IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3521 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expedited Legislative 

3 Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED 

5 RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET 

6 AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS. 

7 Title X of the Congressional Budget and Impound8 ment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) is amend9 ed by striking all of part B (except for sections 1015, 

10 1016, and 1013, which are transferred and redesignated 

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

12 C and by inserting after part A the following: 

13 ‘‘PART B—CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PRO14 POSED RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET

15 AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

16 ‘‘CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCIS17 SIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND

18 OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

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

20 10 days after the enactment of any bill or joint resolution 

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

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

23 part of any dollar amount of such funding. 

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

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1 mit a special message to Congress containing the informa2 tion specified in this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(1) PACKAGING OF REQUESTED RESCIS4 SIONS.—For each piece of legislation that provides 

5 funding, the President shall request at most 2 pack6 ages of rescissions and the rescissions in each pack7 age shall apply only to funding contained in that leg8 islation. The President shall not include the same re9 scission in both packages. 

10 ‘‘(2) TRANSMITTAL.—The President shall de11 liver each message requesting a package of rescis12 sions to the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is 

13 not in session and to the Clerk of the House of Rep14 resentatives if the House is not in session. The 

15 President shall make a copy of the transmittal mes16 sage publicly available, and shall publish in the Fed17 eral Register a notice of the message and informa18 tion on how it can be obtained. 

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

20 each request to rescind funding under this part, the 

21 transmittal message shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) specify— 

23 ‘‘(i) the dollar amount to be re24 scinded; 


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

2 from which the rescission shall occur; 

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

4 within the account (if applicable) from 

5 which the rescission shall occur; 

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

7 that would remain for the account, pro8 gram, project, or activity if the rescission 

9 request is enacted; and 

10 ‘‘(v) the reasons the President re11 quests the rescission. 

12 ‘‘(B) designate each separate rescission re13 quest by number; and include proposed legisla14 tive text of an approval bill to accomplish the 

15 requested rescissions which may not include— 

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

17 than the rescission of funding; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) any supplemental appropriations, 

19 transfers, or reprogrammings. 

20 ‘‘GRANTS OF AND LIMITATIONS ON PRESIDENTIAL

21 AUTHORITY

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

23 WITHHOLD FUNDING.—Notwithstanding any other provi24 sion of law and if the President proposes a rescission of 

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


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1 time limits provided in subsection (c), temporarily with2 hold that funding from obligation. 

3 ‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING AVAILABLE ONLY ONCE PER

4 PROPOSED RESCISSION.—Except as provided in section 

5 1019, the President may not invoke the authority to with6 hold funding granted by subsection (a) for any other pur7 pose. 

8 ‘‘(c) TIME LIMITS.—The President shall make avail9 able for obligation any funding withheld under subsection 

10 (a) on the earliest of— 

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

12 that the continued withholding or reduction no 

13 longer advances the purpose of legislative consider14 ation of the approval bill; 

15 ‘‘(2) the 60th day following the date of enact16 ment of the appropriations measure to which the ap17 proval bill relates; or 

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

19 the obligation of the funding in question can no 

20 longer be fully accomplished in a prudent manner 

21 before its expiration. 

22 ‘‘(d) DEFICIT REDUCTION.— 

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

24 under this part shall be dedicated only to reducing 

25 the deficit or increasing the surplus. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT OF LEVELS IN THE CONCUR2 RENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET.—Not later 

3 than 3 days of session after the date of enactment 

4 of an approval bill as provided under this part, the 

5 chairs of the Committees on the Budget of the Sen6 ate and the House of Representatives shall revise al7 locations and aggregates and other appropriate lev8 els under the appropriate concurrent resolution on 

9 the budget to reflect the rescissions, and the Com10 mittees on Appropriations of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Senate shall report revised sub12 allocations pursuant to section 302(b) of title III, as 

13 appropriate. 

