IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 323 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that rescission 

bills always be considered under open rules every year, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 2, 2009 

Mr. KING of Iowa (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BROUN

of Georgia, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Ms. FOXX, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. 

GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. HENSARLING, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. PAUL, Mr. 

PITTS, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. WESTMORELAND, 

Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, and Mrs. BACHMANN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

require that rescission bills always be considered under 

open rules every year, and for other purposes. 

Whereas a rescissions bill, which would cut Federal spending, 

should be brought to the House floor at the beginning of 

every fiscal quarter to give Congress the opportunity to 

cut and cancel unnecessary, wasteful, and bloated Government spending to eliminate the deficit; 

Whereas any Federal appropriations that have not yet been 

spent would be on the table for cuts; 

Whereas the House of Representatives would consider this 

spending-slashing bill under an open rule procedure that 


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allows any Member of Congress to offer an amendment 

to cut Federal spending and demand a recorded vote to 

hold Congress accountable; 

Whereas in this spending-cutting process every single spending item would be up for reconsideration and no Member 

of Congress could make excuses for failing to cut spending because the process would provide a record of their 

actions; 

Whereas the taxpayer money saved through this spendingcutting process will be returned to the general fund and 

cannot be used for new spending; 

Whereas the process of cutting spending should be open to 

the public, by posting this spending-cutting bill and its 

amendments on the Internet, so that Americans can exercise their right to contact their Members of Congress and 

make their views known; and 

Whereas this rescissions spending-cutting process will discipline Federal spending and save taxpayer money: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That (a) this resolution may be cited as the 

2 ‘‘Cut the Unnecessary Tab Resolution’’ or the ‘‘CUT Res3 olution’’. 

4 (b) Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

5 of Representatives is amended by inserting before the pe6 riod the following ‘‘or a rule or order that would limit any 

7 amendment that would otherwise be in order to a rescis8 sion bill’’. 

9 (c) Clause 4(b) of rule X of the Rules of the House 

10 of Representatives is amended by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after 


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1 ‘‘(b)’’, by redesignating subparagraphs (1) through (6) as 

2 subdivisions (A) through (F), respectively, and by adding 

3 at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(2)(A) Whenever a rescission bill passes the House, 

5 the Committee on the Budget shall immediately reduce the 

6 applicable allocations under section 302(a) of the Congres7 sional Budget Act of 1974 by the total amount of reduc8 tions in budget authority and in outlays resulting from 

9 such rescission bill. 

10 ‘‘(B) As used in this subparagraph, the term ‘rescis11 sion bill’ means a bill or joint resolution which only re12 scinds, in whole or in part, budget authority and which 

13 includes only titles corresponding to the most recently en14 acted appropriation bills that continue to include unobli15 gated balances.’’. 

16 (d) Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Represent17 atives is amended by adding at the end the following new 

18 clause: 

19 ‘‘8. (a) By February 1, May 1, July 30, and Novem20 ber 11 of each session, the majority leader shall introduce 

21 a rescission bill. If such bill is not introduced by that date, 

22 then whenever a rescission bill is introduced during a ses23 sion on or after that date, a motion to discharge the com24 mittee from its consideration shall be privileged after the 


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1 10-legislative day period beginning on that date for the 

2 first 5 such bills. 

3 ‘‘(b) It shall not be in order to offer any amendment 

4 to a rescission bill except an amendment that increases 

5 the amount of budget authority that such bill rescinds. 

6 ‘‘(c) As used in this clause and in clause 6, the term 

7 ‘rescission bill’ has the meaning given such term in clause 

8 4(b)(2)(B) of rule X.’’. 

9 (e) Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Represent10 atives is amended by adding at the end the following new 

11 clause: 

12 ‘‘11. (a) It shall not be in order to consider any re13 scission bill, or conference report thereon or amendment 

14 thereto, unless— 

15 ‘‘(1) in the case of such bill or conference re16 port, it is made available to Members and the gen17 eral public on the Internet for at least 48 hours be18 fore its consideration; or 

19 ‘‘(2)(A) in the case of an amendment to such 

20 rescission bill made in order by a rule, it is made 

21 available to Members and the general public on the 

22 Internet within one hour after the rule is filed; or 

23 ‘‘(B) in the case of an amendment under an 

24 open rule, it is made available to Members and the 

25 general public on the Internet immediately after 


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1 being offered in a format that is searchable and 

2 sortable. 

3 ‘‘(3) No amendment to an amendment to a re4 scission bill shall be in order unless germane to the 

5 amendment to which it is offered.’’. 

Æ 


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