IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1515 

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

of order against the consideration of congressional earmarks, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2008 

Mr. SALI (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, and Mr. SESSIONS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, 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 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

strengthen the point of order against the consideration 

of congressional earmarks, and for other purposes. 

1 Resolved, That clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of 

2 the House of Representatives is amended as follows: 

3 (1) In paragraph (a)(1)— 

4 (A) after ‘‘such list’’ insert ‘‘, certified by 

5 the chairman of the relevant committee as the 

6 official action of the referring committee on the 

7 bill or joint resolution,’’; and 


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1 (B) before the semicolon insert ‘‘to be 

2 printed in the Congressional Record and made 

3 available on a list accessible to and searchable 

4 by the public via the Internet on the website of 

5 the Clerk under paragraph (h)(1) at least 48 

6 hours prior to its consideration by the full 

7 House’’. 

8 (2) In paragraph (a)(2)— 

9 (A) strike ‘‘each committee of initial refer10 ral’’ and insert ‘‘the conference committee that 

11 reports such bill or joint resolution to the 

12 House’’; 

13 (B) after ‘‘such list’’ insert ‘‘, certified by 

14 the chairman of the relevant committee as the 

15 official action of the referring committee on the 

16 bill or joint resolution,’’; and 

17 (C) strike ‘‘prior to its consideration’’ and 

18 insert ‘‘and made available on a list accessible 

19 to and searchable by the public via the Internet 

20 on the website of the Clerk under paragraph 

21 (h)(1) at least 48 hours prior to its consider22 ation by the full House’’. 

23 (3) Paragraph (b) is amended to read as fol24 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(b)(1) Any list of congressional earmarks required 

2 by paragraph (a) or paragraph (d)(2) shall include for 

3 each earmark, as a part of that list, the name of any Mem4 ber who requested that earmark, the total amount of new 

5 budget authority provided for that earmark, the name of 

6 any person or entity that is to receive the earmarked 

7 funds, and a brief, accurate description of the purpose or 

8 program for which those funds shall be expended. 

9 ‘‘(2) For the purposes of this clause, any provision 

10 or report language that is inserted by the chairman of a 

11 standing committee or any subcommittee thereof with sub12 ject matter jurisdiction over the measure containing such 

13 provision or report language, and that would be a congres14 sional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit 

15 but for the fact that it was not requested by any Member, 

16 Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator, and that is 

17 either targeted to the congressional district of such chair18 man or unrelated to the purpose of the underlying meas19 ure, shall be required to be included in the applicable list 

20 of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 

21 tariff benefits with the respective chairman designated as 

22 the person requesting the earmarked funds. 

23 ‘‘(3) It is the permanent and continuing sense of the 

24 House that there is no legislative intent for any agency 

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1 gressionally earmarked funds unless such earmarked 

2 funds are, in full compliance with these rules, included on 

3 the appropriate list of congressional earmarks required by 

4 these rules.’’. 

5 (4)(A) Paragraph (c) is amended by inserting 

6 before the first sentence the following new sentence: 

7 ‘‘It shall not be in order to consider a rule or order 

8 that waives the application of paragraph (a) or para9 graph (d).’’. 

10 (B) Paragraph (c) is amended by inserting ‘‘, 

11 or any inaccuracy in the list required by paragraph 

12 (a) or any inaccuracy in such statement’’ before the 

13 period at the end. 

14 (5) Redesignate paragraphs (d), (e), and (f) as 

15 paragraphs (e), (f), and (g), respectively, and insert 

16 after paragraph (c) the following new paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(d)(1) It shall not be in order to consider any bill 

18 or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or conference 

19 report thereon, described in paragraph (a) if— 

20 ‘‘(A) any earmark is contained in such measure 

21 or in any accompanying report or joint statement 

22 (as applicable) or in any other accompanying docu23 mentation and that earmark does not appear on the 

24 applicable searchable list accessible to the public on 

25 the Internet as required by paragraph (a); 


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1 ‘‘(B) any such earmark is sought by any indi2 vidual, including any entity employing or retaining 

