IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 276 
To provide earmark reform in the House of Representatives. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2009 
Mr. NUNES submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct, 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 
RESOLUTION 
To provide earmark reform in the House of Representatives. 
Resolved, 
SECTION 1. Clause 3 of rule XII is amended by in-
serting ‘‘(a)’’ after ‘‘3.’’ and by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraphs: 
‘‘(b) With respect to any request for a congressional 
earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit with-
in the meaning of clause 9 of rule XXI, the Member, Dele-
gate, or Resident Commissioner making such request shall 
submit a petition to the Speaker under this clause request-
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submit more than 10 petitions under this paragraph dur-
ing any session of Congress. 
‘‘(c) Within two calendar days after the referral of 
a petition pursuant to paragraph (b), the Clerk shall make 
the full text of such petition available in a searchable, sort-
able, and downloadable online database available to the 
public, unless the subject of the petition relates to classi-
fied information.’’. 
SEC. 2. Clause 9 of rule XXI is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘9. (a) It shall not be in order to consider— 
‘‘(1) a bill or joint resolution reported by a 
committee unless the report includes a list of con-
gressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and lim-
ited tariff benefits in the bill or in the report (and 
the name of any Member, Delegate, or Resident 
Commissioner who submitted a request to the com-
mittee for each respective item included in such list) 
or a statement that the proposition contains no con-
gressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 
tariff benefits; 
‘‘(2) a bill or joint resolution not reported by a 
committee unless the chairman of each committee of 
initial referral has caused a list of congressional ear-
marks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff bene-
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fits in the bill (and the name of any Member, Dele-
gate, or Resident Commissioner who submitted a re-
quest to the committee for each respective item in-
cluded in such list) or a statement that the propo-
sition contains no congressional earmarks, limited 
tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits to be printed 
in the Congressional Record prior to its consider-
ation; 
‘‘(3) an amendment to a bill or joint resolution 
as designated in a report of the Committee on Rules 
to accompany a resolution prescribing a special 
order of business unless the proponent has caused a 
list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, 
and limited tariff benefits in the amendment (and 
the name of any Member, Delegate, or Resident 
Commissioner who submitted a request to the pro-
ponent for each respective item included in such list) 
or a statement that the proposition contains no con-
gressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 
tariff benefits to be printed in the Congressional 
Record prior to its consideration; 
‘‘(4) a conference report to accompany a bill or 
joint resolution unless the joint explanatory state-
ment prepared by the managers on the part of the 
House and the managers on the part of the Senate 
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includes a list of congressional earmarks, limited tax 
benefits, and limited tariff benefits in the conference 
report or joint statement (and the name of any 
Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Sen-
ator who submitted a request to the House or Sen-
ate committees of jurisdiction for each respective 
item included in such list) or a statement that the 
proposition contains no congressional earmarks, lim-
ited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits; or 
‘‘(5) any measure or matter (including any ac-
companying report or joint statement) described in 
this paragraph, or any amendment thereto which 
contains— 
‘‘(A) a congressional earmark, limited tax 
benefit, or limited tariff benefit which was not 
the subject of a petition submitted to the 
Speaker and made available by the Clerk pursu-
ant to clause 3 of rule XII at least 5 legislative 
days prior to the request for such earmark, lim-
ited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit; 
‘‘(B) more than two congressional ear-
marks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff 
benefits proposed by any Member, Delegate, or 
Resident Commissioner; and 
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‘‘(C) total new budget authority, credit au-
thority, and other spending authority for all 
congressional earmarks contained in that meas-
ure (including any accompanying report or joint 
statement) proposed by members of each com-
mittee of initial referral of such measure that 
exceeds 200 percent of the total new budget au-
thority, credit authority, and other spending au-
thority as estimated by the Committee on the 
Budget for all earmarks contained in that 
measure (including any accompanying report or 
joint statement) proposed by nonmembers of 
those committees. 
‘‘(b) It shall not be in order to consider a rule or 
order that waives the application of paragraph (a). As dis-
position of a point of order under this paragraph, the 
Chair shall put the question of consideration with respect 
to the rule or order that waives the application of para-
graph (a). The question of consideration shall be debatable 
for 10 minutes by the Member initiating the point of order 
and for 10 minutes by an opponent, but shall otherwise 
be decided without intervening motion except one that the 
House adjourn. 
‘‘(c) In order to be cognizable by the Chair, a point 
of order raised under paragraphs (a)(1) through (4) may 
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be based only on the failure of a report, submission to 
the Congressional Record, or joint explanatory statement 
to include a list required by paragraph (a) or a statement 
that the proposition contains no congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits except with 
respect to a conference report to accompany a regular gen-
eral appropriation bill, in which case the point of order 
shall be disposed of by the question of consideration under 
the same terms as specified in paragraph (b). 
‘‘(d) For the purpose of this clause— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘congressional earmark’ means a 
provision or report language included primarily at 
the request of a Member, Delegate, Resident Com-
missioner, or Senator providing, authorizing or rec-
ommending a specific amount of discretionary budg-
et authority, credit authority, or other spending au-
thority for a contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, 
loan authority, or other expenditure with or to an 
entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or 
Congressional district, other than through a statu-
tory or administrative formula-driven or competitive 
award process, but such term does not include a 
Presidential earmark as defined by this clause; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘limited tax benefit’ means— 
‘‘(A) any revenue-losing provision that— 
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‘‘(i) provides a Federal tax deduction, 
credit, exclusion, or preference to 10 or 
fewer beneficiaries under the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986; and 
‘‘(ii) contains eligibility criteria that 
are not uniform in application with respect 
to potential beneficiaries of such provision; 
or 
‘‘(B) any Federal tax provision which pro-
vides one beneficiary temporary or permanent 
transition relief from a change to the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘limited tariff benefit’ means a 
provision modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 
of the United States in a manner that benefits 10 
or fewer entities; and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘Presidential earmark’ means any 
provision or report language to maintain or increase 
the funding for any budgeted program, project, or 
activity or any provision or report language for any 
program, project, or activity that is specifically au-
thorized by law, included in the most recent budget 
submission of the President under section 1105(a) 
of title 31, United States Code, or jointly certified, 
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in writing, by the Speaker and the minority leader 
to be for national security purposes.’’. 
SEC. 3. Clause 17 of rule XXIII is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘17. A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 
may not request a congressional earmark, limited tax ben-
efit, or limited tariff benefit unless that Member, Dele-
gate, or Resident Commissioner has first submitted a peti-
tion to the House pursuant to clause 3(b) of rule XII.’’. 
SEC. 4. The amendments made by this resolution 
shall take effect at the beginning of the second session 
of Congress. 
Æ 
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