II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 501 

To prohibit earmarks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2021 

Mr. DAINES (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Ms. ERNST, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. LEE, 

Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. PAUL, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. TOOMEY, and Mr. PORTMAN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To prohibit earmarks. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Earmark Elimination 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON EARMARKS. 

7 (a) BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS, AMENDMENTS, 

8 AMENDMENTS BETWEEN THE HOUSES, AND CON9 FERENCE REPORTS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in 

11 the Senate to consider a bill, joint resolution, moVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Mar 31, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S501.IS S501

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1 tion, amendment, amendment between the Houses, 

2 or conference report that includes an earmark. 

3 (2) PROCEDURE.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon a point of order 

5 being made by any Senator under paragraph 

6 (1) against an earmark, and such point of order 

7 being sustained, such earmark shall be stricken. 

8 (B) FORM OF THE POINT OF ORDER.—A 

9 point of order under paragraph (1) may be 

10 raised by a Senator as provided in section 

11 313(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

12 1974 (2 U.S.C. 644(e)). 

13 (b) CONFERENCE REPORT AND AMENDMENT BE14 TWEEN THE HOUSES PROCEDURE.—When the Senate is 

15 considering a conference report, or an amendment between 

16 the Houses— 

17 (1) upon a point of order being made by any 

18 Senator under subsection (a) with respect to one or 

19 more earmarks, and such point of order being sus20 tained, such earmarks shall be stricken; and 

21 (2) after all points of order under subsection 

22 (a) have been disposed of— 

23 (A) the Senate shall proceed to consider 

24 the question of whether the Senate shall recede 

25 from its amendment and concur with a further 


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1 amendment, or concur in the House amendment 

2 with a further amendment, as the case may be, 

3 which further amendment shall consist of only 

4 that portion of the conference report or House 

5 amendment, as the case may be, not so strick6 en; 

7 (B) any such motion in the Senate shall be 

8 debatable under the same conditions as was the 

9 conference report or amendment between the 

10 Houses; and 

11 (C) in any case in which such point of 

12 order is sustained against a conference report 

13 (or Senate amendment derived from such con14 ference report by operation of this subsection), 

15 no further amendment shall be in order. 

16 (c) WAIVER; APPEAL.—A point of order under sub17 section (a) may be waived only by an affirmative vote of 

18 two-thirds of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and 

19 sworn. An affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members 

20 of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required 

21 to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point 

22 of order raised under subsection (a). 

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.— 


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1 (1) EARMARK.—For the purpose of this section, 

2 the term ‘‘earmark’’ means a provision or report 

3 language— 

4 (A) included primarily at the request of a 

5 Senator or Member of the House of Represent6 atives that provides, authorizes, or recommends 

7 a specific amount of discretionary budget au8 thority, credit authority, or other spending au9 thority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, 

10 grant, loan authority, or other expenditure with 

11 or to an entity, or targeted to a specific State, 

12 locality or Congressional district, other than 

13 through a statutory or administrative formula14 driven or competitive award process; 

15 (B) that— 

16 (i) provides a Federal tax deduction, 

17 credit, exclusion, or preference to a par18 ticular beneficiary or limited group of 

19 beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue 

20 Code of 1986; and 

21 (ii) contains eligibility criteria that are 

22 not uniform in application with respect to 

23 potential beneficiaries of such provision; or 


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1 (C) that modifies the Harmonized Tariff 

2 Schedule of the United States in a manner that 

3 benefits ten or fewer entities. 

4 (2) DETERMINATION BY THE SENATE.—In the 

5 event the Chair is unable to ascertain whether a pro6 vision with respect to which a Senator raises a point 

7 of order under subsection (a) constitutes an ear8 mark, the question of whether the provision con9 stitutes an earmark shall be submitted to the Senate 

10 and be decided without debate. 

11 (e) APPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to 

12 any authorization of appropriations to a Federal entity if 

13 such authorization is not specifically targeted to a State, 

14 locality, or congressional district. 

Æ 


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