III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. RES. 6

To reform the Senate’s consideration of budget measures.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 6, 1999

Mr. LOTT (for Mr. DOMENICI) submitted the following resolution; which was

referred jointly pursuant to the order of August 4, 1977, to the Committees on the Budget and Governmental Affairs, with instructions that if

one committee reports, the other committee have thirty days to report or

be discharged

RESOLUTION

To reform the Senate’s consideration of budget measures.

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. CONSIDERATION OF BUDGET MEASURES IN

3 THE SENATE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 305 (b)

5 and (c) and section 310(e) of the Congressional Budget

6 Act of 1974, budget resolutions and reconciliation legisla7 tion shall be considered in the Senate under the proce8 dures set forth in this resolution.
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1 (b) PROCEDURE IN SENATE FOR THE CONSIDER2 ATION OF A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDG3 ET.—

4 (1) LEGISLATION AVAILABLE.—It shall not be

5 in order to proceed to the consideration of a concur6 rent resolution on the budget unless the text of that

7 resolution has been available to Members for at least

8 1 calendar day (excluding Sundays and legal holi9 days unless the Senate is in session) prior to the

10 consideration of the measure.

11 (2) TIME FOR DEBATE.—

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Debate in the Senate

13 on any concurrent resolution on the budget, and

14 all amendments thereto and debatable motions

15 and appeals in connection therewith, shall be

16 limited to not more than 30 hours, except that

17 with respect to any conference report on a con18 current resolution on the budget all such debate

19 shall be limited to not more than 10 hours. Of

20 this 30 hours, 10 hours shall be reserved for

21 general debate on the resolution (including de22 bate on economic goals and policies) and 20

23 hours shall be reserved for debate of amend24 ments, motions, and appeals. The time for gen25 eral debate shall be equally divided between,
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1 and controlled by, the Majority Leader and the

2 Minority Leader or their designees.

3 (B) DISPOSITION OF AMENDMENTS AND

4 OTHER MATTERS.—After no more than 30

5 hours of debate on the concurrent resolution on

6 the budget, the Senate shall, except as provided

7 in subparagraph (C), proceed, without any fur8 ther action or debate on any question, to vote

9 on the final disposition thereof.

10 (C) ACTION PERMITTED AFTER 30

11 HOURS.—After no more than 30 hours of de12 bate on the concurrent resolution on the budg13 et, the only further action in order shall be dis14 position of—

15 (i) all amendments then pending be16 fore the Senate;

17 (ii) all points of order arising under

18 this Act which have been previously raised;

19 and

20 (iii) motions to reconsider and 1

21 quorum call on demand to establish the

22 presence of a quorum (and motions re23 quired to establish a quorum) immediately

24 before the final vote begins.
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1 Disposition shall include raising points of order

2 against pending amendments, motions to table,

3 and motions to waive.

4 (3) AMENDMENTS.—

5 (A) DEBATE.—Debate in the Senate on

6 any amendment to a concurrent resolution on

7 the budget shall be limited to 1 hour, to be

8 equally divided between, and controlled by, the

9 mover and the manager of the concurrent reso10 lution, and debate on any amendment to an

11 amendment, debatable motion, or appeal shall

12 be limited to 30 minutes, to be equally divided

13 between, and controlled by, the mover and the

14 manager of the concurrent resolution, except

15 that in the event the manager of the concurrent

16 resolution is in favor of any such amendment,

17 motion, or appeal, the time in opposition there18 to shall be controlled by the Minority Leader or

19 his designee. No amendment that is not ger20 mane to the provisions of that concurrent reso21 lution shall be received. An amendment that in22 cludes precatory language shall not be consid23 ered germane. Such leaders, or either of them,

24 may, from the time for general debate under

25 their control on the adoption of the concurrent
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1 resolution, allot additional time to any Senator

2 during the consideration of any amendment, de3 batable motion, or appeal.

4 (B) FILING OF AMENDMENTS.—Except by

5 unanimous consent, no amendment shall be pro6 posed after 15 hours of debate of a concurrent

7 resolution on the budget have elapsed, unless it

8 has been submitted in writing to the Journal

9 Clerk by the 15th hour if an amendment in the

10 first degree (or if a complete substitute for the

11 underlying measure), and unless it has been so

12 submitted by the 20th hour if an amendment to

13 an amendment (or an amendment to the lan14 guage proposed to be stricken).

15 (C) LIMIT ON OFFERING AMENDMENTS.—

16 No Senator shall call up more than a total of

17 2 amendments until every other Senator shall

18 have had the opportunity to do likewise.

19 (D) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF SECOND

20 DEGREE AMENDMENTS.—No more than a total

21 of 2 consecutive amendments to any amend22 ment may be offered by either the majority or

23 minority party.

