II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1522 

To establish a joint select committee of Congress to report findings and 

propose legislation to restore the Nation’s workforce to full employment 

over the period of fiscal years 2012 and 2013, and to provide for 

expedited consideration of such legislation by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

BEGICH, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To establish a joint select committee of Congress to report 

findings and propose legislation to restore the Nation’s 

workforce to full employment over the period of fiscal 

years 2012 and 2013, and to provide for expedited consideration of such legislation by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

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 ‘‘Joint Select Committee 

5 on Job Creation Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

3 (1) JOINT COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘joint com4 mittee’’ means the Joint Select Committee on Job 

5 Creation established under subsection (b)(1). 

6 (2) JOINT COMMITTEE BILL.—The term ‘‘joint 

7 committee bill’’ means a bill consisting of the pro8 posed legislative language of the joint committee rec9 ommended under subsection (b)(3)(B) and intro10 duced under section 3(a). 

11 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF JOINT SELECT COM12 MITTEE.— 

13 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a 

14 joint select committee of Congress to be known as 

15 the ‘‘Joint Select Committee on Job Creation’’. 

16 (2) GOAL.—The goal of the joint committee 

17 shall be to restore the Nation’s workforce to full em18 ployment, as defined by the Secretary of Labor not 

19 later than 14 days after the date of the enactment 

20 of this Act, over the period of fiscal years 2012 and 

21 2013. 

22 (3) DUTIES.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.— 

24 (i) IMPROVING THE SHORT-TERM AND

25 LONG-TERM EMPLOYMENT LEVELS.—The 

26 joint committee shall provide recommendaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:14 Sep 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1522.IS S1522

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1 tions and legislative language that will sig2 nificantly improve the short-term and long3 term employment levels in the United 

4 States. 

5 (ii) RECOMMENDATIONS OF COMMIT6 TEES.—Not later than October 14, 2011, 

7 each committee of the House of Represent8 atives and the Senate may transmit to the 

9 joint committee its recommendations for 

10 changes in law to increase employment lev11 els consistent with the goal described in 

12 paragraph (2) for the joint committee’s 

13 consideration. 

14 (B) REPORT, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND

15 LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE.— 

16 (i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than No17 vember 23, 2011, the joint committee shall 

18 vote on— 

19 (I) a report that contains a de20 tailed statement of the findings, con21 clusions, and recommendations of the 

22 joint committee and the estimate of 

23 the Joint Economic Committee re24 quired by paragraph (5)(D)(ii); and 


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1 (II) proposed legislative language 

2 to carry out such recommendations as 

3 described in subclause (I), which shall 

4 include a statement of the job creation 

5 achieved by the legislation over the 

6 period of fiscal years 2012 and 2013. 

7 Any change to the Rules of the House of 

8 Representatives or the Standing Rules of 

9 the Senate included in the report or legis10 lative language shall be considered to be 

11 merely advisory. 

12 (ii) APPROVAL OF REPORT AND LEG13 ISLATIVE LANGUAGE.—The report of the 

14 joint committee and the proposed legisla15 tive language described in clause (i) shall 

16 require the approval of a majority of the 

17 members of the joint committee. 

18 (iii) ADDITIONAL VIEWS.—A member 

19 of the joint committee who gives notice of 

20 an intention to file supplemental, minority, 

21 or additional views at the time of final 

22 joint committee vote on the approval of the 

23 report and legislative language under 

24 clause (ii) shall be entitled to 3 calendar 

25 days in which to file such views in writing 


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1 with the staff director of the joint com2 mittee. Such views shall then be included 

3 in the joint committee report and printed 

4 in the same volume, or part thereof, and 

5 their inclusion shall be noted on the cover 

6 of the report. In the absence of timely no7 tice, the joint committee report may be 

8 printed and transmitted immediately with9 out such views. 

