I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 215

To reform the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. CANADY, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr.

HUTCHINSON, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. DORNAN, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr.

STUMP, Mr. GOSS, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. TALENT, Mr. CHENOWETH, Mr.

HASTERT, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. KIM, and Mr. SCHAEFER), introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and, in addition, to the Committees on the Budget, and Government Reform and

Oversight, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To reform the House of Representatives, and for other

purposes.

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 ‘‘Truth in Voting Act

5 of 1995’’.
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1 TITLE I—CHANGES IN DISCRE2 TIONARY SPENDING LIMITS

3 SEC. 101. DEFICIT REDUCTION TRUST FUND.

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—A trust fund known as the

5 ‘‘Deficit Reduction Trust Fund’’ (hereinafter in this title

6 referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’) shall be established in the

7 Treasury of the United States.

8 (b) CONTENTS.—The Fund shall consist only of

9 amounts contained in the deficit reduction lock box provi10 sion of any appropriation Act. Such amounts shall be

11 transferred to the Fund as specified in subsection (c).

12 (c) TRANSFERS OF MONEYS TO THE FUND.—Within

13 10 days of enactment of any appropriation Act which has

14 a deficit reduction lock box provision, there shall be trans15 ferred from the general fund to the Fund an amount equal

16 to that amount.

17 (d) USE OF MONEYS IN THE FUND.—Notwithstand18 ing any other provision of law, the amounts in the Fund

19 shall not be available, in any fiscal year, for appropriation,

20 obligation, expenditure, or transfer.

21 SEC. 102. DOWNWARD ADJUSTMENTS OF DISCRETIONARY

22 SPENDING LIMITS.

23 The discretionary spending limit for new budget au24 thority for any fiscal year set forth in section 601(a)(2)

25 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as adjusted in
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1 strict conformance with section 251 of the Balanced

2 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, shall

3 be reduced by the amount of budget authority transferred

4 to the Fund for that fiscal year under section 2(c), as cal5 culated by the Director of the Office of Management and

6 Budget. The adjusted discretionary spending limit for out7 lays for that fiscal year as set forth in such section

8 601(a)(2) shall be reduced as a result of the reduction

9 of such budget authority, as calculated by the Director of

10 the Office of Management and Budget. All such reductions

11 shall occur on the same day that the amounts triggering

12 the reductions are transferred to the Fund.

13 SEC. 103. DEFICIT REDUCTION LOCK-BOX PROVISIONS OF

14 APPROPRIATION MEASURES.

15 (a) DEFICIT REDUCTION LOCK-BOX PROVISIONS.—

16 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is

17 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

18 ‘‘DEFICIT REDUCTION LOCK-BOX PROVISIONS OF

19 APPROPRIATION BILLS

20 ‘‘SEC. 314. (a) Any general appropriation bill that

21 is being marked up by the Committee on Appropriations

22 (or a subcommittee thereof) of either House shall contain

23 a line item entitled ‘Deficit Reduction Lock-box’. The dol24 lar amount set forth under that heading shall be an

25 amount equal to the section 602(b)(1) or section

26 302(b)(1) allocations, as the case may be, to the sub-
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1 committee of jurisdiction over the bill of the Committee

2 on Appropriations minus the aggregate level of budget au3 thority or outlays contained in the bill being considered.

4 ‘‘(b) Whenever a Member of either House of Congress

5 offers an amendment (whether in subcommittee, commit6 tee, or on the floor) to an appropriation bill to reduce

7 spending, that reduction shall be placed in the deficit re8 duction lock-box unless that Member indicates that it is

9 to be utilized for another program, project, or activity cov10 ered by that bill. If the amendment is agreed to and the

11 reduction was placed in the deficit reduction lock-box, then

12 the line item entitled ‘Deficit Reduction Lock-box’ shall

13 be increased by the amount of that reduction.

14 ‘‘(c) It shall not be in order in the House of Rep15 resentatives or the Senate to consider a conference report

16 that modifies any Deficit Reduction Lock-box provision

17 that is beyond the scope of that provision as so committed

18 to the conference committee.’’.

