The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to act to restore liquidity and stability to the financial system of the United States, and authorizes funds on a graduated scale that the Secretary may use for this purpose. The act immediately authorizes the Secretary to have up to $250 billion outstanding at any one time under the program. This authorized maximum will automatically increase to $350 billion outstanding upon the President's submission to Congress of a certification of need. Should the Secretary of the Treasury wish to have in excess of $350 billion outstanding at any one time under the program, the President must submit a written report to Congress detailing the Secretary's plan to exercise this additional authority. The submission of this report triggers a 15-calendar day period during which Congress may enact a joint resolution disapproving the request. The act further establishes special "fast track" parliamentary procedures for congressional consideration of this joint resolution. Should Congress either choose not to, or be unable to successfully, enact a disapproval resolution by the expiration of this 15-day period, the Secretary's authority would automatically increase up to $700 billion in outstanding purchases at one time. Section 115(c) of EESA establishes a set of expedited parliamentary procedures by which Congress may consider a joint resolution rejecting the Secretary's plan. Statutes that contain provisions establishing expedited procedures regulating the consideration of particular legislation are frequently called "rulemaking statutes," because their procedures have the same force and effect of standing rules of the House or Senate. These expedited legislative procedures were created by Congress to ensure that it could promptly consider and act on the Secretary's proposal within the 15-day time frame. The procedures accomplish this goal by exempting the joint resolution of disapproval from many of the ordinary time-consuming steps and legislative obstacles that apply to most other measures Congress considers. In short, the resolution is considered not under the ordinary parliamentary procedures of the House and Senate, which are, by design, slow and uncertain, but on a special parliamentary "fast track." These procedures address: Should Congress receive a report from the President detailing the Secretary of the Treasury's desire to have more than $350 billion outstanding under the troubled assets purchase program, EESA directs the Speaker, if the House has adjourned, to notify Members that the chamber will reconvene not later than the second calendar day thereafter. Likewise, if the Senate has adjourned or recessed for more than two days, the Senate majority leader, after consultation with the minority leader, is to notify Senators that the body will reconvene. Under modern practice, when one or both chambers adjourn for more than three days, the adjournment resolution adopted by the House and Senate grants its leaders discretionary authority to recall the chambers in the event of an emergency or if the public interest warrants. Interestingly, EESA seems to make Congress's reconvening mandatory—even if one or both chambers does not wish to disapprove the plan. Unlike bills, joint resolutions often include a preamble. The joint resolution of disapproval under EESA, however, may not contain a preamble. The title of the joint resolution is specified by the statute: " Joint resolution relating to the disapproval of obligations under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ." Its text is mandated as well: " That Congress disapproves the obligation of any amount exceeding the amounts obligated as described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 115(a) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ." It is arguably necessary for the statute to specify the precise text of the joint resolution because, unless it is clear which measure Congress intends to be considered under expedited terms, unrelated measures or provisions might "hitch a ride" on the special parliamentary privilege that is afforded the joint resolution, shortcutting the regular legislative process and the rights of all Members. In the regular order of business, a Member of Congress may introduce legislation at any time their chamber is in session during the two-year Congress. EESA, however, establishes a far narrower window in which Members may introduce a qualifying joint resolution of disapproval. In order to qualify for the expedited procedures outlined in the act, a joint disapproval resolution must be introduced not later than three calendar days after the date on which the President's report detailing the Secretary's plan is received by Congress. Although the statute is silent on the question, joint resolutions may conceivably be introduced by any Member in either chamber. Because the mandatory recall provisions described above, however, make it possible that the House or Senate may not reconvene until two calendar days after the report's submission, it is possible (even likely) that Members will have only a single calendar day in which to introduce a qualifying joint resolution of disapproval. EESA is silent on the referral process for a joint resolution of disapproval introduced in the House of Representatives, and the Speaker would presumably refer the measure to committee in keeping with regular practice and her authority under chamber rules. In the Senate, when a joint resolution is introduced, under the terms of EESA, it is not referred to committee at all, but is instead placed directly on the Senate Calendar of Business. Under normal Senate practice, when legislation is introduced, it is referred to committee based on the subject matter that predominates in it. Under Senate Rule XIV, a measure might be placed directly on the Senate Calendar of Business upon introduction via a process of objecting to the first two readings of the measure, which technically must occur on different legislative days. Under EESA, referring the joint resolution to Senate committee, rather than placing it directly on the calendar, would seem to require unanimous consent. With certain exceptions—for example, when time limits are placed on the sequential referral of a bill by the Speaker of the House—Congress generally does not mandate that a legislative committee act on legislation referred to it within a specified time frame or at all. The EESA expedited procedure, however, requires a committee of referral to act and creates parliamentary mechanisms to take the resolution away from it should it fail to do so. Under EESA, if a House committee has not reported the joint resolution of disapproval within five days after Congress's receipt of the President's report, the committee is automatically discharged from its further consideration and the measure is placed directly on the appropriate calendar. These expediting provisions theoretically make it impossible for a joint resolution of disapproval to be long delayed or killed outright by the inaction of a legislative committee. The statute is silent on whether a committee may amend the resolution, but because (as has been noted) the precise text of the joint resolution is specified by the act, any attempt to alter it by amendment would likely be interpreted as destroying the special parliamentary status it enjoys. Additionally, because the procedure precludes the consideration of amendments to the joint resolution on the House floor (discussed below), committee amendments would also be barred. A House committee would presumably still have the option of reporting a measure to the chamber favorably, adversely, or without recommendation. As enacted, EESA dictated that after each House committee of referral had reported or been discharged from the further consideration of the joint resolution of disapproval, it would be in order, not later than the sixth day following the submission of the President's report, for any Member to make a non-debatable motion to proceed to its consideration. The House subsequently altered this procedure with the adoption on January 15, 2009 of H.Res. 62 (111 th Congress), which stipulated that the motion to proceed under section 115 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 would only be in order if made by the House Majority Leader or his designee. H.Res. 62 further established that the motion to proceed could be offered even following the sixth day described in the statute, but not later than the legislative day of January 22, 2009. Such a motion cannot be repeated after one has already been disposed of, and the vote on the motion may not be reconsidered. In the Senate, under most circumstances, a motion to proceed to the consideration of a measure is fully debatable. The motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint resolution of disapproval under EESA, however, is not debatable or amendable, and it cannot be postponed. The motion is in order in the Senate at any time during the period beginning on the fourth day after the date on which Congress receives the President's report and ending on the sixth day after receipt. In the Senate, the motion to proceed is permitted even if a previous motion to the same effect has been defeated. If a motion to proceed is agreed to, the chamber immediately proceeds to consider the joint resolution without intervening motion, order, or business. Having chosen to take up the disapproval resolution by adopting the motion to proceed, consideration of the measure is, in a sense, "locked in." The joint resolution remains the unfinished business of the chamber until the chamber disposes of it. In the absence of a special rule dictating otherwise, the House of Representatives ordinarily debates measures under the one hour rule or under other procedures which establish specific periods for debate, such as the suspension of the rules procedure. In keeping with its expediting nature, EESA limits the amount of time for House floor consideration of the joint resolution of disapproval. Debate in the House on the joint resolution, and all debatable motions and appeals connected with it, is limited to not more than two hours, equally divided between a proponent and an opponent. In the Senate, debate is ordinarily unlimited unless it has been structured by unanimous consent or limited by the invocation of cloture under Senate Rule XXII. Under EESA, however, Senate debate on the joint disapproval resolution, and on all debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith, is limited to not more than 10 hours, divided equally between the majority and minority leaders or their designees. A non-debatable motion to further limit debate is in order.