NOTICE OF ACTION Wednesday, May 21, 2003 9:30 P.M. _______________________________________   H.R. 1588 Armed Services National Defense Authorization Act, FY 2004 The Committee granted, by voice vote, a structure rule providing for further consideration of the bill. The rule makes in order only those amendments printed in the Rules Committee report accompanying the resolution and amendments en bloc described in section 2 of the resolution. The rule provides that amendments printed in the report shall be considered only in the order printed in the report (except as specified in section 3 of the resolution), may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. The rule provides that each amendment printed in the report shall be debatable for 10 minutes (unless otherwise specified in the report) equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent and shall not be subject to amendment (except that the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Armed Services each may offer one pro forma amendment for the purpose of further debate on any pending amendment). The rule waives all points of order against amendments printed in the report and those amendments en bloc as described in Section 2 of the resolution. The rule authorizes the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services or his designee to offer amendments en bloc consisting of amendments printed in the report, or germane modifications thereto, which shall be considered as read (except that modifications shall be reported), shall be debatable for 20 minutes equally divided and controlled between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Armed Services or their designees, and shall not be subject to amendment or demand for a division of the question. The rule provides that, for the purpose of inclusion in such amendments en bloc, an amendment printed in the form of a motion to strike may be modified to the form of a germane perfecting amendment to the text originally proposed to be stricken and that the original proponent of an amendment included in such amendments en bloc may insert a statement in the Congressional Record immediately before the disposition of the amendments en bloc. The rule allows the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole to recognize for consideration of any amendment printed in the report, out of the order printed, but not sooner than one hour after the chairman of the Armed Services Committee or his designee announces from the floor a request to that effect. Finally, the rule provides a motion to recommit with or without instructions. Emergency Measures   H.R. 2185 Ways & Means Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 2003 The Committee granted, by a vote of 8 to 3, a closed rule providing one hour of debate in the House equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The rule provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.   H.Res. 249 Rules Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to the same day consideration of certain resolutions reported by the Rules Committee The Committee granted, by voice vote, a resolution waiving clause 6(a) of rule XIII (requiring a two-thirds vote to consider a rule on the same day it is reported from the Rules Committee) against certain resolutions reported from the Rules Committee. The resolution applies the waiver to any special rule reported on the legislative day of Thursday, May 22, 2003, providing for consideration or disposition of the bill (H.R. 2) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 201 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2004, any amendment thereto, any conference report thereon, or any amendment reported in disagreement from a conference thereon.