III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 18 

Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to prohibit the consideration 

of legislation in the Senate unless the text of the legislation that will 

be considered has been made publicly available in electronic form for 

a mandatory minimum review period. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 26, 2023 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. HAWLEY, and Ms. 

ERNST) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Rules and Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to prohibit the 

consideration of legislation in the Senate unless the text 

of the legislation that will be considered has been made 

publicly available in electronic form for a mandatory 

minimum review period. 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. PROHIBITING CONSIDERATION OF TEXT OF 

3 LEGISLATION UNTIL COMPLETION OF MAN4 DATORY MINIMUM REVIEW PERIOD. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Rule XII of the Standing Rules 

6 of the Senate is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 18 IS 

1 ‘‘(5)(a) It shall not be in order to consider a 

2 bill, joint resolution, resolution, or conference report 

3 unless the text of the bill, joint resolution, resolu4 tion, or conference report to be considered has been 

5 publicly available in electronic form for the manda6 tory minimum review period. 

7 ‘‘(b) Each Senator shall self certify that the 

8 Senator has read a bill, joint resolution, resolution, 

9 or conference report before voting on the bill, joint 

10 resolution, resolution, or conference report. 

11 ‘‘(c) In this paragraph, the term ‘mandatory 

12 minimum review period’ means, with respect to a 

13 bill, joint resolution, resolution, or conference report, 

14 the greater of— 

15 ‘‘(i) the period— 

16 ‘‘(I) beginning on the first hour after 

17 the text of the bill, joint resolution, resolu18 tion, or conference report to be considered 

19 is first made publicly available in electronic 

20 form; and 

21 ‘‘(II) that consists of a number of 

22 minutes equal to 2 times the number of 

23 pages of the text of the bill, joint resolu24 tion, resolution, or conference report to be 

25 considered; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 18 IS 

1 ‘‘(ii) 72 hours after the text of the bill, 

2 joint resolution, resolution, or conference report 

3 to be considered is first made publicly available 

4 in electronic form.’’. 

5 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

6 The Standing Rules of the Senate is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) in paragraph 1 of rule VIII, by inserting 

9 ‘‘the text of which has been available for the manda10 tory minimum review period, as defined in para11 graph 5 of rule XII, and’’ after ‘‘bills and resolu12 tions’’; 

13 (2) in rule XIV— 

14 (A) in paragraph 3, by striking ‘‘on that 

15 day’’ and inserting ‘‘before the expiration of the 

16 mandatory minimum review period, as defined 

17 in paragraph 5 of rule XII,’’; and 

18 (B) in paragraph 6, by striking ‘‘one day’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘for the mandatory minimum re20 view period, as defined in paragraph 5 of rule 

21 XII,’’; 

22 (3) in paragraph 5 of rule XVII, by striking 

23 ‘‘two calendar days (excluding Sundays and legal 

24 holidays’’ and inserting ‘‘the mandatory minimum 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 18 IS 

1 review period, as defined in paragraph 5 of rule 

2 XII,’’; and 

3 (4) in paragraph 5 of rule XXVIII, by striking 

4 ‘‘shall be immediately put’’ and inserting ‘‘shall be 

5 put after the expiration of the mandatory minimum 

6 review period, as defined in paragraph 5 of rule 

7 XII’’. 

8 SEC. 2. CBO COST ESTIMATE. 

9 (a) POINT OF ORDER.—It shall not be in order in 

10 the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, motion, 

11 amendment, amendment between the Houses, or con12 ference report unless a cost estimate under section 402(1) 

13 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

14 653(1)) for the exact text of the bill, joint resolution, mo15 tion, amendment, amendment between the Houses, or con16 ference report has been available for not fewer than 24 

17 hours. 

18 (b) WAIVER AND APPEAL.—Subsection (a) may be 

19 waived or suspended in the Senate only by an affirmative 

20 vote of two-thirds of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. 

21 An affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members of the 

22 Senate, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required to sus23 tain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of 

24 order raised under subsection (a). 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS