II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2330 

To prohibit earmarks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 23, 2018 

Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. 

LEE, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. RUBIO, Mrs. ERNST, Mrs. 

FISCHER, Mr. SASSE, Mr. CRUZ, and Mr. PAUL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and 

Administration 

A BILL 

To prohibit earmarks. 

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 ‘‘Earmark Elimination 

5 Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON EARMARKS. 

7 (a) BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS, AMENDMENTS, 

8 AMENDMENTS BETWEEN THE HOUSES, AND CON9 FERENCE REPORTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in 

2 the Senate to consider a bill, joint resolution, mo3 tion, amendment, amendment between the Houses, 

4 or conference report that includes an earmark. 

5 (2) PROCEDURE.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon a point of order 

7 being made by any Senator under paragraph 

8 (1) against an earmark, and such point of order 

9 being sustained, such earmark shall be stricken. 

10 (B) FORM OF THE POINT OF ORDER.—A 

11 point of order under paragraph (1) may be 

12 raised by a Senator as provided in section 

13 313(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

14 1974 (2 U.S.C. 644(e)). 

15 (b) CONFERENCE REPORT AND AMENDMENT BE16 TWEEN THE HOUSES PROCEDURE.—When the Senate is 

17 considering a conference report, or an amendment between 

18 the Houses— 

19 (1) upon a point of order being made by any 

20 Senator under subsection (a) with respect to one or 

21 more earmarks, and such point of order being sus22 tained, such earmarks shall be stricken; and 

23 (2) after all points of order under subsection 

24 (a) have been disposed of— 


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1 (A) the Senate shall proceed to consider 

2 the question of whether the Senate shall recede 

3 from its amendment and concur with a further 

4 amendment, or concur in the House amendment 

5 with a further amendment, as the case may be, 

6 which further amendment shall consist of only 

7 that portion of the conference report or House 

8 amendment, as the case may be, not so strick9 en; 

10 (B) any such motion in the Senate shall be 

11 debatable under the same conditions as was the 

12 conference report or amendment between the 

13 Houses; and 

14 (C) in any case in which such point of 

15 order is sustained against a conference report 

16 (or Senate amendment derived from such con17 ference report by operation of this subsection), 

18 no further amendment shall be in order. 

19 (c) WAIVER; APPEAL.—A point of order under sub20 section (a) may be waived only by an affirmative vote of 

21 two-thirds of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and 

22 sworn. An affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members 

23 of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required 

24 to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point 

25 of order raised under subsection (a). 


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1 (d) DEFINITIONS.— 

2 (1) EARMARK.—For the purpose of this section, 

3 the term ‘‘earmark’’ means a provision or report 

4 language included primarily at the request of a Sen5 ator or Member of the House of Representatives as 

6 certified under paragraph 1(a)(1) of rule XLIV of 

7 the Standing Rules of the Senate— 

8 (A) providing, authorizing, or recom9 mending a specific amount of discretionary 

10 budget authority, credit authority, or other 

11 spending authority for a contract, loan, loan 

12 guarantee, grant, loan authority, or other ex13 penditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a 

14 specific State, locality or Congressional district, 

15 other than through a statutory or administra16 tive formula-driven or competitive award proc17 ess; 

18 (B) that— 

19 (i) provides a Federal tax deduction, 

20 credit, exclusion, or preference to a par21 ticular beneficiary or limited group of 

22 beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue 

23 Code of 1986; and 


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1 (ii) contains eligibility criteria that are 

2 not uniform in application with respect to 

3 potential beneficiaries of such provision; or 

4 (C) modifying the Harmonized Tariff 

5 Schedule of the United States in a manner that 

6 benefits ten or fewer entities. 

7 (2) DETERMINATION BY THE SENATE.—In the 

8 event the Chair is unable to ascertain whether a pro9 vision with respect to which a Senator raises a point 

10 of order under subsection (a) constitutes an ear11 mark, the question of whether the provision con12 stitutes an earmark shall be submitted to the Senate 

13 and be decided without debate by an affirmative vote 

14 of two-thirds of the Senators, duly chosen and 

15 sworn. 

16 (e) APPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to 

17 any authorization of appropriations to a Federal entity if 

18 such authorization is not specifically targeted to a State, 

19 locality, or congressional district. 

Æ 


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