senate, may be referred to the appropriate
committees in the same manner and with the same right of correction as
public bills and public resolutions presented by Members, Delegates,
or the Resident Commissioner.
(c) Motions to dispose of Senate amendments on the Speaker's table
may be entertained as provided in clauses 1, 2, and 4 of rule XXII.
(d) Senate bills and resolutions substantially the same as House
measures already favorably reported and not required to be considered
in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union may be
dis
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posed of by motion. Such a motion shall be privileged if offered by
direction of all reporting committees having initial jurisdiction of
the House measure.
3. Consideration of unfinished business in which the House may have
been engaged at an adjournment, except business in the morning hour and
proceedings postponed under clause 9 of rule XX, shall be resumed as
soon as the business on the Speaker's table is finished, and at the same
time each day thereafter until disposed of. The consideration of all
other unfinished business shall be resumed whenever the class of
business to which it belongs shall be in order under the rules.
4. After the unfinished business has been disposed of, the Speaker
shall call each standing committee in regular order and then select
committees. Each committee when named may call up for consideration a
bill or resolution reported by it on a previous day and on the House
Calendar. If the Speaker does not complete the call of the committees
before the House passes to other business, the next call shall resume at
the point it left off, giving preference to the last bill or resolution
under consideration. A committee that has occupied the call for two days
may not call up another bill or resolution until the other committees
have been called in their turn.
5. After consideration of bills or resolutions under clause 4 for one
hour, it shall be in order, pending consideration thereof, to entertain
a motion that the House resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union or, when authorized by a committee, that the
House resolve into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union to consider a particular bill. Such a motion shall be subject to
only one amendment designating another bill. If such a motion is decided
in the negative, another such motion may not be considered until the
matter that was pending when such motion was offered is disposed of.
6. All questions relating to the priority of business shall be decided
by a majority without debate.
RULE XV
Business in Order on Special Days
Suspensions, Mondays and Tuesdays
1. (a) A rule may not be suspended except by a vote of two-thirds of
the Members voting, a quorum being present. The Speaker may not
entertain a motion that the House suspend the rules except on Mondays
and Tuesdays and during the last six days of a session of Congress.
(b) Pending a motion that the House suspend the rules, the Speaker may
entertain one motion that the House adjourn. After the result of such a
motion is announced, the Speaker may not entertain any other motion
until the vote is taken on the suspension.
(c) A motion that the House suspend the rules is debatable for 40
minutes, one-half in favor of the motion and one-half in opposition
thereto.
Discharge motions, second and fourth Mondays
2. (a) Motions to discharge committees shall be in order on the second
and fourth Mondays of a month.
(b)(1) A Member may present to the Clerk a motion in writing to
discharge--
(A) a committee from consideration of a public bill or public
resolution that has been referred to it for 30 legislative days; or
(B) the Committee on Rules from consideration of a resolution that
has been referred to it for seven legislative days and that proposes a
special order of business for the consideration of a public bill or
public resolution that has been reported by a standing committee or
has been referred to a standing committee for 30 legislative days.
(2) Only one motion may be presented for a bill or resolution. A
Member may not file a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules from
consideration of a resolution providing for the consideration of more
than one public bill or public resolution or admitting or effecting a
nongermane amendment to a public bill or public resolution.
(c) A motion presented under paragraph (b) shall be placed in the
custody of the Clerk, who shall arrange a convenient place for the
signatures of Members. A signature may be withdrawn by a Member in
writing at any time before a motion is entered on the Journal. The Clerk
shall make signatures a matter of public record, causing the names of
the Members who have signed a discharge motion during a week to be
published in a portion of the Congressional Record designated for that
purpose on the last legislative day of the week and making cumulative
lists of such names available each day for public inspection in an
appropriate office of the House. The Clerk shall devise a means for
making such lists available to offices of the House and to the public in
electronic form. When a majority of the total membership of the House
shall have signed the motion, it shall be entered on the Journal,
printed with the signatures thereto in the Record, and referred to the
Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees.
(d)(1) On the second and fourth Mondays of a month (except during the
last six days of a session of Congress), immediately after the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag, a motion to discharge that has been on the
calendar for at least seven legislative days shall be privileged if
called up by a Member whose signature appears thereon. When such a
motion is called up, the House shall proceed to its consideration under
this paragraph without intervening motion except one motion to adjourn.
Privileged motions to discharge shall have precedence in the order of
their entry on the Journal.
(2) When a motion to discharge is called up, the bill or resolution to
which it relates shall be read by title only. The motion is debatable
for 20 minutes, one-half in favor of the motion and one-half in
opposition thereto.
(e)(1) If a motion prevails to discharge the Committee on Rules from
consideration of a resolution, the House shall immediately consider the
resolution, pending which the Speaker may entertain one motion that the
House adjourn. After the result of such a motion to adjourn is
announced, the Speaker may not entertain any other dilatory motion until
the resolution has been disposed of. If the resolution is adopted, the
House shall immediately proceed to its execution.
(2) If a motion prevails to discharge a standing committee from
consideration of a public bill or public resolution, a motion that the
House proceed to the immediate consideration of such bill or resolution
shall be privileged if offered by a Member whose signature appeared on
the motion to discharge. The motion to proceed is not debatable. If the
motion to proceed is adopted, the bill or resolution shall be considered
immediately under the general rules of the House. If unfinished before
adjournment of the day on which it is called up, the bill or resolution
shall remain the unfinished business until it is disposed of. If the
motion to proceed is rejected, the bill or resolution shall be referred
to the appropriate calendar, where it shall have the same status as if
the committee from which it was discharged had duly reported it to the
House.
(f)(1) When a motion to discharge originated under this clause has
once been acted on by the House, it shall not be in order to entertain
during the same session of Congress--
(A) a motion to discharge a committee from consideration of that
bill or resolution or of any other bill or resolution that, by
relating in substance to or dealing with the same subject matter, is
substantially the same; or
(B) a motion to discharge the Committee on Rules from consideration
of a resolution providing a special order of business for the
consideration of that bill or resolution or of any other bill or
resolution that, by relating in substance to or dealing with the same
subject matter, is substantially the same.
(2) A motion to discharge on the Calendar of Motions to Discharge
Committees that is rendered out of order under subparagraph (1) shall be
stricken from that calendar.
Adverse report by the Committee on Rules, second and fourth Mondays
3. An adverse report by the Committee on Rules on a resolution
proposing a special order of business for the consideration of a public
bill or public joint resolution may be called up under clause 6(e) of
rule XIII as a privileged question by a Member, Dele
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gate, or Resident Commissioner on a day when it is in order to consider
a motion to discharge committees under clause 2.
District of Columbia business, second and fourth Mondays
4. The second and fourth Mondays of a month shall be set apart for the
consideration of such District of Columbia business as may be called up
by the Committee on Government Reform after the disposition of motions
to discharge committees and after the disposal of such business on the
Speaker's table as requires reference only.
Private Calendar, first and third Tuesdays
5. (a) On the first Tuesday of a month, the Speaker shall direct the
Clerk to call the bills and resolutions on the Private Calendar after
disposal of such business on the Speaker's table as requires reference
only. If two or more Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner
object to the consideration of a bill or resolution so called, it shall
be recommitted to the committee that reported it. No other business
shall be in order before completion of the call of the Private Calendar
on this day unless two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being
present, agree to a motion that the House dispense with the call.
(b)(1) On the third Tuesday of a month, after the disposal of such
business on the Speaker's table as requires reference only, the Speaker
may direct the Clerk to call the bills and resolutions on the Private
Calendar. Preference shall be given to omnibus bills containing the
texts of bills or resolutions that have previously been objected to on a
call of the Private Calendar. If two or more Members, Delegates, or the
Resident Commissioner object to the consideration of a bill or
resolution so called (other than an omnibus bill), it shall be
recommitted to the committee that reported it. Two-thirds of the Members
voting, a quorum being present, may adopt a motion that the House
dispense with the call on this day.
(2) Omnibus bills shall be read for amendment by paragraph. No
amendment shall be in order except to strike or to reduce amounts of
money or to provide limitations. An item or matter stricken from an
omnibus bill may not thereafter during the same session of Congress be
included in an omnibus bill. Upon passage such an omnibus bill shall be
resolved into the several bills and resolutions of which it is composed.
The several bills and resolutions, with any amendments adopted by the
House, shall be engrossed, when necessary, and otherwise considered as
passed severally by the House as distinct bills and resolutions.
(c) The Speaker may not entertain a reservation of the right to object
to the consideration of a bill or resolution under this clause. A bill
or resolution considered under this clause shall be considered in the
House as in the Committee of the Whole. A motion to dispense with the
call of the Private Calendar under this clause shall be privileged.
Debate on such a motion shall be limited to five minutes in support and
five minutes in opposition.
Corrections Calendar, second and fourth Tuesdays
6. (a) After a bill has been favorably reported and placed on either
the Union or House Calendar, the Speaker, after consultation with the
Minority Leader, may direct the Clerk also to place the bill on the
``Corrections Calendar.'' At any time on the second and fourth Tuesdays
of a month, the Speaker may direct the Clerk to call a bill that has
been on the Corrections Calendar for three legislative days.
(b) A bill called from the Corrections Calendar shall be considered in
the House, is debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by
the chairman and ranking minority member of the primary committee of
jurisdiction, and shall not be subject to amendment except those
recommended by the primary committee of jurisdiction or offered by the
chairman of the primary committee or a designee. The previous question
shall be considered as ordered on the bill and any amendments thereto to
final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit
with or without instructions.
(c) The approval of three-fifths of the Members voting, a quorum being
present, shall be required to pass a bill called from the Corrections
Calendar. The rejection of a bill so called, or the sustaining of a
point of order against it or against its consideration, does not cause
its removal from the Calendar to which it was originally referred.
Calendar Call of Committees, Wednesdays
7. (a) On Wednesday of each week, business shall not be in order
before completion of the call of the committees (except as provided by
clause 4 of rule XIV) unless two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum
being present, agree to a motion that the House dispense with the call.
Such a motion shall be privileged. Debate on such a motion shall be
limited to five minutes in support and five minutes in opposition.
