S.Amdt. 569

MR. MERKLEY submitted amendment numbered 569, which was ordered to lie on the table for the concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2025 and budgetary levels for fiscal years 2026 through 2034.

The purpose of this amendment is to add a new point of order to title IV. Common sense tells us we need to keep an eye on how our government operates, and this proposal aims to change the rules in the Senate regarding the movement of federal agencies.

Specifically, the amendment aims to add a rule that makes it out of order in the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, motion, amendment, amendment between the Houses, or conference report that would result in the relocation of any Federal agency to a different region of the United States.

To make sure our elected officials are held accountable, the amendment sets clear rules for bypassing this restriction:

• Subsection (a) may only be waived or suspended in the Senate by an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn.
• An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, is required to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised against relocating a federal agency.