IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 687 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide greater 

transparency on earmark requests. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2009 

Mr. ALEXANDER 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 

provide greater transparency on 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— 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 687 IH 

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

2 remainder of the Congress financial certification let3 ters that contain the following— 

4 ‘‘(1) the name and address of the intended 

5 recipient; 

6 ‘‘(2) the requested amount (only in the 

7 case of congressional earmarks); 

8 ‘‘(3) an explanation of the request, includ9 ing the purpose, and why it is a valuable use 

10 of taxpayer funds; 

11 ‘‘(4) state if the recipient of the requested 

12 funds is a public, private, nonprofit, or for prof13 it entity; and 

14 ‘‘(5) a statement that neither the request15 ing member nor their spouse has any financial 

16 interest related to the funding request; 

17 ‘‘(b) display on the homepage of such website a 

18 hypertext link that contains the words ‘Appropria19 tions Requests’, ‘Limited Tax Benefits’, or ‘Limited 

20 Tariff Benefits’ and that directs to such webpage 

21 address, and maintain that link for at least 90 cal22 endar days after the last such request is made dur23 ing the Congress; and 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 687 IH 

1 ‘‘(c) electronically submit to the committee of 

2 subject-matter jurisdiction the webpage address 

3 where such information is posted.’’. 

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

5 the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by 

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

7 clause 18’’. 

8 SEC. 2. Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Rep9 resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following 

10 new clause: 

11 ‘‘Earmark disclosure websites 

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

13 a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner for a con14 gressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tar15 iff benefit shall maintain a public website with an earmark 

16 disclosure webpage that contains the list of earmarks in17 cluded in the Committee Report of the bill and is in a 

18 downloadable format that is searchable. 

19 ‘‘(2) The earmark disclosure webpage of a committee 

20 shall post the information required under subparagraphs 

21 (1) within two days of introduction, and shall maintain 

22 that information on that webpage for the remainder of the 

23 Congress. 

24 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this paragraph, the terms ‘con25 gressional earmark’, ‘limited tax benefit’, and ‘limited tarVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:35 Jul 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR687.IH HR687

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 687 IH 

1 iff benefit’ shall have the meaning given them in clause 

2 9 of rule XXI.’’. 

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

4 House of Representatives is amended by redesignating 

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

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

7 following: 

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

9 joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference 

10 report thereon, that carries a congressional earmark, lim11 ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit for which a Mem12 ber, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner failed to comply 

13 with any applicable requirement of clause 18 of rule 

14 XXIII.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. The amendments made by this resolution 

16 shall apply to requests for congressional earmarks, limited 

17 tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits made after the 

18 date this resolution is agreed to. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS