I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3521 

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

to provide for a legislative line-item veto to expedite consideration of 

rescissions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2011 

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) 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 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to provide for a legislative line-item 

veto to expedite consideration of rescissions, 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 ‘‘Expedited Line-Item 

5 Veto and Rescissions Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED 

2 RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET 

3 AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title X of the Congressional 

5 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

6 621 et seq.) is amended by striking all of part B (except 

7 for sections 1015, 1016, and 1013, which are redesignated 

8 as sections 1017, 1018, and 1019, respectively) and part 

9 C and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘PART B—CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PRO11 POSED RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET

12 AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

13 ‘‘CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCIS14 SIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND

15 OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

16 ‘‘SEC. 1011. (a) PROPOSED RESCISSIONS.—Within 

17 45 days after the enactment of any bill or joint resolution 

18 providing any funding, the President may propose, in the 

19 manner provided in subsection (b), the rescission of all or 

20 part of any dollar amount of such funding. 

21 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL MESSAGE.—If the President proposes 

22 that Congress rescind funding, the President shall trans23 mit a special message to Congress containing the informa24 tion specified in this subsection. 

25 ‘‘(1) PACKAGING OF REQUESTED RESCIS26 SIONS.—For each piece of legislation that provides 


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1 funding, the President shall request at most 2 pack2 ages of rescissions and the rescissions in each pack3 age shall apply only to funding contained in that leg4 islation. The President shall not include the same re5 scission in both packages. 

6 ‘‘(2) TRANSMITTAL.—The President shall de7 liver each message requesting a package of rescis8 sions to the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is 

9 not in session and to the Clerk of the House of Rep10 resentatives if the House is not in session. The 

11 President shall make a copy of the transmittal mes12 sage publicly available, and shall publish in the Fed13 eral Register a notice of the message and informa14 tion on how it can be obtained. 

15 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—For 

16 each request to rescind funding under this part, the 

17 transmittal message shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) specify— 

19 ‘‘(i) the dollar amount to be re20 scinded; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the agency, bureau, and account 

22 from which the rescission shall occur; 

23 ‘‘(iii) the program, project, or activity 

24 within the account (if applicable) from 

25 which the rescission shall occur; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the amount of funding, if any, 

2 that would remain for the account, pro3 gram, project, or activity if the rescission 

4 request is enacted; 

5 ‘‘(v) the reasons the President re6 quests the rescission; 

7 ‘‘(vi) to the maximum extent prac8 ticable, the estimated fiscal, economic, and 

9 budgetary effect (including the effect on 

10 outlays and receipts in each fiscal year) of 

11 the proposed rescission; 

12 ‘‘(vii) to the maximum extent prac13 ticable, all facts, circumstances, and con14 siderations relating to or bearing upon the 

15 proposed rescission and the decision to 

16 propose the rescission, and the estimated 

17 effect of the proposed rescission upon the 

18 objects, purposes, or programs; and 

19 ‘‘(viii) if a second special message is 

20 transmitted pursuant to subsection (b)(2), 

21 a detailed explanation of why the proposed 

22 rescissions are not substantially similar to 

23 any other proposed rescission in such other 

24 message; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) designate each separate rescission re2 quest by number; and include proposed legisla3 tive text of an approval bill to accomplish the 

4 requested rescissions which may not include— 

5 ‘‘(i) any changes in existing law, other 

6 than the rescission of funding; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) any supplemental appropriations, 

8 transfers, or reprogrammings. 

9 ‘‘GRANTS OF AND LIMITATIONS ON PRESIDENTIAL

10 AUTHORITY

11 ‘‘SEC. 1012. (a) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO

12 WITHHOLD FUNDING.—Notwithstanding any other provi13 sion of law and if the President proposes a rescission of 

14 funding under this part, the President may, subject to the 

15 time limits provided in subsection (c), temporarily with16 hold that funding from obligation. 

17 ‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING AVAILABLE ONLY ONCE PER

18 PROPOSED RESCISSION.—Except as provided in section 

19 1019, the President may not invoke the authority to with20 hold funding granted by subsection (a) for any other pur21 pose. 

22 ‘‘(c) TIME LIMITS.—The President shall make avail23 able for obligation any funding withheld under subsection 

24 (a) on the earliest of— 

25 ‘‘(1) the day on which the President determines 

26 that the continued withholding or reduction no 


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1 longer advances the purpose of legislative consider2 ation of the approval bill; 

3 ‘‘(2) the 45th day following the date of enact4 ment of the appropriations measure to which the ap5 proval bill relates; or 

6 ‘‘(3) the last day that the President determines 

7 the obligation of the funding in question can no 

8 longer be fully accomplished in a prudent manner 

9 before its expiration. 

