IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 121 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the budget 

process. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2005 

Mr. COOPER (for himself, Mr. TANNER, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. 

BOYD, Mr. ROSS, Mr. BARROW, Mr. CASE, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. DAVIS of 

Tennessee, Mr. SALAZAR, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. THOMPSON of California, 

Mr. COSTA, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. HERSETH, Mr. MELANCON, Mr. MOORE

of Kansas, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. FORD, Mr. 

BERRY, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. SCHIFF, and Mr. 

TAYLOR of Mississippi) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

strengthen the budget process. 

1 Resolved, That (a) the last sentence of clause 7(e) of 

2 rule XXII of Rules of the House of Representatives is 

3 amended by inserting ‘‘and shall contain the estimate of 

4 costs described in section 308(a)(2) of the Congressional 

5 Budget Act of 1974’’ before the period. 
2 

•HRES 121 IH 

1 (b) Clause 7 of rule XXII of Rules of the House of 

2 Representatives is amended by adding at the end the fol3 lowing new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(f) It shall not be in order to consider a conference 

5 report unless it contains an estimate of costs as described 

6 in the last sentence of paragraph (e).’’. 

7 ROLL CALL VOTES REQUIRED FOR NEW SPENDING OVER

8 $50,000,000

9 SEC. 2. Clause 10 of rule XX of the Rules of the 

10 House of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘au11 thorizing or providing new budget authority of not less 

12 than $50,000,000’’ before ‘‘making general appropria13 tions’’ and by adding at the end the following new sen14 tence: ‘‘The Speaker may not entertain a unanimous con15 sent request or motion to suspend this clause.’’. 

16 REPEAL OF THE GEPHARDT RULE

17 SEC. 3. The Rules of the House of Representatives 

18 are amended by repealing rule XXVII (relating to the stat19 utory limit on public debt) and by redesignating rule 

20 XXVIII as rule XXVII. 

21 SAME-DAY CONSIDERATION OF RULES COMMITTEE

22 REPORTS

23 SEC. 4. In rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 

24 Representatives, clause 6(a) is amended by striking ‘‘the 

25 same day’’ and inserting ‘‘the same calendar day or less 

26 than 17 hours after that’’. 
3 

•HRES 121 IH 

1 TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN WAIVERS

2 UNDER THE RULES

3 SEC. 5. (a) TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT.—Clause 

4 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representa5 tives is amended by striking the period and inserting a 

6 semicolon at the end of subparagraph (2) and by adding 

7 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(3) a rule or order which would waive the lay9 over requirement of clause 8 of rule XXII con10 cerning the availability of reports, would waive the 

11 three-day layover requirement or the three-day 

12 Internet availability requirement of clause 4(a)(1) of 

13 this rule or of clause 8(a)(1) of rule XXII, or would 

14 waive the scope requirement of the last sentence of 

15 clause 9 of rule XXII by a vote of less than two16 thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being 

17 present.’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Clause 6(a) of rule 

19 XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

20 amended by striking subparagraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or’’ 

21 after the semicolon at the end of subparagraph (1), and 

22 by redesignating subparagraph (3) as subparagraph (2). 

23 TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR AVAILABILITY OF

24 CERTAIN MEASURES ON THE INTERNET

25 SEC. 6. (a) Clause 4(a)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules 

26 of the House of Representatives is amended by inserting 
4 

•HRES 121 IH 

1 ‘‘and until the third such calendar day on which the un2 derlying measure or matter has been made available by 

3 the Committee on Rules on its Internet site’’ before the 

4 period. 

5 (b) Clause 8(a)(1)(A) of rule XXII of the Rules of 

6 the House of Representatives is amended by inserting 

7 ‘‘and until the third such calendar day on which such con8 ference report and joint explanatory statement have been 

9 made available by the standing committee of the House 

10 with subject matter jurisdiction over the underlying legis11 lation on its Internet site’’ before the semicolon. 

12 WRITTEN JUSTIFICATION FOR EARMARKS

13 SEC. 7. Clause 2 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 

14 House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end 

15 the following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(g) The report that accompanies any general appro17 priation bill shall contain a separate written justification 

18 for each earmark contained in such bill or report.’’. 

19 MANDATORY OVERSIGHT

20 SEC. 8. Clause 2(d) of rule X of the Rules of the 

21 House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end 

22 the following new subparagraph: 

23 ‘‘(3) Not later than July 1 in the first session of a 

24 Congress, and at six-month intervals thereafter during 

25 that Congress, each committee shall submit reports to the 

26 Speaker and the minority leader respecting the commit-
5 

•HRES 121 IH 

1 tee’s compliance with its oversight plan. Committees shall 

2 make these reports available to the public.’’. 

Æ