IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 28 

Establishing a Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mr. LAHOOD (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. KIND, 

Mr. MOULTON, Mr. WALZ, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, 

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. SIRES, Mr. PETERS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. REED, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. 

MOOLENAAR, Mr. YOUNG of Iowa, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. 

DENHAM, Mr. KINZINGER, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. CURBELO of 

Florida, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. RENACCI, Mr. BOST, Mr. ROSKAM, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. THOMAS J. ROONEY of Florida, Mr. MESSER, 

Mr. COFFMAN, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. 

COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. 

SMUCKER, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. DONOVAN, Mr. ROUZER, and Mr. 

BACON) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Rules 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Establishing a Joint Committee on the Organization of 

Congress. 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), 

3 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMITTEE. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MEMBERSHIP.—There is 

5 established an ad hoc Joint Committee on the OrganizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:54 Feb 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC28.IH HC28

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1 tion of the Congress (referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’) to 

2 be composed of— 

3 (1) 12 members of the Senate— 

4 (A) 6 to be appointed by the majority lead5 er; and 

6 (B) 6 to be appointed by the minority lead7 er; and 

8 (2) 12 members of the House of Representa9 tives— 

10 (A) 6 to be appointed by the Speaker; and 

11 (B) 6 to be appointed by the minority lead12 er. 

13 (b) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS.—The majority leader 

14 and the minority leader of the Senate and the majority 

15 leader and the minority leader of the House of Represent16 atives shall be ex officio, voting members of the Com17 mittee, but shall not be counted for the purpose of 

18 ascertaining the presence of a quorum of the Committee. 

19 (c) ORGANIZATION OF COMMITTEE.—(1) A chairman 

20 from each House shall be designated from among the 

21 members of the Committee by the majority leader of the 

22 Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

23 (2) A vice chairman from each House shall be des24 ignated from among the members of the Committee by 


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1 the minority leader of the Senate and the minority leader 

2 of the House of Representatives. 

3 (3) The Committee may establish subcommittees 

4 comprised of only members from one House, who may con5 sider only matters related solely to that House. 

6 (4)(A) No recommendation shall be made by the 

7 Committee except upon a majority vote of the members 

8 representing each House, respectively. 

9 (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), any rec10 ommendation with respect to the rules and procedures of 

11 one House which only affects matters related solely to that 

12 House may only be made and voted on by the members 

13 of the committee from that House, and upon its adoption 

14 by a majority of such members shall be considered to have 

15 been adopted by the full Committee as a recommendation 

16 of the Committee. Once such recommendation is adopted, 

17 the full Committee may vote to make an interim or final 

18 report containing any such recommendation. 

19 SEC. 2. STUDY OF ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF THE 

20 CONGRESS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall make a full 

22 and complete study of the organization, operations, func23 tions, and relevant interactions of the Members of Con24 gress and make recommendations that serve the following 

25 objectives: 


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1 (1) Making the operations and the organization 

2 of the Congress more effective and more efficient. 

3 (2) Making the Congress and its members more 

4 accountable to the citizens they serve. 

5 (3) Improving the relationships between the 

6 Houses of Congress. 

7 (4) Improving the relationships between and 

8 among other branches of the Government, particu9 larly relative to the congressional oversight of those 

10 branches. 

11 (5) Improving the orderly, timely, and effective 

12 consideration and disposal of legislation. 

13 (6) Improving the relationships among both 

14 elected Members of the Congress and the staff of 

15 those Members, particularly relating to relationships 

16 between the minority and majority Members. 

17 (7) Improving the relationship between mem18 bers and the citizens they serve, especially in the op19 portunities citizens have to participate in the process 

20 of governing. 

21 (b) ADDITIONAL MATTER TO BE STUDIED.—The 

22 Committee shall also include in its study the role of the 

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1 grams and agencies and the future fiscal impact of entitle2 ment programs. 

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY AND EMPLOYMENT AND COMPENSA4 TION OF STAFF. 

5 (a) AUTHORITY OF COMMITTEE.—The Committee or 

6 any of its subcommittees may— 

7 (1) sit and act at such places and times as the 

8 Committee, or any duly authorized subcommittee 

9 thereof, determines are appropriate during the ses10 sions, recesses, and adjourned periods of Congress; 

11 and 

12 (2) require the attendance of witnesses and the 

13 production of books, papers, and documents, admin14 ister oaths, take testimony, and procure printing and 

15 binding. 

16 (b) APPOINTMENT AND COMPENSATION OF STAFF.— 

17 (1) The Committee may appoint and fix the compensation 

18 of such experts, consultants, technicians, and clerical per19 sonnel as it deems necessary, but shall utilize existing staff 

20 to the extent possible. Staff shall be compensated and re21 imbursed in accordance with current rules, statutes, prac22 tices, and procedures under which congressional staff are 

23 currently compensated and reimbursed for their official 

24 expenses. 


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1 (2) The Committee may utilize such voluntary and 

2 uncompensated services as it deems necessary and may 

3 utilize the services, information, facilities, and personnel 

4 of other agencies of the legislative branch. 

5 (c) WITNESSES.—Witnesses requested to appear be6 fore the Committee shall be reimbursed for travel, subsist7 ence, and other necessary expenses incurred in traveling 

8 to and from Committee proceedings. 

9 (d) EXPENSES.— 

10 (1) SENATE.—(A) The Senate members of the 

11 Committee shall submit a budget of expenses allo12 cable to the Senate to the Committee on Rules and 

13 Administration of the Senate. The Committee may 

14 expend for expenses allocable to the Senate not to 

15 exceed $lll from the contingent fund of the 

16 Senate subject to approval by the Committee on 

17 Rules and Administration until a Committee funding 

18 resolution is approved by the Senate or, if no fund19 ing resolution is approved, until the conclusion of 

20 the 115th Congress. 

21 (B) The expenses of the Committee allocable to 

22 the Senate shall be paid from the contingent fund of 

23 the Senate, upon vouchers signed by the Senate 

24 chairman. 


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1 (2) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—There shall 

2 be paid out of the applicable accounts of the House 

3 of Representatives such sums as may be necessary 

4 for one-half of the expenses of the Committee. Such 

5 payments shall be made on vouchers signed by the 

6 chairman or vice chairman of the Committee who is 

7 a Member of the House of Representatives, as the 

8 case may be, and approved in the manner directed 

9 by the Committee on House Administration of the 

10 House of Representatives. Amounts made available 

11 under this paragraph shall be expended in accord12 ance with regulations prescribed by the Committee 

13 on House Administration of the House of Represent14 atives. 

15 SEC. 4. COMMITTEE REPORT. 

16 The Committee shall report its findings to the House 

17 of Representatives and the Senate not later than the con18 clusion of each session of Congress during which the Com19 mittee is authorized. The report at the conclusion of each 

20 session shall include recommendations of the Committee 

21 for its continuation or designation of a similar entity to 

22 continue the pursuit of improvements in the congressional 

23 process. 

Æ 


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