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

15 Not later than 3 days after enactment of an ap16 proval bill provided under this section, the President 

17 shall revise downward by the amount of the rescis18 sions applicable limits under the Balanced Budget 

19 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

20 ‘‘PROCEDURES FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION

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

22 ‘‘(1) INTRODUCTION OF APPROVAL BILL.—The 

23 majority leader of each House or a designee shall 

24 (by request) introduce an approval bill as defined in 

25 section 1015 not later than the third day of session 

26 of that House after the date of receipt of a special 


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1 message transmitted to the Congress under section 

2 1011(b). 

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

5 ‘‘(A) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—Any 

6 committee of the House of Representatives to 

7 which an approval bill is referred shall report it 

8 to the House without amendment not later than 

9 the third legislative day after the date of its in10 troduction. If a committee fails to report the 

11 bill within that period or the House has adopt12 ed a concurrent resolution providing for ad13 journment sine die at the end of a Congress, 

14 such committee shall be automatically dis15 charged from further consideration of the bill 

16 and it shall be placed on the appropriate cal17 endar. 

18 ‘‘(B) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 

19 Not later than 3 legislative days after the ap20 proval bill is reported or a committee has been 

21 discharged from further consideration thereof, 

22 it shall be in order to move to proceed to con23 sider the approval bill in the House. Such a mo24 tion shall be in order only at a time designated 

25 by the Speaker in the legislative schedule within 


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1 two legislative days after the day on which the 

2 proponent announces an intention to the House 

3 to offer the motion provided that such notice 

4 may not be given until the approval bill is re5 ported or a committee has been discharged 

6 from further consideration thereof. Such a mo7 tion shall not be in order after the House has 

8 disposed of a motion to proceed with respect to 

9 that special message. The previous question 

10 shall be considered as ordered on the motion to 

11 its adoption without intervening motion. A mo12 tion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

13 is disposed of shall not be in order. 

14 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION.—If the motion to 

15 proceed is agreed to, the House shall imme16 diately proceed to consider the approval bill in 

17 the House without intervening motion. The ap18 proval bill shall be considered as read. All 

19 points of order against the approval bill and 

20 against its consideration are waived. The pre21 vious question shall be considered as ordered on 

22 the approval bill to its passage without inter23 vening motion except 2 hours of debate equally 

24 divided and controlled by the proponent and an 

25 opponent and one motion to limit debate on the 


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1 bill. A motion to reconsider the vote on passage 

2 of the approval bill shall not be in order. 

3 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 

4 ‘‘(A) COMMITTEE ACTION.—The appro5 priate committee of the Senate shall report 

6 without amendment the approval bill as defined 

7 in section 1015(2) not later than the third ses8 sion day after introduction. If a committee fails 

9 to report the approval bill within that period or 

10 the Senate has adopted a concurrent resolution 

11 providing for adjournment sine die at the end 

12 of a Congress, the Committee shall be auto13 matically discharged from further consideration 

14 of the approval bill and it shall be placed on the 

15 appropriate calendar. 

16 ‘‘(B) MOTION TO PROCEED.—Not later 

17 than 3 session days after the approval bill is re18 ported in the Senate or the committee has been 

19 discharged thereof, it shall be in order for any 

20 Senator to move to proceed to consider the ap21 proval bill in the Senate. The motion shall be 

22 decided without debate and the motion to re23 consider shall be deemed to have been laid on 

24 the table. Such a motion shall not be in order 


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1 after the Senate has disposed of a prior motion 

2 to proceed with respect to the approval bill. 

3 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION.—If a motion to 

4 proceed to the consideration of the approval bill 

5 is agreed to, the Senate shall immediately pro6 ceed to consideration of the approval bill with7 out intervening motion, order, or other busi8 ness, and the approval bill shall remain the un9 finished business of the Senate until disposed 

10 of. Consideration on the bill in the Senate 

11 under this subsection, and all debatable motions 

12 and appeals in connection therewith, shall not 

13 exceed 10 hours equally divided in the usual 

14 form. All points of order against the approval 

15 bill or its consideration are waived. Consider16 ation in the Senate on any debatable motion or 

17 appeal in connection with the approval bill shall 

18 be limited to not more than 1 hour. A motion 

19 to postpone, or a motion to proceed to the con20 sideration of other business, or a motion to re21 commit the approval bill is not in order. A mo22 tion to reconsider the vote by which the ap23 proval bill is agreed to or disagreed to is not in 

24 order. 


