II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3360 

To preserve the constitutional authority of Congress and ensure accountability 

and transparency in legislation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 28, 2012 

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To preserve the constitutional authority of Congress and 

ensure accountability and transparency in legislation. 

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 ‘‘Read the Bills Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act is enacted pursuant to 

7 the power conferred by the Constitution of the United 

8 States upon each House of Congress by— 


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1 (1) article I, section 5, clauses 2 and 3 to deter2 mine the rules and to keep a journal of its pro3 ceedings, respectively; 

4 (2) article I, section 7, clause 2 to ensure that 

5 bills that become law have been actually passed by, 

6 not just passed through, each House of Congress; 

7 and 

8 (3) article I, section 8, clause 18, which author9 izes Congress to make all laws that are necessary 

10 and proper for carrying into execution the rules of 

11 each House. 

12 (b) STANDING PROVISION.—The provision of this Act 

13 under which any person who is aggrieved by the enforce14 ment of any law enacted either in violation of the rules 

15 of proceedings of either House of Congress, or by the sus16 pension of such rules, as prescribed herein, shall have 

17 standing in a court of law, is pursuant to article III, sec18 tion 2 of the Constitution of the United States. 

19 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

20 Congress finds the following: 

21 (1) The Constitution of the United States vests 

22 all legislative powers granted therein in Congress 

23 and Members of the Senate and House of Rep24 resentatives are elected by the people to whom each 

25 Member is accountable to represent the people of the 


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1 State and of the District in the exercise of each 

2 Member’s legislative powers. 

3 (2) As a Government of enumerated powers, ar4 ticle I, section 1 of the Constitution of the United 

5 States obliges Congress to exercise only those legis6 lative powers set forth in the Constitution of the 

7 United States, and article VI of the Constitution of 

8 the United States requires of each member of Con9 gress an oath or affirmation to support the Con10 stitution of the United States by enacting only those 

11 laws, and making only those resolutions that are 

12 pursuant to the Constitution of the United States 

13 and not prohibited thereby. 

14 (3) To the end that Congress be politically and 

15 legally accountable to the people, article I, section 5 

16 of the Constitution of the United States requires 

17 each House of Congress to keep a journal of its pro18 ceedings and from time to time publish the same. 

19 (4) To the end that no legislation be passed 

20 without effective representation of the people’s inter21 est by the elected Members of Congress, article I, 

22 section 7 of the Constitution of the United States 

23 states that only those Bills ‘‘which shall have passed 

24 the House of Representatives and the Senate,’’ and 

25 not vetoed by the President, ‘‘shall become’’ laws. 


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1 (5) According to section I of Thomas Jeffer2 son’s 1812 Manual of Parliamentary Practice for 

3 the Use of the Senate of the United States (in this 

4 section referred to as ‘‘Jefferson’s Manual’’), ‘‘noth5 ing tended more to throw power into the hands of 

6 administration and those who acted with the major7 ity . . . than a neglect of, or departure from, the 

8 rules of proceeding [which] operated as a check and 

9 control of the actions of the majority [and] a shelter 

10 and protection to the minority.’’. 

11 (6) According to sections XXII and XL of Jef12 ferson’s Manual, it was the rule of the Senate that 

13 every bill receive 3 readings, 2 full readings by the 

14 Clerk of the Senate, and a third reading of the title 

15 of the bill only in that ‘‘every member of the Senate 

16 had a printed copy [of the bill] in his hand.’’. 

17 (7) According to sections XXIV, XXV, and XL 

18 of Jefferson’s Manual, it was the rule of the House 

19 of Representatives, following the parliamentary pro20 cedure of the English House of Commons, that every 

21 bill received 2 full readings by the Clerk of the 

22 House, and a reading of the whole contents of the 

23 bill verbatim by the Speaker of the House before the 

24 House voted on each bill. 


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1 (8) Under current Senate rules, the Senate has 

2 departed from its original practice of a full first and 

3 second reading of each bill, and of ensuring that 

4 each Senator has a printed or other verbatim copy 

5 of each bill before passage thereof, having by rule 

6 XIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate limited 

7 each reading of a bill to the reading of the bill’s title 

8 only, unless the Senate in any case shall otherwise 

9 order. 

