IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 689 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members, 

Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner have a reasonable amount 

of time to read legislation that will be voted upon, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2009 

Mr. POSEY (for himself, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. HERGER, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. PITTS, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. LINDER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 

BURGESS, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. WILSON of 

South Carolina, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. INGLIS, 

Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. 

LAMBORN, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. 

LUETKEMEYER, Mr. LATTA, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Ms. 

FALLIN, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. FLEMING, and Mrs. LUMMIS) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

ensure that Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner have a reasonable amount of time to read 

legislation that will be voted upon, and for other purposes. 

1 Resolved, That (a) the Rules of the House of Rep2 resentatives are amended by redesignating rule XXIX as 

3 rule XXX and by inserting after rule XXVIII the following 

4 new rule: 


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•HRES 689 IH 

1 ‘‘RULE XXIX 

2 ‘‘TIME TO READ LEGISLATION BEFORE VOTING

3 ‘‘1. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, no 

4 bill, joint resolution, conference report, or amendment be5 tween the Houses shall be considered in the House unless 

6 the text of that measure (and the accompanying compara7 tive print relating to that measure as required by clause 

8 9 of rule XVI) has been available to all Members, Dele9 gates, and the Resident Commissioner and their staffs in 

10 both printed and electronic format for at least 3 legislative 

11 days and any manager’s amendment or other amendment 

12 which makes substantive changes to the legislation has 

13 been made available in both printed and electronic 

14 versions for at least 3 legislative days before such legisla15 tion may be considered in the House. 

16 ‘‘2. Clause 1 shall not apply to— 

17 ‘‘(1) the intelligence authorization bill or other 

18 legislation containing classified information, or any 

19 conference report thereon, if Members have at least 

20 7 days to study the contents of such measure; and 

21 ‘‘(2) congressional declarations of war or au22 thorization of military force to respond to attacks on 

23 the United States.’’. 

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

25 of Representatives is amended by inserting before the peVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:14 Jul 30, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR689.IH HR689

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•HRES 689 IH 

1 riod at the end thereof the following: ‘‘, or a rule or order 

2 that would waive the provisions of rule XXIX or of clause 

3 9 of rule XVI’’. 

4 SEC. 2. Rule XVI of the House of Representatives 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 

6 ‘‘Comparative print 

7 ‘‘9. (a) Any bill, joint resolution, or conference report 

8 that amends existing law, or any manager’s amendment, 

9 amendment between the Houses, or other amendment 

10 which makes substantive changes to any bill, joint resolu11 tion, or conference report that amends existing law may 

12 not be considered in the House unless the chair of the 

13 applicable committee or the Member, Delegate, or Resi14 dent Commissioner proposing the amendment also pre15 sents to the Clerk, at least 3 legislative days before the 

16 applicable measure may be considered in the House, an 

17 electronic version of a comparative print of any part of 

18 the bill, joint resolution, or conference report or any 

19 amendment proposing to amend any statute and of the 

20 statute or part thereof proposing to be amended, showing 

21 by appropriate typographical devices the omissions and in22 sertions proposed. 

23 ‘‘(b) The Clerk shall post on website of the Clerk the 

24 electronic version of each comparative print presented 


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1 under paragraph (a) at least 3 legislative days before the 

2 underlying amendment may be considered in the House.’’. 

Æ 


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