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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1245

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for budgeting

for emergencies through the establishment of a budget reserve account,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 15, 1995

Mr. CASTLE 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 Act of 1974 to provide

for budgeting for emergencies through the establishment

of a budget reserve account, 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. ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDGET RESERVE AC4 COUNT.

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—A budget reserve account

6 (hereinafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘account’’)

7 shall be established for the purpose of setting aside ade-
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1 quate funding for natural disasters and national security

2 emergencies.

3 (b) PRIOR APPROPRIATION REQUIRED.—The ac4 count shall consist of such sums as may be provided in

5 advance in appropriation Acts for a particular fiscal year.

6 (c) RESTRICTION ON USE OF FUNDS.—(1) Notwith7 standing any other provision of law, the amounts in the

8 account shall not be available for other than emergency

9 funding requirements for particular natural disasters or

10 national security emergencies so designated by Acts of

11 Congress.

12 (2) Funds in the account that are not obligated dur13 ing the fiscal year for which they are appropriated may

14 only be used for deficit reduction purposes.

15 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS CHANGES.

16 (a) CONTENTS OF CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS ON

17 THE BUDGET.—Section 301(a) of the Congressional

18 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by redesignating para19 graphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively,

20 and by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new

21 paragraph:

22 ‘‘(6) total new budget authority and total

23 budget outlays for emergency funding requirements

24 for natural disasters and national security emer25 gencies to be included in a budget reserve account;’’.
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1 (b) SECTION 602 ALLOCATIONS.—(1) Section 602 of

2 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by add3 ing at the end the following new subsection:

4 ‘‘(f) COMMITTEE SPENDING ALLOCATIONS AND

5 SUBALLOCATIONS FOR BUDGET RESERVE ACCOUNT.—

6 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATIONS.—The joint explanatory

7 statement accompanying a conference report on a

8 budget resolution shall include allocations, consistent

9 with the resolution recommended in the conference

10 report, of the appropriate levels (for each fiscal year

11 covered by that resolution) of total new budget au12 thority and outlays to the Committee on Appropria13 tions of each House for emergency funding require14 ments for natural disasters and national security

15 emergencies to be included in a budget reserve

16 account.

17 ‘‘(2) SUBALLOCATIONS.—As soon as practicable

18 after a budget resolution is agreed to, the Commit19 tee on Appropriations of each House (after consult20 ing with the Committee on Appropriations of the

21 other House) shall suballocate each amount allocated

22 to it for the budget year under paragraph (1) among

23 its subcommittees. Each Committee on Appropria24 tions shall promptly report to its House
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1 suballocations made or revised under this

2 paragraph.’’.

3 (2) Section 602(c) of the Congressional Budget Act

4 of 1974 is amended by inserting ‘‘or subsection (f)(1)’’

5 after ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and by inserting ‘‘or subsection

6 (f)(2)’’ after ‘‘subsection (b)’’.

7 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF ADJUSTMENT FOR EMERGENCY APPRO8 PRIATIONS.

9 Section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Balanced Budget and

10 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is repealed.

11 SEC. 4. REPORTING.

12 Not later than November 30, 1996, and at annual

13 intervals thereafter, the Director of the Office of Manage14 ment and Budget shall submit a report to each House of

15 Congress listing the amounts of money expended from the

16 budget reserve account established under section 1 for the

17 fiscal year ending during that calendar year for each natu18 ral disaster and national security emergency.

19 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

20 This Act and the amendments made by it shall apply

21 to fiscal year 1996 and subsequent fiscal years.

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