(b) A bill or resolution on either the House or the Union Calendar,
except bills or resolutions that are privileged under the Rules of the
House, may be called under this clause. A bill or resolution called up
from the Union Calendar shall be considered in the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union without motion, subject to clause
3 of rule XVI. General debate on a measure considered under this clause
shall be confined to the measure and may not exceed two hours equally
divided between a proponent and an opponent.
(c) When a committee has occupied the call under this clause on one
Wednesday, it shall not be in order on a succeeding Wednesday to
consider unfinished business previously called up by that committee
until the other committees have been called in their turn unless--
(1) the previous question has been ordered on such unfinished
business; or
(2) the House adopts a motion to dispense with the call under
paragraph (a).
(d) If any committee has not been called under this clause during a
session of a Congress, then at the next session of that Congress the
call shall resume where it left off at the end of the preceding session.
(e) This rule does not apply during the last two weeks of a session of
Congress.
(f) The Speaker may not entertain a motion for a recess on a Wednesday
except during the last two weeks of a session of Congress.
RULE XVI
Motions and Amendments
Motions
1. Every motion entertained by the Speaker shall be reduced to writing
on the demand of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner and,
unless it is withdrawn the same day, shall be entered on the Journal
with the name of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner offering
it. A dilatory motion may not be entertained by the Speaker.
Withdrawal
2. When a motion is entertained, the Speaker shall state it or cause
it to be read aloud by the Clerk before it is debated. The motion then
shall be in the possession of the House but may be withdrawn at any time
before a decision or amendment thereon.
Question of consideration
3. When a motion or proposition is entertained, the question, ``Will
the House now consider it?'' may not be put unless demanded by a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.
Precedence of motions
4. (a) When a question is under debate, only the following motions may
be entertained (which shall have precedence in the following order):
(1) To adjourn.
(2) To lay on the table.
(3) For the previous question.
(4) To postpone to a day certain.
(5) To refer.
(6) To amend.
(7) To postpone indefinitely.
(b) A motion to adjourn, to lay on the table, or for the previous
question shall be decided without debate. A motion to postpone to a day
certain, to refer, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, may not
be allowed again on the same day at the same stage of the question.
(c)(1) It shall be in order at any time for the Speaker, in his
discretion, to entertain a motion--
(A) that the Speaker be authorized to declare a recess; or
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(B) that when the House adjourns it stand adjourned to a day and
time certain.
(2) Either motion shall be of equal privilege with the motion to
adjourn and shall be decided without debate.
Divisibility
5. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a question shall be
divided on the demand of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
before the question is put if it includes propositions so distinct in
substance that, one being taken away, a substantive proposition remains.
(b)(1) A motion or resolution to elect members to a standing committee
of the House, or to a joint standing committee, is not divisible.
(2) A resolution or order reported by the Committee on Rules providing
a special order of business is not divisible.
(c) A motion to strike and insert is not divisible, but rejection of a
motion to strike does not preclude another motion to amend.
Amendments
6. When an amendable proposition is under consideration, a motion to
amend and a motion to amend that amendment shall be in order, and it
also shall be in order to offer a further amendment by way of substitute
for the original motion to amend, to which one amendment may be offered
but which may not be voted on until the original amendment is perfected.
An amendment may be withdrawn in the House at any time before a decision
or amendment thereon. An amendment to the title of a bill or resolution
shall not be in order until after its passage or adoption and shall be
decided without debate.
Germaneness
7. No motion or proposition on a subject different from that under
consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment.
Readings
8. Bills and joint resolutions are subject to readings as follows:
(a) A first reading is in full when the bill or joint resolution is
first considered.
(b) A second reading occurs only when the bill or joint resolution
is read for amendment in a Committee of the Whole House on the state
of the Union under clause 5 of rule XVIII.
(c) A third reading precedes passage when the Speaker states the
question: ``Shall the bill [or joint resolution] be engrossed [when
applicable] and read a third time?'' If that question is decided in
the affirmative, then the bill or joint resolution shall be read the
final time by title and then the question shall be put on its passage.
RULE XVII
Decorum and Debate
Decorum
1. (a) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who desires to
speak or deliver a matter to the House shall rise and respectfully
address himself to ``Mr. Speaker'' and, on being recognized, may address
the House from any place on the floor. When invited by the Chair, a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may speak from the Clerk's
desk.
(b)(1) Remarks in debate shall be confined to the question under
debate, avoiding personality.
(2)(A) Except as provided in subdivision (B), debate may not include
characterizations of Senate action or inaction, references to individual
Members of the Senate, or quotations from Senate proceedings.
(B) Debate may include references to actions taken by the Senate or by
committees thereof that are a matter of public record; references to the
pendency or sponsorship in the Senate of bills, resolutions, and
amendments; factual descriptions relating to Senate action or inaction
concerning a measure then under debate in the House; and quotations from
Senate proceedings on a measure then under debate in the House that are
relevant to the making of legislative history establishing the meaning
of that measure.
Recognition
2. When two or more Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner
rise at once, the Speaker shall name the Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner who is first to speak. A Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner may not occupy more than one hour in debate on a question
in the House or in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union except as otherwise provided in this rule.
Managing Debate
3. (a) The Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who calls up a
measure may open and close debate thereon. When general debate extends
beyond one day, that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall be
entitled to one hour to close without regard to the time used in
opening.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (a), a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner may not speak more than once to the same question
without leave of the House.
(c) A manager of a measure who opposes an amendment thereto is
entitled to close controlled debate thereon.
Call to order
4. (a) If a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, in speaking or
otherwise, transgresses the Rules of the House, the Speaker shall, or a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may, call to order the
offending Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, who shall
immediately sit down unless permitted on motion of another Member,
Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner to explain. If a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner is called to order, the Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner making the call to order shall
indicate the words excepted to, which shall be taken down in writing at
the Clerk's desk and read aloud to the House.
(b) The Speaker shall decide the validity of a call to order. The
House, if appealed to, shall decide the question without debate. If the
decision is in favor of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
called to order, the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall be
at liberty to proceed, but not otherwise. If the case requires it, an
offending Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall be liable to
censure or such other punishment as the House may consider proper. A
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not be held to answer a
call to order, and may not be subject to the censure of the House
therefor, if further debate or other business has intervened.
Comportment
5. When the Speaker is putting a question or addressing the House, a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not walk out of or across
the Hall. When a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner is speaking,
a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not pass between the
person speaking and the Chair. During the session of the House, a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not wear a hat or remain
by the Clerk's desk during the call of the roll or the counting of
ballots. A person may not smoke or use any personal, electronic office
equipment, including cellular phones and computers, on the floor of the
House. The Sergeant-at-Arms is charged with the strict enforcement of
this clause.
Exhibits
6. When the use of an exhibit in debate is objected to by a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, its use shall be decided without
debate by a vote of the House.
Galleries
7. During a session of the House, it shall not be in order for a
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to introduce to or to bring
to the attention of the House an occupant in the galleries of the House.
The Speaker may not entertain a request for the suspension of this rule
by unanimous consent or otherwise.
Congressional Record
8. (a) The Congressional Record shall be a substantially verbatim
account of remarks made during the proceedings of the House, subject
only to technical, grammatical, and typographical corrections authorized
by the Member,
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Delegate, or Resident Commissioner making the remarks.
(b) Unparliamentary remarks may be deleted only by permission or order
of the House.
(c) This clause establishes a standard of conduct within the meaning
of clause 3(a)(2) of rule XI.
Secret sessions
9. When confidential communications are received from the President,
or when the Speaker or a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner
informs the House that he has communications that he believes ought to
be kept secret for the present, the House shall be cleared of all
persons except the Members, Delegates, Resident Commissioner, and
officers of the House for the reading of such communications, and
debates and proceedings thereon, unless otherwise ordered by the House.
RULE XVIII
The Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
Resolving into the Committee of the Whole
1. Whenever the House resolves into the Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union, the Speaker shall leave the chair after
appointing a Chairman to preside. In case of disturbance or disorderly
conduct in the galleries or lobby, the Chairman may cause the same to be
cleared.
2. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) and in clause 7 of rule XV,
the House resolves into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of
the Union by motion. When such a motion is entertained, the Speaker
shall put the question without debate: ``Shall the House resolve itself
into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for
consideration of this matter?'', naming it.
(b) After the House has adopted a resolution reported by the Committee
on Rules providing a special order of business for the consideration of
a measure in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union,
the Speaker may at any time, when no question is pending before the
House, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole for
the consideration of that measure without intervening motion, unless the
special order of business provides otherwise.
Measures requiring initial consideration in the Committee of the Whole
3. All bills, resolutions, or Senate amendments (as provided in clause
3 of rule XXII) involving a tax or charge on the people, raising
revenue, directly or indirectly making appropriations of money or
property or requiring such appropriations to be made, authorizing
payments out of appropriations already made, releasing any liability to
the United States for money or property, or referring a claim to the
Court of Claims, shall be first considered in the Committee of the Whole
House on the state of the Union. A bill, resolution, or Senate amendment
that fails to comply with this clause is subject to a point of order
against its consideration.
Order of business
4. (a) Subject to subparagraph (b) business on the calendar of the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union may be taken up
in regular order, or in such order as the Committee may determine,
unless the measure to be considered was determined by the House at the
time of resolving into the Committee of the Whole.
(b) Motions to resolve into the Committee of the Whole for
consideration of bills and joint resolutions making general
appropriations have precedence under this clause.
Reading for amendment
5. (a) Before general debate commences on a measure in the Committee
of the Whole House on the state of the Union, it shall be read in full.
When general debate is concluded or closed by order of the House, the
measure under consideration shall be read for amendment. A Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who offers an amendment shall be
allowed five minutes to explain it, after which the Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner who shall first obtain the floor shall be allowed
five minutes to speak in opposition to it. There shall be no further
debate thereon, but the same privilege of debate shall be allowed in
favor of and against any amendment that may be offered to an amendment.
An amendment, or an amendment to an amendment, may be withdrawn by its
proponent only by the unanimous consent of the Committee of the Whole.