10 (iv) TRANSMISSION OF REPORT AND

11 LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE.—If the report 

12 and legislative language are approved by 

13 the joint committee pursuant to clause (ii), 

14 then not later than December 2, 2011, the 

15 joint committee shall submit the joint com16 mittee report and legislative language de17 scribed in clause (i) to the President, the 

18 Vice President, the Speaker of the House 

19 of Representatives, and the majority and 

20 minority leaders of each House of Con21 gress. 

22 (v) REPORT AND LEGISLATIVE LAN23 GUAGE TO BE MADE PUBLIC.—Upon the 

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1 suant to clause (ii), the joint committee 

2 shall promptly make the full report and 

3 legislative language, and a record of the 

4 vote, available to the public. 

5 (4) MEMBERSHIP.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The joint committee 

7 shall be composed of 12 members appointed 

8 pursuant to subparagraph (B). 

9 (B) APPOINTMENT.—Members of the joint 

10 committee shall be appointed as follows: 

11 (i) The majority leader of the Senate 

12 shall appoint three members from among 

13 Members of the Senate. 

14 (ii) The minority leader of the Senate 

15 shall appoint three members from among 

16 Members of the Senate. 

17 (iii) The Speaker of the House of 

18 Representatives shall appoint three mem19 bers from among Members of the House of 

20 Representatives. 

21 (iv) The minority leader of the House 

22 of Representatives shall appoint three 

23 members from among Members of the 

24 House of Representatives. 

25 (C) CO-CHAIRS.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—There shall be two 

2 Co-Chairs of the joint committee. The ma3 jority leader of the Senate shall appoint 

4 one Co-Chair from among the members of 

5 the joint committee. The Speaker of the 

6 House of Representatives shall appoint the 

7 second Co-Chair from among the members 

8 of the joint committee. The Co-Chairs shall 

9 be appointed not later than 14 calendar 

10 days after the date of enactment of this 

11 Act. 

12 (ii) STAFF DIRECTOR.—The Co13 Chairs, acting jointly, shall hire the staff 

14 director of the joint committee. 

15 (D) DATE.—Members of the joint com16 mittee shall be appointed not later than 14 cal17 endar days after the date of enactment of this 

18 Act. 

19 (E) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT.—Members 

20 shall be appointed for the life of the joint com21 mittee. Any vacancy in the joint committee 

22 shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled 

23 not later than 14 calendar days after the date 

24 on which the vacancy occurs, in the same man25 ner as the original designation was made. If a 


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1 member of the joint committee ceases to be a 

2 Member of the House of Representatives or the 

3 Senate, as the case may be, the member is no 

4 longer a member of the joint committee and a 

5 vacancy shall exist. 

6 (5) ADMINISTRATION.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—To enable the joint 

8 committee to exercise its powers, functions, and 

9 duties, there are authorized to be disbursed by 

10 the Senate the actual and necessary expenses of 

11 the joint committee approved by the Co-Chairs, 

12 subject to the rules and regulations of the Sen13 ate. 

14 (B) EXPENSES.—In carrying out its func15 tions, the joint committee is authorized to incur 

16 expenses in the same manner and under the 

17 same conditions as the Joint Economic Com18 mittee is authorized by section 11 of Public 

19 Law 79–304 (15 U.S.C. 1024 (d)). 

20 (C) QUORUM.—Seven members of the joint 

21 committee shall constitute a quorum for pur22 poses of voting, meeting, and holding hearings. 

23 (D) VOTING.— 


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1 (i) PROXY VOTING.—No proxy voting 

2 shall be allowed on behalf of the members 

3 of the joint committee. 

4 (ii) JOB CREATION ESTIMATES.—The 

5 Joint Economic Committee, authorized in 

6 4(C)(iii) shall provide estimates of the leg7 islation (as described in paragraph (3)(B)). 

8 The joint committee may not vote on any 

9 version of the report, recommendations, or 

10 legislative language unless such estimates 

11 are available for consideration by all mem12 bers of the joint committee at least 48 

13 hours prior to the vote as certified by the 

14 Co-Chairs. 

15 (E) MEETINGS.— 

16 (i) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 

17 45 calendar days after the date of enact18 ment of this Act, the joint committee shall 

19 hold its first meeting. 

