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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3633

To reform the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.

SANTORUM, Mr. ARMEY, and Mr. QUINN) introduced the following bill;

which was referred jointly to the Committees on Rules and Government

Operations

A BILL

To reform the House of Representatives, and for other

purposes.

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 ‘‘Truth in Voting Act

5 of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ADJUSTMENT OF APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEES

2 SECTION 302 AND SECTION 602 ALLOCATIONS

3 AND SUBALLOCATIONS; ADJUSTMENT OF DIS4 CRETIONARY SPENDING CAPS.

5 (a) SECTION 302 ALLOCATIONS.—Section 302(e) of

6 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by in7 serting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘At’’ and by adding at the end the

8 following new paragraphs:

9 ‘‘(2) If—

10 ‘‘(A) a general appropriation bill as reported by

11 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of

12 Representatives is amended and that bill as passed

13 by the House reduces the amount appropriated for

14 any program, project, or activity from the amount

15 appropriated for that program, project, or activity in

16 that bill as so reported; and

17 ‘‘(B) that bill as passed by the Senate reduces

18 the amount appropriated for the same program,

19 project, or activity from the amount appropriated for

20 that program, project, or activity in that bill as re21 ported initially in the House of Representatives;

22 then, upon the passage of that bill by both Houses of Con23 gress, the suballocations for that fiscal year made by each

24 Committee on Appropriations under subsection (b)(1) to

25 the subcommittee with jurisdiction over that measure shall

26 be reduced by the sum of the lesser amount of reductions
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1 made for each such program, project, or activity by the

2 House of Representatives or the Senate, as the case may

3 be, and that committee shall report to its House—

4 ‘‘(i) an adjusted suballocation for that sub5 committee with the appropriate reductions in levels

6 of total new budget outlays and total new budget au7 thority; and

8 ‘‘(ii) an adjusted allocation for the committee

9 that is reduced by the reductions in new budget out10 lays and new budget authority made under clause

11 (i).

12 ‘‘(3) FURTHER ADJUSTMENTS OF APPROPRIATIONS

13 COMMITTEES ALLOCATIONS AND SUBALLOCATIONS.—

14 Upon the enactment of any rescission bill, the

15 suballocations for that fiscal year made by each Commit16 tee on Appropriations under subsection (b)(1) to any sub17 committee with jurisdiction over that bill shall be reduced

18 by the sum of the rescissions contained in that bill over

19 which it has jurisdiction, and that committee shall report

20 to its House—

21 ‘‘(A) an adjusted suballocation for that sub22 committee with the appropriate reductions in levels

23 of total new budget outlays and total new budget au24 thority; and
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1 ‘‘(B) an adjusted allocation for the committee

2 that is reduced by the reductions in new budget out3 lays and new budget authority made under subpara4 graph (A).’’.

5 (b) SECTION 602 ALLOCATIONS.—Section 602 of the

6 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding

7 at the end the following new subsections:

8 ‘‘(f) ADJUSTMENTS OF APPROPRIATIONS COMMIT9 TEES ALLOCATIONS AND SUBALLOCATIONS.—If—

10 ‘‘(1) a general appropriation bill as reported by

11 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of

12 Representatives is amended and that bill as passed

13 by that House reduces the amount appropriated for

14 any program, project, or activity from the amount

15 appropriated for that program, project, or activity in

16 that bill as so reported; and

17 ‘‘(2) that bill as passed by the Senate reduces

18 the amount appropriated for the same program,

19 project, or activity from the amount appropriated for

20 that program, project, or activity in that bill as re21 ported initially in the House of Representatives;

22 then, upon the passage of that bill by both Houses of Con23 gress, the suballocations for that fiscal year made by each

24 Committee on Appropriations under subsection (b)(1) to

25 the subcommittee with jurisdiction over that measure shall
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1 be reduced by the sum of the lesser amount of reductions

2 made for each such program, project, or activity by the

3 House of Representatives or the Senate, as the case may

4 be, and that committee shall report to its House—

5 ‘‘(A) an adjusted suballocation for that sub6 committee with the appropriate reductions in levels

7 of total new budget outlays and total new budget au8 thority; and

9 ‘‘(B) an adjusted allocation for the committee

10 that is reduced by the reductions in new budget out11 lays and new budget authority made under subpara12 graph (A).

