House Earmark Disclosure Rule
House Rule XXI, clause 9:
9. (a) It shall not be in order to consider—
(1) a bill or joint resolution reported by a committee unless the report includes a list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits in the bill or in the report (and the name of any Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who submitted a request to the committee for each respective item included in such list) or a statement that the proposition contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits;
(2) a bill or joint resolution not reported by a committee unless the chair of each committee of initial referral has caused a list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits in the bill (and the name of any Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who submitted a request to the committee for each respective item included in such list) or a statement that the proposition contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits to be printed in the Congressional Record prior to its consideration;
(3) an amendment to a bill or joint resolution to be offered at the outset of its consideration for amendment by a member of a committee of initial referral as designated in a report of the Committee on Rules to accompany a resolution prescribing a special order of business unless the proponent has caused a list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits in the amendment (and the name of any Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who submitted a request to the proponent for each respective item included in such list) or a statement that the proposition contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits to be printed in the Congressional Record prior to its consideration; or
(4) a conference report to accompany a bill or joint resolution unless the joint explanatory statement prepared by the managers on the part of the House and the managers on the part of the Senate includes a list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits in the conference report or joint statement (and the name of any Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator who submitted a request to the House or Senate committees of jurisdiction for each respective item included in such list) or a statement that the proposition contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits.
(b) It shall not be in order to consider a conference report to accompany a regular general appropriation bill unless the joint explanatory statement prepared by the managers on the part of the House and the managers on the part of the Senate includes— (1) a list of congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, and limited tariff benefits in the conference report or joint statement (and the name of any Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator who submitted a request to the House or Senate committees of jurisdiction for each respective item included in such list) that were neither committed to the conference committee by either House nor in a report of a committee of either House on such bill or on a companion measure; or (2) a statement that the proposition contains no such congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits.
(c) It shall not be in order to consider a rule or order that waives the application of paragraph (a) or (b). As disposition of a point of order under this paragraph or paragraph (b), the Chair shall put the question of consideration with respect to the rule or order or conference report, as applicable. The question of consideration shall be debatable for 10 minutes by the Member initiating the point of order and for 10 minutes by an opponent, but shall otherwise be decided without intervening motion except one that the House adjourn.
(d) In order to be cognizable by the Chair, a point of order raised under paragraph (a) may be based only on the failure of a report, submission to the Congressional Record, or joint explanatory statement to include a list required by paragraph (a) or a statement that the proposition contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits.
(e) For the purpose of this clause, the term ‘‘congressional earmark’’ means a provision or report language included primarily at the request of a Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or Senator 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.
(f) For the purpose of this clause, the term ‘‘limited tax benefit’’ means— (1) any revenue-losing provision that— (A) provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, or preference to 10 or fewer beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and (B) contains eligibility criteria that are not uniform in application with respect to potential beneficiaries of such provision; or (2) any Federal tax provision which provides one beneficiary temporary or permanent transition relief from a change to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
(g) For the purpose of this clause, the term ‘‘limited tariff benefit’’ means a provision modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities.
House Rule XXIII, clause 17:
17. (a) A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner who requests a congressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit in any bill or joint resolution (or an accompanying report) or in any conference report on a bill or joint resolution (or an accompanying joint statement of managers) shall provide a written statement to the chair and ranking minority member of the committee of jurisdiction, including—
(1) the name of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner;
(2) in the case of a congressional earmark, the name and address of the intended recipient or, if there is no specifically intended recipient, the intended location of the activity;
(3) in the case of a limited tax or tariff benefit, identification of the individual or entities reasonably anticipated to benefit, to the extent known to the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner;
(4) the purpose of such congressional earmark or limited tax or tariff benefit; and
(5) a certification that the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner or spouse has no financial interest in such congressional earmark or limited tax or tariff benefit.
(b) Each committee shall maintain the information transmitted under paragraph (a), and the written disclosures for any congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits included in any measure reported by the committee or conference report filed by the chair of the committee or any subcommittee thereof shall be open for public inspection.
Example of subcommittee instructions on earmarks: “I would like to emphasize that, at this time, under existing earmark policy, earmarks (as defined by clause 9(e) of Rule XXI of the Rules of the House) should not be included. Please also be aware that, should a Member request an earmark, such request invokes the Code of Official Conduct. Clause 17 of the Code prohibits Members from requesting a congressional earmark without disclosing certain information to the Chair of the Committee of jurisdiction. Members are advised to carefully consider their submissions to the Committee in light of this to avoid inadvertently triggering the earmark rules and requirements.”
The disclosure requirements apply to earmarks in appropriations legislation, authorizing legislation, and tax measures.
Applies to measures reported by committees, “manager’s amendments,” and conference reports.
CRS Report: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Senate Earmark Disclosure Rule
Rule XLIV, paragraph 5, defines congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, and limited tariff benefit as follows–
- Congressionally directed spending item: a provision or report languageincluded primarily at the request of a Senator 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.
- Limited tax benefit: any revenue provision that (A) 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 (B) contains eligibility criteria that are not uniform in application with respect to potential beneficiaries of such provision.
- Limited tariff benefit: a provision modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities.
Disclosure Requirement: Senate Rule XLIV prohibits a vote on a motion to proceed to consider a measure or a vote on adoption of a conference report, unless the chair of the committee or the majority leader (or designee) certifies that a complete list of earmarks and the name of each Senator requesting each earmark is available on a publicly accessible congressional website in a searchable form at least 48 hours before the vote.
Written Statement must include:
- the Senator’s name;
- the name and address of the intended earmark recipient (if there is no specific recipient, the location of the intended activity should be included);
- in the case of a limited tax or tariff benefit, identification of the individual or entities reasonably anticipated to benefit to the extent known to the Senator;
- the purpose of the earmark; and
- a certification that neither the Senator nor the Senator’s immediate family has a financial interest in such an earmark.
If a Senator proposes a floor amendment containing an additional earmark, those items must be printed in the Congressional Record as soon as “practicable” (although, that is not defined).
Disclosure requirement also applies to conference reports.
The disclosure requirements apply to earmarks in appropriations legislation,authorizing legislation, and tax measures.
Enforcement: if the disclosure requirements are not met, a point of order may lie against consideration of the measure, amendment, or conference report.