Rules of The House of Representatives of The United States
RULE XXIV: LIMITATIONS ON USE OF OFFICIAL FUNDS
Limitations on use of official and unofficial accounts
1. (a) Except as provided in paragraph
(b), 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.
(b)(1) Except as provided in subparagraph
(2), a Member, Delegate, or Resident
Commissioner may defray official
expenses with funds of his principal
campaign committee under the Federal
Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C.
431 et seq.).
(2) The funds specified in subparagraph
(1) may not be used to defray official
expenses for mail or other communications,
compensation for services,
office space, furniture, or equipment,
and any associated information
technology services (excluding
handheld communications devices).
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
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 90 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(j)(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 XV Rule XVI Rule XVII Rule XVIII Rule XIX Rule XX Rule XXI Rule XXII Rule XXIII Rule XXIV Rule XXV Rule XXVI
Rule XXVII Rule XXVIII