IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1090 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to encourage consensus 

and increase accountability and transparency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 

Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. BERA, Mr. COFFMAN, Mr. 

CURBELO of Florida, Ms. ESTY of Connecticut, Mr. FASO, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. KILMER, 

Mr. LANCE, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. PETERS, Ms. 

ROSEN, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. TROTT, Mr. UPTON, Mr. 

BISHOP of Michigan, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. WELCH, Mr. NOLAN, Mr. 

SMUCKER, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. COOPER, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. HIMES, 

and Mr. SOTO) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to 

encourage consensus and increase accountability and 

transparency, and for other purposes. 

Whereas, for nearly two years, the Members of the Problem 

Solvers Caucus have worked together finding bipartisan 

agreement on the toughest issues facing Congress; 

Whereas the Problems Solvers Caucus proposed a health care 

compromise to stabilize the individual marketplace, an 

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•HRES 1090 IH 

curity, support for gun and school safety legislation, and 

recommendations for a bipartisan infrastructure package; 

Whereas the Problem Solvers Caucus’ progress and bipartisan cooperation as a whole has been hampered because 

of House Rules that enable a few Members to hold most 

of the power; and 

Whereas, to make the House work again for the American 

people, the Problem Solvers Caucus is offering the 

‘‘Break the Gridlock’’ draft proposal: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that to encourage and reward consensus driv3 en governing, foster the passage of member initiatives 

4 solving constituent priorities, increase accountability and 

5 transparency, and elect a Speaker that is representative 

6 of the entire body, the House should adopt the following 

7 proposals: 

8 (1) To prevent the Speaker from being held 

9 hostage by a small fraction of his/her party, replace 

10 the rule allowing a ‘‘Motion to Vacate the Chair’’ 

11 with a public petition process that must be signed by 

1 12 ⁄3 of the House Members to earn privileged consid13 eration on the floor and a majority (218 votes) of 

14 the whole House to successfully remove the Speaker 

15 from the position. 

16 (2) Ensure that the party ratios on all commit17 tees (excluding Ethics which shall remain equally diVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Sep 28, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1090.IH HR1090

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•HRES 1090 IH 

1 vided, but including Rules, Intelligence, and all other 

2 Joint and Select Committees) reflect the party ratio 

3 of the entire House. 

(3) Require a 3 4 ⁄5 supermajority, of those 

5 present and voting, for passage and consideration of 

6 legislation under closed rules. The remaining legisla7 tion should be open or structured. 

8 (4) Require any structured rule to have at least 

9 one germane amendment from each party, if offered, 

10 which means that at least one amendment offered by 

11 a representative from each party shall not contain in 

12 advance any waiver of germane points of order 

13 against its consideration. 

14 (5) To encourage Committee and floor consider15 ation of member initiatives, establish a fast-track 

16 procedure to enable bipartisan legislation and 

17 amendments to receive priority consideration as fol18 lows: 

19 (A) Any legislative bill (not resolution) 

that gains at least 2 20 ⁄3 cosponsors (290 Mem21 bers) or a majority of Members of each party, 

22 must be marked up by its relevant committees 

23 and reported to the Rules Committee within 30 

24 legislative days of receiving its 290th cosponsor. 

25 The Rules Committee shall report a rule unless 


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•HRES 1090 IH 

1 the majority +1 of the entire Committee rejects 

2 the rule. This will ensure that legislation with 

3 broad support gets appropriate committee and 

4 floor consideration. 

5 (B) Any germane amendment offered to a 

6 bill with a structured rule that has at least 20 

7 Republican and 20 Democrat cosponsors must 

8 be allowed floor consideration by the Rules 

9 Committee. This will ensure that amendments 

10 with wide bipartisan appeal get due consider11 ation on the floor. 

12 (C) Ensure Committee-passed bills get to 

13 the floor by providing for privileged consider14 ation of bills passed out of committee after a 

15 gestation period. The Rules Committee shall re16 port a rule unless the majority +1 of the entire 

17 Committee rejects the rule. 

18 (6) Once per session, all Members of Congress 

19 shall be granted a markup on at least one piece of 

20 legislation, as designated by the Member, that has at 

21 least one cosponsor from the opposite party and is 

22 referred to a Committee on which they serve. 

23 (7) Establish a bipartisan annual joint meeting 

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1 gress to discuss the terms legislative agenda and 

2 help encourage bipartisan cooperation. 

3 (8) Require a minimum of a 3-business-day no4 tice of a committee markup, unless the committee 

5 chairman and ranking minority member agree to a 

6 different schedule. (This is meant to keep the minor7 ity from being unduly surprised with short notice to 

8 prepare, and is in reference to House Rule XI, 

9 Clause 2(g)(4)). 

10 (9) Require a majority vote on all Committees 

11 to enable the Chair to waive jurisdiction over legisla12 tion that has been assigned to the committee by the 

13 Parliamentarian. 

14 (10) The election of the Speaker of the House 

15 requires an absolute majority of all Members of the 

16 House, regardless of whether they are present. 

Æ 


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