mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from texas ( mr. delay ) xz4001040 for his fine statement and for yielding me the time to discuss this opening-day rules package . 
mr. speaker , the house is an institution built upon its rules . 
accordingly , it is very appropriate that one of the first orders of business for this 109th congress will be to adopt a rules package which is both true to the traditions and very forward thinking in its outlook for the work of this congress that lies ahead . 
the package we have before us represents the work product of many members . 
during the initial stages of compiling this rules package back in november , the committee on rules received 40 different proposals from both democrats and republicans . 
in addition to that , our committee staff has actively sought the input of the officers of the house , its committees and its caucuses to get their perspectives on the kinds of changes we can make to facilitate the work of the house . 
all of the ideas contained in this resolution reflect the considered judgment of our colleagues and will ultimately improve our ability to carry out our constitutional responsibilities . 
mr. speaker , i include for the record at this point detail on each of these changes in a section-by-section analysis . 
section-by-section summary of h. res. 5 , adopting house rules for the 109th congress the rules of the house of representatives for the 108th congress are adopted as the rules of the house for the 99th congress with amendments as provided in section 2 and with other orders as provided in section 3. ( a ) committee on homeland security . 
creates a standing committee on homeland security , and grants it legislative and oversight jurisdiction . 
first , the committee 's jurisdiction includes overall homeland security policy so that it can focus on national policies affecting the federal government . 
second , the jurisdiction includes authority over the department of homeland security ( dhs ) 's internal administration . 
third , the committee would have jurisdiction over functions of the dhs relating to six specified areas . 
these include : ( a ) border and port security ( except immigration policy and non-border enforcement ) ; ( b ) customs ( except customs revenue ) ; ( c ) integration , analysis and dissemination of homeland security information ; ( d ) domestic preparedness for and collective response to terrorism ; ( e ) research and development ; and ( f ) transportation security . 
additionally , the committee would have broad oversight authority over government-wide homeland security matters . 
finally , changes are made to the ( b ) general oversight responsibilities -- insuring against duplicative programs . 
adds to the required list of content included in each standing committee 's adopted oversight plan as submitted to the committees on government reform and house administration a review of federal programs with a view to insuring against duplication of such programs . 
[ rule x , clause 2 ( d ) ( 1 ) ] ( c ) ( 1 ) membership of budget committee . 
permits one member of the budget committee majority and one member of the minority to be `` designated '' by the respective elected leaderships . 
current rules require such members to be `` from '' elected leadership . 
[ rule x , clause 5 ( a ) ( 2 ) ] ( c ) ( 2 ) rules committee organization . 
authorizes the chairman of the committee on rules to serve as chairman , notwithstanding the prohibition on serving more than three consecutive terms . 
[ rule x , clause 5 ( c ) ( 2 ) ] ( d ) ( 1 ) privileged motions in committee -- recess subject to the call of the chair . 
allows for a privileged motion in committee to recess subject to the call of the chair for a period less than 24 hours . 
currently only a motion to recess from day to day is privileged . 
[ rule xi , clause 1 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( b ) ] ( d ) ( 2 ) motion to go to conference . 
allows committees to adopt a rule directing the chairman of the committee to offer a privileged motion to go to conference at any time the chairman deems it appropriate during a congress . 
currently a motion to request or agree to a conference with the senate is privileged if the committee authorizes the chairman to make such a motion . 
[ rule xi , clause 2 ( a ) ] ( e ) motion to suspend the rules . 
extends suspension authority beyond monday or tuesday to include wednesday . 
[ rule xv , clause 1 ( a ) ] ( f ) repeal of corrections calendar . 
removes corrections calendar from the standing rules of the house . 
[ rule xv , clause 6 ] ( g ) allows references to the senate . 
allows remarks in debate to include references to the senate or its members . 
remarks are to be confined to the question under debate , avoiding personality . 
[ rule xvii , clause 1 ] ( h ) provisional quorum . 
provides for continuity of legislative operations in the house in the event of catastrophic circumstances . 
the rule allows for the house to conduct business with a provisional quorum only after a motion to compel members attendance , as prescribed under clause 5 ( a ) of rule xx , has been disposed of and the following occur in sequence without the house adjourning : ( a ) a call of the house or a series of calls of the house totaling 72 hours without producing a quorum ; ( b ) the speaker , with the minority and majority leaders , receive from the sergeant-at-arms ( or his designee ) a catastrophic quorum failure report and shall consult with the minority and majority leaders on the contents of such report and shall announce the contents of such report to the house ; and ( c ) a further call of the house or series of calls are conducted for a total of 24 hours without producing a quorum . 
a catastrophic quorum failure report is defined as a report advising that the inability of the house to establish a quorum is attributable to catastrophic circumstances involving natural disaster , attack , contagion , or similar calamity rendering ( i ) postponement of certain votes . 
adds the motion to reconsider , tabling motions to reconsider and amendments reported from the committee of the whole among those votes the speaker may postpone to a designated place in the legislative schedule within two additional legislative days . 
