III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. RES. 5

To establish procedures for the consideration of emergency legislation in

the Senate.

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 establish procedures for the consideration of emergency

legislation in the Senate.

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. CONSIDERATION OF EMERGENCY LEGISLA3 TION.

4 (a) DESIGNATIONS.—

5 (1) GUIDANCE.—In the Senate for purposes of

6 making a designation of a provision of legislation as

7 an emergency requirement under section

8 251(b)(2)(A) or 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and

9 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the commit-
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•SRES 5 RIS

1 tee report, if any, accompanying such legislation,

2 shall analyze whether a proposed emergency require3 ment meets all the criteria in paragraph (2).

4 (2) CRITERIA.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—A proposed expenditure

6 or tax change is an emergency requirement if it

7 is—

8 (i) necessary, essential, or vital (not

9 merely useful or beneficial);

10 (ii) sudden, quickly coming into being,

11 and not building up over time;

12 (iii) an urgent, pressing, and compel13 ling need requiring immediate action;

14 (iv) subject to subparagraph (B), un15 foreseen, unpredictable, and unanticipated;

16 and

17 (v) not permanent, temporary in na18 ture.

19 (B) UNFORESEEN.—An emergency that is

20 part of an aggregate level of anticipated emer21 gencies, particularly when normally estimated in

22 advance, is not unforeseen.

23 (3) JUSTIFICATION FOR FAILURE TO MEET CRI24 TERIA.—If the proposed emergency requirement

25 does not meet all the criteria set forth in paragraph
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•SRES 5 RIS

1 (2), the committee report accompanying such legisla2 tion shall provide a justification of why the require3 ment is an emergency.

4 (b) POINT OF ORDER.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—When the Senate is consid6 ering a bill, resolution, amendment, motion, or con7 ference report, upon a point of order being made by

8 a Senator against any provision in that measure des9 ignated as an emergency requirement pursuant to

10 section 251(b)(2)(A) or 252(e) of the Balanced

11 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985

12 and the Presiding Officer sustains that point of

13 order, that provision along with the language mak14 ing the designation shall be stricken from the meas15 ure and may not be offered as an amendment from

16 the floor.

17 (2) EMERGENCY LEGISLATION.—When the Sen18 ate is considering an emergency supplemental appro19 priations bill, an amendment thereto, a motion

20 thereto, or a conference report therefrom, upon a

21 point of order being made by a Senator against any

22 provision in that measure that is not designated as

23 an emergency requirement pursuant to section

24 251(b)(2)(A) or 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and

25 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and the Pre-
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•SRES 5 RIS

1 siding Officer sustains that point of order, that pro2 vision shall be stricken from the measure and may

3 not be offered as an amendment from the floor.

4 (c) WAIVER.—Paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection

5 (b) may be waived in the Senate only by the affirmative

6 vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and

7 sworn.

8 (d) APPEAL.—Appeals in the Senate from the deci9 sions of the Chair relating to any provision of this resolu10 tion shall be limited to 1 hour of debate, to be equally

11 divided between, and controlled by, the appellant and the

12 manager of the legislation. An affirmative vote of three13 fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and

14 sworn, shall be required in the Senate to sustain an appeal

15 of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under

16 this resolution.

17 (e) DEFINITION.—In this resolution, the term ‘‘emer18 gency supplemental appropriations bill’’ means a bill or

19 joint resolution appropriating funds in addition to those

20 enacted in the appropriations Act for that year as defined

21 in section 105 of title 1, United States Code.

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