IA 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. J. RES. 87 
Requiring the President to notify Congress if the President makes a deter-
mination at the time of signing a bill into law to ignore a duly enacted 
provision of such newly enacted law, establishing expedited procedures 
for the consideration of legislation in the House of Representatives in 
response to such a determination, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2006 
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 
BERMAN, Ms. WATSON, and Ms. MCKINNEY) introduced the following 
joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
JOINT RESOLUTION 
Requiring the President to notify Congress if the President 
makes a determination at the time of signing a bill 
into law to ignore a duly enacted provision of such newly 
enacted law, establishing expedited procedures for the 
consideration of legislation in the House of Representa-
tives in response to such a determination, and for other 
purposes. 
Whereas the Constitution requires that Presidents ‘‘take Care 
that the Laws be faithfully executed’’; 
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Whereas the Constitution does not grant Presidents authority 
to choose which duly enacted provisions of laws they will 
obey; 
Whereas the practice of selective enforcement of the laws is 
inconsistent with our constitutional form of government; 
Whereas several previous Presidents have made signing state-
ments signaling their intention to ignore provisions of 
laws duly enacted by Congress on constitutional grounds; 
Whereas President George W. Bush has asserted his intent 
to ignore such provisions more than all other Presidents 
combined; and 
Whereas the President’s assertion of the right to ignore a 
duty violates our constitutional framework by sub-
stituting an unchecked presidential prerogative for the 
role of Congress and the constitutional veto procedure: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. REQUIRING NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS OF 
PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION TO IGNORE 
PROVISION OF NEWLY ENACTED LAW. 
(a) NOTIFICATION.—If at the time of enactment of 
a law the President makes a determination not to carry 
out any duly enacted provision of the law (as indicated 
in a statement made by the President at the time of enact-
ment or otherwise), not later than 10 days after the enact-
ment of the law, the President shall submit a report to 
Congress informing Congress of the determination and in-
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cluding the President’s reasons for making the determina-
tion, except that to the extent that the determination is 
based upon classified material, the President shall submit 
the report only to the congressional intelligence commit-
tees (as defined in 3(7) of the National Security Act of 
1947) (50 U.S.C. 401a(7)). 
(b) TREATMENT OF PREVIOUSLY ENACTED LAWS.— 
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment 
of this joint resolution, the President shall submit to Con-
gress a report under subsection (a) with respect to each 
law enacted prior to such date during the One Hundred 
Seventh, One Hundred Eighth, and One Hundred Ninth 
Congress for which the President has made a determina-
tion not to carry out a duly enacted provision of the law 
(as indicated in a statement made by the President at the 
time of enactment or otherwise). 
SEC. 2. EXPEDITED PROCEDURES IN HOUSE OF REP-
RESENTATIVES FOR LEGISLATION IN RE-
SPONSE TO DETERMINATION. 
(a) PRIVILEGED TREATMENT.—If a Member of the 
House of Representatives (including a Delegate or Resi-
dent Commissioner to the Congress) introduces legislation 
in response to a report submitted by the President under 
section 1(a)— 
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(1) a report on the legislation which is filed by 
any committee to which the legislation is referred 
may be called up as a privileged question by direc-
tion of the committee; and 
(2) if a committee to which the legislation is re-
ferred does not file a report on the legislation prior 
to the expiration of the 30-legislative day period 
which begins on the date the legislation is intro-
duced, a motion to discharge the committee from its 
consideration of the legislation shall be privileged. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT REGARDING WAIVER 
OF MINIMUM PERIOD FOR AVAILABILITY OF COMMITTEE 
REPORTS PRIOR TO CONSIDERATION IN HOUSE.—Clause 
4(a)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subdivision 
(D); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of subdivi-
sion (E) and inserting ‘‘; and’’ 
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
division: 
‘‘(F) a measure responding to a report sub-
mitted by the President informing Congress of a de-
termination not to carry out any duly enacted provi-
sion of law.’’. 
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