I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 405 

To require greater accountability in discretionary and direct spending 

programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 20, 2015 

Mr. CHAFFETZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on Rules and 

the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require greater accountability in discretionary and direct 

spending programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Review Every Dollar 

5 Act of 2015’’. 


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1 TITLE I—FEDERAL PROGRAM 

2 SUNSET 

3 SEC. 101. LIMITATION ON REAUTHORIZATION OF FEDERAL 

4 PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) ENFORCEMENT.—(1) It shall not be in order in 

6 the House of Representatives or the Senate to consider 

7 any bill or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or con8 ference report thereon, that reauthorizes any Federal pro9 gram for a period of more than seven fiscal years. 

10 (2) It shall not be in order in the House of Represent11 atives or the Senate to consider any bill or joint resolution, 

12 or any amendment thereto or conference report thereon, 

13 that establishes any new Federal program with an author14 ization of appropriations for a period of more than seven 

15 fiscal years. 

16 (b) COMMITTEE REVIEW OF DIRECT SPENDING PRO17 GRAMS.—Not later than July 31 during the second session 

18 of each Congress, each standing committee of the House 

19 of Representatives and the Senate with legislative jurisdic20 tion over any direct spending program shall apply the cri21 teria set forth in section 102 to determine whether any 

22 such program should be modified, terminated, or reauthor23 ized. 


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1 SEC. 102. CRITERIA FOR REVIEW. 

2 Any committee of the House of Representatives or 

3 the Senate with jurisdiction over any program being reau4 thorized shall consider the following criteria in deter5 mining whether such program should be modified, termi6 nated, or reauthorized: 

7 (1) The effectiveness and efficiency of the oper8 ation of the program. 

9 (2) Whether the program is cost effective. 

10 (3) Whether the original objectives of the pro11 gram have been achieved. 

12 (4) Whether alternative methods exist to carry 

13 out the objectives of the program in a more cost ef14 fective manner. 

15 (5) The extent to which the program is duplica16 tive or conflicts with other programs. 

17 (6) The potential benefits of consolidating this 

18 program with similar or duplicative programs. 

19 (7) The growth in cost per beneficiary or per20 sons served by the program. 

21 (8) The extent to which any trends, develop22 ments, and emerging conditions may affect the prob23 lems or needs that the program is intended to ad24 dress. 

25 (9) The extent it imposes mandates on State 

26 and local governments. 


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1 (10) The extent it impedes sustainable eco2 nomic growth. 

3 (11) The extent to which the program is a con4 stitutionally authorized activity of the Government. 

5 TITLE II—DEFICIT REDUCTION 

6 ACCOUNTS 

7 SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF DISCRETIONARY DEFICIT 

8 REDUCTION ACCOUNT. 

9 (a) DISCRETIONARY DEFICIT REDUCTION AC10 COUNT.—Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 

11 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

12 section: 

13 ‘‘DISCRETIONARY DEFICIT REDUCTION ACCOUNT

14 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNT.—The 

15 chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the House 

16 of Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on 

17 the Budget of the Senate shall each maintain an account 

18 to be known as the ‘deficit reduction discretionary ac19 count’. The Account shall be divided into entries cor20 responding to the subcommittees of the Committee on Ap21 propriations of that House and each entry shall consist 

22 of the ‘deficit reduction balance’. 

23 ‘‘(b) COMPONENTS.—Each entry shall consist only of 

24 amounts credited to it under subsection (c). 

25 ‘‘(c) CREDITING OF AMOUNTS TO ACCOUNT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) Whenever a Member of Congress offers an 

2 amendment to an appropriation bill to reduce new 

3 budget authority in any account or has the effect of 

4 reducing direct spending, that Member may state 

5 the portion of such reduction that shall be credited 

6 to— 

7 ‘‘(A) the deficit reduction balance; 

8 ‘‘(B) used to offset an increase in new 

9 budget authority in any other account; or 

10 ‘‘(C) allowed to remain within the applica11 ble section 302(b) suballocation. 

12 ‘‘(2) If no such statement is made, the amount 

13 of reduction in new budget authority resulting from 

14 the amendment shall be credited to the deficit reduc15 tion balance, as applicable, if the amendment is 

16 agreed to. 

17 ‘‘(3) Except as provided by paragraph (4), the 

18 chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the 

19 House of Representatives or Senate, as applicable, 

20 shall, upon the engrossment of any appropriation bill 

21 by the House of Representatives or Senate, as appli22 cable, credit to the applicable entry balances 

23 amounts of new budget authority and outlays equal 

24 to the net amounts of reductions in budget authority 


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1 and in outlays resulting from amendments agreed to 

2 by that House to that bill. 

3 ‘‘(4) When indicating the net amounts of reduc4 tions in new budget authority and outlays resulting 

5 from amendments agreed to by the House of Rep6 resentatives or Senate, as applicable, to an appro7 priation bill, the chairman of the Committee on the 

8 Budget of that House shall only count those por9 tions of such amendments agreed to that were so 

10 designated by the Members offering such amend11 ments as amounts to be credited to the deficit reduc12 tion balance. 