13 ‘‘(g) FURTHER ADJUSTMENTS OF APPROPRIATIONS

14 COMMITTEES ALLOCATIONS AND SUBALLOCATIONS.—

15 Upon the passage of any rescission bill by both Houses

16 of Congress, the suballocations for that fiscal year made

17 by each Committee on Appropriations under subsection

18 (b)(1) to any subcommittee with jurisdiction over that bill

19 shall be reduced by the sum of the rescissions contained

20 in that bill over which it has jurisdiction, and that commit21 tee shall report to its House—

22 ‘‘(1) an adjusted suballocation for that sub23 committee with the appropriate reductions in levels

24 of total new budget outlays and total new budget au25 thority; and
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1 ‘‘(2) an adjusted allocation for the committee

2 that is reduced by the reductions in new budget out3 lays and new budget authority made under para4 graph (1).’’.

5 (c) CBO TRACKING.—Section 202 of the Congres6 sional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the

7 end the following new subsection:

8 ‘‘(i) SCOREKEEPING ASSISTANCE.—To facilitate

9 compliance by the Committees on Appropriations with sec10 tions 302(e)(2) and 602(f), the Office shall score all gen11 eral appropriation measures as passed the House of Rep12 resentatives and as passed the Senate and have such

13 scorecard published in the Congressional Record.’’.

14 (d) ADJUSTMENT OF DISCRETIONARY SPENDING

15 LIMITS.—Section 601(a)(2) of the Congressional Budget

16 Act of 1974 is amended by inserting before the period at

17 the end the following: ‘‘and by the amounts of any adjust18 ments pursuant to section 602(f)(2)(B) and section

19 602(g)(2)’’.

20 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF PROXY VOTING IN COMMITTEES.

21 Clause 2(f) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of

22 Representatives is amended to read as follows:

23 ‘‘(f) No vote by any member of any committee or sub24 committee with respect to any measure or matter may be

25 cast by proxy.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. OPEN COMMITTEE MEETINGS.

2 Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives

3 is amended—

4 (1) in the first sentence of clause 2(g)(1), by in5 serting ‘‘because disclosure of matter to be consid6 ered would endanger the national security or would

7 tend to defame, degrade, or incriminate any person’’

8 after ‘‘public’’ the second place it appears;

9 (2) in clause 3(d), by striking ‘‘is a privilege

10 made available by the House and’’; and

11 (3) by striking clause 3(e) and inserting the fol12 lowing:

13 ‘‘(e) Whenever a hearing or meeting conducted by

14 any committee of the House is open to the public, those

15 proceedings shall be open to television broadcast, radio

16 broadcast, and still photography, or by any of such meth17 ods of coverage. No committee or subcommittee chairman

18 may limit the number of television or still cameras below

19 2 representatives from each medium.’’.

20 SEC. 5. APPLICATION OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

21 TO THE CONGRESS.

22 The Congress, and the instrumentalities of Congress,

23 shall be subject to section 552 of title 5, United States

24 Code (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Freedom of Informa25 tion Act’’) to the same extent that Executive agencies (as
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1 defined by section 105 of title 5, United States Code) are

2 subject to such section 552.

3 SEC. 6. MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF

4 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

5 (a) 5-DAY WAITING PERIOD.—(1) Clause 2(l)(6) of

6 rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is

7 amended by striking ‘‘third’’ and inserting ‘‘fifth’’.

8 (2) The first sentence of clause 2(a) of rule XXVIII

9 of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended

10 by striking ‘‘third’’ and inserting ‘‘fifth’’.

11 (b) TWO-THIRDS REQUIRED TO APPROVE RESTRIC12 TIVE RULES.—Clause 4 of rule XI of the Rules of the

13 House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end

14 the following new paragraph:

15 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any resolution

16 reported from the Committee on Rules providing for the

17 consideration of any bill or resolution otherwise subject to

18 amendment under House Rules if that resolution limits

19 the right of Members to offer germane amendments to

20 such bill, unless that resolution is agreed to by the affirm21 ative vote of at least two-thirds of the Members voting,

22 a quorum being present.’’.