10 ‘‘(d) DEFICIT REDUCTION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Funds that are rescinded 

12 under this part shall be dedicated only to reducing 

13 the deficit or increasing the surplus. 

14 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT OF LEVELS IN THE CONCUR15 RENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET.—Not later 

16 than 5 days after the date of enactment of an ap17 proval bill as provided under this part, the chairs of 

18 the Committees on the Budget of the Senate and the 

19 House of Representatives shall revise allocations and 

20 aggregates and other appropriate levels under the 

21 appropriate concurrent resolution on the budget to 

22 reflect the rescissions, and the Committees on Ap23 propriations of the House of Representatives and the 

24 Senate shall report revised suballocations pursuant 

25 to section 302(b) of title III, as appropriate. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENTS TO STATUTORY LIMITS.— 

2 After enactment of an approval bill provided under 

3 this section, the President shall revise downward by 

4 the amount of the rescissions applicable limits under 

5 the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

6 Act of 1985. 

7 ‘‘PROCEDURES FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION

8 ‘‘SEC. 1013. (a) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) REFERRAL OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Any 

10 special message received by the Congress pursuant 

11 to section 1011(b) shall be referred to the Commit12 tees on Appropriations and the Committees on the 

13 Budget of the House of Representatives and the 

14 Senate. 

15 ‘‘(2) INTRODUCTION OF APPROVAL BILL.—The 

16 majority leader or minority leader of the House of 

17 Representatives or his designee shall (by request) in18 troduce an approval bill as defined in section 1015 

19 not later than the third day or, if the House is not 

20 in session during that period, the next day of session 

21 after the date of receipt of a special message trans22 mitted to the Congress under section 1011(b). If the 

23 bill is not introduced as provided in the preceding 

24 sentence in the House, then, on the first day the 

25 House is in session following the period during 


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1 which the leaders may introduce the message, any 

2 Member of that House may introduce the bill. 

3 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP4 RESENTATIVES.— 

5 ‘‘(A) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—(i) 

6 Each committee of referral of the House of 

7 Representatives shall report an approval bill 

8 without amendment not later than the fifth day 

9 after the date of its referral. If the committee 

10 fails to report the bill within that period or the 

11 House of Representatives has adopted a concur12 rent resolution providing for adjournment sine 

13 die at the end of a Congress, such committee 

14 shall be automatically discharged from further 

15 consideration of the bill and it shall be placed 

16 on the appropriate calendar. 

17 ‘‘(ii) As soon as practicable after such ap18 proval bill is referred to the Committee on Ap19 propriations, CBO shall prepare, and submit to 

20 the Committees on Appropriations and the 

21 Committees on the Budget of the House of 

22 Representatives and the Senate, an estimate of 

23 the reduction in budget authority which would 

24 result from the enactment of that bill. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 

2 Within three days after an approval bill is re3 ported by or discharged from the Committee on 

4 Appropriations of the House of Representatives 

5 or if the House has adopted a concurrent reso6 lution providing for adjournment sine die at the 

7 end of a Congress, it shall be in order for any 

8 Member to announce his intention to move to 

9 proceed to consider the approval bill in the 

10 House. The motion to proceed shall be in order 

11 only during a time designated by the Speaker 

12 within the legislative schedule for the next two 

13 days or the next day on which the House is in 

14 session. Such a motion shall not be in order 

15 after the House of Representatives has disposed 

16 of a prior motion to proceed with respect to 

17 that approval bill. The previous question shall 

18 be considered as ordered on the motion to pro19 ceed without intervening motion. A motion to 

20 reconsider the vote by which the motion to pro21 ceed is disposed of shall not be in order. 

22 ‘‘(C) HOUSE CONSIDERATION.—If the mo23 tion to proceed is agreed to, the House shall 

24 immediately proceed to consider the approval 

25 bill in the House without intervening motion, 


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1 order, or other business, and the approval bill 

2 shall remain the unfinished business of the 

3 House until disposed of. The approval bill shall 

4 be considered as read. All points of order 

5 against the approval bill or its consideration are 

6 waived. The previous question shall be consid7 ered as ordered on an approval bill to its pas8 sage, without intervening motion, except 4 

9 hours of debate equally divided and controlled 

10 by the proponent and an opponent and one mo11 tion to further limit debate on the bill. A mo12 tion to reconsider the vote on passage of the bill 

13 shall not be in order. 

14 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) REFERRAL.—An approval bill re16 ceived in the Senate shall be referred to the 

17 Committee on Appropriations. 

18 ‘‘(B) COMMITTEE ACTION.—The Com19 mittee on Appropriations shall report without 

20 amendment the bill referred to it under this 

21 subsection not later than 5 days after the refer22 ral. The committee may order the bill reported 

23 favorably, unfavorably, or without recommenda24 tion. If the Committee on Appropriations has 

25 not reported the bill by the end of the 5-day peVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:16 Dec 01, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3521.IH H3521

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1 riod, the Committee shall be automatically dis2 charged from further consideration of the bill 

3 and it shall be placed on the appropriate cal4 endar. 

