IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 484 

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

process. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 12, 2007 

Mr. SHULER (for himself, Mr. CHANDLER, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. BARROW, Mr. 

CARDOZA, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. MOORE of 

Kansas, Mr. ROSS, Mr. TANNER, Mr. TAYLOR, Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN, 

Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MELANCON, Mr. 

BOYD of Florida, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. HILL, Mr. ELLSWORTH, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BERRY, Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee, and 

Mr. MAHONEY of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

strengthen the budget process. 

1 Resolved, That (a) the last sentence of clause 7(e) of 

2 rule XXII of Rules of the House of Representatives is 

3 amended by inserting ‘‘and shall contain, where prac4 ticable, the estimate of costs described in section 

5 308(a)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974’’ be6 fore the period. 

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•HRES 484 IH 

1 (b) Clause 7 of rule XXII of Rules of the House of 

2 Representatives is amended by adding at the end the fol3 lowing new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(f) It shall not be in order to consider a conference 

5 report unless it contains an estimate of costs as described 

6 in the last sentence of paragraph (e).’’. 

7 ROLL CALL VOTES REQUIRED FOR NEW SPENDING OVER

8 $50,000,000

9 SEC. 2. Clause 10 of rule XX of the Rules of the 

10 House of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘au11 thorizing or providing new budget authority of not less 

12 than $50,000,000’’ before ‘‘making general appropria13 tions’’ and by adding at the end the following new sen14 tence: ‘‘The Speaker may not entertain a unanimous con15 sent request or motion to suspend this clause.’’. 

16 SEARCHABLE EARMARKS LIST REQUIREMENT

17 SEC. 3. Clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 

18 House of Representatives is amended as follows: 

19 (1) in paragraph (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘, which 

20 shall be made available on the Internet in a search21 able format to the general public for at least 48 

22 hours before consideration,’’ after ‘‘a list’’; 

23 (2) in paragraph (a)(2), by inserting ‘‘, which 

24 shall be made available on the Internet in a search25 able format to the general public for at least 48 

26 hours before consideration,’’ after ‘‘a list’’; and 

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•HRES 484 IH 

1 (3) in paragraph (a)(4), by inserting ‘‘, which 

2 shall be made available on the Internet in a search3 able format to the general public for at least 48 

4 hours before consideration,’’ after ‘‘a list’’. 

5 SAME-DAY CONSIDERATION OF RULES COMMITTEE

6 REPORTS

7 SEC. 4. In rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 

8 Representatives, clause 6(a) is amended by striking ‘‘the 

9 same day’’ and inserting ‘‘the same calendar day or less 

10 than 17 hours after that’’. 

11 TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN WAIVERS

12 UNDER THE RULES

13 SEC. 5. (a) TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT.—Clause 

14 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representa15 tives is amended by striking the period and inserting a 

16 semicolon at the end of subparagraph (2) and by adding 

17 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

18 ‘‘(3) a rule or order which would waive the lay19 over requirement of clause 8 of rule XXII con20 cerning the availability of reports, would waive the 

21 three-day layover requirement or the three-day 

22 Internet availability requirement of clause 4(a)(1) of 

23 this rule or of clause 8(a)(1) of rule XXII, or would 

24 waive the scope requirement of the last sentence of 

25 clause 9 of rule XXII by a vote of less than twomstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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•HRES 484 IH 

1 thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being 

2 present.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Clause 6(a) of rule 

4 XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 

5 amended by striking subparagraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or’’ 

6 after the semicolon at the end of subparagraph (1), and 

7 by redesignating subparagraph (3) as subparagraph (2). 

8 TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR AVAILABILITY OF

9 CERTAIN MEASURES ON THE INTERNET

10 SEC. 6. (a) Clause 4(a)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules 

11 of the House of Representatives is amended by inserting 

12 ‘‘and until the third such calendar day on which the un13 derlying measure or matter has been made available by 

14 the Committee on Rules on its Internet site’’ before the 

15 period. 

16 (b) Clause 8(a)(1)(A) of rule XXII of the Rules of 

17 the House of Representatives is amended by inserting 

18 ‘‘and until the third such calendar day on which such con19 ference report and joint explanatory statement have been 

20 made available by the standing committee of the House 

21 with subject matter jurisdiction over the underlying legis22 lation on its Internet site’’ before the semicolon. 

23 WRITTEN JUSTIFICATION FOR EARMARKS

24 SEC. 7. Clause 2 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 

25 House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end 

26 the following new paragraph: 

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1 ‘‘(g) The report that accompanies any general appro2 priation bill shall contain a separate written justification 

3 for each earmark contained in such bill or report.’’. 

4 MANDATORY OVERSIGHT

5 SEC. 8. Clause 2(d) of rule X of the Rules of the 

6 House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(3) Not later than July 1 in the first session of a 

9 Congress, and at six-month intervals thereafter during 

10 that Congress, each committee shall submit reports to the 

11 Speaker and the minority leader respecting the commit12 tee’s compliance with its oversight plan. Committees shall 

13 make these reports available to the public.’’. 

Æ 

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