IV
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 54
To amend the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for reform
of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 27, 1993
Mr. HEFLEY (for himself, Mr. INGLIS, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. GOSS,
Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. ZELIFF, Mr. BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. PORTER, Mr.
WALSH, Mr. STUMP, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. DOOLITTLE, and Mr.
ROHRABACHER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Rules
RESOLUTION
To amend the Rules of the House of Representatives to
provide for reform of the House of Representatives, and
for other purposes.
Resolved,
SECTION 1. TASK FORCE TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF
COMMITTEES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT-
ATIVES.
Not later than 10 days after the date on which this
resolution is agreed to, the Speaker shall appoint a task
force for the purpose of restructuring the committee sys-
tem in order to reduce the number of standing committees
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to not more than 15 and to establish their jurisdictions.
The task force shall—
(1) be composed of 10 Members of the House,
of whom 5 Members shall be appointed upon the
recommendation of the majority leader and 5 Mem-
bers shall be appointed upon recommendation of the
minority leader; and
(2) report its recommendations to the House
not later than the end of the One Hundred Third
Congress.
SEC. 2. SUBCOMMITTEE LIMITS.
Clause 6(d) of rule X of the Rules of the House of
Representatives is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(d)(1) Each standing committee of the House (ex-
cept the Committee on the Budget which shall have no
subcommittees and the Committee on Rules which shall
have 2 subcommittees) shall establish not more than 4
subcommittees, except the Committee on Appropriations
(which may have the same number of subcommittees that
it had in the One Hundred Second Congress).
‘‘(2) For the purposes of this paragraph, the term
‘subcommittee’ includes any panel, task force, special sub-
committee, or any subunit of a standing committee, or any
select committee which is established for a period of longer
than 6 months in any Congress.’’.
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SEC. 3. COMMITTEE STAFFING.
Clause 5 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is amended by redesignating paragraphs (a)
through (f) as paragraphs (b) through (g), respectively,
and by inserting at the beginning the following new para-
graph:
‘‘(a)(1) It shall not be in order to consider any pri-
mary expense resolution until the Committee on House
Administration has reported, and the House has adopted,
a resolution establishing an overall ceiling for House com-
mittee staff personnel for that year, and any such resolu-
tion shall be privileged.
‘‘(2) In developing any primary expense resolution,
the Committee on House Administration shall specify in
the resolution the number of staff positions authorized by
the resolution. The committee shall verify in the report
accompanying any such primary expense resolution that
the number of staff positions authorized by such resolution
is in conformity with the overall ceiling on such positions
established by the House.
‘‘(3) In no event shall the total number of additional
staff positions authorized by all such primary expense res-
olutions, taken together with the number of staff positions
authorized by clause 6 of this rule (providing for profes-
sional and clerical staff), exceed the ceiling established by
the House for that year.
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‘‘(4) In allocating staff positions pursuant to the
overall ceiling established by the House, the committee
shall take into account the past and anticipated legislative
and oversight activities of each committee.
‘‘(5) In any supplemental expense resolution, and in
any amendment thereto, the committee shall specify the
number of additional staff positions, if any, authorized by
such resolution, and shall indicate in the report accom-
panying any such resolution whether the additional staff
positions are in conformity with or exceed the overall ceil-
ing established by the House.
‘‘(6) It shall not be in order to consider any supple-
mental expense resolution, or any amendment thereto, au-
thorizing additional staff positions in excess of the overall
ceiling established by the House except by a vote of two-
thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present.
‘‘(7) It shall not be in order to consider any primary
or supplemental expense resolution for one or more com-
mittees unless the report on such resolution includes a
statement verifying that each such committee has adopted
and complied with a committee rule entitling the minority
party on such committee, upon the request of a majority
of such minority, to not less than one-third of the funds
provided for committee staff pursuant to each primary or
supplemental expense resolution.