5 ‘‘(C) MOTION TO PROCEED.—On the fol6 lowing day, 3 subsequent days, or, if the Senate 

7 is not in session during that period, the next 

8 day of session, it shall be in order for any Sen9 ator to move to proceed to consider the bill in 

10 the Senate. The motion shall be decided without 

11 debate and the motion to reconsider shall be 

12 deemed to have been laid on the table. Such a 

13 motion shall not be in order after the Senate 

14 has disposed of a prior motion to proceed with 

15 respect to that approval bill. 

16 ‘‘(D) CONSIDERATION.—If a motion to 

17 proceed to the consideration of the approval bill 

18 is agreed to, the Senate shall immediately pro19 ceed to consideration of the approval bill with20 out intervening motion, order, or other busi21 ness, and the approval bill shall remain the un22 finished business of the Senate until disposed 

23 of. Consideration on the bill in the Senate 

24 under this subsection, and all debatable motions 

25 and appeals in connection therewith, shall not 


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1 exceed 10 hours, equally divided and controlled 

2 in the usual form. All points of order against 

3 the approval bill or its consideration are waived. 

4 Consideration in the Senate on any debatable 

5 motion or appeal in connection with the ap6 proval bill shall be limited to not more than 1 

7 hour, to be equally divided and controlled in the 

8 usual form. A motion to postpone, or a motion 

9 to proceed to the consideration of other busi10 ness, or a motion to recommit the approval bill 

11 is not in order. A motion to reconsider the vote 

12 by which the approval bill is agreed to or dis13 agreed to is not in order. 

14 ‘‘(b) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amendment to 

15 an approval bill considered under this section shall be in 

16 order in either the Senate or the House of Representa17 tives. 

18 ‘‘TREATMENT OF RESCISSIONS

19 ‘‘SEC. 1014. Rescissions proposed by the President 

20 under this part shall take effect only upon enactment of 

21 the applicable approval bill. If an approval bill is not en22 acted into law within 45 days from the enactment of the 

23 appropriation measure to which the approval bill relates, 

24 then the approval bill shall not be eligible for expedited 

25 consideration under the provisions of this Act. 


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1 ‘‘DEFINITIONS

2 ‘‘SEC. 1015. As used in this part: 

3 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATION MEASURE.—The term 

4 ‘appropriation measure’ means an Act referred to in 

5 section 105 of title 1, United States Code, including 

6 any general or special appropriation Act, or any Act 

7 making supplemental, deficiency, or continuing ap8 propriations, that has been enacted into law pursu9 ant to article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the 

10 United States. 

11 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL BILL.—The term ‘approval bill’ 

12 means a bill which only approves rescissions of fund13 ing in a special message transmitted by the Presi14 dent under this part and— 

15 ‘‘(A) the title of which is as follows: ‘A bill 

16 approving the proposed rescissions transmitted 

17 by the President on lll’, the blank space 

18 being filled in with the date of transmission of 

19 the relevant special message and the public law 

20 number to which the message relates; and 

21 ‘‘(B) which provides only the following 

22 after the enacting clause: ‘That the Congress 

23 approves the proposed rescissions lll’, the 

24 blank space being filled in with the list of the 

25 rescissions contained in the President’s special 


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1 message, ‘as transmitted by the President in a 

2 special message on llll’, the blank space 

3 being filled in with the appropriate date, ‘re4 garding llll.’, the blank space being filled 

5 in with the public law number to which the spe6 cial message relates. 

7 ‘‘(3) DAY.—The term ‘day’ means a standard 

8 24-hour period beginning at midnight and a number 

9 of days shall be calculated by excluding Sundays, 

10 legal holidays, and any day during which neither 

11 chamber of Congress is in session. 

12 ‘‘(4) RESCIND OR RESCISSION.—The terms ‘re13 scind’ or ‘rescission’ means to permanently cancel or 

14 prevent budget authority or outlays available under 

15 an obligation limit from having legal force or effect. 

16 ‘‘(5) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE.—The 

17 term ‘CBO’ means the Director of the Congressional 

18 Budget Office. 

19 ‘‘(6) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term 

20 ‘Comptroller General’ means the Comptroller Gen21 eral of the United States. 

