II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2381 

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

to provide line item rescission authority. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2006 

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. TALENT, Mr. 

DEMINT, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. KYL, Mr. ALLARD, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. ENZI, 

Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. BURR, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. 

CHAFEE, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. THUNE, Mr. GREGG, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. 

VITTER, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. CRAPO, and Mr. THOMAS) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Budget 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 

Control Act of 1974 to provide line item rescission authority. 

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 ‘‘Legislative Line Item 

5 Veto Act of 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO. 

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

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

4 621 et seq.) is amended by striking part C and inserting 

5 the following: ‘‘ 

6 ‘‘PART C—LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO

7 ‘‘EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN PROPOSED

8 RESCISSIONS

9 ‘‘SEC. 1021. (a) PROPOSED RESCISSIONS.—The 

10 President may propose, at the time and in the manner 

11 provided in subsection (b), the rescission of any dollar 

12 amount of discretionary budget authority or the rescission, 

13 in whole or in part, of any item of direct spending. 

14 ‘‘(b) TRANSMITTAL OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL MESSAGE.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The President may 

17 transmit to Congress a special message pro18 posing to rescind any dollar amount of discre19 tionary budget authority or any item of direct 

20 spending. 

21 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.— 

22 Each special message shall specify, with respect 

23 to the budget authority or item of direct spend24 ing proposed to be rescinded— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the amount of budget authority 

2 or the specific item of direct spending that 

3 the President proposes be rescinded; 

4 ‘‘(ii) any account, department, or es5 tablishment of the Government to which 

6 such budget authority or item of direct 

7 spending is available for obligation, and 

8 the specific project or governmental func9 tions involved; 

10 ‘‘(iii) the reasons why such budget au11 thority or item of direct spending should 

12 be rescinded; 

13 ‘‘(iv) to the maximum extent prac14 ticable, the estimated fiscal, economic, and 

15 budgetary effect (including the effect on 

16 outlays and receipts in each fiscal year) of 

17 the proposed rescission; 

18 ‘‘(v) to the maximum extent prac19 ticable, all facts, circumstances, and con20 siderations relating to or bearing upon the 

21 proposed rescission and the decision to ef22 fect the proposed rescission, and the esti23 mated effect of the proposed rescission 

24 upon the objects, purposes, and programs 


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1 for which the budget authority or item of 

2 direct spending is provided; and 

3 ‘‘(vi) a draft bill that, if enacted, 

4 would rescind the budget authority or item 

5 of direct spending proposed to be rescinded 

6 in that special message. 

7 ‘‘(2) ENACTMENT OF RESCISSION BILL.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEFICIT REDUCTION.—Amounts of 

9 budget authority or items of direct spending 

10 which are rescinded pursuant to enactment of a 

11 bill as provided under this section shall be dedi12 cated only to deficit reduction and shall not be 

13 used as an offset for other spending increases. 

14 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT OF COMMITTEE ALLO15 CATIONS.—Not later than 5 days after the date 

16 of enactment of a rescission bill as provided 

17 under this section, the chairs of the Committees 

18 on the Budget of the Senate and the House of 

19 Representatives shall revise levels under section 

20 311(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

21 1974 and adjust the committee allocations 

22 under section 302(a) of the Congressional 

23 Budget Act of 1974 to reflect the rescission, 

24 and the appropriate committees shall report re25 vised allocations pursuant to section 302(b) of 


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1 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as ap2 propriate. 

3 ‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENTS TO CAPS.—After en4 actment of a rescission bill as provided under 

5 this section, the Office of Management and 

6 Budget shall revise applicable limits under the 

7 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Con8 trol Act of 1985, as appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(c) PROCEDURES FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDER10 ATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

12 ‘‘(A) INTRODUCTION.—Before the close of 

13 the second day of session of the Senate and the 

14 House of Representatives, respectively, after the 

15 date of receipt of a special message transmitted 

16 to Congress under subsection (b), the majority 

17 leader or minority leader of each House shall 

18 introduce (by request) a bill to rescind the 

19 amounts of budget authority or items of direct 

20 spending, as specified in the special message 

21 and the President’s draft bill. If the bill is not 

22 introduced as provided in the preceding sen23 tence in either House, then, on the third day of 

24 session of that House after the date of receipt 


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1 of that special message, any Member of that 

2 House may introduce the bill. 

3 ‘‘(B) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—The 

4 bill shall be referred to the appropriate com5 mittee. The committee shall report the bill with6 out substantive revision and with or without 

7 recommendation. The committee shall report 

8 the bill not later than the fifth day of session 

9 of that House after the date of introduction of 

10 the bill in that House. If the committee fails to 

11 report the bill within that period, the committee 

12 shall be automatically discharged from consider13 ation of the bill, and the bill shall be placed on 

14 the appropriate calendar. 

