IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 512 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to reinstate the 

‘‘Gephardt rule’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 

Mr. WELCH submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

reinstate the ‘‘Gephardt rule’’. 

1 Resolved, That the Rules of the House of Representa2 tives is amended by redesignating rule XXIX as rule XXX 

3 and by inserting after rule XXVIII the following new rule: 

4 ‘‘RULE XXIX 

5 ‘‘STATUTORY LIMIT ON PUBLIC DEBT

6 ‘‘1. Upon adoption by Congress of a concurrent reso7 lution on the budget under section 301 or 304 of the Con8 gressional Budget Act of 1974 that sets forth, as the ap9 propriate level of the public debt for the period to which 

10 the concurrent resolution relates, an amount that is difVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Sep 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR512.IH HR512

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•HRES 512 IH 

1 ferent from the amount of the statutory limit on the public 

2 debt that otherwise would be in effect for that period, the 

3 Clerk shall prepare an engrossment of a joint resolution 

4 increasing or decreasing, as the case may be, the statutory 

5 limit on the public debt in the form prescribed in clause 

6 2. Upon engrossment of the joint resolution, the vote by 

7 which the concurrent resolution on the budget was finally 

8 agreed to in the House shall also be considered as a vote 

9 on passage of the joint resolution in the House, and the 

10 joint resolution shall be considered as passed by the House 

11 and duly certified and examined. The engrossed copy shall 

12 be signed by the Clerk and transmitted to the Senate for 

13 further legislative action. 

14 ‘‘2. The matter after the resolving clause in a joint 

15 resolution described in clause 1 shall be as follows: ‘That 

16 subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States 

17 Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation con18 tained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof 

19 ‘‘$lll’’.’, with the blank being filled with a dollar limi20 tation equal to the appropriate level of the public debt set 

21 forth pursuant to section 301(a)(5) of the Congressional 

22 Budget Act of 1974 in the relevant concurrent resolution 

23 described in clause 1. If an adopted concurrent resolution 

24 under clause 1 sets forth different appropriate levels of 

25 the public debt for separate periods, only one engrossed 


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1 joint resolution shall be prepared under clause 1; and the 

2 blank referred to in the preceding sentence shall be filled 

3 with the limitation that is to apply for each period. 

4 ‘‘3.(a) The report of the Committee on the Budget 

5 on a concurrent resolution described in clause 1 and the 

6 joint explanatory statement of the managers on a con7 ference report to accompany such a concurrent resolution 

8 each shall contain a clear statement of the effect the even9 tual enactment of a joint resolution engrossed under this 

10 rule would have on the statutory limit on the public debt. 

11 ‘‘(b) It shall not be in order for the House to consider 

12 a concurrent resolution described in clause 1, or a con13 ference report thereon, unless the report of the Committee 

14 on the Budget or the joint explanatory statement of the 

15 managers complies with paragraph (a). 

16 ‘‘4. Nothing in this rule shall be construed as limiting 

17 or otherwise affecting— 

18 ‘‘(a) the power of the House or the Senate to 

19 consider and pass bills or joint resolutions, without 

20 regard to the procedures under clause 1, that would 

21 change the statutory limit on the public debt; or 

22 ‘‘(b) the rights of Members, Delegates, the 

23 Resident Commissioner, or committees with respect 

24 to the introduction, consideration, and reporting of 

25 such bills or joint resolutions. 


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1 ‘‘5. In this rule the term ‘statutory limit on the public 

2 debt’ means the maximum face amount of obligations 

3 issued under authority of chapter 31 of title 31, United 

4 States Code, and obligations guaranteed as to principal 

5 and interest by the United States (except such guaranteed 

6 obligations as may be held by the Secretary of the Treas7 ury), as determined under section 3101(b) of such title 

8 after the application of section 3101(a) of such title, that 

9 may be outstanding at any one time.’’. 

Æ 


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