(b) When a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner offers an
amendment in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union,
the Clerk shall promptly transmit five copies of the amendment to the
majority committee table and five copies to the minority committee
table. The Clerk also shall deliver at least one copy of the amendment
to the majority cloakroom and at least one copy to the minority
cloakroom.
Quorum and voting
6. (a) A quorum of a Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union is 100 Members. The first time that a Committee of the Whole finds
itself without a quorum during a day, the Chairman shall invoke the
procedure for a quorum call set forth in clause 2 of rule XX, unless he
elects to invoke an alternate procedure set forth in clause 3 or clause
4(a) of rule XX. If a quorum appears, the Committee of the Whole shall
continue its business. If a quorum does not appear, the Committee of the
Whole shall rise, and the Chairman shall report the names of absentees
to the House.
(b)(1) The Chairman may refuse to entertain a point of order that a
quorum is not present during general debate.
(2) After a quorum has once been established on a day, the Chairman
may entertain a point of order that a quorum is not present only when
the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union is operating
under the five-minute rule and the Chairman has put the pending
proposition to a vote.
(3) Upon sustaining a point of order that a quorum is not present, the
Chairman may announce that, following a regular quorum call under
paragraph (a), the minimum time for electronic voting on the pending
question shall be five minutes.
(c) When ordering a quorum call in the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union, the Chairman may announce an intention to
declare that a quorum is constituted at any time during the quorum call
when he determines that a quorum has appeared. If the Chairman
interrupts the quorum call by declaring that a quorum is constituted,
proceedings under the quorum call shall be considered as vacated, and
the Committee of the Whole shall continue its sitting and resume its
business.
(d) A quorum is not required in the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union for adoption of a motion that the Committee rise.
(e) In the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, the
Chairman shall order a recorded vote on a request supported by at least
25 Members.
(f) In the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, the
Chairman may reduce to five minutes the minimum time for electronic
voting without any intervening business or debate on any or all pending
amendments after a record vote has been taken on the first pending
amendment.
Dispensing with the reading of an amendment
7. It shall be in order in the Committee of the Whole House on the
state of the Union to move that the Committee of the Whole dispense with
the reading of an amendment that has been printed in the bill or
resolution as reported by a committee, or an amendment that a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner has caused to be printed in the
Congressional Record. Such a motion shall be decided without debate.
Closing debate
8. (a) Subject to paragraph (b) at any time after the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union has begun five-minute debate on
amendments to any portion of a bill or resolution, it shall be in order
to move that the Committee of the Whole close all debate on that portion
of the bill or resolution or on the pending amendments only. Such a
motion shall be decided without debate. The adoption of
[[Page 2488]]
such a motion does not preclude further amendment, to be decided without
debate.
(b) If the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union
closes debate on any portion of a bill or resolution before there has
been debate on an amendment that a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner has caused to be printed in the Congressional Record at
least one day before its consideration, the Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner who caused the amendment to be printed in the
Record shall be allowed five minutes to explain it, after which the
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who shall first obtain the
floor shall be allowed five minutes to speak in opposition to it. There
shall be no further debate thereon.
(c) Material submitted for printing in the Congressional Record under
this rule shall indicate the full text of the proposed amendment, the
name of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner proposing it, the
number of the bill or resolution to which it will be offered, and the
point in the bill or resolution or amendment thereto where the amendment
is intended to be offered. The amendment shall appear in a portion of
the Record designated for that purpose. Amendments to a specified
measure submitted for printing in that portion of the Record shall be
numbered in the order printed.
Striking the enacting clause
9. A motion that the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the
Union rise and report a bill or resolution to the House with the
recommendation that the enacting or resolving clause be stricken shall
have precedence of a motion to amend, and, if carried in the House,
shall constitute a rejection of the bill or resolution. Whenever a bill
or resolution is reported from the Committee of the Whole with such
adverse recommendation and the recommendation is rejected by the House,
the bill or resolution shall stand recommitted to the Committee of the
Whole without further action by the House. Before the question of
concurrence is submitted, it shall be in order to move that the House
refer the bill or resolution to a committee, with or without
instructions. If a bill or resolution is so referred, then when it is
again reported to the House it shall be referred to the Committee of the
Whole without debate.
Concurrent resolution on the budget
10. (a) At the conclusion of general debate in the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union on a concurrent resolution on the
budget under section 305(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the
concurrent resolution shall be considered as read for amendment.
(b) It shall not be in order in the House or in the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union to consider an amendment to a
concurrent resolution on the budget, or an amendment thereto, unless the
concurrent resolution, as amended by such amendment or amendments--
(1) would be mathematically consistent except as limited by
paragraph (c); and
(2) would contain all the matter set forth in paragraphs (1) through
(5) of section 301(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
(c)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in
order in the House or in the Committee of the Whole House on the state
of the Union to consider an amendment to a concurrent resolution on the
budget, or an amendment thereto, that proposes to change the amount of
the appropriate level of the public debt set forth in the concurrent
resolution, as reported.
(2) Amendments to achieve mathematical consistency under section
305(a)(5) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, if offered by
direction of the Committee on the Budget, may propose to adjust the
amount of the appropriate level of the public debt set forth in the
concurrent resolution, as reported, to reflect changes made in other
figures contained in the concurrent resolution.
Unfunded mandates
11. (a) In the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union,
an amendment proposing only to strike an unfunded mandate from the
portion of the bill then open to amendment, if otherwise in order, may
be precluded from consideration only by specific terms of a special
order of the House.
(b) In this clause the term ``unfunded mandate'' means a Federal
intergovernmental mandate the direct costs of which exceed the threshold
otherwise specified for a reported bill or joint resolution in section
424(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
Applicability of Rules of the House
12. The Rules of the House are the rules of the Committee of the Whole
House on the state of the Union so far as applicable.
RULE XIX
Motions Following the Amendment Stage
Previous question
1. (a) There shall be a motion for the previous question, which, being
ordered, shall have the effect of cutting off all debate and bringing
the House to a direct vote on the immediate question or questions on
which it has been ordered. Whenever the previous question has been
ordered on an otherwise debatable question on which there has been no
debate, it shall be in order to debate that question for 40 minutes,
equally divided and controlled by a proponent of the question and an
opponent. The previous question may be moved and ordered on a single
question, on a series of questions allowable under the rules, or on an
amendment or amendments, or may embrace all authorized motions or
amendments and include the bill or resolution to its passage, adoption,
or rejection.
(b) Incidental questions of order arising during the pendency of a
motion for the previous question shall be decided, whether on appeal or
otherwise, without debate.
Recommit
2. (a) After the previous question has been ordered on passage or
adoption of a measure, or pending a motion to that end, it shall be in
order to move that the House recommit (or commit, as the case may be)
the measure, with or without instructions, to a standing or select
committee. For such a motion to recommit, the Speaker shall give
preference in recognition to a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner who is opposed to the measure.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c), if a motion that the House
recommit a bill or joint resolution on which the previous question has
been ordered to passage includes instructions, it shall be debatable for
10 minutes equally divided between the proponent and an opponent.
(c) On demand of the floor manager for the majority, it shall be in
order to debate the motion for one hour equally divided and controlled
by the proponent and an opponent.
Reconsideration
3. When a motion has been carried or lost, it shall be in order on the
same or succeeding day for a Member on the prevailing side of the
question to enter a motion for the reconsideration thereof. The entry of
such a motion shall take precedence over all other questions except the
consideration of a conference report or a motion to adjourn, and may not
be withdrawn after such succeeding day without the consent of the House.
Once entered, a motion may be called up for consideration by any Member.
During the last six days of a session of Congress, such a motion shall
be disposed of when entered.
4. A bill, petition, memorial, or resolution referred to a committee,
or reported therefrom for printing and recommitment, may not be brought
back to the House on a motion to reconsider.
RULE XX
Voting and Quorum Calls
1. (a) The House shall divide after the Speaker has put a question to
a vote by voice as provided in clause 6 of rule I if the Speaker is in
doubt or division is demanded. Those in favor of the question shall
first rise from their seats to be counted, and then those opposed.
(b) If a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner requests a
recorded vote, and that request is supported by at least one-fifth of a
quorum, the vote shall be taken by electronic device unless the Speaker
invokes another procedure for recording votes provided in this rule. A
recorded vote taken in the House under this paragraph shall be
considered a vote by the yeas and nays.
[[Page 2489]]
(c) In case of a tie vote, a question shall be lost.
2. (a) Unless the Speaker directs otherwise, the Clerk shall conduct a
record vote or quorum call by electronic device. In such a case the
Clerk shall enter on the Journal and publish in the Congressional
Record, in alphabetical order in each category, the names of Members
recorded as voting in the affirmative, the names of Members recorded as
voting in the negative, and the names of Members answering present as if
they had been called in the manner provided in clause 3. Except as
otherwise permitted under clause 9 or 10 of this rule or under clause 6
of rule XVIII, the minimum time for a record vote or quorum call by
electronic device shall be 15 minutes.
(b) When the electronic voting system is inoperable or is not used,
the Speaker or Chairman may direct the Clerk to conduct a record vote or
quorum call as provided in clause 3 or 4.
3. The Speaker may direct the Clerk to conduct a record vote or quorum
call by call of the roll. In such a case the Clerk shall call the names
of Members, alphabetically by surname. When two or more have the same
surname, the name of the State (and, if necessary to distinguish among
Members from the same State, the given names of the Members) shall be
added. After the roll has been called once, the Clerk shall call the
names of those not recorded, alphabetically by surname. Members
appearing after the second call, but before the result is announced, may
vote or announce a pair.
4. (a) The Speaker may direct a record vote or quorum call to be
conducted by tellers. In such a case the tellers named by the Speaker
shall record the names of the Members voting on each side of the
question or record their presence, as the case may be, which the Clerk
shall enter on the Journal and publish in the Congressional Record.
Absentees shall be noted, but the doors may not be closed except when
ordered by the Speaker. The minimum time for a record vote or quorum
call by tellers shall be 15 minutes.