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‘‘(8) For the purposes of the One Hundred Third
Congress, the overall ceiling for committee staff in a reso-
lution reported by the committee pursuant to subpara-
graph (1), or contained in any amendment thereto, shall
not exceed 50 percent of the total committee staff person-
nel employed at the end of the One Hundred Second
Congress.’’.
SEC. 4. PROXY VOTING BAN.
Clause 2(f) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of
Representatives is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(f) No vote by any member of any committee or sub-
committee with respect to any measure or matter may be
cast by proxy.’’.
SEC. 5. COMMITTEE RATIOS.
(a) Clause 6(a) of rule X of the Rules of the House
of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the
following new subparagraph:
‘‘(3) The membership of each committee (and each
subcommittee, task force, or other subunit thereof) shall
reflect the ratio of majority to minority party Members
of the House at the beginning of the Congress. This sub-
paragraph shall not apply to the Committee on Standards
of Official Conduct or the Committee on House Adminis-
tration. For the purposes of this clause, the Resident
Commissioner from Puerto Rico and the Delegates to the
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House shall not be counted in determining the party ratio
of the House.’’.
(b) Clause 6(f) of rule X of the Rules of the House
of Representatives is amended by inserting after the sec-
ond sentence the following: ‘‘The membership of each such
select committee (and of any subcommittee, task force, or
subunit thereof), and of each such conference committee,
shall reflect the ratio of the majority to minority party
Members of the House at the time of its appointment.’’.
(c) Effective at the beginning of the One Hundred
Third Congress, except as provided by clause 6(a)(3) of
rule X, the ratio of majority party to minority party staff
positions, consultants, details, and funding for each com-
mittee of the House of Representatives shall be the ratio
of majority party to minority party Members of the House
of Representatives.
SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF JOINT REFERRALS OF LEGISLA-
TION.
Clause 5(c) of rule X of the Rules of the House of
Representatives is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(c) In carrying out paragraphs (a) and (b) with re-
spect to any matter, the Speaker shall initially refer the
matter to one committee which he shall designate as the
committee of principal jurisdiction.’’.
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SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON LENGTH OF SERVICE ON ANY COM-
MITTEE.
Clause 6 of rule X of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is amended by inserting at the end the
following:
‘‘(j)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of these
rules, no Member shall serve as a member of any commit-
tee for more than 8 years or as chairman of any committee
for more than 4 years.
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1)—
‘‘(A) any service performed as a member or
chairman of any committee for less than a full ses-
sion in any Congress shall be disregarded; and
‘‘(B) previous service on any committee before
the One Hundred Third Congress shall be dis-
regarded.’’.
SEC. 8. MAKING THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRA-
TION BIPARTISAN.
Clause 6(a) of rule X of the Rules of the House of
Representatives (as amended by section 5) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘(4)(A) One-half of the members of the Committee
on House Administration shall be from the majority party
and one-half shall be from the minority party.
‘‘(B) In the case of the Committee on House Admin-
istration, subpoenas may be authorized and issued as pro-
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vided by clause 2(m) of rule XI, except that either the
chairman or ranking minority party member of that com-
mittee may authorize and issue subpoenas under that
clause.’’.
SEC. 9. PERMITTING INSTRUCTIONS IN MOTIONS TO RE-
COMMIT.
The second sentence in clause 4(b) of rule XI of the
Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by
striking ‘‘nor’’ and all that follows and inserting the fol-
lowing: ‘‘nor shall it report any rule or order which would
prevent the motion to recommit from being made as pro-
vided in clause 4 of rule XVI, including a motion with
amendatory instructions (except in the case of a Senate
measure for which the language of a House-passed meas-
ure has been substituted).’’.
SEC. 10. TWO-THIRDS VOTE REQUIRED TO WAIVE POINTS
OF ORDER.
Clause 4 of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Rep-
resentatives is amended by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
‘‘(e) It shall not be in order to consider a resolution
which waives any point of order, except by a vote of two-
thirds of those Members voting.’’.