I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4214

To amend the Antiquities Act to provide for the Congressional approval

of the establishment of national monuments, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 26, 1996

Mr. ORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Resources, 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 amend the Antiquities Act to provide for the Congressional approval of the establishment of national monuments, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. LIMITATION OF ANTIQUITIES ACT AUTHORITY.

4 Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225;

5 16 U.S.C 431, 432, 433), commonly known as the Antiq6 uities Act, is amended as follows:

7 (1) By inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’ imme8 diately before the first sentence.
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1 (2) By adding the following after the last sen2 tence: ‘‘Any proclamation of the President under

3 this section declaring any area a national monument

4 shall be submitted to the Congress, and such procla5 mation shall cease to have any force and effect after

6 the expiration of 180 calendar days of continuous

7 session of Congress after the date of issuance unless

8 the Congress approves such proclamation by adop9 tion of a joint resolution of approval within such 180

10 day period in accordance with subsection (b).’’

11 (3) By adding the following at the end thereof:

12 ‘‘(b) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.—

13 ‘‘(1) SESSIONS OF CONGRESS.—For purposes of

14 this section—

15 ‘‘(A) continuity of session of Congress is

16 broken only by an adjournment sine die; and

17 ‘‘(B) the days on which either House is not

18 in session because of an adjournment of more

19 than 3 days to a day certain are excluded in the

20 computation of the 180-day calendar period.

21 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—

22 ‘‘(A) This subsection is enacted by Con23 gress—

24 ‘‘(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking

25 power of each House of Congress, respec-
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1 tively, and as such it is deemed a part of

2 the rules of each House, respectively, but

3 applicable only with respect to the proce4 dure to be followed in that House in the

5 case of resolutions described by subpara6 graph (B) of this paragraph; and it super7 sedes other rules only to the extent that it

8 is inconsistent therewith; and

9 ‘‘(ii) with full recognition of the con10 stitutional right of either House to change

11 the rules (so far as those rules relate to

12 the procedure of that House) at any time,

13 in the same manner and to the same ex14 tent as in the case of any other rule of

15 such House.

16 ‘‘(B) For purposes of this section, the term

17 ‘resolution’ means a joint resolution, the resolv18 ing clause of which is as follows: ‘‘That the

19 House of Representatives and Senate approve

20 the Presidential decision on the establishment

21 of a national monument submitted to the Con22 gress on XXXXX.’’; the blank space therein

23 shall be filled with the date on which the Presi24 dent submits his decision to the House of Rep25 resentatives and the Senate.
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1 ‘‘(C) A resolution once introduced with re2 spect to a Presidential proclamation establish3 ing a national monument shall be referred to

4 one or more committees (and all resolutions

5 with respect to the same Presidential proclama6 tion shall be referred to the same committee or

7 committees) by the President of the Senate or

8 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as

9 the case may be.

10 ‘‘(D)(i) If any committee to which a reso11 lution with respect to a Presidential proclama12 tion has been referred has not reported it at the

13 end of 30 calendar days after its referral, it

14 shall be in order to move either to discharge

15 such committee from further consideration of

16 such resolution or to discharge such committee

17 from consideration of any other resolution with

18 respect to such Presidential proclamation which

19 has been referred to such committee.

20 ‘‘(ii) A motion to discharge may be made

21 only by an individual favoring the resolution,

22 shall be highly privileged (except that it may

23 not be made after the committee has reported

24 a resolution with respect to the same Presi25 dential proclamation, and debate thereon shall
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1 be limited to not more than 1 hour, to be di2 vided equally between those favoring and those

3 opposing the resolution. An amendment to the

4 motion shall not be in order, and it shall not be

5 in order to move to reconsider the vote by

6 which the motion was agreed to or disagreed to.

7 ‘‘(iii) If the motion to discharge is agreed

8 to or disagreed to, the motion may not be made

9 with respect to any other resolution with re10 spect to the same Presidential proclamation.

11 ‘‘(E)(i) When any committee has reported,

12 or has been discharged from further consider13 ation of, a resolution, but in no case earlier

14 than 30 days after the date of receipt of the

15 President’s proclamation to the Congress, it

16 shall be at any time thereafter in order (even

17 though a previous motion to the same effect has

18 been disagreed to) to move to proceed to the

19 consideration of the resolution. The motion

20 shall be highly privileged and shall not be de21 batable. An amendment to the motion shall not

22 be in order, and it shall not be in order to move

23 to reconsider the vote by which the motion was

24 agreed to or disagreed to.
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1 ‘‘(ii) Debate on the resolution described in

2 subparagraph (B)(i) of this paragraph shall be

3 limited to not more than 10 hours and on any

4 resolution under this subsection. This time shall

5 be divided equally between those favoring and

6 those opposing such resolution. A motion fur7 ther to limit debate shall not be debatable. An

8 amendment to, or motion to recommit the reso9 lution shall not be in order, and it shall not be

10 in order to move to reconsider the vote by

11 which such resolution was agreed to or dis12 agreed to or, thereafter within such 180-day pe13 riod, to consider any other resolution respecting

14 the same Presidential proclamation.

15 ‘‘(F)(i) Motions to postpone, made with re16 spect to the discharge from committee, or the

17 consideration of a resolution and motions to

18 proceed to the consideration of other business,

19 shall be decided without debate.

20 ‘‘(ii) Appeals from the decision of the

21 Chair relating to the application of the rules of

22 the Senate or the House of Representatives, as

23 the case may be, to the procedures relating to

24 a resolution shall be decided without debate.’’

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