(b) On the demand of a Member, or at the suggestion of the Speaker,
the names of Members sufficient to make a quorum in the Hall of the
House who do not vote shall be noted by the Clerk, entered on the
Journal, reported to the Speaker with the names of the Members voting,
and be counted and announced in determining the presence of a quorum to
do business.
5. (a) In the absence of a quorum, a majority comprising at least 15
Members, which may include the Speaker, may compel the attendance of
absent Members.
(b) Subject to clause 7(b) a majority of those present may order the
Sergeant-at-Arms to send officers appointed by him to arrest those
Members for whom no sufficient excuse is made and shall secure and
retain their attendance. The House shall determine on what condition
they shall be discharged. Unless the House otherwise directs, the
Members who voluntarily appear shall be admitted immediately to the Hall
of the House and shall report their names to the Clerk to be entered on
the Journal as present.
6. (a) When a quorum fails to vote on a question, a quorum is not
present, and objection is made for that cause (unless the House shall
adjourn)--
(1) there shall be a call of the House;
(2) the Sergeant-at-Arms shall proceed forthwith to bring in absent
Members; and
(3) the yeas and nays on the pending question shall at the same time
be considered as ordered.
(b) The Clerk shall record Members by the yeas and nays on the pending
question, using such procedure as the Speaker may invoke under clause 2,
3, or 4. Each Member arrested under this clause shall be brought by the
Sergeant-at-Arms before the House, whereupon he shall be noted as
present, discharged from arrest, and given an opportunity to vote; and
his vote shall be recorded. If those voting on the question and those
who are present and decline to vote together make a majority of the
House, the Speaker shall declare that a quorum is constituted, and the
pending question shall be decided as the requisite majority of those
voting shall have determined. Thereupon further proceedings under the
call shall be considered as dispensed with.
(c) At any time after Members have had the requisite opportunity to
respond by the yeas and nays, but before a result has been announced,
the Speaker may entertain a motion that the House adjourn if seconded by
a majority of those present, to be ascertained by actual count by the
Speaker. If the House adjourns on such a motion, all proceedings under
this clause shall be considered as vacated.
7. (a) The Speaker may not entertain a point of order that a quorum is
not present unless a question has been put to a vote.
(b) Subject to paragraph (c) the Speaker may recognize a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to move a call of the House at any
time. When a quorum is established pursuant to a call of the House,
further proceedings under the call shall be considered as dispensed with
unless the Speaker recognizes for a motion to compel attendance of
Members under clause 5(b).
(c) A call of the House shall not be in order after the previous
question is ordered unless the Speaker determines by actual count that a
quorum is not present.
Postponement of proceedings
8. (a)(1) When a recorded vote is ordered, or the yeas and nays are
ordered, or a vote is objected to under clause 6 on any of the questions
specified in subparagraph (2), the Speaker may postpone further
proceedings on that question to a designated place in the legislative
schedule on that legislative day (in the case of the question of
agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal) or within two
legislative days (in the case of any other question).
(2) The questions described in the subparagraph (1) are as follows:
(A) The question of passing a bill or joint resolution.
(B) The question of adopting a resolution or concurrent resolution.
(C) The question of agreeing to a motion to instruct managers on the
part of the House (except that proceedings may not resume on such a
motion under clause 7(c) of rule XXII if the managers have filed a
report in the House).
(D) The question of agreeing to a conference report.
(E) The question of agreeing to a motion to recommit a bill
considered under clause 6 of rule XV.
(F) The question of ordering the previous question on a question
described in subdivision (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E).
(G) The question of agreeing to an amendment to a bill considered
under clause 6 of rule XV.
(H) The question of agreeing to a motion to suspend the rules.
(b) At the time designated by the Speaker for further proceedings on
questions postponed under paragraph (a), the Speaker shall resume
proceedings on each postponed question in the order in which it was
considered.
(c) The Speaker may reduce to five minutes the minimum time for
electronic voting on a question postponed under this clause, or on a
question incidental thereto, that follows another electronic vote
without intervening business, so long as the minimum time for electronic
voting on the first in any series of questions is 15 minutes.
(d) If the House adjourns on a legislative day designated for further
proceedings on questions postponed under this clause without disposing
of such questions, then on the next legislative day the unfinished
business is the disposition of such questions in the order in which they
were considered.
Five-minute votes
9. The Speaker may reduce to five minutes the minimum time for
electronic voting--
(a) after a record vote on a motion for the previous question, on
any underlying question that follows without intervening business, or
on a question incidental thereto;
(b) after a record vote on an amendment reported from the Committee
of the Whole House on the state of the Union, on any subsequent
amendment to that bill or resolution reported from the Committee of
the Whole, or on a question incidental thereto;
[[Page 2490]]
(c) after a record vote on a motion to recommit a bill, resolution,
or conference report, on the question of passage or adoption, as the
case may be, of such bill, resolution, or conference report, or on a
question incidental thereto, if the question of passage or adoption
follows without intervening business the vote on the motion to
recommit; or
(d) as provided in clause 6(b)(3) of rule XVIII, clause 6(f) of rule
XVIII, or clause 8 of this rule.
Automatic yeas and nays
10. The yeas and nays shall be considered as ordered when the Speaker
puts the question on passage of a bill or joint resolution, or on
adoption of a conference report, making general appropriations, or
increasing Federal income tax rates (within the meaning of clause 5 of
rule XXI), or on final adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget
or conference report thereon.
Ballot votes
11. In a case of ballot for election, a majority of the votes shall be
necessary to an election. When there is not such a majority on the first
ballot, the process shall be repeated until a majority is obtained. In
all balloting blanks shall be rejected, may not be counted in the
enumeration of votes, and may not be reported by the tellers.
RULE XXI
Restrictions on Certain Bills
Reservation of certain points of order
1. At the time a general appropriation bill is reported, all points of
order against provisions therein shall be considered as reserved.
General appropriation bills and amendments
2. (a)(1) An appropriation may not be reported in a general
appropriation bill, and may not be in order as an amendment thereto, for
an expenditure not previously authorized by law, except to continue
appropriations for public works and objects that are already in
progress.
(2) A reappropriation of unexpended balances of appropriations may not
be reported in a general appropriation bill, and may not be in order as
an amendment thereto, except to continue appropriations for public works
and objects that are already in progress. This subparagraph does not
apply to transfers of unexpended balances within the department or
agency for which they were originally appropriated that are reported by
the Committee on Appropriations.
(b) A provision changing existing law may not be reported in a general
appropriation bill, including a provision making the availability of
funds contingent on the receipt or possession of information not
required by existing law for the period of the appropriation, except
germane provisions that retrench expenditures by the reduction of
amounts of money covered by the bill (which may include those
recommended to the Committee on Appropriations by direction of a
legislative committee having jurisdiction over the subject matter) and
except rescissions of appropriations contained in appropriation Acts.
(c) An amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order
if changing existing law, including an amendment making the availability
of funds contingent on the receipt or possession of information not
required by existing law for the period of the appropriation. Except as
provided in paragraph (d), an amendment proposing a limitation not
specifically contained or authorized in existing law for the period of
the limitation shall not be in order during consideration of a general
appropriation bill.
(d) After a general appropriation bill has been read for amendment, a
motion that the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union
rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have
been adopted shall, if offered by the Majority Leader or a designee,
have precedence over motions to amend the bill. If such a motion to rise
and report is rejected or not offered, amendments proposing limitations
not specifically contained or authorized in existing law for the period
of the limitation or proposing germane amendments that retrench
expenditures by reductions of amounts of money covered by the bill may
be considered.
(e) A provision other than an appropriation designated an emergency
under section 251(b)(2) or section 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and
Emergency Deficit Control Act, a rescission of budget authority, or a
reduction in direct spending or an amount for a designated emergency may
not be reported in an appropriation bill or joint resolution containing
an emergency designation under section 251(b)(2) or section 252(e) of
such Act and may not be in order as an amendment thereto.
(f) During the reading of an appropriation bill for amendment in the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, it shall be in
order to consider en bloc amendments proposing only to transfer
appropriations among objects in the bill without increasing the levels
of budget authority or outlays in the bill. When considered en bloc
under this paragraph, such amendments may amend portions of the bill not
yet read for amendment (following disposition of any points of order
against such portions) and is not subject to a demand for division of
the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole.
Transportation obligation limitations
3. It shall not be in order to consider a bill, joint resolution,
amendment, or conference report that would cause obligation limitations
to be below the level for any fiscal year set forth in section 8103 of
the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, as adjusted, for the
highway category or the mass transit category, as applicable.
Appropriations on legislative bills
4. A bill or joint resolution carrying an appropriation may not be
reported by a committee not having jurisdiction to report
appropriations, and an amendment proposing an appropriation shall not be
in order during the consideration of a bill or joint resolution reported
by a committee not having that jurisdiction. A point of order against an
appropriation in such a bill, joint resolution, or amendment thereto may
be raised at any time during pendency of that measure for amendment.
Tax and tariff measures and amendments
5. (a) A bill or joint resolution carrying a tax or tariff measure may
not be reported by a committee not having jurisdiction to report tax or
tariff measures, and an amendment in the House or proposed by the Senate
carrying a tax or tariff measure shall not be in order during the
consideration of a bill or joint resolution reported by a committee not
having that jurisdiction. A point of order against a tax or tariff
measure in such a bill, joint resolution, or amendment thereto may be
raised at any time during pendency of that measure for amendment.
Passage of tax rate increases
(b) A bill or joint resolution, amendment, or conference report
carrying a Federal income tax rate increase may not be considered as
passed or agreed to unless so determined by a vote of not less than
three-fifths of the Members voting, a quorum being present. In this
paragraph the term ``Federal income tax rate increase'' means any
amendment to subsection (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e) of section 1, or to
section 11(b) or 55(b), of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, that
imposes a new percentage as a rate of tax and thereby increases the
amount of tax imposed by any such section.
Consideration of retroactive tax rate increases
(c) It shall not be in order to consider a bill, joint resolution,
amendment, or conference report carrying a retroactive Federal income
tax rate increase. In this paragraph--
(1) the term ``Federal income tax rate increase'' means any
amendment to subsection (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e) of section 1, or to
section 11(b) or 55(b), of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, that
imposes a new percentage as a rate of tax and thereby increases the
amount of tax imposed by any such section; and
(2) a Federal income tax rate increase is retroactive if it applies
to a period beginning before the enactment of the provision.
