[House Report 116-322]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


116th Congress   }                                      {      Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session     }                                      {     116-322

======================================================================

 
 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE BILL (H.R. 4) TO AMEND THE VOTING 
RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 TO REVISE THE CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING WHICH STATES 
AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS ARE SUBJECT TO SECTION 4 OF THE ACT, AND FOR 
 OTHER PURPOSES, AND PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE RESOLUTION (H. 
    RES. 326) EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
  REGARDING UNITED STATES EFFORTS TO RESOLVE THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN 
            CONFLICT THROUGH A NEGOTIATED TWO-STATE SOLUTION

                                _______
                                

  December 4, 2019.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

               Mr. Raskin, from the Committee on Rules, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                       [To accompany H. Res. 741]

    The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration 
House Resolution 741, by a record vote of 8 to 4, report the 
same to the House with the recommendation that the resolution 
be adopted.

                SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF THE RESOLUTION

    The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 4, the 
Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, under a closed rule. The 
resolution provides one hour of debate equally divided and 
controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the 
Committee on the Judiciary. The resolution waives all points of 
order against consideration of the bill. The resolution 
provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
recommended by the Committee on the Judiciary now printed in 
the bill, modified by the amendment printed in part A of this 
report, shall be considered as adopted and the bill, as 
amended, shall be considered as read. The resolution waives all 
points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended. The 
resolution provides one motion to recommit with or without 
instructions. Section 2 of the resolution provides for 
consideration of H. Res. 326, Expressing the sense of the House 
of Representatives regarding United States efforts to resolve 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a negotiated two-state 
solution, under a closed rule. The resolution provides one hour 
of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and 
ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 
The resolution waives all points of order against consideration 
of the resolution. The resolution provides that the amendments 
to the resolution and the preamble recommended by the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs now printed in the resolution, modified by 
the amendments printed in part B of this report, shall be 
considered as adopted and the resolution, as amended, shall be 
considered as read.

                         EXPLANATION OF WAIVERS

    The waiver of all points of order against consideration of 
H.R. 4 includes waivers of the following:
     Clause 3(d) of rule XIII, which requires the 
inclusion of a committee cost estimate in a committee report.
     Clause 12(a)(1) of rule XXI, which prohibits 
consideration of a bill unless there is a searchable electronic 
comparative print that shows how the bill proposes to change 
current law.
     Clause 12(b) of rule XXI, which prohibits 
consideration of a bill unless there is a searchable electronic 
comparative print that shows how the text of the bill as 
proposed to be considered differs from the text of the bill as 
reported.
    Although the resolution waives all points of order against 
provisions in H.R. 4, the Committee is not aware of any points 
of order. The waiver is prophylactic in nature.
    Although the resolution waives all points of order against 
consideration of H. Res. 326, the Committee is not aware of any 
points of order. The waiver is prophylactic in nature.

                            COMMITTEE VOTES

    The results of each record vote on an amendment or motion 
to report, together with the names of those voting for and 
against, are printed below:

Rules Committee record vote No. 214

    Motion by Mr. Cole to report an open rule for H.R. 4 and H. 
Res. 326. Defeated: 4-8

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Majority Members                      Vote               Minority Members               Vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Hastings....................................          Nay   Mr. Cole..........................          Yea
Mrs. Torres.....................................          Nay   Mr. Woodall.......................          Yea
Mr. Perlmutter..................................          Nay   Mr. Burgess.......................          Yea
Mr. Raskin......................................          Nay   Mrs. Lesko........................          Yea
Ms. Scanlon.....................................          Nay
Mr. Morelle.....................................          Nay
Ms. Shalala.....................................          Nay
Mr. DeSaulnier..................................          Nay
Mr. McGovern, Chairman..........................  ............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rules Committee record vote No. 215

    Motion by Mr. Burgess to provide for the consideration of 
H.R. 336, Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East 
Act of 2019, under an open rule and make the necessary changes 
in the rule. Defeated: 4-8

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Majority Members                      Vote               Minority Members               Vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Hastings....................................          Nay   Mr. Cole..........................          Yea
Mrs. Torres.....................................          Nay   Mr. Woodall.......................          Yea
Mr. Perlmutter..................................          Nay   Mr. Burgess.......................          Yea
Mr. Raskin......................................          Nay   Mrs. Lesko........................          Yea
Ms. Scanlon.....................................          Nay
Mr. Morelle.....................................          Nay
Ms. Shalala.....................................          Nay
Mr. DeSaulnier..................................          Nay
Mr. McGovern, Chairman..........................  ............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rules Committee record vote No. 216

    Motion by Mr. Raskin to report the rule. Adopted: 8-4

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Majority Members                      Vote               Minority Members               Vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Hastings....................................          Yea   Mr. Cole..........................          Nay
Mrs. Torres.....................................          Yea   Mr. Woodall.......................          Nay
Mr. Perlmutter..................................          Yea   Mr. Burgess.......................          Nay
Mr. Raskin......................................          Yea   Mrs. Lesko........................          Nay
Ms. Scanlon.....................................          Yea
Mr. Morelle.....................................          Yea
Ms. Shalala.....................................          Yea
Mr. DeSaulnier..................................          Yea
Mr. McGovern, Chairman..........................  ............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   SUMMARY OF THE AMENDMENT TO H.R. 4 IN PART A CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

    1. Nadler (NY): Amends the legislation to 1) expand the 
known practices provision to include changes that reduce the 
days or hours of in-person voting on Sundays during an early 
voting period and 2) add an additional covered known practice 
to include new procedures for voter purges where a jurisdiction 
includes racial or language minority populations above a 
certain percent threshold.

   SUMMARY OF THE AMENDMENTS TO H. RES. 326 IN PART B CONSIDERED AS 
                                ADOPTED

    1. Engel (NY): Adds a sense of Congress reaffirming the 
United States' ironclad commitment to providing assistance to 
Israel under the 2016 United States-Israel Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) as well as a sense of Congress that it is 
in the United States' interest to continue promoting the 
security, stability, and humanitarian well-being of the 
Palestinians by resuming the provision of foreign assistance.
    2. Engel (NY): Includes in the preamble a reaffirmation 
that the 2016 United States-Israel Memorandum of Understanding 
is in the national interests of both countries as well as 
support for assistance to the Palestinians.

       PART A--TEXT OF AMENDMENT TO H.R. 4 CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

  Page 18, line 10, strike ``locations.'' and insert 
``locations, or reduce voting opportunities.''.
  Page 18, beginning on line 12, strike ``voting locations--'' 
and insert ``voting locations, or reduces days or hours of in 
person voting on any Sunday during a period occurring prior to 
the date of an election during which voters may cast ballots in 
such election--''.
  Page 18, after line 21, insert the following:
          ``(7) New list maintenance process.--Any change to 
        the maintenance of voter registration lists that adds a 
        new basis for removal from the list of active 
        registered voters or that puts in place a new process 
        for removing a name from the list of active registered 
        voters--
                  ``(A) in the case of a political subdivision 
                imposing such change if--
                          ``(i) 2 or more racial groups or 
                        language minority groups each represent 
                        20 percent or more of the voting-age 
                        population of the political 
                        subdivision; or
                          ``(ii) a single language minority 
                        group represents 20 percent or more of 
                        the voting-age population on Indian 
                        lands located in whole or in part in 
                        the political subdivision; or
                  ``(B) in the case of a State imposing such 
                change, if 2 or more racial groups or language 
                minority groups each represent 20 percent or 
                more of the voting-age population of--
                          ``(i) the State; or
                          ``(ii) a political subdivision in the 
                        State, except that the requirements 
                        under subsections (a) and (c) shall 
                        apply only with respect to each such 
                        political subdivision.

    PART B--TEXT OF AMENDMENTS TO H. RES. 326 CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

     TEXT OF THE AMENDMENT TO THE RESOLUTION CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

  Page 7, after line 6, insert the following:
          (3) it is in the enduring United States' national 
        interest to continue to stand by its ironclad 
        commitments under the 2016 United States-Israel 
        Memorandum of Understanding, which seeks to help Israel 
        defend itself against a wide range of threats;
  Page 7, line 7, strike ``(3)'' and insert ``(4)''.
  Page 7, line 16, strike ``and''.
  Page 7, after line 16, insert the following:
          (5) it is in the United States' interest to continue 
        promoting the security, stability, and humanitarian 
        well-being of Palestinians and their neighbors by 
        resuming the provision of foreign assistance pursuant 
        to United States law; and
  Page 7, line 17, strike ``(4)'' and insert ``(6)''.

      TEXT OF THE AMENDMENT TO THE PREAMBLE CONSIDERED AS ADOPTED

  In the second clause of the preamble, add at the end before 
the semicolon the following: ``, including by finalizing in 
2016 under the Obama Administration, a 10-year Memorandum of 
Understanding, reaffirming the United States' commitment to 
annual military assistance and cooperative missile defense 
programs, which is in the national interests of both 
countries''.
  Insert after third clause of the preamble the following:

Whereas the United States, under Presidents of both parties, has provided 
bilateral and multilateral foreign assistance to promote the security, 
stability, and the humanitarian well-being of Palestinians;

                                  [all]