IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 524 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to impose limitations 

respecting certain legislation that affects the economy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 28, 2005 

Mr. BROWN of Ohio (for himself, Mr. EVANS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. CONYERS, 

Mr. ROTHMAN, Mrs. MALONEY, and Mr. GRIJALVA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

impose limitations respecting certain legislation that affects the economy, and for other purposes. 

Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Social Security 

Protection and Congressional Accountability Rule’’; 

Whereas at 2:54 a.m. on a Friday, by three votes, the House 

of Representatives voted to cut veterans benefits; 

Whereas at 2:39 a.m. on a Friday, by five votes, the House 

approved legislation slashing education and health care; 

Whereas at 1:56 a.m. on a Friday, by 31 votes, the House 

passed tax legislation that overwhelmingly benefited the 

wealthiest corporations and individuals; 
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Whereas at 2:33 a.m. on a Friday, by one vote, the House 

passed the Medicare privatization and prescription drug 

bill; 

Whereas at 12:57 a.m. on a Friday, by one vote, the House 

eviscerated Head Start; 

Whereas at 12:12 a.m. on a Friday in October, the House 

voted $87 billion for Iraq; 

Whereas the House has increasingly resorted to considering 

important legislation in the middle of the night, after 

press deadlines have passed, and after the vast majority 

of Americans had gone to bed; 

Whereas though recorded votes in the House are generally 

concluded after fifteen minutes, House leadership has 

held votes open for nearly three hours as Members were 

pressured to support the House leadership’s position; 

Whereas the House voted on a 3,600-page omnibus spending 

bill just 16 hours after it was filed, and unwittingly approved a provision included in that bill permitting Members of Congress to access the tax return of any American; 

Whereas democracy is weakened by secrecy in government 

and practices that conceal from the people the actions of 

their representatives; and 

Whereas the American people are not served by a Congress 

that hides from public scrutiny by acting on important 

legislation in the middle of the night: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That (a) rule XXI of the Rules of the House 

2 of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the 

3 following new clause: 
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1 ‘‘7. (a) It shall not be in order to consider any major 

2 legislation until at least 7 calendar days after the following 

3 3 items have been published in the Congressional Record: 

4 ‘‘(1) The text of the legislation as reported (or 

5 as introduced if the bill has not been reported). 

6 ‘‘(2) The text of a manager’s amendment, if 

7 any. 

8 ‘‘(3) The text of any rule or order for the con9 sideration of such legislation or manager’s amend10 ment, as applicable. 

11 ‘‘(b) It shall not be in order to conclude a recorded 

12 vote on any economically significant legislation or major 

13 legislation, or amendment thereto or conference report 

14 thereon, after 10 p.m. or before 9 a.m. 

15 ‘‘(c) It shall not be in order to conclude a recorded 

16 vote on any major legislation, or amendment thereto or 

17 conference report thereon, more than 30 minutes after the 

18 commencement of such recorded vote. 

19 ‘‘(d) As used in this clause, the term ‘major legisla20 tion’ means any bill or joint resolution with an anticipated 

21 effect of increasing or decreasing outlays or revenues dur22 ing the 5-year period covered by the most recently agreed 

23 to concurrent resolution on the budget by at least 

24 $100,000,000. 
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1 ‘‘(e) The applicability of any point of order set forth 

2 in this clause shall be determined on the basis of estimates 

3 made by the Committee on the Budget. 

4 ‘‘(f) The Speaker may recognize the majority leader 

5 for the purpose of offering a motion to waive this clause 

6 on the grounds of national security, homeland security, or 

7 other emergency. This clause may not be waived unless 

8 two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present, 

9 agree to such waiver motion offered by the majority lead10 er.’’. 

11 (b) Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

12 of Representatives is amended by striking the period and 

13 inserting a semicolon at the end of subparagraph (2) and 

14 by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(3) a rule or order proposing a waiver of 

16 clause 7 of rule XXI.’’. 

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