[[Page 2491]]
RULE XXII
House and Senate Relations
Senate amendments
1. A motion to disagree to Senate amendments to a House bill or
resolution and to request or agree to a conference with the Senate, or a
motion to insist on House amendments to a Senate bill or resolution and
to request or agree to a conference with the Senate, shall be privileged
in the discretion of the Speaker if offered by direction of the primary
committee and of all reporting committees that had initial referral of
the bill or resolution.
2. A motion to dispose of House bills with Senate amendments not
requiring consideration in the Committee of the Whole House on the state
of the Union shall be privileged.
3. Except as permitted by clause 1, before the stage of disagreement,
a Senate amendment to a House bill or resolution shall be subject to the
point of order that it must first be considered in the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union if, originating in the House, it
would be subject to such a point under clause 3 of rule XVIII.
4. When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or
resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any
amendment shall be privileged.
5. (a) Managers on the part of the House may not agree to a Senate
amendment described in paragraph (b) unless specific authority to agree
to the amendment first is given by the House by a separate vote with
respect thereto. If specific authority is not granted, the Senate
amendment shall be reported in disagreement by the conference committee
back to the two Houses for disposition by separate motion.
(b) The managers on the part of the House may not agree to a Senate
amendment described in paragraph (a) that--
(1) would violate clause 2(a)(1) or (c) of rule XXI if originating
in the House; or
(2) proposes an appropriation on a bill other than a general
appropriation bill.
6. A Senate amendment carrying a tax or tariff measure in violation of
clause 5(a) of rule XXI may not be agreed to.
Conference reports; amendments reported in disagreement
7. (a) The presentation of a conference report shall be in order at
any time except during a reading of the Journal or the conduct of a
record vote, a vote by division, or a quorum call.
(b)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2) the time allotted for debate on a
motion to instruct managers on the part of the House shall be equally
divided between the majority and minority parties.
(2) If the proponent of a motion to instruct managers on the part of
the House and the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner of the
other party identified under subparagraph (1) both support the motion,
one-third of the time for debate thereon shall be allotted to a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who opposes the motion on demand of
that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.
(c)(1) A motion to instruct managers on the part of the House, or a
motion to discharge all managers on the part of the House and to appoint
new conferees, shall be privileged--
(A) after a conference committee has been appointed for 20 calendar
days without making a report; and
(B) on the first legislative day after the calendar day on which the
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner offering the motion
announces to the House his intention to do so and the form of the
motion.
(2) The Speaker may designate a time in the legislative schedule on
that legislative day for consideration of a motion described in
subparagraph (1).
(3) During the last six days of a session of Congress, the period of
time specified in subparagraph (1)(A) shall be 36 hours.
(d) Each conference report to the House shall be printed as a report
of the House. Each such report shall be accompanied by a joint
explanatory statement prepared jointly by the managers on the part of
the House and the managers on the part of the Senate. The joint
explanatory statement shall be sufficiently detailed and explicit to
inform the House of the effects of the report on the matters committed
to conference.
8. (a)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in
order to consider a conference report until--
(A) the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal
holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which
the conference report and the accompanying joint explanatory statement
have been available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident
Commissioner in the Congressional Record; and
(B) copies of the conference report and the accompanying joint
explanatory statement have been available to Members, Delegates, and
the Resident Commissioner for at least two hours.
(2) Subparagraph (1)(A) does not apply during the last six days of a
session of Congress.
(b)(1) Except as specified in subparagraph (2), it shall not be in
order to consider a motion to dispose of a Senate amendment reported in
disagreement by a conference committee until--
(A) the third calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal
holidays except when the House is in session on such a day) on which
the report in disagreement and any accompanying statement have been
available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner in the
Congressional Record; and
(B) copies of the report in disagreement and any accompanying
statement, together with the text of the Senate amendment, have been
available to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner for at
least two hours.
(2) Subparagraph (1)(A) does not apply during the last six days of a
session of Congress.
(3) During consideration of a Senate amendment reported in
disagreement by a conference committee on a general appropriation bill,
a motion to insist on disagreement to the Senate amendment shall be
preferential to any other motion to dispose of that amendment if the
original motion offered by the floor manager proposes to change existing
law and the motion to insist is offered before debate on the original
motion by the chairman of the committee having jurisdiction of the
subject matter of the amendment or a designee. Such a preferential
motion shall be separately debatable for one hour equally divided
between its proponent and the proponent of the original motion. The
previous question shall be considered as ordered on the preferential
motion to its adoption without intervening motion.
(c) A conference report or a Senate amendment reported in disagreement
by a conference committee that has been available as provided in
paragraph (a) or (b) shall be considered as read when called up.
(d)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2), the time allotted for debate on a
conference report or on a motion to dispose of a Senate amendment
reported in disagreement by a conference committee shall be equally
divided between the majority and minority parties.
(2) If the floor manager for the majority and the floor manager for
the minority both support the conference report or motion, one-third of
the time for debate thereon shall be allotted to a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner who opposes the conference report or motion on
demand of that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.
(e) Under clause 6(a)(2) of rule XIII, a resolution proposing only to
waive a requirement of this clause concerning the availability of
reports to Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner may be
considered by the House on the same day it is reported by the Committee
on Rules.
9. Whenever a disagreement to an amendment has been committed to a
conference committee, the managers on the part of the House may propose
a substitute that is a germane modification of the matter in
disagreement. The introduction of any language presenting specific
additional matter not committed to the conference committee by either
House does not constitute a germane modification of the matter in
disagreement. Moreover, a conference report may not include
[[Page 2492]]
matter not committed to the conference committee by either House and may
not include a modification of specific matter committed to the
conference committee by either or both Houses if that modification is
beyond the scope of that specific matter as committed to the conference
committee.
10. (a)(1) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may raise a
point of order against nongermane matter, as specified in subparagraph
(2), before the commencement of debate on--
(A) a conference report;
(B) a motion that the House recede from its disagreement to a Senate
amendment reported in disagreement by a conference committee and
concur therein, with or without amendment; or
(C) a motion that the House recede from its disagreement to a Senate
amendment on which the stage of disagreement has been reached and
concur therein, with or without amendment.
(2) A point of order against nongermane matter is one asserting that a
proposition described in subparagraph (1) contains specified matter that
would violate clause 7 of rule XVI if it were offered in the House as an
amendment to the underlying measure in the form it was passed by the
House.
(b) If a point of order under paragraph (a) is sustained, a motion
that the House reject the nongermane matter identified by the point of
order shall be privileged. Such a motion is debatable for 40 minutes,
one-half in favor of the motion and one-half in opposition thereto.
(c) After disposition of a point of order under paragraph (a) or a
motion to reject under paragraph (b), any further points of order under
paragraph (a) not covered by a previous point of order, and any
consequent motions to reject under paragraph (b), shall be likewise
disposed of.
(d)(1) If a motion to reject under paragraph (b) is adopted, then
after disposition of all points of order under paragraph (a) and any
consequent motions to reject under paragraph (b), the conference report
or motion, as the case may be, shall be considered as rejected and the
matter remaining in disagreement shall be disposed of under subparagraph
(2) or (3), as the case may be.
(2) After the House has adopted one or more motions to reject
nongermane matter contained in a conference report under the preceding
provisions of this clause--
(A) if the conference report accompanied a House measure amended by
the Senate, the pending question shall be whether the House shall
recede and concur in the Senate amendment with an amendment consisting
of so much of the conference report as was not rejected; and
(B) if the conference report accompanied a Senate measure amended by
the House, the pending question shall be whether the House shall
insist further on the House amendment.
(3) After the House has adopted one or more motions to reject
nongermane matter contained in a motion that the House recede and concur
in a Senate amendment, with or without amendment, the following motions
shall be privileged and shall have precedence in the order stated:
(A) A motion that the House recede and concur in the Senate
amendment with an amendment in writing then available on the floor.
(B) A motion that the House insist on its disagreement to the Senate
amendment and request a further conference with the Senate.
(C) A motion that the House insist on its disagreement to the Senate
amendment.
(e) If, on a division of the question on a motion described in
paragraph (a)(1)(B) or (C), the House agrees to recede, then a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may raise a point of order against
nongermane matter, as specified in paragraph (a)(2), before the
commencement of debate on concurring in the Senate amendment, with or
without amendment. A point of order under this paragraph shall be
disposed of according to the preceding provisions of this clause in the
same manner as a point of order under paragraph (a).
11. It shall not be in order to consider a conference report to
accompany a bill or joint resolution that proposes to amend the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 unless--
(a) the joint explanatory statement of the managers includes a tax
complexity analysis prepared by the Joint Committee on Internal
Revenue Taxation in accordance with section 4022(b) of the Internal
Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998; or
(b) the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means causes such a
tax complexity analysis to be printed in the Congressional Record
before consideration of the conference report.
12. (a)(1) Subject to subparagraph (2), a meeting of each conference
committee shall be open to the public.
(2) In open session of the House, a motion that managers on the part
of the House be permitted to close to the public a meeting or meetings
of their conference committee shall be privileged, shall be decided
without debate, and shall be decided by a record vote.
(b) A point of order that a conference committee failed to comply with
paragraph (a) may be raised immediately after the conference report is
read or considered as read. If such a point of order is sustained, the
conference report shall be considered as rejected, the House shall be
considered to have insisted on its amendments or on disagreement to the
Senate amendments, as the case may be, and to have requested a further
conference with the Senate, and the Speaker may appoint new conferees
without intervening motion.
RULE XXIII
Statutory Limit on Public Debt
1. Upon adoption by Congress of a concurrent resolution on the budget
under section 301 or 304 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 that
sets forth, as the appropriate level of the public debt for the period
to which the concurrent resolution relates, an amount that is different
from the amount of the statutory limit on the public debt that otherwise
would be in effect for that period, the Clerk shall prepare an
engrossment of a joint resolution increasing or decreasing, as the case
may be, the statutory limit on the public debt in the form prescribed in
clause 2. Upon engrossment of the joint resolution, the vote by which
the concurrent resolution on the budget was finally agreed to in the
House shall also be considered as a vote on passage of the joint
resolution in the House, and the joint resolution shall be considered as
passed by the House and duly certified and examined. The engrossed copy
shall be signed by the Clerk and transmitted to the Senate for further
legislative action.
