I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2636
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for Congressional review
of rules establishing or increasing taxes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 29, 1999
Mr. GEKAS (for himself, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr.
BARCIA, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. CALVERT, Mr.
CHABOT, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. DELAY, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. DICKEY, Mr.
EHRLICH, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GUT-
KNECHT, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. LARGENT,
Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. METCALF, Mr. MICA, Mrs.
NORTHUP, Mr. PITTS, Mr. ROGAN, Mr. SALMON, Mr. SAXTON, Mr.
SCARBOROUGH, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr.
STUMP, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. TALENT, Mr. TERRY, Mr. WATTS of Okla-
homa, Mr. COBLE, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. DEAL of Georgia,
Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. BAKER, Mr. LEWIS of
Kentucky, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. SWEENEY, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr.
MCCOLLUM, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of
Texas, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. LINDER, Mr. BRYANT, Mr.
KINGSTON, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mrs. MYRICK,
Ms. DUNN, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina,
Mr. HILLEARY, Mrs. BONO, Mr. GARY MILLER of California, Mr.
ENGLISH, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. WATKINS,
and Mr. FLETCHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on
Ways and Means, and Rules, 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 title 5, United States Code, to provide for
Congressional review of rules establishing or increasing taxes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Taxpayer’s Defense
Act’’.
SEC. 2. MANDATORY CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.
Chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, is amended
by inserting after section 808 the following:
‘‘SUBCHAPTER II—MANDATORY REVIEW OF
CERTAIN RULES
‘‘§ 815. Rules Subject to Mandatory Congressional Re-
view
‘‘A rule that establishes or increases a tax, however
denominated, shall not take effect before the date of the
enactment of a bill described in section 816 and is not
subject to review under subchapter I. This section does
not apply to a rule promulgated under the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986. For purposes of this section, the term
‘tax’ means a non-penal, mandatory payment of money or
its equivalent to the extent such payment does not com-
pensate the Federal Government or other payee for a spe-
cific benefit conferred directly on the payer.
‘‘§ 816. Agency Submission
‘‘Whenever an agency promulgates a rule subject to
section 815, the agency shall submit to each House of
Congress a report containing the text of only the part of
the rule that causes the rule to be subject to section 815
and an explanation of it. An agency shall submit such a
report separately for each such rule it promulgates. The
explanation shall consist of the concise general statement
of the rule’s basis and purpose required by section 553
and such explanatory documents as are mandated by other
statutory requirements.
‘‘§ 817. Approval Bill
‘‘(a) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—
‘‘(1) INTRODUCTION.—Not later than 3 legisla-
tive days after the date on which an agency submits
a report under section 816, the Majority Leader of
each House of Congress shall introduce (by request)
a bill the matter after the enacting clause of which
is as follows: ‘‘The following agency rule may take
effect:’’. The text submitted under section 816 shall
be set forth after the colon. If such a bill is not in-
troduced in a House of Congress as provided in the
first sentence of this subsection, any Member of that
House may introduce such a bill not later than 7
legislative days after the period for introduction by
the Majority Leader.
‘‘(2) REFERRAL.—A bill introduced under para-
graph (1) shall be referred to the Committees in
each House of Congress with jurisdiction over the
subject matter of the rule involved.
‘‘(b) PROCEDURE.—
‘‘(1) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP-
RESENTATIVES.—
‘‘(A) COMMITTEE OR MEMBER ACTION.—
Any committee of the House of Representatives
to which a bill is referred shall report it without
amendment, and with or without recommenda-
tion, not later than the 30th calendar day of
session after the date of its introduction. If any
committee fails to report the bill within that pe-
riod, it is in order to move that the House dis-
charge the committee from further consider-
ation of the bill. A motion to discharge may be
made only by a Member favoring the bill (but
only at a time designated by the Speaker on the
legislative day after the calendar day on which
the Member offering the motion announces to
the House his intention to do so and the form
of the motion). The motion is highly privileged.
Debate thereon shall be limited to not more
than one hour, the time to be divided in the
House equally between the proponent and an
opponent. The previous question shall be con-