10 (9) Under current rules for the House of Rep11 resentatives, the House of Representatives has by 

12 Rule XVI (8) and Rule XVIII (5) embraced its 

13 original practice of full first and second readings of 

14 each bill, but has regularly departed from this prac15 tice by unanimous consent of the House, and has 

16 dispensed altogether its original practice of a ver17 batim third reading of each bill before passage, lim18 iting such third reading to the reading of the title 

19 only, including the reading of the title only even 

20 when members of the House have no printed or 

21 other verbatim copy of a bill before passage. 

22 (10) Although section 106 of title 1, United 

23 States Code, requires a bill to be made available in 

24 written form to each member of Congress before 

25 final passage Congress has by statute conferred 


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1 upon itself the power, during the last 6 days of a 

2 session of Congress, by concurrent resolution, to 

3 vote for passage of a bill that is not in written form 

4 at the time of final passage. 

5 (11) As a direct consequence of the Senate and 

6 the House of Representatives’ departure from the 

7 salutary practice of full, verbatim readings of each 

8 bill before final passage, and further, as a direct 

9 consequence of Congress, by concurrent resolution 

10 and otherwise, having permitted certain appropria11 tion, budget, and regulatory bills to be enacted into 

12 law without such bills being printed and presented 

13 to Congress in written form prior to final passage, 

14 Congress has— 

15 (A) imposed upon the American people ex16 cessively long bills, largely written by an 

17 unelected bureaucracy, resulting in generally in18 comprehensible, cumbersome, oppressive, and 

19 burdensome laws, containing hidden provisions 

20 for special interests; 

21 (B) deprived the American people and 

22 their elected Senators and Representatives of a 

23 full and fair opportunity to examine the text of 

24 bills, and all amendments thereto, prior to pas25 sage; 


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1 (C) undermined the confidence of the 

2 American people by its failure to give adequate 

3 notice to the people before a vote is taken on 

4 said bills and their amendments in the bills; 

5 and 

6 (D) has called into question the integrity 

7 and reliability of the legislative processes in 

8 both Houses of Congress by its failure to en9 sure that each member of the Senate and each 

10 member of the House has, prior to passage, ei11 ther listened attentively to the reading of the 

12 full text of each bill, and its amendments, or 

13 has personally read the text thereof. 

14 (12) Federal law currently sets forth various re15 quirements relating to the form of bills and proce16 dure used regarding the enactment of laws, includ17 ing— 

18 (A) the form of the enacting clause of all 

19 Acts of Congress (section 101 of title 1, United 

20 States Code); 

21 (B) the form of the resolving clause of all 

22 joint resolutions (section 102 of title 1, United 

23 States Code); 


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1 (C) a limitation on the use of enacting or 

2 resolving words (section 103 of title 1, United 

3 States Code); 

4 (D) a requirement regarding the num5 bering sections and the requirement that each 

6 contain a single proposition (section 104 of title 

7 1, United States Code); 

8 (E) the style and title for all Acts making 

9 appropriations (section 105 of title 1, United 

10 States Code); and 

11 (F) the process by which each bill or joint 

12 resolution is handled after passage (section 106 

13 of title 1, United States Code). 

14 SEC. 4. TEXT OF BILL OR RESOLUTION TO SPECIFY ITS 

15 CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY, CURRENT 

16 LAW. 

17 Chapter 2 of title 1, United States Code, is amended 

18 by inserting after section 105 the following: 

19 ‘‘§ 105a. Text of bill or resolution to specify its con20 stitutional authority 

21 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any bill or resolution intro23 duced in either House of Congress shall contain a 

24 provision citing the specific powers granted to Con25 gress in the Constitution of the United States to 


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1 enact the proposed bill or resolution, including all 

2 the provisions thereof. 