24 (4) DEBATE.—General debate time may only be

25 yielded back by unanimous consent and a motion to
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1 further limit the time for general debate shall be de2 batable for 30 minutes. A motion to recommit (ex3 cept a motion to recommit with instructions to re4 port back within a specified number of days, not to

5 exceed 3, not counting any day on which the Senate

6 is not in session) is not in order. Debate on any

7 such motion to recommit shall be limited to 1 hour,

8 to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the

9 mover and the manager of the concurrent resolution.

10 (5) MATHEMATICAL CONSISTENCY.—

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any

12 other rule, and except as provided in subpara13 graph (B), an amendment or series of amend14 ments to a concurrent resolution on the budget

15 proposed in the Senate shall always be in order

16 only if such amendment or series of amend17 ments proposes to change any figure or figures

18 then contained in such concurrent resolution so

19 as to make such concurrent resolution mathe20 matically consistent or so as to maintain such

21 consistency.

22 (B) EFFECT OF ADOPTION OF SUBSTITUTE

23 AMENDMENTS.—Once an amendment to an

24 amendment (which is a complete substitute for

25 the underlying amendment) has been agreed to,
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1 no further amendments to the underlying

2 amendment shall be in order.

3 (c) ACTION ON CONFERENCE REPORTS IN THE SEN4 ATE.—

5 (1) MOTION TO PROCEED.—A motion to pro6 ceed to the consideration of the conference report on

7 any concurrent resolution on the budget (or a rec8 onciliation bill or resolution) may be made even

9 though a previous motion to the same effect has

10 been disagreed to.

11 (2) CONSIDERATION.—

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—During the consider13 ation in the Senate of the conference report (or

14 a message between Houses) on any concurrent

15 resolution on the budget, and all amendments

16 in disagreement, and all amendments thereto,

17 and debatable motions and appeals in connec18 tion therewith, debate shall be limited to 10

19 hours, to be equally divided between, and con20 trolled by, the Majority Leader and Minority

21 Leader or their designees. Debate on any debat22 able motion or appeal related to the conference

23 report (or a message between Houses) shall be

24 limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between,

25 and controlled by, the mover and the manager
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1 of the conference report (or a message between

2 Houses).

3 (B) DISPOSITION.—After no more than 10

4 hours of debate on the conference report (or

5 message between Houses) accompanying a con6 current resolution on the budget, and all

7 amendments in disagreement, and all amend8 ments thereto, the Senate shall, except as pro9 vided in subparagraph (C), proceed, without

10 any further action or debate on any question, to

11 vote on the final disposition thereof.

12 (C) ACTION PERMITTED AFTER 10

13 HOURS.—After no more than 10 hours of de14 bate on the conference report (or message be15 tween the Houses) accompanying a concurrent

16 resolution on the budget, and all amendments

17 in disagreement, and all amendments thereto,

18 the only further action in order shall be disposi19 tion of: all amendments then pending before the

20 Senate; all points of order arising under this

21 Act which have been previously raised; and mo22 tions to reconsider and 1 quorum call on de23 mand to establish the presence of a quorum

24 (and motions required to establish a quorum)

25 immediately before the final vote begins. Dis-
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1 position shall include raising points of order

2 against pending amendments, motions to table,

3 and motions to waive.

4 (3) CONFERENCE REPORT DEFEATED.—Should

5 the conference report be defeated, debate on any re6 quest for a new conference and the appointment of

7 conferees shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally di8 vided between, and controlled by, the manager of the

9 conference report and the Minority Leader or his

10 designee, and should any motion be made to instruct

11 the conferees before the conferees are named, debate

12 on that motion shall be limited to one-half hour, to

13 be equally divided between, and controlled by, the

14 mover and the manager of the conference report.

15 Debate on any amendment to any such instructions

16 shall be limited to 20 minutes, to be equally divided

17 between and controlled by the mover and the man18 ager of the conference report. In all cases when the

19 manager of the conference report is in favor of any

20 motion, appeal, or amendment, the time in opposi21 tion shall be under the control of the minority leader

22 or his designee.

23 (4) AMENDMENTS IN DISAGREEMENT.—In any

24 case in which there are amendments in disagree25 ment, time on each amendment shall be limited to
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1 30 minutes, to be equally divided between, and con2 trolled by, the manager of the conference report and

3 the Minority Leader or his designee. No amendment

4 that is not germane to the provisions of such amend5 ments shall be received.

6 (d) RECONCILIATION LEGISLATION.—The provisions

7 of this resolution for the consideration in the Senate of

8 concurrent resolutions on the budget and conference re9 ports thereon, except for the provisions of subsection

10 (b)(5)(B), shall also apply to the consideration in the Sen11 ate of reconciliation bills considered under section 310 of

12 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and conference re13 ports thereon.

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