II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2179 

To require openness in conference committee deliberations and full disclosure 

of the contents of conference reports and all other legislation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 18, 2006 

Mr. OBAMA introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To require openness in conference committee deliberations 

and full disclosure of the contents of conference reports 

and all other legislation. 

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 ‘‘Curtailing Lobbyist 

5 Effectiveness Through Advance Notification, Updates, 

6 and Posting Act’’ or the ‘‘CLEAN UP Act’’. 
2 

•S 2179 IS

1 SEC. 2. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE DISCLOSURE REQUIRE2 MENTS. 

3 (a) CLEAR IDENTIFICATION OF NEW MATERIAL IN

4 CONFERENCE REPORTS.—Rule XXVIII of the Rules of 

5 the Senate is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘7. The joint explanatory statement by a committee 

7 of conference shall separately identify and explain each 

8 provision of the report in violation of paragraph 2 or 3 

9 of rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate and, 

10 if possible, identify the Member who proposed such provi11 sion.’’. 

12 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CONFERENCE COM13 MITTEE PROTOCOLS.—It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) conference committees should hold regular, 

15 formal meetings of all conferees that are open to the 

16 public or televised; 

17 (2) all conferees should be given adequate no18 tice of the time and place of all such meetings; and 

19 (3) all conferees should be afforded an oppor20 tunity to participate in full and complete debates of 

21 the matters that such conference committees may 

22 recommend to their respective Houses. 
3 

•S 2179 IS

1 SEC. 3. ACTUAL VOTING REQUIRED IN CONFERENCE COM2 MITTEE MEETINGS AND OPPORTUNITY FOR 

3 MINORITY VIEWS. 

4 Rule XXVIII of the Standing Rules of the Senate is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘8. It shall not be in order to consider a conference 

7 report unless the senior manager from the majority party 

8 on the part of the Senate as so designated for that purpose 

9 by the majority leader and the senior manager from the 

10 minority party on the part of the Senate as so designated 

11 for that purpose by the minority leader include in the 

12 statement of managers accompanying such conference re13 port a signed statement that— 

14 ‘‘(1) all Senate managers have been afforded an 

15 opportunity at a meeting of the committee on con16 ference to vote on all amendments and other propo17 sitions considered by that committee; 

18 ‘‘(2) roll call votes have been held in public 

19 meetings of the conferees on the matter contained in 

20 any motion to instruct conferees passed by the Sen21 ate; and 

22 ‘‘(3) the minority was offered an opportunity to 

23 submit dissenting or minority views for the joint 

24 statement of managers.’’. 
4 

•S 2179 IS

1 SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF LEGISLATION ON THE INTERNET. 

2 Rule XIV of all the Standing Rules of the Senate is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘11.(a) The reading in full of any bill, resolution, 

5 conference report, or amendment shall not be dispensed 

6 with unless such measure is available to all Members and 

7 made available to the general public by means of the Inter8 net for at least 72 hours before its consideration. 

‘‘(b) This paragraph may only be waived by 2 9 ⁄3 of 

10 Members, duly chosen and sworn.’’. 

11 SEC. 5. EARMARKS. 

12 Rule XVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘8.(a) In this paragraph, the term ‘earmark’ means 

15 a provision that requires or permits the obligation or ex16 penditure of any amount appropriated for the benefit of 

17 an identifiable person, program, project, entity, or juris18 diction by earmarking or other specification, whether by 

19 name or description, in a manner that— 

20 ‘‘(1) discriminates against other persons, pro21 grams, projects, entities, or jurisdictions similarly 

22 situated that would be eligible, but for the require23 ment or permission, for the amount appropriated; or 

24 ‘‘(2) applies only to a single identifiable person, 

25 program, project, entity, or jurisdiction, unless the 

26 identifiable person, program, project, entity, or juris-
5 

•S 2179 IS

1 diction is described or otherwise clearly identified in 

2 a law or Treaty stipulation (or an Act or resolution 

3 previously passed by the Senate during the same 

4 session or in the estimate submitted in accordance 

5 with law). 

6 ‘‘(b) No appropriation bill shall be considered unless 

7 a list of all earmarks in such bill and accompanying re8 ports are available to all Members and made available to 

9 the general public by means of the Internet for at least 

10 72 hours before its consideration. 

‘‘(c) This paragraph may only be waived by 2 11 ⁄3 of 

12 Members, duly chosen and sworn.’’. 

Æ