IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 689 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members, 
Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner have a reasonable amount 
of time to read legislation that will be voted upon, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 29, 2009 
Mr. POSEY (for himself, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Mr. SHAD-
EGG, Mr. HERGER, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. PITTS, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. PUT-
NAM, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. LINDER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 
BURGESS, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. INGLIS, 
Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. 
LAMBORN, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. 
LUETKEMEYER, Mr. LATTA, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Ms. 
FALLIN, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. FLEMING, and Mrs. LUMMIS) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 
RESOLUTION 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 
ensure that Members, Delegates, and the Resident Com-
missioner have a reasonable amount of time to read 
legislation that will be voted upon, and for other pur-
poses. 
Resolved, That (a) the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives are amended by redesignating rule XXIX as 
rule XXX and by inserting after rule XXVIII the following 
new rule: 
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‘‘RULE XXIX 
‘‘TIME TO READ LEGISLATION BEFORE VOTING 
‘‘1. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, no 
bill, joint resolution, conference report, or amendment be-
tween the Houses shall be considered in the House unless 
the text of that measure (and the accompanying compara-
tive print relating to that measure as required by clause 
9 of rule XVI) has been available to all Members, Dele-
gates, and the Resident Commissioner and their staffs in 
both printed and electronic format for at least 3 legislative 
days and any manager’s amendment or other amendment 
which makes substantive changes to the legislation has 
been made available in both printed and electronic 
versions for at least 3 legislative days before such legisla-
tion may be considered in the House. 
‘‘2. Clause 1 shall not apply to— 
‘‘(1) the intelligence authorization bill or other 
legislation containing classified information, or any 
conference report thereon, if Members have at least 
7 days to study the contents of such measure; and 
‘‘(2) congressional declarations of war or au-
thorization of military force to respond to attacks on 
the United States.’’. 
(b) Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives is amended by inserting before the pe-
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riod at the end thereof the following: ‘‘, or a rule or order 
that would waive the provisions of rule XXIX or of clause 
9 of rule XVI’’. 
SEC. 2. Rule XVI of the House of Representatives 
is amended by adding at the end the following new clause: 
‘‘Comparative print 
‘‘9. (a) Any bill, joint resolution, or conference report 
that amends existing law, or any manager’s amendment, 
amendment between the Houses, or other amendment 
which makes substantive changes to any bill, joint resolu-
tion, or conference report that amends existing law may 
not be considered in the House unless the chair of the 
applicable committee or the Member, Delegate, or Resi-
dent Commissioner proposing the amendment also pre-
sents to the Clerk, at least 3 legislative days before the 
applicable measure may be considered in the House, an 
electronic version of a comparative print of any part of 
the bill, joint resolution, or conference report or any 
amendment proposing to amend any statute and of the 
statute or part thereof proposing to be amended, showing 
by appropriate typographical devices the omissions and in-
sertions proposed. 
‘‘(b) The Clerk shall post on website of the Clerk the 
electronic version of each comparative print presented 
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under paragraph (a) at least 3 legislative days before the 
underlying amendment may be considered in the House.’’. 
Æ 
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