II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3475 

To provide tighter control over and additional public disclosure of earmarks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 10, 2010 

Mr. BENNET introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To provide tighter control over and additional public 

disclosure of earmarks. 

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 ‘‘Clean Up Earmarks 

5 Act of 2010’’ or the ‘‘CUE Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GAO AUDIT OF SENATE EARMARKS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 31 of each 

8 year, the Comptroller General shall submit an audit to 

9 Congress of 5 percent of Senate earmarks for the current 

10 fiscal year chosen at random. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3475 IS

1 (b) DETAILS.—The audit required by subsection (a) 

2 shall include— 

3 (1) an adequate amount of earmarks of small 

4 and large programs; 

5 (2) 50 percent of earmarks that have been re6 quested by at least one Democratic Senator and 50 

7 percent requested by at least one Republican Sen8 ator; and 

9 (3) 50 percent of earmarks requested by mem10 bers of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and 

11 50 percent requested by Senators not on the Senate 

12 Committee on Appropriations. 

13 SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING POINT OF ORDER AGAINST 

14 AIRDROPPED ITEMS IN CONFERENCE RE15 PORTS. 

16 Subparagraphs (c) and (d) of paragraph 8 of rule 

17 XLIV of the Standing rules of the Senate are amended 

18 by striking ‘‘three-fifths’’ and inserting ‘‘two-thirds’’. 

19 SEC. 4. IMPROVING EARMARKS WEB SITE. 

20 The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 

21 House of Representatives shall take such steps as are nec22 essary to improve the Web site earmarks.gov to— 

23 (1) make earmarks more easily searchable by 

24 the requesting member of Congress and by any fedVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:36 Jun 11, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3475.IS S3475

smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3475 IS

1 erally registered lobbyist who requested such ear2 mark; and 

3 (2) ensure that the Web site is user friendly 

4 and does not include extraneous information. 

5 SEC. 5. HEARINGS ON EARMARKS. 

6 It is the sense of the Senate that— 

7 (1) the subcommittees of the Committee on Ap8 propriations should hold hearings on earmark re9 quests in excess of $1,000,000, during which Mem10 bers who request said earmarks should be invited to 

11 testify; and 

12 (2) the subcommittees of the Committee on Ap13 propriations shall hold hearings on earmark requests 

14 in excess of $5,000,000, during which Members who 

15 request said earmarks shall be invited to testify. 

16 SEC. 6. INCREASED EARMARK TRANSPARENCY AND PRO17 HIBITING EARMARKS TO PRIVATE FOR-PROF18 IT ENTITIES. 

19 Rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate is 

20 amended by adding at the end thereof the following: 

21 ‘‘13.(a) All congressionally directed spending items 

22 shall be included in the text of an appropriations or au23 thorization bill and any conference report related to that 

24 appropriations or authorization bill. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3475 IS

1 ‘‘(b) Not later than 48 hours after the request, each 

2 request for a congressionally directed spending item for 

3 an appropriations or authorization bill made by a Senator 

4 shall be posted on the Senator’s Web site. The posting 

5 of the request for a congressionally directed spending item 

6 shall include the name and location of the specifically in7 tended recipient, the purpose of the congressionally di8 rected spending item, the name of any federally registered 

9 lobbyist who materially participated in requesting that the 

10 earmark submission be made by that Senator, and the dol11 lar amount requested. If there is no specifically intended 

12 recipient, the posting shall include the intended location 

13 of the activity, the purpose of the congressionally directed 

14 spending item, and the dollar amount requested. 

15 ‘‘(c) It shall not be in order to consider an appropria16 tions or authorization bill, amendment, or conference re17 port if it contains a congressionally directed spending item 

18 for a private for-profit entity.’’. 

19 SEC. 7. DISCLOSURE BY NON-PROFITS OF PRIVATE FOR20 PROFIT EARMARK BENEFICIARIES. 

21 Each Senator shall— 

22 (1) require any eligible entity that requests an 

23 earmark submission from that Senator to include a 

24 written disclosure in that earmark request of the 

25 identity of any for profit, private company that 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 3475 IS

1 might directly benefit financially from the award of 

2 the earmark; and 

3 (2) submit the identity of the beneficiary dis4 closed under paragraph (1) in writing to the Senate 

5 Committee on Appropriations with any cor6 responding earmarks request made by the Senator 

7 and include the beneficiary disclosure in the disclo8 sure of earmarks required to be posted on the Web 

9 site of the Senator by paragraph 13 of rule XLIV 

10 of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

11 SEC. 8. AMENDMENT TO THE LOBBYING DISCLOSURE ACT 

12 OF 1995 REQUIRING REPORTING INFORMA13 TION ON THE EMPLOYER OF A LOBBYIST. 

14 Section 5(b) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 

15 (2 U.S.C. 1604(b)) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking the ‘‘and’’ 

17 after the semicolon; 

18 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period and 

19 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (3) by inserting at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(6) for each client, the amount of congres22 sional earmarks requested from Congress on behalf 

23 of the client and a detailed accounting of each such 

24 earmark.’’. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS