IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 40 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a minority 

bill of rights to require the House to be administered in a bipartisan 

manner and to require regular order in the legislative process. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2007 

Mr. MCHENRY (for himself, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. CARTER, Mr. WILSON of 

South Carolina, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. PRICE

of Georgia, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. CAMPBELL of California, Mr. 

BURTON of Indiana, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. ISSA, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. 

GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. COBLE, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, and Mrs. SCHMIDT) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

establish a minority bill of rights to require the House 

to be administered in a bipartisan manner and to require 

regular order in the legislative process. 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. BIPARTISAN ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSE OF 

3 REPRESENTATIVES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Rules of the House of Rep5 resentatives are amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
2 

•HRES 40 IH 

1 ‘‘RULE XXIX

2 ‘‘BIPARTISAN ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSE

3 ‘‘1. (a) The elected leadership of the majority and mi4 nority parties shall engage in regular consultations with 

5 each other to discuss scheduling, administration, and oper6 ations of the House. 

7 ‘‘(b) The chair and ranking minority member of each 

8 committee, as well as their staffs, shall have regular meet9 ings with each other. 

10 ‘‘2. The House should have a predictable, profes11 sional, family-friendly schedule that allows the legislative 

12 process to proceed in a manner that ensures timely and 

13 deliberate dispensation of the work of the Congress.’’. 

14 (b) ALLOCATION OF COMMITTEE EXPENSES.— 

15 Clause 6 of rule X of the Rules of the House of Represent16 atives is amended by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(f) Of the amount provided to a committee under 

19 a primary expense resolution or a supplemental expense 

20 resolution under this clause, or during an interim funding 

21 period described in clause 7, one-third of such amount, 

22 or such greater percentage as may be agreed to by the 

23 chair and ranking minority member of the committee, 

24 shall be paid at the direction of the ranking minority mem25 ber.’’. 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
3 

•HRES 40 IH 

1 SEC. 2. REGULAR ORDER FOR LEGISLATION. 

2 The Rules of the House of Representatives, as 

3 amended by section 1, are further amended by adding at 

4 the end the following: 

5 ‘‘RULE XXX

6 ‘‘REGULAR ORDER FOR LEGISLATION

7 ‘‘1. Legislation shall be developed following full hear8 ings and open subcommittee and committee markups, with 

9 appropriate referrals to other committees. Members 

10 should have at least 24 hours to examine any legislation 

11 before its consideration at the subcommittee level. 

12 ‘‘2. Legislation shall generally come to the floor 

13 under a procedure that allows open, full, and fair debate 

14 consisting of a full amendment process that grants the mi15 nority the right to offer its alternatives, including a sub16 stitute. 

17 ‘‘3. Members shall have at least 24 hours to examine 

18 bill and conference report text prior to floor consideration. 

19 Rules governing floor debate must be reported before 10 

20 p.m. for any legislation to be considered the following day. 

21 ‘‘4. Floor votes shall be completed within 15 minutes, 

22 with the customary 2-minute extension to accommodate 

23 Members’ ability to get to the House Chamber to cast 

24 their votes. No vote shall be held open in order to manipu25 late the outcome. 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
4 

•HRES 40 IH 

1 ‘‘5. Conference committees shall hold regular meet2 ings (at least weekly) of all conference committee Mem3 bers. All managers appointed to a conference committee 

4 shall be informed of the schedule of conference committee 

5 activities in a timely manner, and given ample opportunity 

6 for input and debate as decisions are made toward final 

7 language for the conference report. 

8 ‘‘6. The Suspension Calendar shall be restricted to 

9 non-controversial legislation, and the ratio of legislation 

10 on the Calendar which is sponsored by members of the 

11 minority party shall be the same as the ratio of the num12 ber of members of the party to the membership of the 

13 whole House.’’. 

Æ 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS