I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3233 

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

to limit the annual cost of appropriation earmarks and to make them 

more predictable, equitable, and transparent. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 16, 2009 

Mrs. LUMMIS (for herself and Mrs. KIRKPATRICK of Arizona) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, 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 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to limit the annual cost of appropriation 

earmarks and to make them more predictable, equitable, 

and transparent. 

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 ‘‘Predictable, Equitable, 

5 and Transparent (PET) Project Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PREDICTABLE AND EQUITABLE EARMARKING. 

2 (a) ALLOCATION.—Section 302(a) of the Congres3 sional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(a)) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(6) FURTHER DIVISION OF AMOUNTS FOR AP6 PROPRIATION EARMARKS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN THE SENATE.—In the Senate, of 

8 the amount allocated to the Committee on Ap9 propriations for the first fiscal year of the reso10 lution, not more than one half of one percent 

11 shall be allocated solely to appropriation ear12 marks. Within that appropriation earmark allo13 cation, each Senator shall be entitled to request 

of the committee not more than 1 14 ⁄100th of that 

15 amount. If a Senator makes no such request or 

16 requests less than is permitted under this sub17 paragraph, then the unused amount shall be 

18 used to reduce the deficit. If the committee de19 nies any request of a Senator such that his 

20 total amount of appropriation earmarks is less 

than his 1 21 ⁄100th share, then the chairman and 

22 ranking minority member of the committee 

23 shall provide the Senator written justification 

24 for the denial of the request signed by both the 

25 chairman and ranking minority member. 


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1 ‘‘(B) IN THE HOUSE.—In the House of 

2 Representatives, of the amount allocated to the 

3 Committee on Appropriations for the first fiscal 

4 year of the resolution, not more than one half 

5 of one percent shall be allocated solely to appro6 priation earmarks. Within that appropriation 

7 earmark allocation, each Member, Delegate, 

8 and Resident Commissioner shall be entitled to 

request of the committee not more than 1 9 ⁄441 of 

10 that amount. If a Member, Delegate, or Resi11 dent Commissioner makes no such request or 

12 requests less than is permitted under this sub13 paragraph, then the unused amount shall be 

14 used to reduce the deficit. If the committee de15 nies any request of a Senator such that his 

16 total amount of appropriation earmarks is less 

than his 1 17 ⁄441 share, then the chairman of the 

18 committee shall provide the Member, Delegate, 

19 or Resident Commissioner written justification 

20 for the denial of the request signed by both the 

21 chairman and ranking minority member. 

22 ‘‘(C) POINT OF ORDER.—It shall not be in 

23 order in the House of Representatives or the 

24 Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, 

25 amendment, motion, or conference report proVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:49 Jul 17, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3233.IH H3233

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1 viding new budget authority for appropriation 

2 earmarks if— 

3 ‘‘(i) the enactment of that bill or reso4 lution as reported; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the adoption and enactment of 

6 that amendment; or 

7 ‘‘(iii) the enactment of that bill or res8 olution in the form recommended in that 

9 conference report; 

10 would cause the level of total new budget au11 thority or total outlays for appropriation ear12 marks, as adjusted, set forth in the applicable 

13 concurrent resolution on the budget for the first 

14 fiscal year to be exceeded or would cause the in15 dividual allocation of any Member, Delegate, 

16 Resident Commissioner, or Senator to be 

17 breached for that fiscal year.’’. 

18 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 3 of the Congressional 

19 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amend20 ed by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(11) The term ‘appropriation earmark’ has the 

22 meaning given to the term ‘congressional earmark’ 

23 in clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House 

24 of Representatives.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENT EARMARKING. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congressional 

3 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following new section: 

5 ‘‘TRANSPARENT EARMARKING IN THE HOUSE OF

6 REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE

7 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a)(1) In the House of Representatives, 

8 a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who re9 quests an appropriation earmark shall, within 5 legislative 

10 days after making such request— 

11 ‘‘(A) include the amount requested, the project 

12 name, and a project description of the matter that 

13 is the subject of that appropriation earmark, and 

14 submit such information to the Clerk for posting on 

15 the website of the Clerk; and 

16 ‘‘(B) insert in the Congressional Record a writ17 ten statement— 

18 ‘‘(i) including the amount requested, the 

19 project name, and a project description of the 

20 matter that is the subject of that appropriation 

21 earmark; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) certifying that neither the Member, 

23 Delegate, or Resident Commissioner nor any 

24 family member (as defined in clause 15 of rule 

25 XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representa26 tives) of that Member, Delegate, or Resident 


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1 Commissioner has any financial interest in the 

2 appropriation earmark. 

3 ‘‘(2) The website of the Clerk of the House of Rep4 resentatives shall include an up-to-date, comprehensive 

5 and searchable database that is downloadable, sortable, 

6 and comprised of all requests for appropriation earmarks 

7 transmitted to the Clerk for the current fiscal year and 

8 the budget year pursuant to subsection (a). 

9 ‘‘(b)(1) In the Senate, a Senator who requests an ap10 propriation earmark shall, within 5 legislative days after 

11 making such request— 

12 ‘‘(A) include the amount requested, the project 

13 name, and a project description of the matter that 

14 is the subject of that appropriation earmark, and 

15 submit such information to the Clerk for posting on 

16 the website of the Clerk; and 

17 ‘‘(B) insert in the Congressional Record a writ18 ten statement— 

19 ‘‘(i) including the amount requested, the 

20 project name, and a project description of the 

21 matter that is the subject of that appropriation 

22 earmark; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) certifying that neither the Senator 

24 nor any family member (as used in rule XXXV 

25 of the Standing Rules of the Senate) of that 


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1 Senator has any financial interest in the appro2 priation earmark. 

3 ‘‘(2) The website of the Clerk of the Senate shall in4 clude an up-to-date, comprehensive and searchable data5 base that is downloadable and sortable and comprised of 

6 all requests for appropriation earmarks transmitted to the 

7 Clerk for the current fiscal year and the budget year pur8 suant to subsection (a).’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con10 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 

11 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by in12 serting after the item relating to section 315 the following 

13 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 316. Transparent earmarking in the House of Representatives and the 

Senate.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. HOUSE AND SENATE RULES AMENDMENTS RE15 SPECTING EARMARKS IN CONFERENCE RE16 PORTS. 

17 (a) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—Para18 graph (b) of clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 

19 House of Representatives is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(b) It shall not be in order to consider a conference 

21 report to accompany a regular general appropriation bill 

22 if that bill or the accompanying joint explanatory state23 ment contains any congressional earmark that was not 

24 committed to the conference committee by either House 


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1 nor in a report of a committee of either House on such 

2 bill or on a companion measure.’’. 

3 (b) IN THE SENATE.—[Language to be inserted.] 

4 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING POWER. 

5 This Act is enacted by the Congress— 

6 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

7 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re8 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as 

9 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of 

10 that House to which they specifically apply, and 

11 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex12 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and 

13 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

14 right of either House to change such rules (so far 

15 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same 

16 manner, and to the same extent as in the case of 

17 any other rule of such House. 

Æ 


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