20 (ii) AGENDA.—The Co-Chairs of the 

21 joint committee shall provide an agenda to 

22 the joint committee members not less than 

23 48 hours in advance of any meeting. 

24 (F) HEARINGS.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The joint com2 mittee may, for the purpose of carrying 

3 out this section, hold such hearings, sit 

4 and act at such times and places, require 

5 attendance of witnesses and production of 

6 books, papers, and documents, take such 

7 testimony, receive such evidence, and ad8 minister such oaths as the joint committee 

9 considers advisable. 

10 (ii) HEARING PROCEDURES AND RE11 SPONSIBILITIES OF CO-CHAIRS.— 

12 (I) ANNOUNCEMENT.—The Co13 Chairs of the joint committee shall 

14 make a public announcement of the 

15 date, place, time, and subject matter 

16 of any hearing to be conducted, not 

17 less than 7 days in advance of such 

18 hearing, unless the Co-Chairs deter19 mine that there is good cause to begin 

20 such hearing at an earlier date. 

21 (II) WRITTEN STATEMENT.—A 

22 witness appearing before the joint 

23 committee shall file a written state24 ment of proposed testimony at least 2 

25 calendar days before the appearance 


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1 of the witness, unless the requirement 

2 is waived by the Co-Chairs, following 

3 their determination that there is good 

4 cause for failure to comply with such 

5 requirement. 

6 (G) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Upon writ7 ten request of the Co-Chairs, a Federal agency 

8 shall provide technical assistance to the joint 

9 committee in order for the joint committee to 

10 carry out its duties. 

11 (c) STAFF OF JOINT COMMITTEE.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Co-Chairs of the joint 

13 committee may jointly appoint and fix the compensa14 tion of staff as they deem necessary, within the 

15 guidelines for employees of the Senate and following 

16 all applicable rules and employment requirements of 

17 the Senate. 

18 (2) ETHICAL STANDARDS.—Members on the 

19 joint committee who serve in the House of Rep20 resentatives shall be governed by the ethics rules and 

21 requirements of the House. Members of the Senate 

22 who serve on the joint committee and staff of the 

23 joint committee shall comply with the ethics rules of 

24 the Senate. 


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1 (d) TERMINATION.—The joint committee shall termi2 nate on January 31, 2012. 

3 SEC. 3. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF JOINT COMMITTEE 

4 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

5 (a) INTRODUCTION.— 

6 (1) IF APPROVED.—If approved by the majority 

7 required by section 2(b)(3)(B)(ii), the proposed leg8 islative language submitted pursuant to section 

9 2(b)(3)(B)(iv) shall be introduced in the Senate (by 

10 request) on the next day on which the Senate is in 

11 session by the majority leader of the Senate or by 

12 a Member of the Senate designated by the majority 

13 leader of the Senate and shall be introduced in the 

14 House of Representatives (by request) on the next 

15 legislative day by the majority leader of the House 

16 or by a Member of the House designated by the ma17 jority leader of the House. 

18 (2) IF NOT APPROVED.—If no legislative lan19 guage is approved by the vote required by section 

20 2(b)(3)(B)(i), then any legislative language that was 

21 brought to a vote under such section shall be intro22 duced in the Senate (by request) on the next day on 

23 which the Senate is in session by the majority leader 

24 of the Senate or by a Member of the Senate des25 ignated by the majority leader of the Senate and 


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1 shall be introduced in the House of Representatives 

2 (by request) on the next legislative day by the ma3 jority leader of the House or by a Member of the 

4 House designated by the majority leader of the 

5 House. 

6 (b) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT7 ATIVES.— 

8 (1) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—Any com9 mittee of the House of Representatives to which the 

10 joint committee bill is referred shall report it to the 

11 House without amendment not later than December 

12 9, 2011. If a committee fails to report the joint com13 mittee bill within that period, it shall be in order to 

14 move that the House discharge the committee from 

15 further consideration of the bill. Such a motion shall 

16 not be in order after the last committee authorized 

17 to consider the bill reports it to the House or after 

18 the House has disposed of a motion to discharge the 

19 bill. The previous question shall be considered as or20 dered on the motion to its adoption without inter21 vening motion except 20 minutes of debate equally 

22 divided and controlled by the proponent and an op23 ponent. If such a motion is adopted, the House shall 

24 proceed immediately to consider the joint committee 

25 bill in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3). A 


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1 motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

2 is disposed of shall not be in order. 

3 (2) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.—After 

4 the last committee authorized to consider a joint 

5 committee bill reports it to the House or has been 

6 discharged (other than by motion) from its consider7 ation, it shall be in order to move to proceed to con8 sider the joint committee bill in the House. Such a 

9 motion shall not be in order after the House has dis10 posed of a motion to proceed with respect to the 

11 joint committee bill. The previous question shall be 

12 considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption 

13 without intervening motion. A motion to reconsider 

14 the vote by which the motion is disposed of shall not 

15 be in order. 

16 (3) CONSIDERATION.—The joint committee bill 

17 shall be considered as read. All points of order 

18 against the joint committee bill and against its con19 sideration are waived. The previous question shall be 

20 considered as ordered on the joint committee bill to 

21 its passage without intervening motion except 2 

22 hours of debate equally divided and controlled by the 

23 proponent and an opponent and one motion to limit 

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1 consider the vote on passage of the joint committee 

2 bill shall not be in order. 

3 (4) VOTE ON PASSAGE.—The vote on passage 

4 of the joint committee bill shall occur not later than 

5 December 23, 2011. 

6 (c) EXPEDITED PROCEDURE IN THE SENATE.— 

7 (1) COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION.—A joint com8 mittee bill introduced in the Senate under subsection 

9 (a) shall be jointly referred to the committee or com10 mittees of jurisdiction, which committees shall report 

11 the bill without any revision and with a favorable 

12 recommendation, an unfavorable recommendation, or 

13 without recommendation, not later than December 9, 

14 2011. If any committee fails to report the bill within 

15 that period, that committee shall be automatically 

16 discharged from consideration of the bill, and the 

17 bill shall be placed on the appropriate calendar. 

18 (2) MOTION TO PROCEED.—Notwithstanding 

19 Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, it 

20 is in order, not later than 2 days of session after the 

21 date on which a joint committee bill is reported or 

22 discharged from all committees to which it was re23 ferred, for the majority leader of the Senate or the 

24 majority leader’s designee to move to proceed to the 

25 consideration of the joint committee bill. It shall also 


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1 be in order for any Member of the Senate to move 

2 to proceed to the consideration of the joint com3 mittee bill at any time after the conclusion of such 

4 2-day period. A motion to proceed is in order even 

5 though a previous motion to the same effect has 

6 been disagreed to. All points of order against the 

7 motion to proceed to the joint committee bill are 

8 waived. The motion to proceed is not debatable. The 

9 motion is not subject to a motion to postpone. A mo10 tion to reconsider the vote by which the motion is 

11 agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order. If 

12 a motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint 

13 committee bill is agreed to, the joint committee bill 

14 shall remain the unfinished business until disposed 

15 of. 

16 (3) CONSIDERATION.—All points of order 

17 against the joint committee bill and against consid18 eration of the joint committee bill are waived. Con19 sideration of the joint committee bill and of all de20 batable motions and appeals in connection therewith 

21 shall not exceed a total of 30 hours which shall be 

22 divided equally between the majority and minority 

23 leaders or their designees. A motion further to limit 

24 debate on the joint committee bill is in order, shall 

25 require an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the 


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1 Members duly chosen and sworn, and is not debat2 able. Any debatable motion or appeal is debatable 

3 for not to exceed 1 hour, to be divided equally be4 tween those favoring and those opposing the motion 

5 or appeal. All time used for consideration of the 

6 joint committee bill, including time used for quorum 

7 calls and voting, shall be counted against the total 

8 30 hours of consideration. 

