I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 105

To require Congress and the President to fulfill their constitutional duty

to take personal responsibility for Federal laws.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

Mr. HAYWORTH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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 require Congress and the President to fulfill their constitutional duty to take personal responsibility for Federal laws.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Respon5 sibility Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to promote compliance

8 with Article I of the United States Constitution, which
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1 grants legislative powers solely to Congress. Article I en2 sures that Federal regulations will not take effect unless

3 passed by a majority of the members of the Senate and

4 House of Representatives and signed by the President, or

5 that the members of the Senate and House of Representa6 tives override the President’s veto. This Act ends the prac7 tice whereby Congress delegates its responsibility for mak8 ing laws to unelected, unaccountable officials of the execu9 tive branch and requires that regulations proposed by

10 agencies of the executive branch be affirmatively enacted

11 by Congress before they become effective. The Act will re12 sult in a more democratic and accountable Congress and

13 protect the public from regulations for which elected, ac14 countable officials are unwilling to take responsibility.

15 SEC. 3. ENACTMENT OF AGENCY REGULATIONS.

16 (a) CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL.—A regulation shall

17 not take effect before the date of the enactment of a bill

18 described in section 4(a) comprised solely of the text of

19 the regulation.

20 (b) AGENCY REPORT.—Whenever an agency promul21 gates a regulation, the agency shall submit to each House

22 of Congress a report containing the text of the proposed

23 regulation and an explanation of the proposed regulation.

24 The explanation shall consist of the concise general state25 ment of their basis and purpose required by section 553
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1 of title 5, United States Code and such explanatory docu2 ments as are mandated by other statutory requirements.

3 SEC. 4. EXPEDITED CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES FOR

4 AGENCY REGULATIONS.

5 (a) INTRODUCTION.—Not later than 3 legislative

6 days after the date on which an agency submits a report

7 under section 3(b), the Majority Leader of each House of

8 Congress shall introduce (by request) a bill comprised sole9 ly of the text of the regulation contained in the report.

10 If such a bill is not introduced in a House of Congress

11 as provided in the preceding sentence, then any Member

12 of that House may introduce such a bill.

13 (b) BILL.—For purposes of this section, the term

14 ‘‘bill’’ means a bill of the two Houses of Congress, the

15 matter after the enacting clause of which is as follows:

16 ‘‘The following agency regulations are hereby approved

17 and shall have the force and effect of law:’’ (the text of

18 the regulations being set forth after the semicolon).

19 (c) REFERRAL AND CONSIDERATION.—(1) A bill de20 scribed in subsection (b) shall not be referred to a com21 mittee.

22 (2) It is in order for any Member of the respective

23 House to move to proceed to the consideration of the bill.

24 A Member may make the motion only on the day after

25 the calendar day on which the Member announces to the
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1 House concerned the Member’s intention to make the mo2 tion. All points of order against the bill (and against con3 sideration of the bill) are waived. The motion is highly

4 privileged in the House of Representatives and is privi5 leged in the Senate and is not debatable. The motion is

6 not subject to amendment, to a motion to postpone, or

7 to a motion to proceed to the consideration of other busi8 ness. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion

9 is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order. If a

10 motion to proceed to the consideration of the bill is agreed

11 to, the respective House shall immediately proceed to con12 sideration of the bill without intervening motion, order,

13 or other business, and the bill shall remain the unfinished

14 business of the respective House until disposed of.

15 (3) Debate on the bill, and on all debatable motions

16 and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to

17 not more than one hour, which shall be divided equally

18 between those favoring and those opposing the bill. An

19 amendment to the bill is not in order. A motion further

20 to limit debate is in order and not debatable. A motion

21 to postpone, a motion to proceed to the consideration of

22 other business, or a motion to recommit the bill is not

23 in order. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the

24 bill is agreed to or disagreed to is not in order.
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1 (4) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating

2 to the application of the regulations of the Senate or the

3 House of Representatives, as the case may be, to the pro4 cedure relating to the bill shall be decided without debate.

5 (d) FINAL PASSAGE.—A vote on final passage of a

6 bill described in subsection (b) shall be taken in a House

7 of Congress on or before the close of the 60th calendar

8 day after the date of the introduction of the bill in that

9 House.

10 (e) EXCEPTION.—A motion to suspend the applica11 tion of subsections (c) and (d) is in order in either House

12 of Congress and shall be considered as passed or agreed

13 to by a vote of a majority of the Members voting. Upon

14 the passage of such a motion, the bill shall be considered

15 in the same manner as other bills.

16 (f) TREATMENT IF THE OTHER HOUSE HAS

17 ACTED.—(1) If, before the passage by one House of a bill

18 introduced in that House described in subsection (b), that

19 House receives from the other House a bill described in

20 subsection (b) comprised of the same text, then—

21 (A) the bill of the other House shall not be re22 ferred to a committee and may not be considered in

23 the House receiving it except in the case of final

24 passage as provided in subparagraph (B)(ii); and
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1 (B) with respect to a bill described in sub2 section (b) of the House receiving the bill—

3 (i) the procedure in that House shall be

4 the same as if no bill had been received from

5 the other House; but

6 (ii) the vote on final passage shall be on

7 the bill of the other House.

8 (2) Upon disposition of the bill received from the

9 other House, it shall no longer be in order to consider the

10 bill that originated in the receiving House.

11 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

12 For purposes of this Act:

13 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the

14 meaning given the term in section 551(1) of title 5,

15 United States Code.

16 (2) REGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’ has

17 the meaning given the term ‘‘rule’’ in section 551(4)

18 of title 5, United States Code, except that such term

19 does not include—

20 (A) any regulation of particular applica21 bility; or

22 (B) any interpretative rule, general state23 ment of policy, or any regulation of agency or24 ganization, personnel, procedure, or practice.
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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act shall apply to agency regulations promul3 gated after the date of the enactment of this Act.

4 SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

5 A regulation contained in a bill enacted pursuant to

6 this Act is not an agency action for the purpose of judicial

7 review under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code.

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