IV
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 776
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 25, 2007
Mr. King of Iowa (for himself, Mr. Akin, Mr. Terry, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Feeney, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Goode, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Hensarling, Mr. Campbell of California, Mr. Gary G. Miller of California, Mr. Paul, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr. Bartlett of Maryland, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Marchant, Ms. Fallin, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Kline of Minnesota, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Gingrey, Mr. Pearce, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Flake, Mr. Chabot, and Mrs. Cubin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules
RESOLUTION
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that rescission bills always be considered under open rules every year, and for other purposes.
Whereas a rescissions bill, which would cut Federal spending, should be brought to the House floor at the beginning of every fiscal quarter to give Congress the opportunity to cut and cancel unnecessary, wasteful, and bloated government spending to eliminate the deficit;
Whereas any Federal appropriations that have not yet been spent would be on the table for cuts;
Whereas the House of Representatives would consider this spending slashing bill under an open rule procedure that allows any Member of Congress to offer an amendment to cut Federal spending and demand a recorded vote to hold Congress accountable;
Whereas in this spending cutting process every single spending item would be up for reconsideration and no Member of Congress could make excuses for failing to cut spending because the process would provide a record of their actions;
Whereas the taxpayer money saved through this spending cutting process will be returned to the general fund and cannot be used for new spending;
Whereas the process of cutting spending should be open to the public, by posting this spending cutting bill and its amendments on the Internet, so that Americans can exercise their right to contact their Members of Congress and make their views known; and
Whereas this rescissions spending cutting process will discipline Federal spending and save taxpayer money: Now, therefore, be it
That
this resolution may be
cited as the Cut the Unnecessary Tab Resolution
or the
CUT Resolution
.
Clause 6(c) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by striking
the period and inserting ; or
at the end of subparagraph (2) and
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
a rule or order that would limit any amendment that would otherwise be in order to a rescission bill.
.
Clause 4(b) of
rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by inserting
(1)
after (b)
, by redesignating subparagraphs (1)
through (6) as subdivisions (A) through (F), respectively, and by adding at the
end the following:
Whenever a rescission bill passes the House, the Committee on the Budget shall immediately reduce the applicable allocations under section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by the total amount of reductions in budget authority and in outlays resulting from such rescission bill.
As used in this subparagraph, the term rescission bill means a bill or joint resolution which only rescinds, in whole or in part, budget authority and which includes only titles corresponding to the most recently enacted appropriation bills that continue to include unobligated balances.
.
Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
8. (a) By February 1, May 1, July 30, and November 11 of each session, the majority leader shall introduce a rescission bill. If such bill is not introduced by that date, then whenever a rescission bill is introduced during a session on or after that date, a motion to discharge the committee from its consideration shall be privileged after the 10-legislative day period beginning on that date for the first 5 such bills.
It shall not be in order to offer any amendment to a rescission bill except an amendment that increases the amount of budget authority that such bill rescinds.
As used in this clause and in clause 6, the term rescission bill has the meaning given such term in clause 4(b)(2)(B) of rule X.
.
Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives (as amended by subsection (d)) is further amended by adding at the end the following new clause:
8. (a) It shall not be in order to consider any rescission bill, or conference report thereon or amendment thereto, unless—
in the case of such bill or conference report thereon, it is made available to Members and the general public on the Internet for at least 48 hours before its consideration; or
in the case of an amendment to such rescission bill made in order by a rule, it is made available to Members and the general public on the Internet within one hour after the rule is filed; or
in the case of an amendment under an open rule, it is made available to Members and the general public on the Internet immediately after being offered; in a format that is searchable and sortable.
No amendment to an amendment to a rescission bill shall be in order unless germane to the amendment to which it is offered.
.