2. The matter after the resolving clause in a joint resolution
described in clause 1 shall be as follows: ``That subsection (b) of
section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out
the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu
thereof `$____'.'', with the blank being filled with a dollar limitation
equal to the appropriate level of the public debt set forth pursuant to
section 301(a)(5) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 in the
relevant concurrent resolution described in clause 1. If an adopted
concurrent resolution under clause 1 sets forth different appropriate
levels of the public debt for separate periods, only one engrossed joint
resolution shall be prepared under clause 1; and the blank referred to
in the preceding sentence shall be filled with the limitation that is to
apply for each period.
3. (a) The report of the Committee on the Budget on a concurrent
resolution described in clause 1 and the joint explanatory statement of
the managers on a conference report to accompany such a concurrent
resolution each shall contain a clear statement of the effect the
eventual enactment of a joint resolution engrossed under this rule would
have on the statutory limit on the public debt.
(b) It shall not be in order for the House to consider a concurrent
resolution described in clause 1, or a conference report thereon, unless
the report of the Committee on the Budget or the joint explanatory
statement of the managers complies with paragraph (a).
4. Nothing in this rule shall be construed as limiting or otherwise
affecting--
[[Page 2493]]
(a) the power of the House or the Senate to consider and pass bills
or joint resolutions, without regard to the procedures under clause 1,
that would change the statutory limit on the public debt; or
(b) the rights of Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, or
committees with respect to the introduction, consideration, and
reporting of such bills or joint resolutions.
5. In this rule the term ``statutory limit on the public debt'' means
the maximum face amount of obligations issued under authority of chapter
31 of title 31, United States Code, and obligations guaranteed as to
principal and interest by the United States (except such guaranteed
obligations as may be held by the Secretary of the Treasury), as
determined under section 3101(b) of such title after the application of
section 3101(a) of such title, that may be outstanding at any one time.
RULE XXIV
Code of Official Conduct
There is hereby established by and for the House the following code of
conduct, to be known as the ``Code of Official Conduct'':
1. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall
reflect creditably on the House.
2. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House shall adhere to the spirit and the letter of the Rules of
the House and to the rules of duly constituted committees thereof.
3. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House may not receive compensation and may not permit
compensation to accrue to his beneficial interest from any source, the
receipt of which would occur by virtue of influence improperly exerted
from his position in Congress.
4. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House may not accept gifts except as provided by clause 5 of
rule XXVI.
5. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House may not accept an honorarium for a speech, a writing for
publication, or other similar activity, except as otherwise provided
under rule XXVI.
6. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner--
(a) shall keep his campaign funds separate from his personal
funds;
(b) may not convert campaign funds to personal use in excess of an
amount representing reimbursement for legitimate and verifiable
campaign expenditures; and
(c) may not expend funds from his campaign account that are not
attributable to bona fide campaign or political purposes.
7. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall treat as
campaign contributions all proceeds from testimonial dinners or other
fund-raising events.
8. (a) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or officer of the
House may not retain an employee who does not perform duties for the
offices of the employing authority commensurate with the compensation
he receives.
(b) In the case of a committee employee who works under the direct
supervision of a member of the committee other than a chairman, the
chairman may require that such member affirm in writing that the
employee has complied with clause 8(a) (subject to clause 7 of rule X)
as evidence of compliance by the chairman with this clause and with
clause 7 of rule X.
9. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House may not discharge and may not refuse to hire an
individual, or otherwise discriminate against an individual with
respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of
employment, because of the race, color, religion, sex (including
marital or parental status), disability, age, or national origin of
such individual, but may take into consideration the domicile or
political affiliation of such individual.
10. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who has been
convicted by a court of record for the commission of a crime for which
a sentence of two or more years' imprisonment may be imposed should
refrain from participation in the business of each committee of which
he is a member, and a Member should refrain from voting on any
question at a meeting of the House or of the Committee of the Whole
House on the state of the Union, unless or until judicial or executive
proceedings result in reinstatement of the presumption of his
innocence or until he is reelected to the House after the date of such
conviction.
11. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not authorize
or otherwise allow an individual, group, or organization not under the
direction and control of the House to use the words ``Congress of the
United States,'' ``House of Representatives,'' or ``Official
Business,'' or any combination of words thereof, on any letterhead or
envelope.
12. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), an employee of the
House who is required to file a report under rule XXVII may not
participate personally and substantially as an employee of the House
in a contact with an agency of the executive or judicial branches of
Government with respect to nonlegislative matters affecting any
nongovernmental person in which the employee has a significant
financial interest.
(b) Paragraph (a) does not apply if an employee first advises his
employing authority of a significant financial interest described in
paragraph (a) and obtains from his employing authority a written
waiver stating that the participation of the employee in the activity
described in paragraph (a) is necessary. A copy of each such waiver
shall be filed with the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
13. Before a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House may have access to classified information, the
following oath (or affirmation) shall be executed:
``I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will not disclose any
classified information received in the course of my service with the
House of Representatives, except as authorized by the House of
Representatives or in accordance with its Rules.''
Copies of the executed oath (or affirmation) shall be retained by the
Clerk as part of the records of the House.
14. (a) In this Code of Official Conduct, the term ``officer or
employee of the House'' means an individual whose compensation is
disbursed by the Chief Administrative Officer.
(b) An individual whose services are compensated by the House
pursuant to a consultant contract shall be considered an employee of
the House for purposes of clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and 13 of this
rule.
RULE XXV
Limitations on Use of Official Funds
Limitations on use of official and unofficial accounts
1. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not maintain, or
have maintained for his use, an unofficial office account. Funds may not
be paid into an unofficial office account.
2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this rule, if an amount from
the Official Expenses Allowance of a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner is paid into the House Recording Studio revolving fund for
telecommunications satellite services, the Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner may accept reimbursement from nonpolitical entities in that
amount for transmission to the Clerk for credit to the Official Expenses
Allowance.
3. In this rule the term ``unofficial office account'' means an
account or repository in which funds are received for the purpose of
defraying otherwise unreimbursed expenses allowable under section 162(a)
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as ordinary and necessary in the
operation of a congressional office, and includes a newsletter fund
referred to in section 527(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
Limitations on use of the frank
4. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall mail franked
mail under section 3210(d) of title 39, United
[[Page 2494]]
States Code at the most economical rate of postage practicable.
5. Before making a mass mailing, a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner shall submit a sample or description of the mail matter
involved to the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards for
an advisory opinion as to whether the proposed mailing is in compliance
with applicable provisions of law, rule, or regulation.
6. A mass mailing that is otherwise frankable by a Member, Delegate,
or Resident Commissioner under the provisions of section 3210(e) of
title 39, United States Code, is not frankable unless the cost of
preparing and printing it is defrayed exclusively from funds made
available in an appropriation Act.
7. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not send a mass
mailing outside the congressional district from which he was elected.
8. In the case of a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, a mass
mailing is not frankable under section 3210 of title 39, United States
Code, when it is postmarked less than 60 days before the date of a
primary or general election (whether regular, special, or runoff) in
which he is a candidate for public office. If the mail matter is of a
type that is not customarily postmarked, the date on which it would have
been postmarked, if it were of a type customarily postmarked, applies.
9. In this rule the term ``mass mailing'' means, with respect to a
session of Congress, a mailing of newsletters or other pieces of mail
with substantially identical content (whether such pieces of mail are
deposited singly or in bulk, or at the same time or different times),
totaling more than 500 pieces of mail in that session, except that such
term does not include a mailing--
(a) of matter in direct response to a communication from a person to
whom the matter is mailed;
(b) from a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to other
Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, or Senators, or to
Federal, State, or local government officials; or
(c) of a news release to the communications media.
Prohibition on use of funds by Members not elected to succeeding
Congress
10. Funds from the applicable accounts described in clause 1(i)(1) of
rule X, including funds from committee expense resolutions, and funds in
any local currencies owned by the United States may not be made
available for travel by a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or
Senator after the date of a general election in which he was not elected
to the succeeding Congress or, in the case of a Member, Delegate, or
Resident Commissioner who is not a candidate in a general election,
after the earlier of the date of such general election or the
adjournment sine die of the last regular session of the Congress.
RULE XXVI
Limitations on Outside Earned Income and Acceptance of Gifts
Outside earned income; honoraria
1. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House may not--
(1) have outside earned income attributable to a calendar year that
exceeds 15 percent of the annual rate of basic pay for level II of the
Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States Code,
as of January 1 of that calendar year; or
(2) receive any honorarium, except that an officer or employee of
the House who is paid at a rate less than 120 percent of the minimum
rate of basic pay for GS-15 of the General Schedule may receive an
honorarium unless the subject matter is directly related to the
official duties of the individual, the payment is made because of the
status of the individual with the House, or the person offering the
honorarium has interests that may be substantially affected by the
performance or nonperformance of the official duties of the
individual.
(b) In the case of an individual who becomes a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House, such
individual may not have outside earned income attributable to the
portion of a calendar year that occurs after such individual becomes a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee that
exceeds 15 percent of the annual rate of basic pay for level II of the
Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States Code, as
of January 1 of that calendar year multiplied by a fraction, the
numerator of which is the number of days the individual is a Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee during that
calendar year and the denominator of which is 365.
(c) A payment in lieu of an honorarium that is made to a charitable
organization on behalf of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House may not be received by that Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee. Such a payment
may not exceed $2,000 or be made to a charitable organization from which
the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee or a
parent, sibling, spouse, child, or dependent relative of the Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee, derives a
financial benefit.
