II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2443 

To grant the power to the President to reduce budget authority. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 16 (legislative day, MARCH 15), 2006 

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To grant the power to the President to reduce budget 

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 ‘‘Separate Enrollment 

5 and Line Item Veto Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STRUCTURE OF LEGISLATION. 

7 (a) APPROPRIATIONS LEGISLATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee on Appro9 priations of either the House or the Senate shall not 

10 report an appropriation measure that fails to contain 

11 such level of detail on the allocation of an item of 


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1 appropriation proposed by that House as is set forth 

2 in the committee report accompanying such bill. 

3 (2) POINT OF ORDER.—If an appropriation 

4 measure is reported to the House or Senate that 

5 fails to contain the level of detail on the allocation 

6 of an item of appropriation as required in paragraph 

7 (1), it shall not be in order in that House to con8 sider such measure. If a point of order under this 

9 paragraph is sustained, the measure shall be recom10 mitted to the Committee on Appropriations of that 

11 House. 

12 (b) AUTHORIZATION LEGISLATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—A committee of either the 

14 House or the Senate shall not report an authoriza15 tion measure that contains new direct spending or 

16 new targeted tax benefits unless such measure pre17 sents each new direct spending or new targeted tax 

18 benefit as a separate item and the accompanying 

19 committee report for that measure shall contain 

20 such level of detail as is necessary to clearly identify 

21 the allocation of new direct spending or new targeted 

22 tax benefits. 

23 (2) POINT OF ORDER.—If an authorization 

24 measure is reported to the House or Senate that 

25 fails to comply with paragraph (1), it shall not be 


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1 in order in that House to consider such measure. If 

2 a point of order under this paragraph is sustained, 

3 the measure shall be recommitted to the committee 

4 of jurisdiction of that House. 

5 (c) CONFERENCE REPORTS.— 

6 (1) APPROPRIATIONS.—A committee of con7 ference to which is committed an appropriations 

8 measure shall not file a conference report in either 

9 House that fails to contain the level of detail on the 

10 allocation of an item of appropriation as is set forth 

11 in the statement of managers accompanying that re12 port. 

13 (2) AUTHORIZATIONS.—A committee of con14 ference to which is committed an authorization 

15 measure shall not file a conference report in either 

16 House unless such measure presents each direct 

17 spending or targeted tax benefit as a separate item 

18 and the statement of managers accompanying that 

19 report clearly identifies each such item. 

20 (3) POINT OF ORDER.—If a conference report 

21 is presented to the House or Senate that fails to 

22 comply with either paragraph (1) or (2), it shall not 

23 be in order in that House to consider such con24 ference report. If a point of order under this para25 graph is sustained in the House to first consider the 


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1 conference report, the measure shall be deemed re2 committed to the committee of conference. 

3 SEC. 3. WAIVERS AND APPEALS. 

4 Any provision of section 2 may be waived or sus5 pended in the House or Senate only by an affirmative vote 

6 of three-fifths of the Members of that House duly chosen 

7 and sworn. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Mem8 bers duly chosen and sworn shall be required to sustain 

9 an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order 

10 raised under that section. 

11 SEC. 4. SEPARATE ENROLLMENT. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

13 (1) ENROLLMENT.—Notwithstanding any other 

14 provision of law, when any appropriation or author15 ization measure first passes both Houses of Con16 gress in the same form, the Secretary of the Senate 

17 (in the case of a measure originating in the Senate) 

18 or the Clerk of the House of Representatives (in the 

19 case of a measure originating in the House of Rep20 resentatives) shall disaggregate the items as ref21 erenced in section 6(4) and assign each item a new 

22 bill number. After disaggregation each item shall be 

23 treated as a separate bill to be considered as pro24 vided in subsection (b). The remainder of the bill not 

25 so disaggregated shall constitute a separate bill and 


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1 shall be considered with the other disaggregated bills 

2 pursuant to subsection (b). 

3 (2) FORM.—A bill that is required to be 

4 disaggregated into separate bills pursuant to para5 graph (1)— 

6 (A) shall be disaggregated without sub7 stantive revision; and 

8 (B) shall bear the designation of the meas9 ure of which it was an item prior to such 

10 disaggregation, together with such other des11 ignation as may be necessary to distinguish 

12 such measure from other measures 

13 disaggregated pursuant to paragraph (1) with 

14 respect to the same measure. 

15 (b) PROCEDURE.—The new bills resulting from the 

16 disaggregation described in subsection (a)(1) shall be im17 mediately placed on the appropriate calendar in the House 

18 of origination, and upon passage, placed on the appro19 priate calendar in the other House. They shall be the next 

20 order of business in each House and they shall be consid21 ered and voted on en bloc and shall not be subject to 

22 amendment. A motion to proceed to the bills shall be non23 debatable. Debate in the House of Representatives or the 

24 Senate on the bill shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, 

25 which shall be divided equally between the majority leader 


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1 and the minority leader. A motion further to limit debate 

2 is not debatable. A motion to recommit the bills is not 

3 in order, and it is not in order to move to reconsider the 

4 vote by which the bills are agreed to or disagreed to. 

5 SEC. 5. VETO OF BILL. 

6 (a) DEFICIT REDUCTION.—Amounts of budget au7 thority, new direct spending, and revenues represented by 

8 a new targeted tax benefit contained in a bill enacted 

9 under this Act that is vetoed (with such veto not over10 ridden by Congress) shall be dedicated only to deficit re11 duction and shall not be used as an offset for other spend12 ing increases. 

13 (b) ADJUSTMENTS TO COMMITTEE ALLOCATIONS.— 

14 Not later than 5 days after the date a veto described in 

15 subsection (a) is no longer subject to override, the chairs 

16 of the Committees on the Budget of the Senate and the 

17 House of Representatives shall revise levels under section 

18 311(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and ad19 just the committee allocations under section 302(a) of the 

20 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to reflect the rescission, 

21 and the appropriate committees shall report revised alloca22 tions pursuant to section 302(b) of the Congressional 

23 Budget Act of 1974, as appropriate. 

24 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this title: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATION MEASURE.—The term ‘‘ap2 propriation measure’’ means any general or special 

3 appropriation bill or any bill or joint resolution mak4 ing supplemental, deficiency, or continuing appro5 priations. 

6 (2) AUTHORIZATION MEASURE.—The term ‘‘au7 thorization measure’’ means any measure other than 

8 an appropriations measure that contains a provision 

9 providing direct spending or targeted tax benefits. 

10 (3) DIRECT SPENDING.—The term ‘‘direct 

11 spending’’ shall have the same meaning given to 

12 such term in section 250(c)(8) of the Balanced 

13 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

14 (4) ITEM.—The term ‘‘item’’ means— 

15 (A) with respect to an appropriations 

16 measure— 

17 (i) any numbered section, 

18 (ii) any unnumbered paragraph, or 

19 (iii) any allocation or suballocation of 

20 an appropriation, made in compliance with 

21 section 2(a), contained in a numbered sec22 tion or an unnumbered paragraph but 

23 shall not include a provision which does 

24 not appropriate funds, direct the President 

25 to expend funds for any specific project, or 


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1 create an express or implied obligation to 

2 expend funds and— 

3 (I) rescinds or cancels existing 

4 budget authority; 

5 (II) only limits, conditions, or 

6 otherwise restricts the President’s au7 thority to spend otherwise appro8 priated funds; or 

9 (III) conditions on an item of ap10 propriation not involving a positive al11 location of funds by explicitly prohib12 iting the use of any funds; and 

13 (B) with respect to an authorization meas14 ure— 

15 (i) any numbered section, or 

16 (ii) any unnumbered paragraph, that 

17 contains new direct spending or a new tar18 geted tax benefit presented and identified 

19 in conformance with section 2(b). 

20 (5) TARGETED TAX BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘tar21 geted tax benefit’’ means any provision— 

22 (A) estimated by the Joint Committee on 

23 Taxation as losing revenue for any one of the 

24 three following periods— 


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1 (i) the first fiscal year covered by the 

2 most recently adopted concurrent resolu3 tion on the budget; 

4 (ii) the period of the 5 fiscal years 

5 covered by the most recently adopted con6 current resolution on the budget; or 

7 (iii) the period of the 5 fiscal years 

8 following the first 5 years covered by the 

9 most recently adopted concurrent resolu10 tion on the budget; and 

11 (B) having the practical effect of providing 

12 more favorable tax treatment to a particular 

13 taxpayer or limited group of taxpayers when 

14 compared with other similarly situated tax15 payers. 

16 SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW. 

17 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.— 

18 (1) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—Any Member of 

19 Congress may bring an action, in the United States 

20 District Court for the District of Columbia, for de21 claratory judgment and injunctive relief on the 

22 ground that a provision of this Act violates the Con23 stitution. 

24 (2) INTERVENTION BY HOUSES.—A copy of any 

25 complaint in an action brought under paragraph (1) 


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1 shall be promptly delivered to the Secretary of the 

2 Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representa3 tives, and each House of Congress shall have the 

4 right to intervene in such action. 

5 (3) PANEL.—Any action brought under para6 graph (1) shall be heard and determined by a three7 judge court in accordance with section 2284 of title 

8 28, United States Code. 

9 (4) AUTHORITY OF HOUSES.—Nothing in this 

10 section or in any other law shall infringe upon the 

11 right of the House of Representatives or the Senate 

12 to intervene in an action brought under paragraph 

13 (1) without the necessity of adopting a resolution to 

14 authorize such intervention. 

15 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding 

16 any other provisions of law, any order of the United States 

17 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued 

18 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub19 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the 

20 Supreme Court of the United States. Any such appeal 

21 shall be taken by a notice of appeal filed within 10 days 

22 after such order is entered; and the jurisdictional state23 ment shall be filed within 30 days after such order is en24 tered. No stay of an order issued pursuant to an action 


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1 brought under paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall be 

2 issued by a single Justice of the Supreme Court. 

3 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the 

4 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia 

5 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance 

6 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible ex7 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub8 section (a). 

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

10 the application of such provision to any person or cir11 cumstance is held unconstitutional, the remainder of this 

12 Act and the application of the provisions of such Act to 

13 any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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