23 (c) BAN ON KING-OF-THE-HILL RULES.—The last

24 sentence of clause 4(b) of rule XI of the Rules of the

25 House of Representatives is amended by inserting before
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1 the period the following: ‘‘; nor shall it report any rule

2 for the consideration of any measure commonly known as

3 a ‘king-of-the-hill’ rule’’.

4 (d) BAN ON SELF-EXECUTING RULES.—Clause 4 of

5 rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives (as

6 amended by subsection (b)) is amended by adding at the

7 end the following new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(f) It shall not be in order to consider any order

9 of business resolution reported from the Committee on

10 Rules which provides that, upon the adoption of such reso11 lution, the House shall be considered to have automatically

12 adopted a motion (other than for the previous question),

13 amendment, or resolution, or to have passed a bill, joint

14 resolution, or conference report thereon.’’.

15 (e) REPEAL OF RULE XLIX.—Rule XLIX of the

16 Rules of the House of Representatives is repealed.

17 (f) CONFERENCE COMMITTEES.—(1) Clause 3 of rule

18 XXVIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is

19 amended by adding at the end the following new sentence:

20 ‘‘Their report shall not fund any program, project, or ac21 tivity at a level higher than that contained in the bill or

22 resolution as passed the House or as passed the Senate

23 and committed to the conference committee or fund any

24 program, project, or activity not contained in that bill or

25 resolution as passed the House or as passed the Senate.’’.
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1 (2) Rule XXVIII of the Rules of the House of Rep2 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following

3 new clause:

4 ‘‘7. It shall not be in order in the House to consider

5 a conference report if that report would violate any motion

6 to instruct conferees that the House agreed to.’’.

7 SEC. 7. BUDGET ENFORCEMENT.

8 (a) PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—Paragraph (5) of sec9 tion 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, is amended

10 to read as follows:

11 ‘‘(5) except as provided in subsection (b) of this

12 section—

13 ‘‘(A) estimated expenditures and proposed

14 appropriations for each function and

15 subfunction in the current fiscal year;

16 ‘‘(B) estimated expenditures and proposed

17 appropriations the President decides are nec18 essary to support the Government for each

19 function and subfunction in the fiscal year for

20 which the budget is submitted; and

21 ‘‘(C) a comparison of levels of estimated

22 expenditures and proposed appropriations for

23 each function and subfunction in the current

24 fiscal year and the fiscal year for which the

25 budget is submitted, along with the proposed
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1 increase or decrease of spending in percentage

2 terms for each function and subfunction;’’.

3 (b) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET.—Section 301(e) of

4 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by—

5 (1) inserting after the second sentence the fol6 lowing: ‘‘The starting point for any deliberations in

7 the Committee on the Budget of each House on the

8 concurrent resolution on the budget for the next fis9 cal year shall be the estimated level of outlays for

10 the current year in each function and subfunction.

11 Any increases or decreases in the Congressional

12 budget for the next fiscal year shall be from such es13 timated levels.’’;

14 (2) striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and insert15 ing the following:

16 ‘‘(2) a comparison of levels for the current fis17 cal year with proposed spending for the subsequent

18 fiscal years along with the proposed increase or de19 crease of spending in percentage terms for each

20 function and subfunction;

21 ‘‘(3) information, data, and comparisons indi22 cating the manner in which, and the basis on which,

23 the committee determined each of the matters set

24 forth in the concurrent resolution, including infor25 mation on outlays for the current fiscal year and the
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1 decisions reached to set funding for the subsequent

2 fiscal years;’’;

3 (3) inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in para4 graph (7);

5 (4) striking paragraph (8); and

6 (5) redesignating paragraph (9) as paragraph

7 (8).

8 (c) CBO REPORT TO BUDGET COMMITTEES.—The

9 first sentence of section 202(f)(1) of the Congressional

10 Budget Act of 1974 is amended to read as follows: ‘‘On

11 or before February 15 of each year, the Director shall sub12 mit to the Committees on the Budget of the House of Rep13 resentatives and the Senate a report, for the fiscal year

14 commencing on October 1 of that year, with respect to

15 fiscal policy, including (A) estimated budget outlays in all

16 functions and subfunctions for appropriated accounts for

17 the current fiscal year and estimated budget outlays under

18 current law for all entitlement programs for the next fiscal

19 year, (B) alternative levels of total revenues, total new

20 budget authority, and total outlays (including related sur21 pluses and deficits), and (C) the levels of tax expenditures

22 under existing law, taking into account projected economic

23 factors and any changes in such levels based on proposals

24 in the budget submitted by the President for such fiscal

25 year.’’.
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1 SEC. 8. ECONOMIC AND EMPLOYMENT IMPACT STATE2 MENTS.