3 such individual, who was within the prior 18 months 

4 employed by the Member, Delegate, or Resident 

5 Commissioner who submitted a request to any com6 mittee for that earmark; 

7 ‘‘(C) any such earmark will financially benefit 

8 the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 

9 who submitted a request to the committee for that 

10 earmark or any family member (as such term is de11 fined by clause 15(c)(2) of rule XXIII) or any staff 

12 employed by that Member, Delegate, or Resident 

13 Commissioner or any family member (as such term 

14 is defined by clause 15(c)(2) of rule XXIII as if that 

15 definition applied to staff instead of a Member) of 

16 any such staff; or 

17 ‘‘(D) any such earmark will benefit any entity 

18 that was established by or at the request or with the 

19 assistance of the Member, Delegate, or Resident 

20 Commissioner, who submitted a request to any com21 mittee for that earmark. 

22 ‘‘(2) It shall not be in order to consider a conference 

23 report to accompany a general appropriation bill unless 

24 the joint explanatory statement prepared by the managers 

25 on the part of the House and the managers on the part 


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1 of the Senate includes a list of all congressional earmarks 

2 in the conference report or joint statement (and the name 

3 of any Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Sen4 ator who submitted a request to the respective House or 

5 Senate committee for each respective earmark included on 

6 such list) that were not committed to the conference com7 mittee by either House, not in a report on such bill, and 

8 not in a report of a committee of the Senate on a com9 panion measure.’’. 

10 (6) At the end, add the following new para11 graph: 

12 ‘‘(h)(1) The Clerk shall establish a website ac13 cessible to and searchable by the public and upon 

14 which shall appear, for the budgeting process for 

15 each fiscal year, a list of every congressional ear16 mark, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff benefit 

17 requested by any Member, Delegate, Resident Com18 missioner, or Senator pursuant to this clause and in19 cluded in any reported bill or joint resolution or ac20 companying report thereto, or in any conference re21 port to accompany any bill or joint resolution or in 

22 any accompanying joint explanatory statement. 

23 ‘‘(2) The chairman of any committee reporting 

24 a bill or joint resolution and the Member who from 

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1 port shall immediately submit a list of the congres2 sional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited 

3 tariff benefits included in that measure or accom4 panying report or statement (and, for each such con5 gressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited 

6 tariff benefit, the name of the Member, Delegate, 

7 Resident Commissioner, or Senator who requested 

8 that earmark or benefit) to the Clerk to be used by 

9 the Clerk to carry out subparagraph (1) .’’. 

10 SEC. 2. Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

11 House of Representatives is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

12 the end of subparagraph (1), 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 subparagraphs: 

15 ‘‘(3) a rule or order that waives the application 

16 of clause 6 of rule XXI; or 

17 ‘‘(4) a rule or order that waives the application 

18 of paragraph (a) or (d) of clause 9 of rule XXI.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. Clause 17(a) of rule XXIII of the Rules of 

20 the House of Representatives is amended by striking 

21 ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (4), by striking the pe22 riod at the end of subparagraph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 

23 and by inserting at the end the following new subpara24 graph: 


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1 ‘‘(6) in the case of a congressional earmark 

2 which is requested by a Member, Delegate, or Resi3 dent Commissioner who is a candidate for election 

4 for any public office, the name and address of any 

5 person who asked the Member, Delegate, or Resi6 dent Commissioner to request the earmark and 

7 made a contribution to the Member’s, Delegate’s, or 

8 Resident Commissioner’s campaign for election for 

9 any public office during the 18-month period which 

10 ends on the date of such request.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. (a) Whenever a Member of the House of Rep12 resentatives provides a written statement under clause 

13 17(a)(6) of the Rules of the House of Representatives (as 

14 added by section 3) to the chairman and ranking minority 

15 member of a committee, such chairman shall provide the 

16 statement simultaneously in electronic form to the Clerk 

17 of the House of Representatives. 

18 (b) Upon receiving a statement from a chairman 

19 under subsection (a), the Clerk of the House of Represent20 atives shall post the statement on a publicly accessible 

21 website of the Office of the Clerk in a format which per22 mits individuals to search for categories of information 

23 among all such statements. 


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1 (c) In this section, a ‘‘Member of the House of Rep2 resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Commis3 sioner to the Congress. 

Æ 


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