Amending the rules of the House of Representatives to exclude provisions relating to existing or proposed water resources development projects of the Corps of Engineers from the definition of congressional earmark, and for other purposes.

Bill: 114-hres-813
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Rooney, Thomas J. [R-FL-17]
Introduced: 2016-07-07
Policy area: Congress
Subjects: Appropriations

Legislative rules and procedure

Water resources funding
Latest action: action_date: 2016-07-07
text: Referred to the House Committee on Rules.

Summaries:
action_date: 2016-07-07
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>Amends the Rules of the House of Representatives to exclude from the definition of, and moratorium on, &quot;congressional earmarks&quot; any provisions or report language arranging for, authorizing, or recommending a specific amount of spending authority for an expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted to a specific state, locality, or congressional district, if the language relates to an existing or proposed water resources development project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. </p>

tv_txt: IV 114th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 813 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 7, 2016 Mr. Rooney of Florida submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules RESOLUTION Amending the rules of the House of Representatives to exclude provisions relating to existing or proposed water resources development projects of the Corps of Engineers from the definition of congressional earmark, and for other purposes.

Whereas the rules of the House of Representatives define an earmark as a Member request for funding targeted to a specific State, locality, or congressional district, other than through a statutory or administrative formula driven or competitive award process; Whereas Federal funds appropriated to the Corps of Engineers (Corps) for water resources development projects are not distributed based on statutory formulas or competitive grants; Whereas the Founders of the Nation regarded the power of the purse as the fundamental authority of Congress to limit executive branch power and as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people ; Whereas the earmark moratorium has ceded congressional authority over inherently local Corps projects to the executive branch, which has resulted in a backlog of authorized Corps studies and projects that have not received appropriations to date; and Whereas this resolution does not preclude the requirement that a Corps project receive an authorization prior to the allocation of appropriations for the project: Now, therefore, be it

1. Sense of House on lifting earmark moratorium for WRDA projects The House of Representatives urges the adoption of an amendment to the rules of the House Republican Conference to lift the earmark moratorium on requests for Federal appropriations for water resources development projects of the Corps of Engineers in order to restore the authority of Congress to direct funds to State and local projects and to limit executive power. 2. Amendment of House rules Clause 9(e) of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended— (1) by striking (e) For the purpose and inserting (e)(1) For the purpose ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (2) For the purpose of this clause, the term congressional earmark does not include a provision or report language described in subparagraph (1) if the provision or report language relates to an existing or proposed water resources development project of the Corps of Engineers. .