9 (4) NO AMENDMENTS.—An amendment to the 

10 joint committee bill, or a motion to postpone, or a 

11 motion to proceed to the consideration of other busi12 ness, or a motion to recommit the joint committee 

13 bill, is not in order. 

14 (5) VOTE ON PASSAGE.—If the Senate has 

15 voted to proceed to the joint committee bill, the vote 

16 on passage of the joint committee bill shall occur im17 mediately following the conclusion of the debate on 

18 a joint committee bill, and a single quorum call at 

19 the conclusion of the debate if requested. The vote 

20 on passage of the joint committee bill shall occur not 

21 later than December 23, 2011. 

22 (6) RULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCEDURE.— 

23 Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating to 

24 the application of the rules of the Senate, as the 


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1 case may be, to the procedure relating to a joint 

2 committee bill shall be decided without debate. 

3 (d) AMENDMENT.—The joint committee bill shall not 

4 be subject to amendment in either the House of Rep5 resentatives or the Senate. 

6 (e) CONSIDERATION BY THE OTHER HOUSE.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—If, before passing the joint 

8 committee bill, one House receives from the other a 

9 joint committee bill— 

10 (A) the joint committee bill of the other 

11 House shall not be referred to a committee; and 

12 (B) the procedure in the receiving House 

13 shall be the same as if no joint committee bill 

14 had been received from the other House until 

15 the vote on passage, when the joint committee 

16 bill received from the other House shall sup17 plant the joint committee bill of the receiving 

18 House. 

19 (2) REVENUE MEASURE.—This subsection shall 

20 not apply to the House of Representatives if the 

21 joint committee bill received from the Senate is a 

22 revenue measure. 

23 (f) RULES TO COORDINATE ACTION WITH OTHER

24 HOUSE.— 


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1 (1) TREATMENT OF JOINT COMMITTEE BILL OF

2 OTHER HOUSE.—If the Senate fails to introduce or 

3 consider a joint committee bill under this section, 

4 the joint committee bill of the House shall be enti5 tled to expedited floor procedures under this section. 

6 (2) TREATMENT OF COMPANION MEASURES IN

7 THE SENATE.—If following passage of the joint com8 mittee bill in the Senate, the Senate then receives 

9 the joint committee bill from the House of Rep10 resentatives, the House-passed joint committee bill 

11 shall not be debatable. The vote on passage of the 

12 joint committee bill in the Senate shall be considered 

13 to be the vote on passage of the joint committee bill 

14 received from the House of Representatives. 

15 (3) VETOES.—If the President vetoes the joint 

16 committee bill, debate on a veto message in the Sen17 ate under this section shall be 1 hour equally divided 

18 between the majority and minority leaders or their 

19 designees. 

20 (g) LOSS OF PRIVILEGE.—The provisions of this sec21 tion shall cease to apply to the joint committee bill if the 

22 joint committee bill does not pass both Houses not later 

23 than December 23, 2011. 


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1 SEC. 4. FUNDING. 

2 Funding for the joint committee shall be derived in 

3 equal portions from— 

4 (1) the applicable accounts of the House of 

5 Representatives; and 

6 (2) the contingent fund of the Senate from the 

7 appropriations account ‘‘Miscellaneous Items’’, sub8 ject to the rules and regulations of the Senate. 

9 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

10 The provisions of this Act are enacted by Congress— 

11 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

12 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re13 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as 

14 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of 

15 that House to which they specifically apply, and 

16 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex17 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and 

18 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

19 right of either House to change such rules (so far 

20 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same 

21 manner, and to the same extent as in the case of 

22 any other rule of such House. 

Æ 


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