[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1930 Placed on Calendar Senate (PCS)]
Calendar No. 243
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1930
To prohibit earmarks.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 30, 2011
Mr. Toomey (for himself, Mrs. McCaskill, and Mr. Rubio) introduced the
following bill; which was read the first time
December 1, 2011
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit earmarks.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Earmark Elimination Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON EARMARKS.
(a) Bills and Joint Resolutions, Amendments, Amendments Between the
Houses, and Conference Reports.--
(1) In general.--It shall not be in order in the Senate to
consider a bill or resolution introduced in the Senate or the
House of Representatives, amendment, amendment between the
Houses, or conference report that includes an earmark.
(2) Procedure.--Upon a point of order being made by any
Senator pursuant to paragraph (1) against an earmark, and such
point of order being sustained, such earmark shall be deemed
stricken.
(b) Conference Report and Amendment Between the Houses Procedure.--
When the Senate is considering a conference report on, or an amendment
between the Houses, upon a point of order being made by any Senator
pursuant to subsection (a), and such point of order being sustained,
such material contained in such conference report shall be deemed
stricken, and the Senate shall proceed to consider the question of
whether the Senate shall recede from its amendment and concur with a
further amendment, or concur in the House amendment with a further
amendment, as the case may be, which further amendment shall consist of
only that portion of the conference report or House amendment, as the
case may be, not so stricken. Any such motion in the Senate shall be
debatable under the same conditions as was the conference report. In
any case in which such point of order is sustained against a conference
report (or Senate amendment derived from such conference report by
operation of this subsection), no further amendment shall be in order.
(c) Waiver.--Any Senator may move to waive any or all points of
order under this section by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the
Members, duly chosen and sworn.
(d) Definitions.--
(1) Earmark.--For the purpose of this section, the term
``earmark'' means a provision or report language included
primarily at the request of a Senator or Member of the House of
Representatives as certified under paragraph 1(a)(1) of rule
XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate--
(A) providing, authorizing, or recommending a
specific amount of discretionary budget authority,
credit authority, or other spending authority for a
contract, loan, loan guarantee, grant, loan authority,
or other expenditure with or to an entity, or targeted
to a specific State, locality or Congressional
district, other than through a statutory or
administrative formula-driven or competitive award
process;
(B) that--
(i) provides a Federal tax deduction,
credit, exclusion, or preference to a
particular beneficiary or limited group of
beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986; and
(ii) contains eligibility criteria that are
not uniform in application with respect to
potential beneficiaries of such provision; or
(C) modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer
entities.
(2) Determination by the senate.--In the event the Chair is
unable to ascertain whether or not the offending provision
constitutes an earmark as defined in this subsection, the
question of whether the provision constitutes an earmark shall
be submitted to the Senate and be decided without debate by an
affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members, duly chosen and
sworn.
(e) Application.--This section shall not apply to any authorization
of appropriations to a Federal entity if such authorization is not
specifically targeted to a State, locality or congressional district.
Calendar No. 243
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1930
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit earmarks.
_______________________________________________________________________
December 1, 2011
Read the second time and placed on the calendar