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1 ‘‘(4) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amend2 ment to, or motion to strike a provision from, an ap3 proval bill considered under this section shall be in 

4 order in either the Senate or the House of Rep5 resentatives. 

6 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION WITH ACTION BY OTHER

7 HOUSE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, before passing the 

9 approval bill, one House receives from the other 

10 a bill— 

11 ‘‘(i) the approval bill of the other 

12 House shall not be referred to a com13 mittee; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) the procedure in the receiving 

15 House shall be the same as if no approval 

16 bill had been received from the other 

17 House until the vote on passage, when the 

18 bill received from the other House shall 

19 supplant the approval bill of the receiving 

20 House. 

21 ‘‘(B) This paragraph shall not apply to the 

22 House of Representatives. 

23 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—Subsection (a) shall apply only to 

24 an approval bill, as such term is defined in section 

25 1015(2), introduced pursuant to subsection (a)(1). 


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1 ‘‘(c) EXTENDED TIME PERIOD.—If Congress ad2 journs at the end of a Congress prior to the expiration 

3 of the periods described in sections 1012(c)(2) and 1014 

4 and an approval bill was then pending in either House 

5 of Congress or a committee thereof, or an approval bill 

6 had not yet been introduced with respect to a special mes7 sage, or before the applicable 10-day period specified in 

8 section 1011(a) has expired, then within the first 3 days 

9 of session, the President shall transmit to Congress an ad10 ditional special message containing all of the information 

11 in the previous, pending special message and an approval 

12 bill may be introduced within the first five days of session 

13 of the next Congress and shall be treated as an approval 

14 bill under this part, and the time periods described in sec15 tions 1012(c)(2) and 1014 shall commence on the day of 

16 introduction of that approval bill. 

17 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL BILL PROCEDURE.—In order for an 

18 approval bill to be considered under the procedures set 

19 forth in this part, the bill must meet the definition of an 

20 approval bill and must be introduced no later than the 

21 third day of session following the beginning of the period 

22 described in section 1013(a)(1) or the fifth day in the case 

23 of subsection (c). 

24 ‘‘(e) CBO ESTIMATE.—Upon receipt of a special 

25 message under section 1101 proposing to rescind all or 


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1 part of any funding, CBO shall prepare and submit to the 

2 appropriate committees of the House of Representatives 

3 and the Senate an estimate of the reduction in budget au4 thority which would result from the enactment of the pro5 posed recisions. 

6 ‘‘TREATMENT OF RESCISSIONS

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

8 under this part shall take effect only upon enactment of 

9 the applicable approval bill. If an approval bill is not en10 acted into law within 60 days from the enactment of the 

11 appropriation measure to which the approval bill relates, 

12 then the approval bill shall not be eligible for expedited 

13 consideration under the provisions of this part. 

14 ‘‘DEFINITIONS

15 ‘‘SEC. 1015. As used in this part: 

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

17 ‘appropriation measure’ means an Act referred to in 

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

19 any general or special appropriation Act, or any Act 

20 making supplemental, deficiency, or continuing ap21 propriations, that has been enacted into law pursu22 ant to article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the 

23 United States. 

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

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1 ing in a special message transmitted by the Presi2 dent under this part and— 

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

4 approving the proposed rescissions transmitted 

5 by the President on lll’, the blank space 

6 being filled in with the date of transmission of 

7 the relevant special message and the public law 

8 number to which the message relates; and 

9 ‘‘(B) which provides only the following 

10 after the enacting clause: ‘That the Congress 

11 approves the proposed rescissions lll’, the 

12 blank space being filled in with the list of the 

13 rescissions contained in the President’s special 

14 message, ‘as transmitted by the President in a 

15 special message on llll’, the blank space 

16 being filled in with the appropriate date, ‘re17 garding llll.’, the blank space being filled 

18 in with the public law number to which the spe19 cial message relates. 

