The Rules of the House of Representatives prohibit consideration of a bill unless the report on the bill includes a list of earmarks or statement that there are no earmarks. Because the bar to meet this rule is low, the point of order has never been used in the years it has been in place. Due to a technical error in the report, this point of order was made for the first time on July 30, 2010 by Congressman Doc Hastings, the Ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.