3 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Any bill or resolu4 tion not in compliance with subsection (a)(1) shall 

5 not be accepted by the Clerk of the House of Rep6 resentatives or the Secretary of the Senate. 

7 ‘‘(b) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The requirements of sub9 section (a)(1) shall apply to any bill or resolution 

10 presented for consideration on the floor of either 

11 House of Congress, including those bills or resolu12 tions reported from a committee of either House of 

13 Congress, produced by conference between the 2 

14 Houses of Congress, or offered as a manager’s 

15 amendment. 

16 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Any bill or resolu17 tion not complying with subsection (A)(i) shall not 

18 be submitted for a vote on final passage. 

19 ‘‘(c) NO WAIVER OR MODIFICATION.—Neither House 

20 of Congress, nor Congress jointly, by concurrent resolu21 tion, or by unanimous consent, or by any other order, reso22 lution, vote, or other means, may dispense with, or other23 wise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 

24 section. 


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1 ‘‘§ 105b. Text of bill or resolution to set forth current 

2 law 

3 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any bill or resolution intro5 duced in either House of Congress, designed to 

6 amend or modify the effect of, or which would have 

7 the effect of amending or modifying the effect of, 

8 any current provision of law, including the expira9 tion date of any law, shall set forth— 

10 ‘‘(A) the current version of the entire sec11 tion of the Act of Congress being amended, ver12 batim; 

13 ‘‘(B) the amendments being proposed by 

14 the bill; and 

15 ‘‘(C) the current section of law as it would 

16 read as modified by the amendments proposed, 

17 except that this subparagraph shall not apply to 

18 any bill or resolution which would strike the 

19 text of an entire section of an Act of Congress. 

20 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Any bill or resolu21 tion not complying with this subsection shall not be 

22 accepted by the Clerk of the House of Representa23 tives or the Secretary of the Senate. 

24 ‘‘(b) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The requirements of sub26 section (a)(1) shall apply to all bills or resolutions 


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1 presented for consideration on the floor of either 

2 House of Congress, including those reported from a 

3 committee of either House of Congress, produced by 

4 conference between the 2 Houses of Congress or of5 fered as a manager’s amendment. 

6 ‘‘(2) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Any bill or resolu7 tion not complying with this subsection shall not be 

8 submitted to a vote on final passage. 

9 ‘‘(c) NO WAIVER OR MODIFICATION.—Neither House 

10 of Congress, nor Congress jointly, by concurrent resolu11 tion, or by unanimous consent, or by any other order, reso12 lution, vote, or other means, may dispense with, or other13 wise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 

14 section. 

15 ‘‘§ 105c. Procedures prior to vote on bill or resolution 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A vote on final passage of a bill 

17 (except for private bills) or resolution may not occur in 

18 either House of Congress, unless— 

19 ‘‘(1) the full text of the bill or resolution is pub20 lished at least 7 days before the vote on an official 

21 Internet website of each House of Congress, easily 

22 available to and readily usable by the public, using 

23 an open format that is platform independent, ma24 chine readable, and available without restrictions re25 specting searching, retrieval, downloading, and inVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:57 Jul 03, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3360.IS S3360

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1 dexing, separate and apart from the calendar of the 

2 Senate or the House of Representatives; 

3 ‘‘(2) public notice of the specific calendar week 

4 during which the vote is scheduled to take place is 

5 posted on the official Internet website described in 

6 paragraph (1) not less than 6 days before the Mon7 day of the calendar week during which the vote is 

8 scheduled to take place, with failure to take the vote 

9 during the noticed week requiring a new notice; and 

10 ‘‘(3) reading of its full text verbatim by the 

11 Clerk of the House of Representatives or Secretary 

12 of the Senate to the respective body of each House 

13 called to order and physically assembled with a con14 stitutionally required quorum to do business being 

15 present throughout the time of the full textual read16 ing of said bill, except that if a bill or resolution is 

17 enrolled by either House of Congress, for any subse18 quent consideration of the enrolled bill or resolu19 tion— 

20 ‘‘(A) the full text need not be reread before 

21 the House of Congress which passed the bill; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(B) the full text verbatim of any amend24 ment to the text of the enrolled bill or resolu25 tion shall be read. 


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1 ‘‘(b) AFFIDAVIT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Before voting in favor of 

3 final passage of any bill (except a private bill) or 

4 resolution, a Member of the Senate and a Member 

5 of the House of Representatives shall sign an affi6 davit executed under penalty of perjury as provided 

7 in section 1621 of title 18, United States Code, that 

8 the Member either— 

9 ‘‘(A) was present throughout the entire 

10 reading of each such bill or resolution, and lis11 tened attentively to such reading in its entirety; 

12 ‘‘(B) prior to voting for passage of such 

13 bill, read attentively each such bill in its en14 tirety; or 

15 ‘‘(C) some combination of clause (i) or (ii). 

16 ‘‘(2) VOTE AGAINST PASSAGE.—A Member of 

17 the Senate or a Member of the House of Represent18 atives shall not be required to sign an affidavit de19 scribed in paragraph if the Member votes against 

20 the passage of a bill or resolution. 

21 ‘‘(3) RECORDS.—Copies of each affidavit de22 scribed in paragraph (1) signed by a Member of the 

23 Senate and a Member of the House of Representa24 tives shall be maintained by the Secretary of the 


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1 Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representa2 tives, respectively. 

3 ‘‘(c) JOURNAL.—With respect to each vote on final 

4 passage of a bill (except for a private bill) or resolution, 

5 each House of Congress shall cause to be recorded in the 

6 journal of its proceedings that the publishing, notice, read7 ing, and affidavit requirements under this section have 

8 been met. 

9 ‘‘(d) NO WAIVER OR MODIFICATION.—Neither House 

10 of Congress, nor Congress jointly, by concurrent resolu11 tion, or by unanimous consent, or by any other order, reso12 lution, vote, or other means, may dispense with, or other13 wise waive or modify, the requirements set forth in this 

14 section. 

15 ‘‘§ 105d. Enforcement clause 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An Act of Congress that does 

17 not comply with sections 105a, 105b, and 105c shall have 

18 no force or effect and no legal, equitable, regulatory, civil, 

19 or criminal action may be brought under such an Act of 

20 Congress. 

21 ‘‘(b) CAUSE OF ACTION.—Without regard to the 

22 amount in controversy, a cause of action under sections 

23 2201 and 2202 of title 28, United States Code, against 

24 the United States seeking appropriate relief (including an 

25 injunction against enforcement of any law, the passage of 


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1 which did not conform to the requirements of sections 

2 105a, 105b, and 105c) may be brought by— 

3 ‘‘(1) any person aggrieved by any action of any 

4 officer or employee in the executive branch of the 

5 Federal Government under any Act of Congress that 

6 does not comply with sections 105a, 105b, and 105c; 

7 ‘‘(2) any Member of Congress aggrieved by the 

8 failure of the House of Congress of which the Mem9 ber is a Member to comply with sections 105a, 105b, 

10 and 105c; and 

11 ‘‘(3) any person individually aggrieved by the 

12 failure of the Senator of the State in which the ag13 grieved person resides or Member of the House of 

14 Representatives for the District in which the ag15 grieved person resides to fulfill the obligations of the 

16 Senator or Member of the House of Representatives 

17 under sections 105a, 105b, and 105c.’’. 

18 SEC. 5. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. 

19 If any provision of this Act or an amendment made 

20 by this Act, or the application of a provision or amend21 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid 

22 for any reason in any court of competent jurisdiction, the 

23 remainder of this Act and amendments made by this Act, 


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1 and the application of the provisions and amendment to 

2 any other person or circumstance, shall not be affected. 

Æ 


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