Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for earmark reform.

Amends Rule XXI (Restrictions on Certain Bills) of the Rules of the House of Representatives to make it out of order in the House to consider any bill or joint resolution (or accompanying report), amendment, or conference report that contains a congressional earmark for a nonpublic entity (other than an institution of higher education).

Makes it out of order to consider legislation that contains a congressional earmark for any entity named after an incumbent Member of Congress.

Amends Rule XXIII (Code of Official Conduct) to require any Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner requesting a congressional earmark in any legislation (or accompanying report) to: (1) submit certain information to the Clerk of the House for posting within 24 hours on the Clerk's website, including the amount requested, the project name, and a project description of the subject of the earmark; (2) include, in the case of an earmark for a non-federal entity, an accompanying letter of support from that entity certifying that it will provide matching funds equal to at least 10% of the earmark; and (3) provide a written statement to the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee of jurisdiction certifying that no family member of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner has any financial interest in the earmark.

Amends Rule II (Other Officers and Officials) to require the Clerk to post on the Clerk's website, under the heading "Member Spending Requests," an up-to-date list of all such information.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H. Res. 100 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 100

   Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for 
                            earmark reform.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 28, 2009

 Mr. Putnam submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on Standards 
of Official Conduct, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to provide for 
                            earmark reform.

    Resolved, That (a) clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives is amended by adding the following new paragraphs:
    ``(h)(1) Except as provided by subparagraph (2), it shall not be in 
order to consider any bill or joint resolution (or accompanying 
report), amendment, or conference report that contains a congressional 
earmark for a nonpublic entity.
    ``(2) Subparagraph (1) shall not apply to any institution of higher 
education within the meaning of section 101 of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965.
    ``(i) It shall not be in order to consider any bill or joint 
resolution (or accompanying report), amendment, or conference report 
that contains a congressional earmark for any entity named after an 
individual then serving as a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, 
or Senator.''.
    (b)(1) Clause 17 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by redesignating paragraph (b) as paragraph 
(c), in such redesignated paragraph (c) by striking:
    ``(b) Whenever any Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner 
requests a congressional earmark in any bill or joint resolution (or 
accompanying report)--
    ``(1) that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall include 
the amount requested, the project name, and a project description of 
the matter that is the subject of that congressional earmark, and 
submit such information to the Clerk for posting on the Web site of the 
Clerk within 24 hours of making such request;
    ``(2) that request, in the case of an earmark for non-Federal 
entity, shall be accompanied by a letter of support from that entity 
that would receive the earmark certifying that it will provide matching 
funds in an amount not less than 10 percent of the amount of the 
earmark; and
    ``(3) that Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner shall provide 
a written statement to the chairman and ranking minority member of the 
committee of jurisdiction certifying that no family member of that 
Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner has any financial interest 
in the earmark.''.
    (2) Clause 17 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is further amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
    ``(c) In this clause, the term `family member' has the same meaning 
as the term `relative' in section 109 of the Ethics in Government Act 
of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).''.
    (c) Clause 2 of rule II of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
    ``(l) The Clerk shall post on the Web site of the Clerk an up-to-
date list of all information submitted to the Clerk pursuant to clause 
7(b)(1) of rule XXIII under a heading entitled `Member Spending 
Requests'.''.
                                 <all>