I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1845

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for congressional review

of civil aviation agreements.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 18, 1999

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr.

EVANS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. HOLDEN,

and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to

the Committee on Rules, 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

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for

congressional review of civil aviation agreements.

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 ‘‘Aviation Bilateral Ac5 countability Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. CIVIL AVIATION AGREEMENTS.

2 Section 40105 of title 49, United States Code, is

3 amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(e) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A civil aviation agreement

6 that is entered into under this section after the date

7 of enactment of this subsection shall enter into force

8 with respect to the United States only if—

9 ‘‘(A) the Secretary involved transmits to

10 Congress a document containing a copy of the

11 final text of the agreement, together with an ex12 planation of the agreement; and

13 ‘‘(B)(i) a disapproval resolution is not in14 troduced in either House of Congress on or be15 fore the last day of a 20-day period of contin16 uous session of Congress following the date on

17 which Congress receives the agreement under

18 subparagraph (A);

19 ‘‘(ii) if a disapproval resolution is intro20 duced in either House, the disapproval resolu21 tion is not enacted on or before the last day of

22 a 90-day period of continuous session of Con23 gress following the date on which Congress re24 ceives the agreement under subparagraph (A)

25 and is not vetoed by the President; or
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1 ‘‘(iii) if the President vetoes the dis2 approval resolution, both Houses of Congress

3 do not vote to override the veto on or before the

4 later of the last day of the 90-day period re5 ferred to in clause (ii) or the last day of a 30-

6 day period of continuous session of Congress

7 following the date Congress receives the veto

8 message from the President.

9 ‘‘(2) COMPUTING NUMBER OF DAYS.—For pur10 poses of paragraphs (1) and (6), the continuity of a

11 session of Congress is broken only by an adjourn12 ment of the Congress sine die, and the number of

13 days on which either House is not in session because

14 of an adjournment of more than 3 days to a day cer15 tain are excluded in the computation of the period

16 specified.

17 ‘‘(3) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

18 AND SENATE.—This subsection is enacted by

19 Congress—

20 ‘‘(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking

21 power of the House of Representatives and the

22 Senate, respectively, and as such these provi23 sions are deemed a part of the rules of each

24 House, respectively, but applicable only with re25 spect to the procedure to be followed in that
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1 House in the case of disapproval resolutions de2 scribed in paragraph (4); and they supersede

3 other rules only to the extent that they are in4 consistent therewith; and

5 ‘‘(B) with full recognition of the constitu6 tional right of either House to change the rules

7 (so far as relating to the procedure of that

8 House) at any time, in the same manner and

9 to the same extent as in the case of any other

10 rule of that House.

11 ‘‘(4) DISAPPROVAL RESOLUTION DEFINED.—

12 The term ‘disapproval resolution’ means only a joint

13 resolution of the two Houses of Congress, the matter

14 after the resolving clause of which is as follows:

15 ‘That Congress disapproves the civil aviation agree16 ment between the United States and

17 llllllll transmitted by

18 llllllll to the Congress on

19 llllllll.’, the first blank space being

20 filled with the name of the country involved, the sec21 ond blank space being filled with the title of the Sec22 retary involved, and the third blank space being

23 filled with the appropriate date.

24 ‘‘(5) REFERRAL.—A disapproval resolution in25 troduced in the House of Representatives shall be
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1 referred to the Committee on Transportation and

2 Infrastructure and a disapproval resolution intro3 duced in the Senate shall be referred to the Com4 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

5 ‘‘(6) AUTOMATIC DISCHARGE.—If the com6 mittee of either House to which a disapproval resolu7 tion has been referred has not reported the resolu8 tion on or before the 45th day after its introduction,

9 the committee shall be automatically discharged

10 from further consideration of the resolution.

