IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1221 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to increase openness 

and transparency in the annual appropriations process as it relates 

to earmarks. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 25, 2010 

Mr. CHAFFETZ submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Standards of 

Official Conduct, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

increase openness and transparency in the annual appropriations process as it relates to earmarks. 

1 Resolved, That (a) clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules 

2 of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at 

3 the end the following new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(h) It shall not be in order to consider any bill, joint 

5 resolution, amendment, or conference report if that meas6 ure or any accompanying report or joint explanatory state7 ment of managers, as applicable, contains a congressional 

8 earmark for an organization other than an organization 


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•HRES 1221 IH 

1 which is exempt from the tax imposed under chapter 1 

2 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or a governmental 

3 entity.’’. 

4 (b)(1) Paragraph (b) of clause 9 of rule XXI of the 

5 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended to read 

6 as follows: 

7 ‘‘(b) It shall not be in order to consider any con8 ference report if it or the accompanying joint explanatory 

9 statement prepared by the managers on the part of the 

10 House and the managers on the part of the Senate con11 tains any congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or 

12 limited tariff benefit that was not committed to the con13 ference committee by either House or in a report of a com14 mittee of either House on such bill or joint resolution or 

15 on a companion measure.’’. 

16 (2) The second sentence of paragraph (c) of clause 

17 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives 

18 is amended by striking ‘‘or paragraph (b)’’. 

19 (c)(1) Clause 17(a) of rule XXIII of the Rules of the 

20 House of Representatives is amended by redesignating 

21 subparagraphs (4) and (5) as subparagraphs (5) and (6), 

22 respectively, and by inserting after subparagraph (3) the 

23 following new subparagraph: 

24 ‘‘(4) in the case of a congressional earmark, the 

25 Federal nexus or specific power granted to Congress 


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•HRES 1221 IH 

1 in the Constitution to enact such earmark and the 

2 previous authorization by law that supports such 

3 earmark;’’. 

4 (2) Clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House 

5 of Representatives is further amended by adding at the 

6 end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(i) It shall not be in order to consider any bill, joint 

8 resolution, amendment, or conference report unless any 

9 accompanying report or joint explanatory statement pre10 pared by the managers on the part of the House and the 

11 managers on the part of the Senate, as applicable, con12 taining any congressional earmark sets forth for each con13 gressional earmark, the Federal nexus or specific power 

14 granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact such ear15 mark and the previous authorization by law that supports 

16 such earmark.’’. 

17 (d) Clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House 

18 of Representatives is further amended by adding at the 

19 end the following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(j) It shall not be in order to consider any general 

21 appropriation bill or any other bill or joint resolution mak22 ing or continuing appropriations, or amendment thereto 

23 or conference report thereon, if it includes any congres24 sional earmark requested by any member of the ComVerDate Nov 24 2008 18:01 Mar 26, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1221.IH HR1221

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•HRES 1221 IH 

1 mittee on Appropriations or inserted at the behest of the 

2 chair of that committee or of any subcommittee thereof.’’. 

3 (e) Clause 17 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House 

4 of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(c) Each Member, Delegate, or Resident Commis7 sioner shall maintain an official website and include on 

8 it a comprehensive, sortable, and searchable database com9 prised of all congressional earmark requests for the cur10 rent fiscal year and for the budget year, including for each 

11 such request the name and address of any recipient, the 

12 purpose of the earmark, the Federal nexus or specific 

13 power granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact 

14 the earmark, the previous authorization by law that sup15 ports the earmark, and the amount requested. These shall 

16 be posted when submitted to the applicable committee.’’. 

Æ 


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