I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3708 

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

to provide for an increase in the discretionary spending limit for fiscal 

year 2016, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 8, 2015 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. YARMUTH, 

Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. MOORE, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, 

Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. LEE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. 

NORCROSS, and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, 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 amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to provide for an increase in the discretionary spending limit for fiscal year 2016, 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; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Prevent a December Government Shutdown Act’’. 


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1 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

2 (1) The Budget Control Act of 2011 set tight 

3 discretionary spending caps and required additional 

4 deficit reduction to be accomplished either through 

5 bipartisan, bicameral negotiations or, as a fallback, 

6 through sequestration that would further cut discre7 tionary and mandatory spending levels. The threat 

8 of such draconian and arbitrary cuts was intended 

9 to encourage lawmakers to negotiate a thoughtfully 

10 designed substitute package of revenue increases and 

11 targeted spending cuts. 

12 (2) The negotiations that followed were unsuc13 cessful and the initial sequester took place in fiscal 

14 year 2013. 

15 (3) While the threat of a sequester had not led 

16 to an agreement, the reality of a sequester did. Law17 makers negotiated a two-year agreement that set 

18 higher levels of both defense and non-defense discre19 tionary (NDD) spending for fiscal years 2014 and 

20 2015. 

21 (4) A similar agreement is necessary now to 

22 avoid deep budget cuts in the current fiscal year, 

23 which began on October 1, 2015. 

24 (5) Senator John McCain and Representative 

25 Mac Thornberry, the Chairs of the Senate and 


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1 House Armed Services Committees, have criticized 

2 the level of defense spending allowed under seques3 tration: ‘‘These cuts are seriously undermining the 

4 capabilities, readiness, morale and modernization of 

5 the armed forces. The senior military leaders of the 

6 Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps have all 

7 testified to our committees that, with defense spend8 ing at sequestration levels, they cannot execute the 

9 National Military Strategy.’’. 

10 (6) The impact of the cuts on NDD spending 

11 is becoming increasingly clear. NDD United—an al12 liance of more than 2,500 organizations trying to 

13 protect NDD investments that benefit all Ameri14 cans—made the case that ‘‘these self-imposed cuts 

15 are dragging down our economic recovery, ham16 pering business growth and development, weakening 

17 public health preparedness and response, reducing 

18 resources for our nation’s schools and colleges, com19 promising federal oversight and fraud recovery, hin20 dering scientific discovery, eroding our infrastruc21 ture, and threatening our ability to address emer22 gencies around the world.’’. The impact can also be 

23 seen in the bills reported by the House Committee 

24 on Appropriations for fiscal year 2016. Among other 

25 things, those bills would cut the Department of EduVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Oct 14, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3708.IH H3708

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1 cation by $2.8 billion below the current level, take 

2 away housing vouchers from thousands of families, 

3 and provide $1.4 billion less than the President re4 quested for the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

5 (7) The sequester—in addition to endangering 

6 our defense, reducing investments in our future, and 

7 risking harm to vulnerable Americans—will weaken 

8 the Nation’s ongoing economic recovery. A recent 

9 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found 

10 that eliminating the sequester would increase Gross 

11 Domestic Product by 0.4 percent in 2016 and 0.2 

12 percent in 2017. It would also increase employment 

13 by 500,000 next year and 300,000 in 2017. 

14 (8) Providing relief from the sequester will also 

15 make it possible for Congress to act on appropria16 tions legislation before temporary Government fund17 ing expires in December, averting a Government 

18 shutdown if funding is not in place. 

19 (9) The last Government shutdown lasted for 

20 16 days in 2013. The Office of Management and 

21 Budget later found that the shutdown cost the econ22 omy about 120,000 private-sector jobs and shrunk 

23 GDP growth in that quarter by 0.2 percent to 0.6 

24 percent. The country lost 6.6 million days’ worth of 

25 work through furloughs of Federal employees; naVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:54 Oct 14, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3708.IH H3708

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1 tional parks lost $500 million in visitor spending; $4 

2 billion in tax refunds were delayed; nearly 6,300 

3 children lost access to Head Start; and hundreds of 

4 food safety inspections were delayed. 

5 (10) Therefore, to prevent another Government 

6 shutdown and allow appropriations bills for fiscal 

7 year 2016 to fund vital services at necessary levels, 

8 immediate negotiations on a budget agreement are 

9 needed. An essential component of those negotia10 tions should be to raise the discretionary spending 

11 caps for defense and non-defense, eliminating the 

12 non-defense sequester and reducing the defense se13 quester by the same amount. 

14 (11) It is preferable that Congress agree to off15 set the cost of the sequester relief with deficit reduc16 tion from closing special interest tax loopholes. How17 ever, it is imperative that the sequester relief occur 

18 regardless of whether the agreement for offsetting 

19 deficit reduction is reached. 

20 SEC. 2. BIPARTISAN, BICAMERAL AGREEMENT ON SEQUES21 TER RELIEF. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—A bipartisan measure shall be ne23 gotiated, by the individuals appointed under subsection 

24 (b), that— 


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1 (1) increases the discretionary spending limit 

2 for fiscal year 2016 in section 251(c) of the Bal3 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

4 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(c)), with the increases equally 

5 applied to the revised security category and the re6 vised nonsecurity category for such fiscal year; and 

7 (2) includes provisions that reduce the deficit 

8 by an amount deemed appropriate. 

9 (b) APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS.—Not later than 1 

10 day after the date of enactment of this Act— 

11 (1) the Speaker of the House of Representa12 tives shall determine the total number of individuals 

13 that shall negotiate the measure described under 

14 subsection (a); and 

15 (2) the Speaker, the Minority Leader of the 

16 House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of 

17 the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Senate 

18 shall each appoint one quarter of the total number 

19 of individuals determined under paragraph (1). 

20 (c) APPROVAL AND CONSIDERATION OF MEASURE.— 

21 (1) APPROVAL.—The measure described in sub22 section (a) shall require the approval of a majority 

23 of the individuals appointed under subsection (b)(2). 

24 (2) CONSIDERATION.—If approved under para25 graph (1), the measure shall be considered under the 


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1 procedures set forth in section 402 of the Budget 

2 Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 112–25), other 

3 than subsection (g), and except that in applying 

4 such section, ‘‘October 30, 2015’’ shall be sub5 stituted for ‘‘December 9, 2011’’ and ‘‘November 

6 16, 2015’’ shall be substituted for ‘‘December 23, 

7 2011’’ in each place it appears. 

8 SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE ADJUSTMENT TO DISCRETIONARY 

9 SPENDING LIMIT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016. 

10 (a) SECURITY AND NONSECURITY DISCRETIONARY

11 SPENDING LIMIT ADJUSTMENTS.—If the measure de12 scribed under section 2(a) is not enacted into law before 

13 November 17, 2015, effective upon November 17, 2015, 

14 the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act 

15 of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended as follows: 

16 (1) In section 251(c), in paragraph (3)(A), by 

17 striking the dollar amount and inserting 

18 ‘‘$559,600,000,000’’. 

19 (2) In section 251A— 

20 (A) in paragraph (10)(A), by striking the 

21 period at the end and inserting ‘‘and for fiscal 

22 year 2016 by the Prevent a December Govern23 ment Shutdown Act.’’; and 

24 (B) in paragraph (10)(B), by striking 

25 ‘‘and 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2015, and 2016’’. 


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1 (b) APPLICATION.—Any adjustment made to the dis2 cretionary spending limit for fiscal year 2016 in section 

3 251(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 

4 Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901(c)) by the Office of 

5 Management and Budget before the date of enactment of 

6 this Act shall have no force or effect. The preceding sen7 tence shall only apply if the measure described under sec8 tion 2(a) is not enacted into law before November 17, 

9 2015. 

Æ 


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