15 ‘‘(C) FINAL PASSAGE.—A vote on final 

16 passage of the bill shall be taken in the Senate 

17 and the House of Representatives on or before 

18 the close of the 10th day of session of that 

19 House after the date of the introduction of the 

20 bill in that House. If the bill is passed, the Sec21 retary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House 

22 of Representatives, as the case may be, shall 

23 cause the bill to be transmitted to the other 

24 House before the close of the next day of ses25 sion of that House. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP2 RESENTATIVES.— 

3 ‘‘(A) MOTION TO PROCEED TO CONSIDER4 ATION.—A motion in the House of Representa5 tives to proceed to the consideration of a bill 

6 under this subsection shall be highly privileged 

7 and not debatable. An amendment to the mo8 tion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in 

9 order to move to reconsider the vote by which 

10 the motion is agreed to or disagreed to. 

11 ‘‘(B) LIMITS ON DEBATE.—Debate in the 

12 House of Representatives on a bill under this 

13 subsection shall not exceed 4 hours, which shall 

14 be divided equally between those favoring and 

15 those opposing the bill. A motion further to 

16 limit debate shall not be debatable. It shall not 

17 be in order to move to recommit a bill under 

18 this subsection or to move to reconsider the 

19 vote by which the bill is agreed to or disagreed 

20 to. 

21 ‘‘(C) APPEALS.—Appeals from decisions of 

22 the Chair relating to the application of the 

23 Rules of the House of Representatives to the 

24 procedure relating to a bill under this section 

25 shall be decided without debate. 


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1 ‘‘(D) APPLICATION OF HOUSE RULES.— 

2 Except to the extent specifically provided in this 

3 section, consideration of a bill under this sec4 tion shall be governed by the Rules of the 

5 House of Representatives. It shall not be in 

6 order in the House of Representatives to con7 sider any bill introduced pursuant to the provi8 sions of this section under a suspension of the 

9 rules or under a special rule. 

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

11 ‘‘(A) MOTION TO PROCEED TO CONSIDER12 ATION.—A motion to proceed to the consider13 ation of a bill under this subsection in the Sen14 ate shall not be debatable. It shall not be in 

15 order to move to reconsider the vote by which 

16 the motion to proceed is agreed to or disagreed 

17 to. 

18 ‘‘(B) LIMITS ON DEBATE.—Debate in the 

19 Senate on a bill under this subsection, and all 

20 debatable motions and appeals in connection 

21 therewith (including debate pursuant to sub22 paragraph (D)), shall not exceed 10 hours, 

23 equally divided and controlled in the usual 

24 form. 


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1 ‘‘(C) APPEALS.—Debate in the Senate on 

2 any debatable motion or appeal in connection 

3 with a bill under this subsection shall be limited 

4 to not more than 1 hour, to be equally divided 

5 and controlled in the usual form. 

6 ‘‘(D) MOTION TO LIMIT DEBATE.—A mo7 tion in the Senate to further limit debate on a 

8 bill under this subsection is not debatable. 

9 ‘‘(E) MOTION TO RECOMMIT.—A motion to 

10 recommit a bill under this subsection is not in 

11 order. 

12 ‘‘(F) CONSIDERATION OF THE HOUSE

13 BILL.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the Senate has 

15 received the House companion bill to the 

16 bill introduced in the Senate prior to the 

17 vote required under paragraph (1)(C), then 

18 the Senate may consider, and the vote 

19 under paragraph (1)(C) may occur on, the 

20 House companion bill. 

21 ‘‘(ii) PROCEDURE AFTER VOTE ON

22 SENATE BILL.—If the Senate votes, pursu23 ant to paragraph (1)(C), on the bill intro24 duced in the Senate, then immediately fol25 lowing that vote, or upon receipt of the 


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1 House companion bill, the House bill shall 

2 be deemed to be considered, read the third 

3 time, and the vote on passage of the Sen4 ate bill shall be considered to be the vote 

5 on the bill received from the House. 

6 ‘‘(d) AMENDMENTS AND DIVISIONS PROHIBITED.— 

7 No amendment to a bill considered under this section shall 

8 be in order in either the Senate or the House of Rep9 resentatives. It shall not be in order to demand a division 

10 of the question in the House of Representatives (or in a 

11 Committee of the Whole). No motion to suspend the appli12 cation of this subsection shall be in order in the House 

13 of Representatives, nor shall it be in order in the House 

14 of Representatives to suspend the application of this sub15 section by unanimous consent. 