3 (a) PREPARATION.—The Comptroller General of the

4 United States shall prepare an economic and employment

5 impact statement, as described in subsection (b), to ac6 company each bill, resolution, or conference report re7 ported by any committee of the House of Representatives

8 or the Senate or considered on the floor of either House.

9 (b) CONTENTS.—Except as provided in subsection

10 (c), the economic and employment impact statement re11 quired by subsection (a) shall—

12 (1) state the extent to which enactment of the

13 bill, resolution, or conference report would result in

14 increased costs to the private sector, individuals, or

15 State and local governments; and

16 (2) include, at a minimum, a detailed assess17 ment of the annual impact of the bill, resolution, or

18 conference report (projected annually over a 5-year

19 period from its effective date, and, to the extent fea20 sible, expressed in each case in monetary terms)

21 on—

22 (A) costs to United States consumers;

23 (B) costs to United States business;

24 (C) national employment;

25 (D) the ability of United States industries

26 to compete internationally;
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1 (E) affected State and local governments,

2 fiscal and otherwise;

3 (F) outlays and revenues by the Federal

4 Government as compared to outlays and reve5 nues for the same activity in the current fiscal

6 year (as reported by the Congressional Budget

7 Office); and

8 (G) impact on Gross Domestic Product.

9 (c) EXCEPTION.—The economic and employment im10 pact statement required by subsection (a) may consist of

11 a brief summary assessment in lieu of the detailed assess12 ment set forth in subsection (b) if preliminary analysis in13 dicates that the aggregate effect of the bill, resolution, or

14 conference report as measured by the criteria set forth in

15 subparagraphs (A) through (G) of subsection (b) is less

16 than $100,000 or 1,000 jobs in national employment.

17 (d) STATEMENT WITH ALL LEGISLATION.—The eco18 nomic and employment impact statement required by this

19 section shall accompany each bill, resolution, or conference

20 report before such bill, resolution, or conference report

21 may be reported or otherwise considered on the floor of

22 either House.

23 (e) POINT OF ORDER.—

24 (1) RULE.—It shall not be in order in either

25 the House of Representatives or the Senate to con-
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1 sider on the floor any bill, resolution, or conference

2 report, whether or not reported by any committee of

3 the House of Representatives or the Senate, unless

4 that bill, resolution, or conference report includes

5 the economic and employment impact statement re6 quired by this section.

7 (2) WAIVER.—A point of order made under this

8 subsection may be waived in the Senate by a two9 thirds affirmative vote of Senators, duly chosen and

10 sworn, and in the House of Representatives by a

11 two-thirds affirmative vote of Members, duly chosen

12 and sworn.

13 (f) EXECUTIVE REGULATIONS.—Each regulation and

14 proposed regulation promulgated by a Federal department

15 or executive agency shall be accompanied by an economic

16 and employment impact statement prepared, in accord17 ance with subsection (b), by the department or agency pro18 mulgating the regulation or proposed regulation. The eco19 nomic and employment impact statement shall be pub20 lished in the Federal Register together with such regula21 tion or proposed regulation.

22 (g) PROVISION FOR NATIONAL SECURITY EMER23 GENCY WAIVER.—

24 (1) CONGRESSIONAL ECONOMIC IMPACT STATE25 MENTS.—The Congress may waive the requirements
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1 of subsections (a) through (d) at any time in which

2 a declaration of war is in effect, or in response to

3 a national security emergency at the request of the

4 President.

5 (2) EXECUTIVE REGULATIONS.—The President

6 may waive the requirements of subsection (f) at any

7 time in which a declaration of war is in effect, or in

8 response to a national security emergency as deter9 mined by the President in consultation with Con10 gress.

11 (h) REPEAL OF SENATE RULE.—Paragraph 11 of

12 rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate is repealed.

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