Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for transparency of earmarks requests.

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Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 109th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.

D MooreSponsor

21 cosponsors · 20 D, 1 R

13 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.

What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Sep 13, 2006

Amends Rule XXI (Restrictions on Certain Bills) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to make it out of order to consider any bill or joint resolution containing an earmark unless: (1) a written request for the earmark's inclusion is sent to the chairman and ranking member of the committee of primary jurisdiction (and, in the case of the Committee on Appropriations, also to the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee of jurisdiction) at least seven days before such earmark, or bill including it, is scheduled to be voted on by the committee or by the House; (2) such request includes the name of the Member of the House sponsoring the earmark, the name and address of its intended recipient, the earmark's purpose, and a statement of whether the Member sponsoring the earmark has a financial interest in it or in its intended recipient; and (3) the applicable committee makes available on its Internet website such information sent to it when the legislation is ordered reported.

Prohibits a rule or order reported by the Committee on Rules that waives this Act or all or unspecified points of order from being considered over the objection of any Member, except when so determined by a vote of two-thirds of the total membership of the House.

Amends Rule XXII (House and Senate Relations) to prohibit consideration of a conference report on such measure unless the joint explanatory statement accompanying it lists the earmarks in it (together with the names of requesting Members and all other required information) that were not committed to the conference committee by either chamber.

Makes it out of order to consider: (1) a rule or order that waives such requirement; or (2) a conference report until 48 hours after such information is made available on its Internet website by the committee with primary subject matter jurisdiction over the report.

Amends Rule II (Other Officers and Officials) to require the Clerk of the House to maintain, and make available to the public over the Internet free of charge, an electronic database that would link to all committee Internet websites to provide access to earmark information.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov

About this bill and sources

Official title: Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for transparency of earmarks requests.

Latest action (Sep 13, 2006): Referred to the House Committee on Rules.

Policy area: Congress · Origin: House · Introduced: Sep 13, 2006

Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)

No recorded floor vote found.