13 ‘‘(5) The chairman of the Committee on the 

14 Budget of the House of Representatives and the 

15 chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the 

16 Senate shall each maintain a running tally of the 

17 amendments adopted reflecting increases and de18 creases of budget authority in the bill as reported to 

19 its House. This tally shall be available to Members 

20 or Senators during consideration of any bill by that 

21 House. 

22 ‘‘(d) CALCULATION OF SAVINGS IN DEFICIT REDUC23 TION ACCOUNTS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

24 AND SENATE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) For the purposes of enforcing section 302(a), 

2 upon the engrossment of any appropriation bill by the 

3 House of Representatives or Senate, as applicable, the 

4 amount of budget authority and outlays calculated pursu5 ant to subsection (c)(3) shall be counted against the 

6 302(a) allocation provided to the Committee on Appro7 priations as if the amount calculated pursuant to sub8 section (c)(3) was included in the bill just engrossed. 

9 ‘‘(2) For purposes of enforcing section 302(b), upon 

10 the engrossment of any appropriation bill by the House 

11 of Representatives or Senate, as applicable, the 302(b) al12 location provided to the subcommittee for the bill just en13 grossed shall be deemed to have been reduced by the 

14 amount of budget authority and outlays calculated, pursu15 ant to subsection (c)(3). 

16 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

17 ‘appropriation bill’ means any general or special appro18 priation bill, and any bill or joint resolution making sup19 plemental, deficiency, or continuing appropriations.’’. 

20 SEC. 202. ESTABLISHMENT OF DIRECT SPENDING REDUC21 TION ACCOUNT. 

22 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

23 (as amended by section 201) is further amended by adding 

24 at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘DIRECT SPENDING DEFICIT REDUCTION ACCOUNT

2 ‘‘SEC. 317. (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNT.—The 

3 chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the House 

4 of Representatives and of the Senate shall each maintain 

5 an account to be known as the ‘deficit reduction direct 

6 spending account’. The account shall be divided into en7 tries corresponding to the House of Representatives or 

8 Senate committees, as applicable, that received allocations 

9 under section 302(a) in the most recently adopted concur10 rent resolution on the budget, except that it shall not in11 clude the Committee on Appropriations of that House and 

12 each entry shall consist of the ‘first-year deficit reduction 

13 account’ and the ‘five-year deficit reduction account’ or 

14 the period covered by the resolution on the budget for that 

15 fiscal year, as applicable. 

16 ‘‘(b) COMPONENTS.—Each entry shall consist only of 

17 amounts credited to it under subsection (c). No entry of 

18 a negative amount shall be made. 

19 ‘‘(c) CALCULATION OF ACCOUNT SAVINGS IN HOUSE

20 AND SENATE.—For the purposes of enforcing section 

21 302(a), upon the engrossment of any bill, other than an 

22 appropriation bill, by the House of Representatives or 

23 Senate, as applicable, the amount of budget authority and 

24 outlays calculated pursuant to subsection (d)(3) shall be 

25 counted against the 302(a) allocation provided to the apVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:34 Jan 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H405.IH H405

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1 plicable committee or committees of that House which re2 ported the bill as if the amount calculated pursuant to 

3 subsection (d)(3) was included in the bill just engrossed. 

4 ‘‘(d) CREDITING OF AMOUNTS TO ACCOUNT.—(1) 

5 Whenever a Member or Senator, as the case may be, offers 

6 an amendment to a bill that reduces the amount of budget 

7 authority for direct spending provided either under cur8 rent law or proposed to be provided by the bill under con9 sideration, that Member or Senator may state the portion 

10 of such reduction achieved in the first year covered by the 

11 most recently adopted concurrent resolution on the budget 

12 and in addition the portion of such reduction achieved in 

13 the first ten years covered by the most recently adopted 

14 concurrent resolution on the budget that shall be credited 

15 to the first-year deficit reduction balance and the five-year 

16 deficit reduction balance, as applicable, if the amendment 

17 is agreed to. 

18 ‘‘(2) Except as provided by paragraph (3), the chair19 man of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Rep20 resentatives or Senate, as applicable, shall, upon the en21 grossment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill, by 

22 the House of Representatives or Senate, as applicable, 

23 credit to the applicable entry balances amounts of new 

24 budget authority and outlays equal to the net amounts of 


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1 reductions in budget authority and in outlays resulting 

2 from amendments agreed to by that House to that bill. 

3 ‘‘(3) When computing the net amounts of reductions 

4 in budget authority and in outlays resulting from amend5 ments agreed to by the House of Representatives or Sen6 ate, as applicable, to a bill, the chairman of the Committee 

7 on the Budget of that House shall only count those por8 tions of such amendments agreed to that were so des9 ignated by the Members or Senators offering such amend10 ments as amounts to be credited to the first year deficit 

11 reduction balance and the five-year deficit reduction bal12 ance. 

13 ‘‘(4) The chairman of the Committee on the Budget 

14 of the House of Representatives and of the Senate shall 

15 each maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted 

16 reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in 

17 the bill as reported to its House. This tally shall be avail18 able to Members or Senators during consideration of any 

19 bill by that House. 

