IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 40 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a minority 
bill of rights to require the House to be administered in a bipartisan 
manner and to require regular order in the legislative process. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 9, 2007 
Mr. MCHENRY (for himself, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. CARTER, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. PRICE 
of Georgia, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. CAMPBELL of California, Mr. 
BURTON of Indiana, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. ISSA, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. 
GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. COBLE, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. FRANKS of Ari-
zona, and Mrs. SCHMIDT) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Rules 
RESOLUTION 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 
establish a minority bill of rights to require the House 
to be administered in a bipartisan manner and to require 
regular order in the legislative process. 
Resolved, 
SECTION 1. BIPARTISAN ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives are amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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•HRES 40 IH 
‘‘RULE XXIX 
‘‘BIPARTISAN ADMINISTRATION OF HOUSE 
‘‘1. (a) The elected leadership of the majority and mi-
nority parties shall engage in regular consultations with 
each other to discuss scheduling, administration, and oper-
ations of the House. 
‘‘(b) The chair and ranking minority member of each 
committee, as well as their staffs, shall have regular meet-
ings with each other. 
‘‘2. The House should have a predictable, profes-
sional, family-friendly schedule that allows the legislative 
process to proceed in a manner that ensures timely and 
deliberate dispensation of the work of the Congress.’’. 
(b) ALLOCATION
OF
COMMITTEE
EXPENSES.— 
Clause 6 of rule X of the Rules of the House of Represent-
atives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(f) Of the amount provided to a committee under 
a primary expense resolution or a supplemental expense 
resolution under this clause, or during an interim funding 
period described in clause 7, one-third of such amount, 
or such greater percentage as may be agreed to by the 
chair and ranking minority member of the committee, 
shall be paid at the direction of the ranking minority mem-
ber.’’. 
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•HRES 40 IH 
SEC. 2. REGULAR ORDER FOR LEGISLATION. 
The Rules of the House of Representatives, as 
amended by section 1, are further amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘RULE XXX 
‘‘REGULAR ORDER FOR LEGISLATION 
‘‘1. Legislation shall be developed following full hear-
ings and open subcommittee and committee markups, with 
appropriate referrals to other committees. Members 
should have at least 24 hours to examine any legislation 
before its consideration at the subcommittee level. 
‘‘2. Legislation shall generally come to the floor 
under a procedure that allows open, full, and fair debate 
consisting of a full amendment process that grants the mi-
nority the right to offer its alternatives, including a sub-
stitute. 
‘‘3. Members shall have at least 24 hours to examine 
bill and conference report text prior to floor consideration. 
Rules governing floor debate must be reported before 10 
p.m. for any legislation to be considered the following day. 
‘‘4. Floor votes shall be completed within 15 minutes, 
with the customary 2-minute extension to accommodate 
Members’ ability to get to the House Chamber to cast 
their votes. No vote shall be held open in order to manipu-
late the outcome. 
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