16 ‘‘(e) TEMPORARY PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO

17 WITHHOLD.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the same time as the 

19 President transmits to Congress a special message 

20 pursuant to subsection (b), the President may direct 

21 that any dollar amount of discretionary budget au22 thority proposed to be rescinded in that special mes23 sage shall not be made available for obligation for a 

24 period not to exceed 180 calendar days from the 


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1 date the President transmits the special message to 

2 Congress. 

3 ‘‘(2) EARLY AVAILABILITY.—The President 

4 may make any dollar amount of discretionary budget 

5 authority deferred pursuant to paragraph (1) avail6 able at a time earlier than the time specified by the 

7 President if the President determines that continu8 ation of the deferral would not further the purposes 

9 of this Act. 

10 ‘‘(f) TEMPORARY PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO

11 SUSPEND.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the same time as the 

13 President transmits to Congress a special message 

14 pursuant to subsection (b), the President may sus15 pend the execution of any item of direct spending 

16 proposed to be rescinded in that special message for 

17 a period not to exceed 180 calendar days from the 

18 date the President transmits the special message to 

19 Congress. 

20 ‘‘(2) EARLY AVAILABILITY.—The President 

21 may terminate the suspension of any item of direct 

22 spending at a time earlier than the time specified by 

23 the President if the President determines that con24 tinuation of the suspension would not further the 

25 purposes of this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

2 ‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriation law’ means any 

3 general or special appropriation Act, and any Act or 

4 joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or 

5 continuing appropriations; 

6 ‘‘(2) the term ‘deferral’ has, with respect to any 

7 dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, the 

8 same meaning as the phrase ‘deferral of budget au9 thority’ defined in section 1011(1) in part B (2 

10 U.S.C. 682(1)); 

11 ‘‘(3) the term ‘dollar amount of discretionary 

12 budget authority’ means the entire dollar amount of 

13 budget authority and obligation limitations— 

14 ‘‘(A) specified in an appropriation law, or 

15 the entire dollar amount of budget authority re16 quired to be allocated by a specific proviso in an 

17 appropriation law for which a specific dollar fig18 ure was not included; 

19 ‘‘(B) represented separately in any table, 

20 chart, or explanatory text included in the state21 ment of managers or the governing committee 

22 report accompanying such law; 

23 ‘‘(C) required to be allocated for a specific 

24 program, project, or activity in a law (other 

25 than an appropriation law) that mandates the 


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1 expenditure of budget authority from accounts, 

2 programs, projects, or activities for which budg3 et authority is provided in an appropriation law; 

4 ‘‘(D) represented by the product of the es5 timated procurement cost and the total quantity 

6 of items specified in an appropriation law or in7 cluded in the statement of managers or the gov8 erning committee report accompanying such 

9 law; or 

10 ‘‘(E) represented by the product of the es11 timated procurement cost and the total quantity 

12 of items required to be provided in a law (other 

13 than an appropriation law) that mandates the 

14 expenditure of budget authority from accounts, 

15 programs, projects, or activities for which dollar 

16 amount of discretionary budget authority is 

17 provided in an appropriation law; 

18 ‘‘(4) the terms ‘rescind’ or ‘rescission’ mean to 

19 modify or repeal a provision of law to prevent— 

20 ‘‘(A) budget authority from having legal 

21 force or effect; 

22 ‘‘(B) in the case of entitlement authority, 

23 to prevent the specific legal obligation of the 

24 United States from having legal force or effect; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(C) in the case of the food stamp pro2 gram, to prevent the specific provision of law 

3 that provides such benefit from having legal 

4 force or effect; 

5 ‘‘(5) the term ‘direct spending’ means budget 

6 authority provided by law (other than an appropria7 tion law); entitlement authority; and the food stamp 

8 program; 

9 ‘‘(6) the term ‘item of direct spending’ means 

10 any specific provision of law enacted after the effec11 tive date of the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 

12 2006 that is estimated to result in a change in 

13 budget authority or outlays for direct spending rel14 ative to the most recent levels calculated pursuant to 

15 section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

16 Deficit Control Act of 1985 and included with a 

17 budget submission under section 1105(a) of title 31, 

18 United States Code, and with respect to estimates 

19 made after that budget submission that are not in20 cluded with it, estimates consistent with the eco21 nomic and technical assumptions underlying the 

22 most recently submitted President’s budget; 

23 ‘‘(7) the term ‘suspend the execution’ means, 

24 with respect to an item of direct spending or a tar25 geted tax benefit, to stop for a specified period, in 


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1 whole or in part, the carrying into effect of the spe2 cific provision of law that provides such benefit; and 