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con20 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget

21 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by in22 serting after the item relating to section 313 the following

23 new item:

‘‘Sec. 314. Deficit reduction lock-box provisions of appropriation measures.’’.
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1 SEC. 104. CBO TRACKING.

2 Section 202 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974

3 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub4 section:

5 ‘‘(i) SCOREKEEPING ASSISTANCE.—To facilitate

6 compliance by the Committees on Appropriations with sec7 tion 314, the Office shall score all general appropriation

8 measures as passed the House of Representatives and as

9 passed the Senate and have such scorecard published in

10 the Congressional Record.’’.

11 TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS

12 AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES

13 OF THE HOUSE OF REP14 RESENTATIVES

15 SEC. 201. MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES

16 OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

17 (a) 5-DAY WAITING PERIOD.—(1) Clause 2(l)(6) of

18 rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is

19 amended by striking ‘‘third’’ and inserting ‘‘fifth’’.

20 (2) The first sentence of clause 2(a) of rule XXVIII

21 of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended

22 by striking ‘‘third’’ and inserting ‘‘fifth’’.

23 (b) TWO-THIRDS REQUIRED TO APPROVE RESTRIC24 TIVE RULES OR TO WAIVE HOUSE RULES.—(1) Clause

25 4 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives
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1 is amended by adding at the end the following new para2 graph:

3 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any resolution

4 reported from the Committee on Rules providing for the

5 consideration of any bill or resolution otherwise subject to

6 amendment under House Rules if that resolution limits

7 the right of Members to offer germane amendments to

8 such bill, unless that resolution is agreed to by the affirm9 ative vote of at least two-thirds of the Members voting,

10 a quorum being present.’’.

11 (2) Rule XXVII of the Rules of the House of Rep12 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following

13 new clause:

14 ‘‘4. The Rules of the House of Representatives shall

15 not be waived except by a vote of two-thirds of the Mem16 bers voting, a quorum being present.’’.

17 (c) BAN ON KING-OF-THE-HILL RULES.—The last

18 sentence of clause 4(b) of rule XI of the Rules of the

19 House of Representatives is amended by inserting before

20 the period the following: ‘‘; nor shall it report any rule

21 for the consideration of any measure commonly known as

22 a ‘king-of-the-hill’ rule’’.

23 (d) BAN ON SELF-EXECUTING RULES.—Clause 4 of

24 rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives (as
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1 amended by subsection (b)) is amended by adding at the

2 end the following new paragraph:

3 ‘‘(f) It shall not be in order to consider any order

4 of business resolution reported from the Committee on

5 Rules which provides that, upon the adoption of such reso6 lution, the House shall be considered to have automatically

7 adopted a motion (other than for the previous question),

8 amendment, or resolution, or to have passed a bill, joint

9 resolution, or conference report thereon.’’.

10 (e) REPEAL OF RULE XLIX.—Rule XLIX of the

11 Rules of the House of Representatives is repealed.

12 (f) CONFERENCE COMMITTEES.—(1) Clause 3 of rule

13 XXVIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is

14 amended by adding at the end the following new sentence:

15 ‘‘Their report shall not fund any program, project, or ac16 tivity at a level higher than that contained in the bill or

17 resolution as passed the House or as passed the Senate

18 and committed to the conference committee or fund any

19 program, project, or activity not contained in that bill or

20 resolution as passed the House or as passed the Senate.’’.

21 (2) Rule XXVIII of the Rules of the House of Rep22 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following

23 new clause:
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1 ‘‘7. It shall not be in order in the House to consider

2 a conference report if that report would violate any motion

3 to instruct conferees that the House agreed to.’’.

4 TITLE III—ECONOMIC AND EM5 PLOYMENT IMPACT STATE6 MENTS

7 SEC. 301. ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT IMPACT STATE8 MENTS.

9 (a) PREPARATION.—The Comptroller General of the

10 United States shall prepare an economic and employment

11 impact statement, as described in subsection (b), to ac12 company each bill, resolution, or conference report re13 ported by any committee of the House of Representatives

14 or the Senate or considered on the floor of either House.

