IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 440 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the public 

disclosure of all earmark requests. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2009 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Ms. SPEIER) 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 

strengthen the public disclosure of all earmark requests. 

1 Resolved, That (a) rule XXIII of the Rules of the 

2 House of Representatives is amended by redesignating 

3 clause 18 as clause 19 and by inserting after clause 17 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘18. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 

6 who requests a congressional earmark, a limited tax ben7 efit, or a limited tariff benefit shall, within 24 hours after 

8 making such request— 


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•HRES 440 IH 

1 ‘‘(1) post on his or her public website for the 

2 remainder of the Congress the following— 

3 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the intended 

4 recipient; 

5 ‘‘(B) the requested amount (only in the 

6 case of congressional earmarks); and 

7 ‘‘(C) an explanation of the request, includ8 ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 

9 of taxpayer funds; 

10 ‘‘(2) electronically submit to the committee of 

11 subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 

12 where such information is posted; 

13 ‘‘(3) identify each request as having been sub14 mitted to the committee of subject-matter jurisdic15 tion; and 

16 ‘‘(4) display on the homepage of such website a 

17 hypertext link that contains the words ‘Earmarks’, 

18 ‘Appropriations Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, 

19 or ‘Limited Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such 

20 webpage address, and maintain that link for at least 

21 30 calendar days after the last such request is made 

22 during the Congress.’’. 

23 (b) The last sentence of clause 16 of rule XXIII of 

24 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 


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1 striking ‘‘and clause 17’’ and inserting ‘‘, clause 17, and 

2 clause 18’’. 

3 SEC. 2. Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Rep4 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 

5 new clause: 

6 ‘‘Earmark disclosure websites 

7 ‘‘(s)(1) Any committee that accepts any request of 

8 a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con9 gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar10 iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 

11 disclosure webpage that contains the following for each 

12 such request— 

13 ‘‘(A) the bill name; 

14 ‘‘(B) the name, State, and district of that indi15 vidual; 

16 ‘‘(C) the name and address of the intended re17 cipient; 

18 ‘‘(D) the requested amount (only in the case of 

19 congressional earmarks); 

20 ‘‘(E) a brief description; and 

21 ‘‘(F) the applicable department or agency of the 

22 Government, and the account or program (if pro23 vided to the committee in the request); 

24 and is in a downloadable format that is searchable and 

25 sortable by such characteristics. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Any written statement received by a committee 

2 under clause 17(a) of rule XXIII shall be posted on the 

3 earmark disclosure webpage of the committee. 

4 ‘‘(3) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

5 shall list the names of any Member, Delegate, and Resi6 dent Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, 

7 a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit and link 

8 directly to their webpage addresses referred to in clause 

9 18(2) of rule XXIII. 

10 ‘‘(4) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

11 shall post the information required under subparagraphs 

12 (1) through (3) within one week of receipt, and shall main13 tain that information on that webpage for the remainder 

14 of the Congress. 

15 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this paragraph, the terms ‘con16 gressional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tar17 iff benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 

18 9 of rule XXI.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. Clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 

20 House of Representatives is amended by redesignating 

21 paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) as paragraphs (f), (g), and 

22 (h), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph (d) the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or 

25 joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 


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1 report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim2 ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem3 ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 

4 with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 

5 XXIII.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. The amendments made by this resolution 

7 shall apply to requests for congressional earmarks, limited 

8 tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits made after the 

9 date this resolution is agreed to. 

Æ 


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