2. A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House may not--
(a) receive compensation for affiliating with or being employed by a
firm, partnership, association, corporation, or other entity that
provides professional services involving a fiduciary relationship;
(b) permit his name to be used by such a firm, partnership,
association, corporation, or other entity;
(c) receive compensation for practicing a profession that involves a
fiduciary relationship;
(d) serve for compensation as an officer or member of the board of
an association, corporation, or other entity; or
(e) receive compensation for teaching, without the prior
notification and approval of the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct.
Copyright royalties
3. (a) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House may not receive an advance payment on copyright royalties.
This paragraph does not prohibit a literary agent, researcher, or other
individual (other than an individual employed by the House or a relative
of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee)
working on behalf of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer,
or employee with respect to a publication from receiving an advance
payment of a copyright royalty directly from a publisher and solely for
the benefit of that literary agent, researcher, or other individual.
(b) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House may not receive copyright royalties under a contract entered
into on or after January 1, 1996, unless that contract is first approved
by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct as complying with the
requirement of clause 4(d)(1)(E) (that royalties are received from an
established publisher under usual and customary contractual terms).
Definitions
4. (a)(1) In this rule, except as provided in subparagraph (2), the
term ``officer or employee of the House'' means an individual (other
than a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner) whose pay is
disbursed by the Chief Administrative Officer, who is paid at a rate
equal to or greater than 120 percent of the minimum rate of basic pay
for GS-15 of the General Schedule, and who is so employed for more than
90 days in a calendar year; and
(2) when used with respect to an honorarium, the term ``officer or
employee of the House'' means an individual (other than a Member,
Delegate, or Resident Commissioner) whose salary is disbursed by the
Chief Administrative Officer.
(b) In this rule the term ``honorarium'' means a payment of money or a
thing of value for an appearance, speech, or article (including a series
of appearances, speeches, or articles) by a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House, excluding any actual
and necessary travel expenses incurred by that Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee (and one
[[Page 2495]]
relative) to the extent that such expenses are paid or reimbursed by any
other person. The amount otherwise determined shall be reduced by the
amount of any such expenses to the extent that such expenses are not so
paid or reimbursed.
(c) In this rule the term ``travel expenses'' means, with respect to a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer or, employee of the
House, or a relative of such Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee, the cost of transportation, and the cost of
lodging and meals while away from his residence or principal place of
employment.
(d)(1) In this rule the term ``outside earned income'' means, with
respect to a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House, wages, salaries, fees, and other amounts received
or to be received as compensation for personal services actually
rendered, but does not include --
(A) the salary of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee;
(B) any compensation derived by a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House for personal services
actually rendered before the adoption of this rule or before he became
a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee;
(C) any amount paid by, or on behalf of, a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House to a tax-
qualified pension, profit-sharing, or stock bonus plan and received by
him from such a plan;
(D) in the case of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House engaged in a trade or business in
which he or his family holds a controlling interest and in which both
personal services and capital are income-producing factors, any amount
received by the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee, so long as the personal services actually rendered by him in
the trade or business do not generate a significant amount of income;
or
(E) copyright royalties received from established publishers under
usual and customary contractual terms; and
(2) outside earned income shall be determined without regard to
community property law.
(e) In this rule the term ``charitable organization'' means an
organization described in section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986.
Gifts
5. (a)(1) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House may not knowingly accept a gift except as provided
in this clause.
(2)(A) In this clause the term ``gift'' means a gratuity, favor,
discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, forbearance, or other item
having monetary value. The term includes gifts of services, training,
transportation, lodging, and meals, whether provided in kind, by
purchase of a ticket, payment in advance, or reimbursement after the
expense has been incurred.
(B)(i) A gift to a family member of a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House, or a gift to any other
individual based on that individual's relationship with the Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee, shall be
considered a gift to the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee if it is given with the knowledge and acquiescence
of the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee and
the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee has
reason to believe the gift was given because of his official position.
(ii) If food or refreshment is provided at the same time and place to
both a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House and the spouse or dependent thereof, only the food or
refreshment provided to the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee shall be treated as a gift for purposes of this
clause.
(3) The restrictions in subparagraph (1) do not apply to the
following:
(A) Anything for which the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House pays the market value, or does not
use and promptly returns to the donor.
(B) A contribution, as defined in section 301(8) of the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) that is lawfully
made under that Act, a lawful contribution for election to a State or
local government office, or attendance at a fundraising event
sponsored by a political organization described in section 527(e) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(C) A gift from a relative as described in section 109(16) of title
I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 (2 U.S.C. App. 109(16)).
(D)(i) Anything provided by an individual on the basis of a personal
friendship unless the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House has reason to believe that, under
the circumstances, the gift was provided because of his official
position and not because of the personal friendship.
(ii) In determining whether a gift is provided on the basis of
personal friendship, the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House shall consider the circumstances
under which the gift was offered, such as:
(I) The history of his relationship with the individual giving the
gift, including any previous exchange of gifts between them.
(II) Whether to his actual knowledge the individual who gave the
gift personally paid for the gift or sought a tax deduction or
business reimbursement for the gift.
(III) Whether to his actual knowledge the individual who gave the
gift also gave the same or similar gifts to other Members,
Delegates, the Resident Commissioners, officers, or employees of the
House.
(E) Except as provided in paragraph (c)(3), a contribution or other
payment to a legal expense fund established for the benefit of a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
House that is otherwise lawfully made in accordance with the
restrictions and disclosure requirements of the Committee on Standards
of Official Conduct.
(F) A gift from another Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House or Senate.
(G) Food, refreshments, lodging, transportation, and other
benefits--
(i) resulting from the outside business or employment activities
of the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House (or other outside activities that are not connected to
his duties as an officeholder), or of his spouse, if such benefits
have not been offered or enhanced because of his official position
and are customarily provided to others in similar circumstances;
(ii) customarily provided by a prospective employer in connection
with bona fide employment discussions; or
(iii) provided by a political organization described in section
527(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in connection with a
fundraising or campaign event sponsored by such organization.
(H) Pension and other benefits resulting from continued
participation in an employee welfare and benefits plan maintained by a
former employer.
(I) Informational materials that are sent to the office of the
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
House in the form of books, articles, periodicals, other written
materials, audiotapes, videotapes, or other forms of communication.
(J) Awards or prizes that are given to competitors in contests or
events open to the public, including random drawings.
(K) Honorary degrees (and associated travel, food, refreshments, and
entertainment) and other bona fide, nonmonetary awards presented in
recognition of public service (and associated food, refreshments, and
entertainment provided in the presentation of such degrees and
awards).
(L) Training (including food and refreshments furnished to all
attendees as an integral part of the training) if
[[Page 2496]]
such training is in the interest of the House.
(M) Bequests, inheritances, and other transfers at death.
(N) An item, the receipt of which is authorized by the Foreign Gifts
and Decorations Act, the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act,
or any other statute.
(O) Anything that is paid for by the Federal Government, by a State
or local government, or secured by the Government under a Government
contract.
(P) A gift of personal hospitality (as defined in section 109(14) of
the Ethics in Government Act) of an individual other than a registered
lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal.
(Q) Free attendance at a widely attended event permitted under
subparagraph (4).
(R) Opportunities and benefits that are--
(i) available to the public or to a class consisting of all
Federal employees, whether or not restricted on the basis of
geographic consideration;
(ii) offered to members of a group or class in which membership is
unrelated to congressional employment;
(iii) offered to members of an organization, such as an employees'
association or congressional credit union, in which membership is
related to congressional employment and similar opportunities are
available to large segments of the public through organizations of
similar size;
(iv) offered to a group or class that is not defined in a manner
that specifically discriminates among Government employees on the
basis of branch of Government or type of responsibility, or on a
basis that favors those of higher rank or rate of pay;
(v) in the form of loans from banks and other financial
institutions on terms generally available to the public; or
(vi) in the form of reduced membership or other fees for
participation in organization activities offered to all Government
employees by professional organizations if the only restrictions on
membership relate to professional qualifications.
(S) A plaque, trophy, or other item that is substantially
commemorative in nature and that is intended for presentation.
(T) Anything for which, in an unusual case, a waiver is granted by
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
(U) Food or refreshments of a nominal value offered other than as a
part of a meal.
(V) Donations of products from the district or State that the
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner represents that are
intended primarily for promotional purposes, such as display or free
distribution, and are of minimal value to any single recipient.
(W) An item of nominal value such as a greeting card, baseball cap,
or a T-shirt.
(4)(A) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
of the House may accept an offer of free attendance at a widely attended
convention, conference, symposium, forum, panel discussion, dinner,
viewing, reception, or similar event, provided by the sponsor of the
event, if--
(i) the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House participates in the event as a speaker or a
panel participant, by presenting information related to Congress or
matters before Congress, or by performing a ceremonial function
appropriate to his official position; or
(ii) attendance at the event is appropriate to the performance of
the official duties or representative function of the Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House.
(B) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House who attends an event described in subdivision (A) may accept a
sponsor's unsolicited offer of free attendance at the event for an
accompanying individual.
(C) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House, or the spouse or dependent thereof, may accept a sponsor's
unsolicited offer of free attendance at a charity event, except that
reimbursement for transportation and lodging may not be accepted in
connection with the event.
(D) In this paragraph the term ``free attendance'' may include waiver
of all or part of a conference or other fee, the provision of local
transportation, or the provision of food, refreshments, entertainment,
and instructional materials furnished to all attendees as an integral
part of the event. The term does not include entertainment collateral to
the event, nor does it include food or refreshments taken other than in
a group setting with all or substantially all other attendees.
(5) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of
the House may not accept a gift the value of which exceeds $250 on the
basis of the personal friendship exception in subparagraph (3)(D) unless
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct issues a written
determination that such exception applies. A determination under this
subparagraph is not required for gifts given on the basis of the family
relationship exception in subparagraph (3)(C).
(6) When it is not practicable to return a tangible item because it is
perishable, the item may, at the discretion of the recipient, be given
to an appropriate charity or destroyed.
(b)(1)(A) A reimbursement (including payment in kind) to a Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House from
a private source other than a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign
principal for necessary transportation, lodging, and related expenses
for travel to a meeting, speaking engagement, factfinding trip, or
similar event in connection with his duties as an officeholder shall be
considered as a reimbursement to the House and not a gift prohibited by
this clause, if the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee--
(i) in the case of an employee, receives advance authorization, from
the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or officer under whose
direct supervision the employee works, to accept reimbursement; and
(ii) discloses the expenses reimbursed or to be reimbursed and the
authorization to the Clerk within 30 days after the travel is
completed.
