I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2301

To require Congress and the President to fulfill their constitutional duty

to take personal responsibility for Federal laws.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 22, 1999

Mr. HAYWORTH (for himself, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARR of

Georgia, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. COBLE, Mr.

COLLINS, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DUNCAN,

Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. GOODE, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. ISTOOK,

Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. LUCAS

of Oklahoma, Mr. METCALF, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. GARY MILLER

of California, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. NEY, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PITTS, Mr.

RILEY, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr.

SALMON, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. STUMP, Mr.

TALENT, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary, 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 require Congress and the President to fulfill their constitutional duty to take personal responsibility for Federal laws.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Respon3 sibility Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

5 The purpose of this Act is to promote compliance

6 with Article I of the United States Constitution, which

7 grants legislative powers solely to Congress. Article I en8 sures that Federal regulations will not take effect unless

9 passed by a majority of the members of the Senate and

10 House of Representatives and signed by the President, or

11 that the members of the Senate and House of Representa12 tives override the President’s veto. This Act ends the prac13 tice whereby Congress delegates its responsibility for mak14 ing laws to unelected, unaccountable officials of the execu15 tive branch and requires that regulations proposed by

16 agencies of the executive branch be affirmatively enacted

17 by Congress before they become effective. The Act will re18 sult in a more democratic and accountable Congress and

19 protect the public from regulations for which elected, ac20 countable officials are unwilling to take responsibility.

21 SEC. 3. ENACTMENT OF AGENCY REGULATIONS.

22 (a) CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL.—A regulation shall

23 not take effect before the date of the enactment of a bill

24 described in section 4(a) comprised solely of the text of

25 the regulation.
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1 (b) AGENCY REPORT.—Whenever an agency promul2 gates a regulation, the agency shall submit to each House

3 of Congress a report containing the text of the proposed

4 regulation and an explanation of the proposed regulation.

5 The explanation shall consist of the concise general state6 ment of their basis and purpose required by section 553

7 of title 5, United States Code and such explanatory docu8 ments as are mandated by other statutory requirements.

9 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES FOR

10 AGENCY REGULATIONS.

11 (a) INTRODUCTION.—Not later than 3 legislative

12 days after the date on which an agency submits a report

13 under section 3(b), the Majority Leader of each House of

14 Congress shall introduce (by request) a bill comprised sole15 ly of the text of the regulation contained in the report.

16 If such a bill is not introduced in a House of Congress

17 as provided in the preceding sentence, then any Member

18 of that House may introduce such a bill.

19 (b) BILL.—For purposes of this section, the term

20 ‘‘bill’’ means a bill of the two Houses of Congress, the

21 matter after the enacting clause of which is as follows:

22 ‘‘The following agency regulations are hereby approved

23 and shall have the force and effect of law:’’ (the text of

24 the regulations being set forth after the semicolon).
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1 (c) REFERRAL AND CONSIDERATION.—(1) A bill de2 scribed in subsection (b) shall not be referred to a com3 mittee.

4 (2) It is in order for any Member of the respective

5 House to move to proceed to the consideration of the bill.

6 A Member may make the motion only on the day after

7 the calendar day on which the Member announces to the

8 House concerned the Member’s intention to make the mo9 tion. All points of order against the bill (and against con10 sideration of the bill) are waived. The motion is highly

11 privileged in the House of Representatives and is privi12 leged in the Senate and is not debatable. The motion is

13 not subject to amendment, to a motion to postpone, or

14 to a motion to proceed to the consideration of other busi15 ness. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion

16 is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order. If a

17 motion to proceed to the consideration of the bill is agreed

18 to, the respective House shall immediately proceed to con19 sideration of the bill without intervening motion, order,

20 or other business, and the bill shall remain the unfinished

21 business of the respective House until disposed of.

22 (3) Debate on the bill, and on all debatable motions

23 and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to

24 not more than one hour, which shall be divided equally

25 between those favoring and those opposing the bill. An
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1 amendment to the bill is not in order. A motion further

2 to limit debate is in order and not debatable. A motion

3 to postpone, a motion to proceed to the consideration of

4 other business, or a motion to recommit the bill is not

5 in order. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the

6 bill is agreed to or disagreed to is not in order.

7 (4) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating

8 to the application of the regulations of the Senate or the

9 House of Representatives, as the case may be, to the pro10 cedure relating to the bill shall be decided without debate.

11 (d) FINAL PASSAGE.—A vote on final passage of a

12 bill described in subsection (b) shall be taken in a House

13 of Congress on or before the close of the 60th calendar

14 day after the date of the introduction of the bill in that

15 House.

16 (e) EXCEPTION.—A motion to suspend the applica17 tion of subsections (c) and (d) is in order in either House

18 of Congress and shall be considered as passed or agreed

19 to by a vote of a majority of the Members voting. Upon

20 the passage of such a motion, the bill shall be considered

21 in the same manner as other bills.

22 (f) TREATMENT IF THE OTHER HOUSE HAS

23 ACTED.—(1) If, before the passage by one House of a bill

24 introduced in that House described in subsection (b), that
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1 House receives from the other House a bill described in

2 subsection (b) comprised of the same text, then—

3 (A) the bill of the other House shall not be re4 ferred to a committee and may not be considered in

5 the House receiving it except in the case of final

6 passage as provided in subparagraph (B)(ii); and

7 (B) with respect to a bill described in sub8 section (b) of the House receiving the bill—

9 (i) the procedure in that House shall be

10 the same as if no bill had been received from

11 the other House; but

12 (ii) the vote on final passage shall be on

13 the bill of the other House.

14 (2) Upon disposition of the bill received from the

15 other House, it shall no longer be in order to consider the

16 bill that originated in the receiving House.

17 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

18 For purposes of this Act:

19 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the

20 meaning given the term in section 551(1) of title 5,

21 United States Code.

22 (2) REGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’ has

23 the meaning given the term ‘‘rule’’ in section 551(4)

24 of title 5, United States Code, except that such term

25 does not include—
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1 (A) any regulation of particular applica2 bility; or

3 (B) any interpretative rule, general state4 ment of policy, or any regulation of agency or5 ganization, personnel, procedure, or practice.

6 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

7 This Act shall apply to agency regulations promul8 gated after the date of the enactment of this Act.

9 SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

10 A regulation contained in a bill enacted pursuant to

11 this Act is not an agency action for the purpose of judicial

12 review under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code.

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