PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

H. Res. 1000 will provide for earmarking reform and transparency in the House of Representatives. The resolution provides a new standing order of the House with regard to earmarks in authorization, appropriations, and tax measures.

H. Res. 1000 provides that, in order for the House to consider a bill, the Committee of jurisdiction must list all earmarks included in the bill and committee report along with the names of Members
requesting the earmark. In the case of a conference report, the list must include any earmarks (with Member names) that were ‘‘airdropped’’ into the conference report or joint statement. If an authorizing committee or the Appropriations Committee fails to include a list of earmarks, a Member can raise a point of order against consideration of the bill or conference report. Such a point of order against a bill may be based only on the failure to include a list. A point of order is disposed of by the question of consideration debatable for 30 minutes, equally divided. This new provision applies to all Committees.

In the case of tax bills, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) is specifically charged with compiling the list because of intricacies involved in scoring the impact of a tax provision. If the Ways and Means Committee fails to include a JCT list of earmarks or a JCT statement indicating that there are no earmarks, a Member can raise a point of order against consideration of the bill or conference report. The question of consideration is not debatable.

The resolution provides that if a rule providing for the consideration of a conference report waives the requirement for a list of new earmarks, then the point of order would lie against the rule.
If the question of consideration is rejected, the House is not allowed to consider the legislation or the rule providing for its consideration of the legislation until a list of earmarks is included.

H. Res. 1000 defines an authorizing earmark as a provision that permits funds to be allocated outside of the normal formula-driven or competitive bidding process and to be targeted to a specific entity, State, or Congressional district. The resolution also defines an appropriations earmark as a provision that allocates funds outside of the normal formula-driven or competitive bidding process and targets those funds to a specific entity, State, or Congressional district.
Finally, H. Res. 1000 defines a tax earmark as any revenuelosing provision that provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or preference to only one beneficiary, as determined by the
Joint Committee on Taxation.

Disposition: Agreed to by a voice vote