22 ‘‘(7) DEFERRAL OF BUDGET AUTHORITY.—The 

23 term ‘deferral of budget authority’ includes— 

24 ‘‘(A) withholding or delaying the obliga25 tions or expenditure of budget authority 


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1 (whether by establishing reserves or otherwise) 

2 provided for projects or activities; or 

3 ‘‘(B) any other type of Executive action or 

4 inaction which effectively precludes the obliga5 tion or expenditure of budget authority, includ6 ing authority to obligate by contract in advance 

7 of appropriations as specifically authorized by 

8 law. 

9 ‘‘(8) FUNDING.—(A) Except as provided in sub10 paragraph (B), the term ‘funding’ means all or part 

11 of the dollar amount of budget authority or obliga12 tion limit— 

13 ‘‘(i) specified in an appropriation measure, 

14 or the dollar amount of budget authority or ob15 ligation limit required to be allocated by a spe16 cific proviso in an appropriation measure for 

17 which a specific dollar figure was not included; 

18 ‘‘(ii) represented separately in any table, 

19 chart, or explanatory text included in the state20 ment of managers or the governing committee 

21 report accompanying such law; or 

22 ‘‘(iii) represented by the product of the es23 timated procurement cost and the total quantity 

24 of items specified in an appropriation measure 

25 or included in the statement of managers or the 


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1 governing committee report accompanying such 

2 law. 

3 ‘‘(B) The term ‘funding’ does not include— 

4 ‘‘(i) direct spending; 

5 ‘‘(ii) budget authority in an appropriation 

6 measure which funds direct spending provided 

7 for in other law; 

8 ‘‘(iii) any existing budget authority can9 celed in an appropriation measure; or 

10 ‘‘(iv) any restriction or condition in an ap11 propriation measure or the accompanying state12 ment of managers or committee reports on the 

13 expenditure of budget authority for an account, 

14 program, project, or activity, or on activities in15 volving such expenditure. 

16 ‘‘(9) WITHHOLD.—The terms ‘withhold’ and 

17 ‘withholding’ apply to any executive action or inac18 tion that precludes the obligation of funding at a 

19 time when it would otherwise have been available to 

20 an agency for obligation. The terms do not include 

21 administrative or preparatory actions undertaken 

22 prior to obligation in the normal course of imple23 menting budget laws. 

24 ‘‘EXPIRATION

25 ‘‘SEC. 1016. This title shall have no force or effect 

26 on or after December 31, 2015.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

2 (a) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—Section 

3 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

4 621 note) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘1017’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘1013’’; and 

7 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘section 

8 1017’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1013’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—(1) The last sentence 

10 of section 1(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impound11 ment Control Act of 1974 is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘Sections 1011 through 1016 of part B of title X may 

13 be cited as the ‘Expedited Line-Item Veto and Rescissions 

14 Act of 2011’.’’. 

15 (2) Section 1017 of such Act (as redesignated) is 

16 amended by striking ‘‘section 1012 or 1013’’ each place 

17 it appears and inserting ‘‘section 1011 or 1019’’ and by 

18 striking ‘‘calendar’’ and ‘‘of continuous session’’. 

19 (3) Section 1019(c) of such Act (as redesignated) is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘1012’’ and inserting ‘‘1011’’. 

21 (4) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents set 

22 forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Im23 poundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by striking 

24 the items relating to parts B and C (including all of the 

25 items relating to the sections therein) of title X and insert26 ing the following: 


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‘‘PART B—CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCISSIONS AND

DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

‘‘Sec. 1011. Congressional consideration of proposed rescissions and deferrals 

of budget authority and obligation limitations. 

‘‘Sec. 1012. Grants of and limitations on presidential authority. 

‘‘Sec. 1013. Procedures for expedited consideration. 

‘‘Sec. 1014. Treatment of rescissions. 

‘‘Sec. 1015. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 1016. Expiration. 

‘‘Sec. 1017. Reports by Comptroller General. 

‘‘Sec. 1018. Suits by Comptroller General. 

‘‘Sec. 1019. Proposed deferrals of budget authority.’’. 

1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this Act shall apply to funding as defined in section 

3 1015(8) of the Congressional Budget Act and Impound4 ment Control of 1974 in any Act enacted after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 4. APPROVAL MEASURES CONSIDERED. 

7 Section 314 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

8 is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) 

10 as subsections (c) through (f) and by inserting after 

11 subsection (a) the following new subsection: 

12 ‘‘(b) ADJUSTMENTS FOR RESCISSIONS.—(1) When13 ever an approval bill passes the House of Representatives, 

14 the Committee on the Budget shall immediately reduce the 

15 applicable allocations under section 302(a) by the total 

16 amount of reductions in budget authority and in outlays 

17 resulting from such approval bill. 


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1 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘approval 

2 bill’ has the meaning given to such term in section 1015.’’; 

3 and 

4 (2) in subsection (d) (as redesignated), by in5 serting ‘‘or (b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’. 

Æ 


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