11 ‘‘(7) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amend12 ment to a disapproval resolution shall be in order in

13 either the House of Representatives or the Senate;

14 and no motion to suspend the application of this

15 subsection shall be in order in either House, nor

16 shall it be in order in either House for the Presiding

17 Officer to entertain a request to suspend the appli18 cation of this paragraph by unanimous consent.

19 ‘‘(8) PRIOR ACTION BY OTHER HOUSE.—If

20 prior to the passage by one House of a disapproval

21 resolution of that House, that House receives the

22 same disapproval resolution from the other House,

23 then—
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1 ‘‘(A) the procedure in that House shall be

2 the same as if no disapproval resolution had

3 been received from the other House; but

4 ‘‘(B) any vote on final passage shall be on

5 the disapproval resolution of the other House.

6 ‘‘(9) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE.—

7 ‘‘(A) MOTION TO PROCEED.—A motion in

8 the House of Representatives to proceed to the

9 consideration of a disapproval resolution that

10 has been reported by the Committee on Trans11 portation and Infrastructure or received by the

12 other House shall be highly privileged and not

13 debatable. An amendment to the motion shall

14 not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move

15 to reconsider the vote by which the motion is

16 agreed to or disagreed to.

17 ‘‘(B) DEBATE.—Debate in the House of

18 Representatives on a disapproval resolution

19 shall be limited to not more than 5 hours,

20 which shall be divided equally between those fa21 voring and those opposing the resolution. A mo22 tion further to limit debate shall not be debat23 able. It shall not be in order to move to recom24 mit a disapproval resolution or to move to re-
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1 consider the vote by which a disapproval resolu2 tion is agreed to or disagreed to.

3 ‘‘(C) MOTIONS TO POSTPONE.—Motions to

4 postpone, made in the House of Representatives

5 with respect to the consideration of a dis6 approval resolution, and motions to proceed to

7 the consideration of other business, shall be de8 cided without debate.

9 ‘‘(D) APPEALS.—All appeals from the deci10 sions of the Chair relating to the application of

11 the Rules of the House of Representatives to

12 the procedure relating to a disapproval resolu13 tion shall be decided without debate.

14 ‘‘(E) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER RULES.—

15 Except to the extent specifically provided in the

16 preceding provisions of this subsection, consid17 eration of a disapproval resolution shall be gov18 erned by the Rules of the House of Representa19 tives applicable to other bills and resolutions in

20 similar circumstances.

21 ‘‘(10) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE SEN22 ATE.—

23 ‘‘(A) MOTION TO PROCEED.—A motion in

24 the Senate to proceed to the consideration of a

25 disapproval resolution that has been reported by
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1 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and

2 Transportation or received by the other House

3 shall be privileged and not debatable. An

4 amendment to the motion shall not be in order,

5 nor shall it be in order to move to reconsider

6 the vote by which the motion is agreed to or

7 disagreed to.

8 ‘‘(B) DEBATE.—Debate in the Senate on a

9 disapproval resolution, and all debatable mo10 tions and appeals in connection therewith, shall

11 be limited to not more than 10 hours. The time

12 shall be equally divided between, and controlled

13 by, the majority leader and the minority leader

14 or their designees.

15 ‘‘(C) APPEALS.—Debate in the Senate on

16 any debatable motion or appeal in connection

17 with a disapproval resolution shall be limited to

18 not more than 1 hour, to be equally divided be19 tween, and controlled by, the mover and the

20 manager of the resolution, except that in the

21 event the manager of the resolution is in favor

22 of any such motion or appeal, the time in oppo23 sition thereto, shall be controlled by the minor24 ity leader or his designee. Such leaders, or ei25 ther of them, may, from time under their con-
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1 trol on the passage of a disapproval resolution,

2 allot additional time to any Senator during the

3 consideration of any debatable motion or ap4 peal.

5 ‘‘(D) MOTION TO LIMIT DEBATE; MOTION

6 TO RECOMMIT.—A motion in the Senate to fur7 ther limit debate is not debatable. A motion to

8 recommit a disapproval resolution is not in

9 order.’’.

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