[ rule xx , clause ( a ) ( 2 ) ] ( j ) ( 1 ) - ( 2 ) allowing the use of campaign funds to pay for certain official expenses . 
allows members to use campaign funds to pay certain , limited types of official expenses ( e.g. , handheld communication devices ) . 
this change conforms house rules to current law ( sec . 
105 , p.l . 
108-83 ) , and mirrors rules that took effect in the senate in 2002 . 
[ rule xxiv and rule xxiii , clause 6 ( c ) ] ( j ) ( 3 ) use of frank for mass mailings before an election . 
amends the rule to conform to section 3210 of title 39 united states code , stating that a mass mailing is not frankable when it is postmarked less than 90 days before the date of a primary or general election which he is a candidate for public office . 
currently the rules states 60 days . 
[ rule xxiv , clause 8 ] ( j ) ( 4 ) gift rule on officially connected travel . 
expands the category of individuals who may accompany a member or staff person on such a trip at the sponsor 's expense to include a relative of the member or the staff person . 
under a provision of the current gift rule ( clause 5 ( b ) ( 4 ) ( d ) of the house rule xxv ) , a member or staff person may be accompanied on a privately funded , officially connected trip , at the sponsor 's expense , only by either his or her `` spouse or a child '' , and not by any other relative . 
[ rule xxv , clause 5 ( b ) ( 4 ) ( d ) ] ( k ) ( 1 ) due process for members . 
affords members the opportunity to be heard in the event the standards committee alleges the member has violated or may have violated the code of conduct . 
members may opt for either an adjudicatory proceeding or they can submit a response to the committee report/letter with their response being made public with committee report/letter . 
under the current rule , the chairman and ranking member , or the committee , may take action against a member without a complaint , notice , or the opportunity to be heard . 
[ rule xi , clause 3 ] ( k ) ( 2 ) restore presumption of innocence . 
provides that no action will be taken on a complaint unless the chairman and ranking minority member of the standards committee , or the committee itself , find within 45 days that further investigation is merited by the facts of the complaint , maintaining the presumption of innocence . 
currently , if the chairman and ranking minority member take no action on a properly filed complaint within 45 days , the matter automatically goes to an investigative committee . 
( k ) ( 3 ) right to counsel . 
provides that members may select a counsel of their choice even if that counsel represents other members . 
[ rule xi , clause 3 ] ( 1 ) technical and codifying changes . 
technical and grammatical changes are made throughout the rules of the house . 
( a ) ( 1 ) - ( a ) ( 3 ) continuation of budget enforcement mechanisms from the 108th . 
clarifies that section 306 of the budget act ( prohibiting consideration of legislation within the budget committee 's jurisdiction , unless reported by the budget committee ) only applies to bills and joint resolutions and not to simple or concurrent resolutions . 
it also makes a section 303 point of order ( requiring adoption of budget resolution before consideration of budget-related legislation ) applicable to text made in order as an original bill by a special rule . 
specified or minimum levels of compensation for federal office will not be considered as providing new entitlement authority . 
( a ) ( 4 ) continuation of budget `` deeming '' resolution from the 2nd session of the 108th congress . 
establishes that the provisions of the senate concurrent resolution 95 of the 108th congress , shall have effect in the 109th congress until such time as a budget resolution for the fiscal year 2005 is adopted . 
( b ) extra subcommittees for armed services , international relations , and transportation & amp ; infrastructure . 
a waiver of rule x , clause 5 ( d ) , is granted for armed services and transportation & amp ; infrastructure for 6 subcommittees , and international relations for 7 subcommittees in the 109th congress . 