20 ‘‘(3) RESCIND OR RESCISSION.—The terms ‘re21 scind’ or ‘rescission’ mean to permanently cancel or 

22 prevent budget authority or outlays available under 

23 an obligation limit from having legal force or effect. 


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1 ‘‘(4) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE.—The 

2 term ‘CBO’ means the Director of the Congressional 

3 Budget Office. 

4 ‘‘(5) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term 

5 ‘Comptroller General’ means the Comptroller Gen6 eral of the United States. 

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

8 term ‘deferral of budget authority’ includes— 

9 ‘‘(A) withholding or delaying the obliga10 tions or expenditure of budget authority 

11 (whether by establishing reserves or otherwise) 

12 provided for projects or activities; or 

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

14 inaction which effectively precludes the obliga15 tion or expenditure of budget authority, includ16 ing authority to obligate by contract in advance 

17 of appropriations as specifically authorized by 

18 law. 

19 ‘‘(7) FUNDING.—(A) Except as provided in sub20 paragraph (B), the term ‘funding’ means all or part 

21 of the dollar amount of budget authority or obliga22 tion limit— 

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

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1 cific proviso in an appropriation measure for 

2 which a specific dollar figure was not included; 

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

4 chart, or explanatory text included in the state5 ment of managers or the governing committee 

6 report accompanying such law; or 

7 ‘‘(iii) represented by the product of the es8 timated procurement cost and the total quantity 

9 of items specified in an appropriation measure 

10 or included in the statement of managers or the 

11 governing committee report accompanying such 

12 law. 

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

14 ‘‘(i) direct spending; 

15 ‘‘(ii) budget authority in an appropriation 

16 measure which funds direct spending provided 

17 for in other law; 

18 ‘‘(iii) any existing budget authority can19 celed in an appropriation measure; or 

20 ‘‘(iv) any restriction or condition in an ap21 propriation measure or the accompanying state22 ment of managers or committee reports on the 

23 expenditure of budget authority for an account, 

24 program, project, or activity, or on activities in25 volving such expenditure. 


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1 ‘‘(8) WITHHOLD.—The terms ‘withhold’ and 

2 ‘withholding’ apply to any executive action or inac3 tion that precludes the obligation of funding at a 

4 time when it would otherwise have been available to 

5 an agency for obligation. The terms do not include 

6 administrative or preparatory actions undertaken 

7 prior to obligation in the normal course of imple8 menting budget laws. 

9 ‘‘EXPIRATION

10 ‘‘SEC. 1016. On December 15, 2015, the amend11 ments made by the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto 

12 and Rescissions Act of 2012 shall be replaced by the provi13 sions of part B of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

14 as in effect immediately before the date of enactment of 

15 the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions 

16 Act of 2012.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

18 (a) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—Section 

19 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

20 621 note) is amended— 

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

22 inserting ‘‘1013’’; and 

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

24 1017’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1013’’. 

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

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1 ment Control Act of 1974 is amended to read as follows: 

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

3 be cited as the ‘Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and 

4 Rescissions Act of 2012’.’’. 

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

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

7 it appears and inserting ‘‘section 1011 or 1019’’ and sec8 tion 1018 (as redesignated) is amended by striking ‘‘cal9 endar’’ and ‘‘of continuous session’’. 

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

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

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

13 forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Im14 poundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by striking 

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

16 items relating to the sections therein) of title X and insert17 ing the following: 

‘‘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.’’. 

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

19 this Act shall apply to funding as defined in section 

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1 ment Control of 1974 in any Act enacted after the date 

2 of enactment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 4. APPROVAL MEASURES CONSIDERED. 

4 Section 314 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

5 is amended— 

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

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

8 subsection (a) the following new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(b) ADJUSTMENTS FOR RESCISSIONS.—(1) When10 ever an approval bill passes the House of Representatives, 

11 the Committee on the Budget shall immediately reduce the 

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

13 amount of reductions in budget authority and in outlays 

14 resulting from such approval bill. 

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

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

17 and 

18 (2) in subsection (d) (as redesignated), by in19 serting ‘‘or (b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 8, 

2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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