111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. RES. 216
 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members have a reasonable amount of time to read legislation that will be voted upon.
 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 

March 5, 2009
 

Mr. PAUL (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, and Mr. JONES) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules

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RESOLUTION
 

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members have a reasonable amount of time to read legislation that will be voted upon.
 

Resolved, That (a) the Rules of the House of Representatives are amended by redesignating rule XXIX as rule XXX and by inserting after rule XXVIII the following new rule:
 

‘RULE XXIX

‘Time to Read Legislation Before Voting

‘1. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, no bill, joint resolution, conference report, or amendment between the Houses shall be voted on by the House unless the text of that measure has been available to all Members and their staffs in both printed and electronic format for at least 10 days and any manager’s amendment or other amendment which makes substantive changes to the legislation has been made available in both printed and electronic versions for at least 72 hours before the scheduled vote on such legislation.

‘2. Clause 1 shall not apply to--

‘(1) the intelligence authorization bill, appropriations, or other legislation containing classified information, or conference report thereon, if Members have at least 7 days to study the contents of such measure; and

‘(2) congressional declarations of war or authorization of military force to respond to attacks on the United States.

‘3. Notwithstanding any provision of these rules, any citizen who is eligible to vote and who is not an employee of the executive or judicial branch of the Government may petition the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate allegations that a Member voted for any measure that violated this rule.’.