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H.Res. 5
Adopting Rules for the One Hundred Twelfth Congress
January 05, 2011
 
FLOOR SITUATION
On January 5, 2011, the 112th Congress is scheduled to begin with a quorum call and the election of theSpeaker. Following the quorum call and the election of the Speaker, the House will consider a privilegedresolution adopting House Rules for the 112
th
Congress. Since the rules have yet to be adopted, the
House operates under “general parliamentary law,” and precedent generally dictates that the House
operates under the rules of the preceding Congress until the new rules are approved. The resolution isthus considered under the one-
hour rule “in the House” (and not in the Committee of the Whole), and the
Leadership is recognized for one hour, of which 30 minutes is customarily yielded to the Minority. TheHouse is then expected to proceed with a vote on H.Res. 5.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
H.Res. 5 would adopt the Rules of 111
th
Congress, except as amended by H.Res. 5, as the Rules for the112
th
Congress. The following is a summary of the specific amendments and changes to the Rules of the111
th
Congress made by H.Res. 5.
Citing Authority Under the Constitution
: The Rules for the 112
th
Congress would require that no billor joint resolution may be introduced in the 112
th
Congress without being accompanied by a statementciting as specifically as practicable the power or powers under the Constitution authorizing the enactmentof that bill. The statement must be submitted by the sponsor of the bill and would appear in a separatesection in the Congressional Record and be made available to the public in electronic form.
Three-Day Availability for Unreported Bills
: The Rules would a point of order against a bill frombeing considered in the House if it had not been available to Members for three calendar days.
Transparency for House and Committee Operations
: The Rules would require the Committee onHouse Administration to establish a standard for making all House documents publicly available inelectronic form. The rules would also require a minimum notice period of three days for a committeemeeting. The text of any measure being marked up by a committee would be required to be madeavailable at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.In addition, the Rules would require each committee to make the results of any recorded votes publiclyavailable within 48 hours of a vote. Any adopted amendment would need to be made available within 24
 
hours of adoption.
The Rules would also require that witness “truth in testimony” information be made
publicly available and that committee rules are also made available electronically. The Rules wouldrequire committees to make audio and video coverage of each meeting available to the maximum extentpracticable.
Initiatives to Reduce Spending and Improve Accountability
:
Cut-Go:
The Rules would replace the current “pay
-as-you-g
o” (PAYGO) requirement with a new “cut
-as-you-
go” requirement.
Under the new rule, any legislation that would increase mandatory spendingover one, five, or ten years would have to cut spending by an equal or greater amount elsewhere. Taxincreases could not be used to pay for new mandatory spending. The provision would apply to all bills
dealing with mandatory spending and the Rules include a mechanism to address “emergency”
designations.
 Ending the Gephardt Rule
: The Rules would strike the so-
called “Gephardt rule,” which allows a joint
resolution with a debt limit increase contained in the budget resolution to be automatically engrossed anddeemed to have passed the House by the same vote as the conference report on the budget resolution,thus avoiding a separate vote on the debt-limit legislation.
Clarifying the Role of the Budget Committee Chairman
: The Rules would clarify that the Chairman of the Budget Committee is authorized to provide guidance to the presiding officer on the budgetary impactof legislative proposals (as opposed to the entire Budget Committee providing guidance).
 Highway Funding
: The Rules would remove restrictions pertaining to funding amendments totransportation general appropriations bills.
 Limitation on Increases in Direct Spending in Reconciliation Initiatives
: The Rules would prohibitconsideration of a concurrent budget resolution containing reconciliation directives if it would cause anincrease to net direct spending in the period covered by the budget resolution.
Other Changes to House Operations
:
Two Minute Voting
: The Rules would authorize the Chair to reduce the time of recorded votes to twominutes.
Use of Electronic Devices
: The Rules would expand current restrictions against mobile phones andpersonal computer
s to prohibit any “electronic device that impairs decorum.”
 
Updating Rules Governing the Media
: The Rules would eliminate references to specific media
organizations and simply state that, “The Speaker may admit to the floor, under such regulations as theSpeaker may prescribe, not more than one representative of each press association.”
 
Voting in the Committee of the Whole
: The Rules would eliminate the ability of delegates and theResident Commissioner to vote in, and preside over, the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.
 Motions to Strike
: The Rules would remove a provision of current rules which allows a motion to strikea provision from a bill that is asserted to be an unfunded mandate, even if the amendment would nototherwise be in order during consideration of the bill.
 
Committee Name Changes
: The Rules would change the names of three committees as follows: theCommittee on Education and Labor to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committeeon Standards of Official Conduct to the Committee on Ethics, and the Committee on Science andTechnology to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. In addition, the Rules wouldeliminate the Select Oversight Panel of the Committee on Appropriations.
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
: The Rules would reduce the size of the Permanent SelectCommittee on Intelligence from 22 to 20 (total) Members and 13 to 12 (majority) Members.
Term Limits for Committee Chairs
: The Rules would limit the terms of committee or subcommitteechairs (except the Rules Committee) to no more than three consecutive Congresses.
Committee Activity Reports
: The Rules would increase the frequency of required committee activityreports from once per year to four times per year.
Staff Deposition Authority
: The Rules would modify the authority of Oversight Committee staff byrequiring that a member will have to be present when staff is deposing a witness.
Separate Orders
:
 Budget Matters
: The Rules would clarify that a point of order prohibiting consideration of legislation
within the Budget Committee’s jurisdiction unless reported by the Budget Committee would only apply
to bills and joint resolutions, and not to simple or concurrent resolutions. The Rules also clarify that apoint of order requiring adoption of a budget resolution before consideration of budget-related legislationis applicable to text made in order as an original bill by a special rule. In addition, the Rules wouldcreate a point of order against rising from the Committee of the Whole to report a bill to the House thatexceeds budget authority under 302 (b) Appropriations subcommittee allocations.
 Budget Enforcement 
: The Rules would require the Chairman of the Budget Committee to submit budgetaggregates and allocations for fiscal year 2011, and the period of fiscal years 2011 through 2015, forprinting in the Congressional Record. The aggregates and allocations printed in the CongressionalRecord would be considered to be the adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year2011.
 Emergencies and Contingencies
: The Rules would exempt bills and joints resolutions designated as
“emergency” or bills that make appropriations for contingency operations related to the global war on
terror from being counted against budget aggregates and allocations.
 Deficit-Neutral Revenue Reserve
: The Rules would authorize the Budget Committee to makeadjustments to allocations and revenue levels to reflect changes resulting from a repeal of the job-killinggovernment health care takeover.
 Limitation on Advanced Appropriations
: The Rules would place a ceiling of $28.8 billion on aggregateadvanced appropriations for FY 2012 and FY 2013. The Rules would provide an except for theDepartment of Veterans Affairs for the Medical Services, Medical Support and Compliance, and MedicalFacilities accounts of the Veterans Health Administration.
 Limitation on Long-term Spending
: The Rules would prohibit the consideration of any measure whichincreases mandatory spending above $5 billion for any 10 year window within a 40 year period.
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