20 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term 

21 ‘appropriation bill’ means any general or special appro22 priation bill, and any bill or joint resolution making sup23 plemental, deficiency, or continuing appropriations.’’. 


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1 SEC. 203. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

2 The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) of the 

3 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 

4 1974 is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

5 section 315 the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 316. Discretionary deficit reduction account. 

‘‘Sec. 317. Direct spending deficit reduction account.’’. 

6 TITLE III—GENERAL FUND 

7 TRANSFERS 

8 SEC. 301. BUDGET RULE RELATING TO TRANSFERS FROM 

9 THE GENERAL FUND OF THE TREASURY TO 

10 THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND THAT INCREASE 

11 PUBLIC INDEBTEDNESS. 

12 For purposes of the Congressional Budget Act of 

13 1974, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Con14 trol Act of 1985, the Rules of the House of Representa15 tives, or the Standing Rules of the Senate, a bill or joint 

16 resolution, or an amendment thereto or conference report 

17 thereon, or any Act that transfers funds from the general 

18 fund of the Treasury to the Highway Trust Fund shall 

19 be counted as new budget authority and outlays equal to 

20 the amount of the transfer in the fiscal year the transfer 

21 occurs. 


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1 TITLE IV—BUDGETING FOR 

2 ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS 

3 SEC. 501. REVIEW OF RULES REQUIRING NEW BUDGET AU4 THORITY. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title 5, United 

6 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 559 the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘§ 559a. Review of rules requiring new budget au9 thority 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A rule made to carry out a direct 

11 spending program that would require new budget author12 ity of not less than $100,000,000 for the fiscal year the 

13 rule takes effect or for any of the 9 fiscal years imme14 diately succeeding that fiscal year may not take effect, ex15 cept as provided in subsection (d). 

16 ‘‘(b) REVIEW BY OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND

17 BUDGET OF PROPOSED RULES.—Before the effective date 

18 of any rule, the Director of the Office of Management and 

19 Budget shall review the rule to determine if the rule is 

20 a rule described in subsection (a). If the Director deter21 mines that the rule is such a rule— 

22 ‘‘(1) the Director shall notify the agency mak23 ing the rule— 

24 ‘‘(A) of that determination; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the amount of the estimated new 

2 budget authority that the rule would require for 

3 the fiscal year in which the rule would take ef4 fect and the 9 fiscal years immediately suc5 ceeding that fiscal year; and 

6 ‘‘(2) the agency may not undertake any further 

7 action pertaining to such rulemaking. 

8 ‘‘(c) PERIODIC REVIEW OF RULES.—Beginning on 

9 the date that is one year after the date on which any rule 

10 takes effect, and annually thereafter, the Director of the 

11 Office of Management and Budget may make a determina12 tion as to whether the rule is a rule described in subsection 

13 (a). For purposes of this determination, the fiscal year the 

14 rule takes effect shall be deemed to be the fiscal year in 

15 which the Director makes the determination. If the Direc16 tor determines that the rule is such a rule, the agency 

17 that issued the rule shall provide for a transition period 

18 of such length as the Director, in consultation with the 

19 agency, determines appropriate. At the end of that transi20 tion period, the rule shall cease to have effect. 

21 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding any other pro22 vision of this section, a rule described in subsection (a) 

23 shall take effect or continue in effect— 

24 ‘‘(1) if the President submits written notice to 

25 the Congress that the President has determined that 


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1 the rule should take effect or continue in effect be2 cause such rule is— 

3 ‘‘(A) necessary because of an imminent 

4 threat to health or safety or other emergency; 

5 ‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of 

6 criminal laws; 

7 ‘‘(C) necessary for national security; or 

8 ‘‘(D) issued pursuant to any statute imple9 menting an international trade agreement; or 

10 ‘‘(2) when the new budget authority to carry 

11 out the rule is provided by law. 

12 ‘‘(e) TREATMENT OF SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR

13 RULES.—A rule that does not take effect (or does not con14 tinue in effect) under this section may not be reissued in 

15 substantially the same form, and a new rule that is sub16 stantially the same as such a rule may not be issued, un17 less the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by 

18 a law enacted after the date that the rule fails to take 

19 effect or fails to continue in effect. 

20 ‘‘(f) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any determination under 

21 this section shall be subject to review under chapter 7 of 

22 this title. 

23 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘new budget author24 ity’ and ‘direct spending’ have the meanings given such 


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1 terms under section 250 of the Balanced Budget and 

2 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900). 

3 ‘‘(h) APPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply only 

4 to rules for which the rulemakings are commenced after 

5 the date of enactment of the Review Every Dollar Act of 

6 2015.’’. 

7 (b) COST OF PROJECTED ADMINISTRATIVE REGULA8 TIONS.—Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, 

9 is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating the second paragraph (37) 

11 as paragraph (39); and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(40) a separate statement of the cost of ad15 ministrative rules that are projected to take effect 

16 during the fiscal year for which the budget is sub17 mitted.’’. 

18 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

19 for chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code is amended 

20 by inserting after the item relating to section 559 the fol21 lowing new item: 

‘‘559a. Review of rules requiring new budget authority.’’. 

Æ 


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