15 (b) CONTENTS.—Except as provided in subsection

16 (c), the economic and employment impact statement re17 quired by subsection (a) shall—

18 (1) state the extent to which enactment of the

19 bill, resolution, or conference report would result in

20 increased costs to the private sector, individuals, or

21 State and local governments; and

22 (2) include, at a minimum, a detailed assess23 ment of the annual impact of the bill, resolution, or

24 conference report (projected annually over a 5-year

25 period from its effective date, and, to the extent fea-
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1 sible, expressed in each case in monetary terms)

2 on—

3 (A) costs to United States consumers;

4 (B) costs to United States business;

5 (C) national employment;

6 (D) the ability of United States industries

7 to compete internationally;

8 (E) affected State and local governments,

9 fiscal and otherwise;

10 (F) outlays and revenues by the Federal

11 Government as compared to outlays and reve12 nues for the same activity in the current fiscal

13 year (as reported by the Congressional Budget

14 Office); and

15 (G) impact on Gross Domestic Product.

16 (c) EXCEPTION.—The economic and employment im17 pact statement required by subsection (a) may consist of

18 a brief summary assessment in lieu of the detailed assess19 ment set forth in subsection (b) if preliminary analysis in20 dicates that the aggregate effect of the bill, resolution, or

21 conference report as measured by the criteria set forth in

22 subparagraphs (A) through (G) of subsection (b) is less

23 than $100,000 or 1,000 jobs in national employment.

24 (d) STATEMENT WITH ALL LEGISLATION.—The eco25 nomic and employment impact statement required by this
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1 section shall accompany each bill, resolution, or conference

2 report before such bill, resolution, or conference report

3 may be reported or otherwise considered on the floor of

4 either House.

5 (e) POINT OF ORDER.—

6 (1) RULE.—It shall not be in order in either

7 the House of Representatives or the Senate to con8 sider on the floor any bill, resolution, or conference

9 report, whether or not reported by any committee of

10 the House of Representatives or the Senate, unless

11 that bill, resolution, or conference report includes

12 the economic and employment impact statement re13 quired by this section.

14 (2) WAIVER.—A point of order made under this

15 subsection may be waived in the Senate by a two16 thirds affirmative vote of Senators, duly chosen and

17 sworn, and in the House of Representatives by a

18 two-thirds affirmative vote of Members, duly chosen

19 and sworn.

20 (f) EXECUTIVE REGULATIONS.—Each regulation and

21 proposed regulation promulgated by a Federal department

22 or executive agency shall be accompanied by an economic

23 and employment impact statement prepared, in accord24 ance with subsection (b), by the department or agency pro25 mulgating the regulation or proposed regulation. The eco-
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1 nomic and employment impact statement shall be pub2 lished in the Federal Register together with such regula3 tion or proposed regulation.

4 (g) PROVISION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY EMER5 GENCY WAIVER.—

6 (1) CONGRESSIONAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STATE7 MENTS.—The Congress may waive the requirements

8 of subsections (a) through (d) at any time in which

9 a declaration of war is in effect, or in response to

10 a national security emergency at the request of the

11 President.

12 (2) EXECUTIVE REGULATIONS.—The President

13 may waive the requirements of subsection (f) at any

14 time in which a declaration of war is in effect, or in

15 response to a national security emergency as deter16 mined by the President in consultation with Con17 gress.

18 (h) REPEAL OF SENATE RULE.—Paragraph 11 of

19 rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate is repealed.
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1 TITLE IV—APPLICABILITY OF

2 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

3 ACT

4 SEC. 401. APPLICATION OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

5 ACT TO THE CONGRESS.

6 The Congress, and the instrumentalities of Congress,

7 shall be subject to section 552 of title 5, United States

8 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Freedom of Informa9 tion Act’’) to the same extent that Executive agencies (as

10 defined by section 105 of title 5, United States Code) are

11 subject to such section 552.

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