3 ‘‘(8)(A) the term ‘targeted tax benefit’ means— 

4 ‘‘(i) any revenue-losing provision that pro5 vides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclusion, 

6 or preference to 100 or fewer beneficiaries 

7 under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in 

8 any fiscal year for which the provision is in ef9 fect; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) any Federal tax provision that pro11 vides temporary or permanent transitional relief 

12 for 10 or fewer beneficiaries in any fiscal year 

13 from a change to the Internal Revenue Code of 

14 1986; 

15 ‘‘(B) a provision shall not be treated as de16 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i) if the effect of that 

17 provision is that— 

18 ‘‘(i) all persons in the same industry or en19 gaged in the same type of activity receive the 

20 same treatment; 

21 ‘‘(ii) all persons owning the same type of 

22 property, or issuing the same type of invest23 ment, receive the same treatment; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) any difference in the treatment of 

25 persons is based solely on— 


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1 ‘‘(I) in the case of businesses and as2 sociations, the size or form of the business 

3 or association involved; 

4 ‘‘(II) in the case of individuals, gen5 eral demographic conditions, such as in6 come, marital status, number of depend7 ents, or tax-return-filing status; 

8 ‘‘(III) the amount involved; or 

9 ‘‘(IV) a generally-available election 

10 under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; 

11 ‘‘(C) a provision shall not be treated as de12 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii) if— 

13 ‘‘(i) it provides for the retention of prior 

14 law with respect to all binding contracts or 

15 other legally enforceable obligations in existence 

16 on a date contemporaneous with congressional 

17 action specifying such date; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) it is a technical correction to pre19 viously enacted legislation that is estimated to 

20 have no revenue effect; 

21 ‘‘(D) for purposes of subparagraph (A)— 

22 ‘‘(i) all businesses and associations that 

23 are members of the same controlled group of 

24 corporations (as defined in section 1563(a) of 


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1 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) shall be 

2 treated as a single beneficiary; 

3 ‘‘(ii) all qualified plans of an employer 

4 shall be treated as a single beneficiary; 

5 ‘‘(iii) all holders of the same bond issue 

6 shall be treated as a single beneficiary; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) if a corporation, partnership, associa8 tion, trust or estate is the beneficiary of a pro9 vision, the shareholders of the corporation, the 

10 partners of the partnership, the members of the 

11 association, or the beneficiaries of the trust or 

12 estate shall not also be treated as beneficiaries 

13 of such provision; 

14 ‘‘(E) for the purpose of this paragraph, the 

15 term ‘revenue-losing provision’ means any provision 

16 that results in a reduction in Federal tax revenues 

17 for any one of the two following periods— 

18 ‘‘(i) the first fiscal year for which the pro19 vision is effective; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) the period of the 5 fiscal years begin21 ning with the first fiscal year for which the pro22 vision is effective; and 

23 ‘‘(F) the terms used in this paragraph shall 

24 have the same meaning as those terms have genVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:45 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2381.IS S2381

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1 erally in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, unless 

2 otherwise expressly provided. 

3 ‘‘(h) APPLICATION TO TARGETED TAX BENEFITS.— 

4 The President may propose the repeal of any targeted tax 

5 benefit in any bill that includes such a benefit, under the 

6 same conditions, and subject to the same Congressional 

7 consideration, as a proposal under this section to rescind 

8 an item of direct spending.’’. 

9 (b) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—Section 

10 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

11 621 note) is amended— 

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

13 and inserting ‘‘1017, and 1021’’; and 

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

15 1017’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 1017 and 1021’’. 

16 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section 1(a) of 

17 the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act 

18 of 1974 is amended by— 

19 (A) striking ‘‘Parts A and B’’ before ‘‘title X’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘Parts A, B, and C’’; and 

21 (B) striking the last sentence and inserting at 

22 the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Part C of title 

23 X also may be cited as the ‘Legislative Line Item 

24 Veto Act of 2006’.’’. 


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1 (2) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of con2 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional 

3 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is 

4 amended by deleting the contents for part C of title 

5 X and inserting the following: 

‘‘PART C—LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO

‘‘Sec. 1021. expedited consideration of certain proposed rescissions.’’. 

6 (d) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 

7 the amendments made by it is held to be unconstitutional, 

8 the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by 

9 it shall not be affected by the holding. 

10 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

11 this Act shall— 

12 (1) take effect on the date of enactment of this 

13 Act; and 

14 (2) apply only to any dollar amount of discre15 tionary budget authority, item of direct spending, or 

16 targeted tax benefit provided in an Act enacted on 

17 or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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