( c ) numbering of bills . 
in the 109th congress , the first 10 numbers for bills ( h.r. 1 through h.r. 10 ) shall be reserved for assignment by the speaker to such bills as he may designate when introduced . 
the gentlewoman from virginia ( mrs. jo ann davis ) xz4000950 is the author of one important provision directing committees to review matters within their jurisdiction to ferret out duplicative government programs as part of their oversight planning at the beginning of each congress . 
we are also making the ability to consider suspensions on wednesdays permanent in this congress after the very successful experiment we had with suspensions on wednesday in the 108th congress . 
the package includes important provisions to allow us to function in situations where large numbers of members are incapacitated . 
we discussed that earlier , mr. speaker . 
the provisional quorum language includes a number of safeguards to ensure that this institution can continue to operate during times of turmoil and to ensure that democracy will be preserved . 
we are living in a post-9/11 world and it is very important that we continue to expend a lot of time and energy dealing with the institutional challenges as well as the challenges that our nation faces under these circumstances . 
i would like to say , also , mr. speaker , that we will eliminate the corrections calendar . 
this was originally intended to make it easier to consider legislation making corrections to outright errors that are in law but it turned out to after a while become more cumbersome than other procedures that we already have to deal with that , such as the suspension calendar . 
and , yes , mr. speaker , in a change guaranteed to draw applause from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle , the house rules will now allow us to make reference to the senate and its members , so long as those references are confined to the question under debate and that they avoid personality . 
the senate has long had a similar provision and this new rule merely conforms our rules to theirs . 
i know that my colleagues and i share the desire to maintain our traditions of dignity and decorum in proceedings , and i believe that we can do that even with the rules change that i have just discussed . 
on another topic , the package makes a series of changes to our ethics rules . 
we included two provisions suggested by the chairman and the ranking member of the committee on standards of official conduct , number one , clarifying the rule on officially connected travel to allow a family member other than a spouse or child to travel with the member at the sponsor 's expense and , two , conforming the rules of the house to current law which allow the use of campaign funds to pay for certain official expenses , such as cell phones . 
by the way , we also have included a provision suggested by the distinguished gentleman from connecticut ( mr. larson ) xz4002330 to conform the rules of the house to current law with regard to the 90-day preelection limit on franked mail . 
the package also includes two other provisions addressing our ethics rules . 
the first gives members the same rights to choose their counsel before the ethics committee that they would enjoy if they were a respondent in a court case . 
the second change addresses an inequity in the standards committee process requiring an investigative subcommittee if the chairman and ranking member do not act within 45 days . 
this change restores the presumption of innocence in our process . 
let me say that we are going to be hearing from the distinguished chairman of the committee on standards of official conduct in just a few minutes , mr. speaker . 
as important as each of those changes are , perhaps the most important change in this resolution will be , as the speaker said in his very thoughtful opening statement here today , the creation of a new standing committee on homeland security . 
it represents a far-reaching and critically important part of our overall strategic effort to protect the american people . 
the 9/11 commission unanimously called for this action . 
they saw the need , and we believe most members do as well . 
over the past 3 years , the congress has asked the american people to accept change in countless ways . 
we have mandated change at the federal , state and local levels . 
we have asked for change from our allies and forced change upon our enemies . 
and we saw the need for change over 2 years ago , and we responded here , first with the enactment of the homeland security act of 2002 and then with the formation of the select committee on homeland security . 
their final report , a thorough and complete study of homeland security jurisdiction as it relates to house rules , was transmitted to the committee on rules at the end of last year . 
this change in house rule x , which governs the committees and their legislative jurisdictions , is a delicately crafted architecture . 
it creates with this jurisdiction and the legislative history that i will be placing in the record , the department of homeland security will have more certainty as to which committee has the primary responsibility for homeland security . 
at the same time , the american people will live with the assurance that we are working to prevent anything from falling through the cracks . 
mr. speaker , the new committee will have jurisdiction over , first , overall homeland security policy ; second , the organization and administration of the department of homeland security ; and , third , functions of the department of homeland security relating to border and port security , except immigration policy and nonborder enforcement ; customs , except customs revenue ; the integration , analysis and dissemination of homeland security information , domestic preparedness for , and collective response to , terrorism , research and development , and transportation security as well . 
by approving this resolution , mr. speaker , the house will do what the speaker and the 9/11 commission as well as the president has asked us to do , consolidate jurisdiction of the house into one committee . 
this committee will be dedicated to setting national homeland security policy and to effectively overseeing that the department of homeland security carries out its mission . 
finally , mr. speaker , as we discuss this resolution , i will look forward to questions from my colleagues about jurisdictional matters , but i will say that clearly the issue of referral lies solely in the hands of the speaker . 
i will in no way be responding in a manner which would infringe on that power of the speaker . 
once again i want to say on all of these issues , and especially the last one , which was a great challenge in trying to fashion a new committee on homeland security with jurisdiction that emerged from many other committees was not an easy task . 
i want to congratulate speaker hastert for the leadership that he has shown on this and i want to thank all of the committee chairmen who were involved in this process . 
i believe that with the passage of this house rules package , we will be able to create a stronger and a safer america , which is a priority for every single one of us who has taken the oath of office today . 
i urge support of this package of rules . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
