IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1515 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to strengthen the point 
of order against the consideration of congressional earmarks, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2008 
Mr. SALI (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, and Mr. SESSIONS) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Standards of Official Con-
duct, 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 
RESOLUTION 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 
strengthen the point of order against the consideration 
of congressional earmarks, and for other purposes. 
Resolved, That clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives is amended as follows: 
(1) In paragraph (a)(1)— 
(A) after ‘‘such list’’ insert ‘‘, certified by 
the chairman of the relevant committee as the 
official action of the referring committee on the 
bill or joint resolution,’’; and 
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(B) before the semicolon insert ‘‘to be 
printed in the Congressional Record and made 
available on a list accessible to and searchable 
by the public via the Internet on the website of 
the Clerk under paragraph (h)(1) at least 48 
hours prior to its consideration by the full 
House’’. 
(2) In paragraph (a)(2)— 
(A) strike ‘‘each committee of initial refer-
ral’’ and insert ‘‘the conference committee that 
reports such bill or joint resolution to the 
House’’; 
(B) after ‘‘such list’’ insert ‘‘, certified by 
the chairman of the relevant committee as the 
official action of the referring committee on the 
bill or joint resolution,’’; and 
(C) strike ‘‘prior to its consideration’’ and 
insert ‘‘and made available on a list accessible 
to and searchable by the public via the Internet 
on the website of the Clerk under paragraph 
(h)(1) at least 48 hours prior to its consider-
ation by the full House’’. 
(3) Paragraph (b) is amended to read as fol-
lows: 
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‘‘(b)(1) Any list of congressional earmarks required 
by paragraph (a) or paragraph (d)(2) shall include for 
each earmark, as a part of that list, the name of any Mem-
ber who requested that earmark, the total amount of new 
budget authority provided for that earmark, the name of 
any person or entity that is to receive the earmarked 
funds, and a brief, accurate description of the purpose or 
program for which those funds shall be expended. 
‘‘(2) For the purposes of this clause, any provision 
or report language that is inserted by the chairman of a 
standing committee or any subcommittee thereof with sub-
ject matter jurisdiction over the measure containing such 
provision or report language, and that would be a congres-
sional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit 
but for the fact that it was not requested by any Member, 
Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator, and that is 
either targeted to the congressional district of such chair-
man or unrelated to the purpose of the underlying meas-
ure, shall be required to be included in the applicable list 
of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 
tariff benefits with the respective chairman designated as 
the person requesting the earmarked funds. 
‘‘(3) It is the permanent and continuing sense of the 
House that there is no legislative intent for any agency 
of the Federal Government to obligate funds for any con-
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gressionally earmarked funds unless such earmarked 
funds are, in full compliance with these rules, included on 
the appropriate list of congressional earmarks required by 
these rules.’’. 
(4)(A) Paragraph (c) is amended by inserting 
before the first sentence the following new sentence: 
‘‘It shall not be in order to consider a rule or order 
that waives the application of paragraph (a) or para-
graph (d).’’. 
(B) Paragraph (c) is amended by inserting ‘‘, 
or any inaccuracy in the list required by paragraph 
(a) or any inaccuracy in such statement’’ before the 
period at the end. 
(5) Redesignate paragraphs (d), (e), and (f) as 
paragraphs (e), (f), and (g), respectively, and insert 
after paragraph (c) the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(d)(1) It shall not be in order to consider any bill 
or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or conference 
report thereon, described in paragraph (a) if— 
‘‘(A) any earmark is contained in such measure 
or in any accompanying report or joint statement 
(as applicable) or in any other accompanying docu-
mentation and that earmark does not appear on the 
applicable searchable list accessible to the public on 
the Internet as required by paragraph (a); 
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of the Senate includes a list of all congressional earmarks 
in the conference report or joint statement (and the name 
of any Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Sen-
ator who submitted a request to the respective House or 
Senate committee for each respective earmark included on 
such list) that were not committed to the conference com-
mittee by either House, not in a report on such bill, and 
not in a report of a committee of the Senate on a com-
panion measure.’’. 
(6) At the end, add the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(h)(1) The Clerk shall establish a website ac-
cessible to and searchable by the public and upon 
which shall appear, for the budgeting process for 
each fiscal year, a list of every congressional ear-
mark, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff benefit 
requested by any Member, Delegate, Resident Com-
missioner, or Senator pursuant to this clause and in-
cluded in any reported bill or joint resolution or ac-
companying report thereto, or in any conference re-
port to accompany any bill or joint resolution or in 
any accompanying joint explanatory statement. 
‘‘(2) The chairman of any committee reporting 
a bill or joint resolution and the Member who from 
a committee of conference submits a conference re-
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port shall immediately submit a list of the congres-
sional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited 
tariff benefits included in that measure or accom-
panying report or statement (and, for each such con-
gressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited 
tariff benefit, the name of the Member, Delegate, 
Resident Commissioner, or Senator who requested 
that earmark or benefit) to the Clerk to be used by 
the Clerk to carry out subparagraph (1) .’’. 
SEC. 2. Clause 6(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at 
the end of subparagraph (1), by striking the period and 
inserting a semicolon at the end of subparagraph (2), and 
by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs: 
‘‘(3) a rule or order that waives the application 
of clause 6 of rule XXI; or 
‘‘(4) a rule or order that waives the application 
of paragraph (a) or (d) of clause 9 of rule XXI.’’. 
SEC. 3. Clause 17(a) of rule XXIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives is amended by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (4), by striking the pe-
riod at the end of subparagraph (5) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, 
and by inserting at the end the following new subpara-
graph: 
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‘‘(6) in the case of a congressional earmark 
which is requested by a Member, Delegate, or Resi-
dent Commissioner who is a candidate for election 
for any public office, the name and address of any 
person who asked the Member, Delegate, or Resi-
dent Commissioner to request the earmark and 
made a contribution to the Member’s, Delegate’s, or 
Resident Commissioner’s campaign for election for 
any public office during the 18-month period which 
ends on the date of such request.’’. 
SEC. 4. (a) Whenever a Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives provides a written statement under clause 
17(a)(6) of the Rules of the House of Representatives (as 
added by section 3) to the chairman and ranking minority 
member of a committee, such chairman shall provide the 
statement simultaneously in electronic form to the Clerk 
of the House of Representatives. 
(b) Upon receiving a statement from a chairman 
under subsection (a), the Clerk of the House of Represent-
atives shall post the statement on a publicly accessible 
website of the Office of the Clerk in a format which per-
mits individuals to search for categories of information 
among all such statements. 
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(c) In this section, a ‘‘Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Commis-
sioner to the Congress. 
Æ 
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