(B) For purposes of subdivision (A), events, the activities of which
are substantially recreational in nature, are not considered to be in
connection with the duties of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee of the House as an officeholder.
(2) Each advance authorization to accept reimbursement shall be signed
by the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or officer of the House
under whose direct supervision the employee works and shall include--
(A) the name of the employee;
(B) the name of the person who will make the reimbursement;
(C) the time, place, and purpose of the travel; and
(D) a determination that the travel is in connection with the duties
of the employee as an officeholder and would not create the appearance
that the employee is using public office for private gain.
(3) Each disclosure made under subparagraph (1)(A) of expenses
reimbursed or to be reimbursed shall be signed by the Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, or officer (in the case of travel by that Member,
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or officer) or by the Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, or officer under whose direct supervision the
employee works (in the case of travel by an employee) and shall
include--
(A) a good faith estimate of total transportation expenses
reimbursed or to be reimbursed;
(B) a good faith estimate of total lodging expenses reimbursed or to
be reimbursed;
(C) a good faith estimate of total meal expenses reimbursed or to be
reimbursed;
(D) a good faith estimate of the total of other expenses reimbursed
or to be reimbursed;
(E) a determination that all such expenses are necessary
transportation, lodging, and related expenses as defined in
subparagraph (4); and
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(F) in the case of a reimbursement to a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, or officer, a determination that the travel was in
connection with his duties as an officeholder and would not create the
appearance that the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or
officer is using public office for private gain.
(4) In this paragraph the term ``necessary transportation, lodging,
and related expenses''--
(A) includes reasonable expenses that are necessary for travel for a
period not exceeding four days within the United States or seven days
exclusive of travel time outside of the United States unless approved
in advance by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct;
(B) is limited to reasonable expenditures for transportation,
lodging, conference fees and materials, and food and refreshments,
including reimbursement for necessary transportation, whether or not
such transportation occurs within the periods described in subdivision
(A);
(C) does not include expenditures for recreational activities, nor
does it include entertainment other than that provided to all
attendees as an integral part of the event, except for activities or
entertainment otherwise permissible under this clause; and
(D) may include travel expenses incurred on behalf of either the
spouse or a child of the Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner,
officer, or employee.
(5) The Clerk shall make available to the public all advance
authorizations and disclosures of reimbursement filed under subparagraph
(1) as soon as possible after they are received.
(c) A gift prohibited by paragraph (a)(1) includes the following:
(1) Anything provided by a registered lobbyist or an agent of a
foreign principal to an entity that is maintained or controlled by a
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the
House.
(2) A charitable contribution (as defined in section 170(c) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986) made by a registered lobbyist or an
agent of a foreign principal on the basis of a designation,
recommendation, or other specification of a Member, Delegate, Resident
Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House (not including a mass
mailing or other solicitation directed to a broad category of persons
or entities), other than a charitable contribution permitted by
paragraph (d).
(3) A contribution or other payment by a registered lobbyist or an
agent of a foreign principal to a legal expense fund established for
the benefit of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or
employee of the House.
(4) A financial contribution or expenditure made by a registered
lobbyist or an agent of a foreign principal relating to a conference,
retreat, or similar event, sponsored by or affiliated with an official
congressional organization, for or on behalf of Members, Delegates,
the Resident Commissioner, officers, or employees of the House.
(d)(1) A charitable contribution (as defined in section 170(c) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986) made by a registered lobbyist or an agent
of a foreign principal in lieu of an honorarium to a Member, Delegate,
Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House are not
considered a gift under this clause if it is reported as provided in
subparagraph (2).
(2) A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee
who designates or recommends a contribution to a charitable organization
in lieu of an honorarium described in subparagraph (1) shall report
within 30 days after such designation or recommendation to the Clerk--
(A) the name and address of the registered lobbyist who is making
the contribution in lieu of an honorarium;
(B) the date and amount of the contribution; and
(C) the name and address of the charitable organization designated
or recommended by the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner.
The Clerk shall make public information received under this subparagraph
as soon as possible after it is received.
(e) In this clause--
(1) the term ``registered lobbyist'' means a lobbyist registered
under the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act or any successor statute;
and
(2) the term ``agent of a foreign principal'' means an agent of a
foreign principal registered under the Foreign Agents Registration
Act.
(f) All the provisions of this clause shall be interpreted and
enforced solely by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is authorized to issue
guidance on any matter contained in this clause.
Claims against the Government
6. A person may not be an officer or employee of the House, or
continue in its employment, if he acts as an agent for the prosecution
of a claim against the Government or if he is interested in such claim,
except as an original claimant or in the proper discharge of official
duties.
RULE XXVII
Financial Disclosure
1. The Clerk shall send a copy of each report filed with the Clerk
under title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 within the seven-
day period beginning on the date on which the report is filed to the
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. By August 1 of each year,
the Clerk shall compile all such reports sent to him by Members within
the period beginning on January 1 and ending on June 15 of each year and
have them printed as a House document, which shall be made available to
the public.
2. For the purposes of this rule, the provisions of title I of the
Ethics in Government Act of 1978 shall be considered Rules of the House
as they pertain to Members, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner,
officers, and employees of the House.
RULE XXVIII
General Provisions
1. The provisions of law that constituted the Rules of the House at
the end of the previous Congress shall govern the House in all cases to
which they are applicable, and the rules of parliamentary practice
comprised by Jefferson's Manual shall govern the House in all cases to
which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with
the Rules and orders of the House.
2. In these rules words importing the masculine gender include the
feminine as well.
SEC. 2. SEPARATE ORDERS
(a) Budget Enforcement.--(1) Pending the adoption by the Congress of a
concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 1999--
(A) the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, when elected, shall
publish in the Congressional Record budget totals contemplated by
section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and allocations
contemplated by section 302(a) of that Act for each of the fiscal
years 1999 through 2003;
(B) those totals and levels shall be effective in the House as
though established under a concurrent resolution on the budget and
sections 301 and 302 of that Act; and
(C) the publication of those totals and levels shall be considered
as the completion of Congressional action on a concurrent resolution
on the budget for fiscal year 1999.
(2) Pending the adoption by the Congress of a concurrent resolution on
the budget for fiscal year 2000, a provision in a bill or joint
resolution, or in an amendment thereto or a conference report thereon,
that establishes prospectively for a Federal office or position a
specified or minimum level of compensation to be funded by annual
discretionary appropriations shall not be considered as providing new
entitlement authority within the meaning of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974.
(3) In the case of a reported bill or joint resolution considered
pursuant to a special order of business, a point of order under section
303 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 shall be determined on the
basis of the text made in order as an original bill or joint resolution
for the purpose of amendment or to the text on which the previous
question is ordered directly to passage, as the case may be.
(b) Tenure on Budget Committee.--Notwithstanding clause 5(a)(2)(B) of
rule X, during the One Hundred Sixth
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Congress tenure on the Committee on the Budget shall not be limited.
(c) Standards Committee Rules.--Each provision of House Resolution 168
of the One Hundred Fifth Congress that was not executed as a change in
the standing rules is hereby reaffirmed for the One Hundred Sixth
Congress.
(d) Census Subcommittee.--Notwithstanding clause 5(d) of rule X,
during the One Hundred Sixth Congress the Committee on Government Reform
may have not more than eight subcommittees.
(e) Explanatory Material Relating to Codification of Rules.--Upon the
adoption of this resolution, the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader
or their designees may submit for inclusion in the Congressional Record
as part of the debate hereon such extraneous and tabular matter as they
may consider to constitute legislative history concerning the
codification of the standing rules.
(f) Continuation of Select Committee.--
(1) In general.--Solely for the purpose of completing activities
directly associated with the declassification and public release of
its report, the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and
Military/Commercial Concerns With the People's Republic of China
(hereafter referred to as the ``Select Committee''), created by House
Resolution 463, One Hundred Fifth Congress, agreed to June 18, 1998
(hereafter referred to as the ``Authorizing Resolution''), may sit and
act during the One Hundred Sixth Congress at any time prior to April
1, 1999, as it may deem appropriate, without regard to whether or not
the House of Representatives is in session at the time.
(2) Continuation of powers and jurisdiction.--Solely for the purpose
described in paragraph (1), the Select Committee's jurisdiction, and
all other powers, authorities, responsibilities, and procedures of the
Select Committee and of other Committees of the House of
Representatives, shall remain as set forth in the Authorizing
Resolution, except as follows:
(A) Section 10 of the Authorizing Resolution shall not be
continued.
(B) Sections 8 and 9 of the Authorizing Resolution shall apply
only to the enforcement of requests for information which are issued
prior to January 3, 1999, and to issuing and enforcing requests for
information directly related to the declassification and public
release of the Select Committee's report.
(3) Disposition of records.--In addition to the powers and
authorities extended under paragraph (2), upon the termination of the
Select Committee, all records of the Select Committee shall be
transferred to other committees of the House of Representatives,
stored by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or otherwise
disposed of as the Select Committee may direct, consistent with
applicable rules and laws concerning classified information.
(4) No additional funds.--Funds for the Select Committee for
carrying out activities under this subsection during the One Hundred
Sixth Congress shall be derived solely from amounts provided pursuant
to the Authorizing Resolution which remain unobligated and unexpended
as of the end of the One Hundred Fifth Congress.
(g) Numbering of Bills.--In the One Hundred Sixth Congress, the first
10 numbers for bills (H.R. 1 through H.R. 10) shall be reserved for
assignment by the Speaker to such bills as he may designate when
introduced before March 1, 1999.
SEC. 3. SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
Upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider
in the House a resolution amending clause 5 of rule XXVI, if offered by
the Majority Leader or his designee. The resolution shall be considered
as read for amendment. The previous question shall be considered as
ordered on the resolution to final adoption without intervening motion
or demand for division of the question except one hour of debate equally
divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or
their designees.