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Union Calendar No. 5

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2

[Report No. 104–11, Parts I and II]

To give the President item veto authority over appropriation Acts and

targeted tax benefits in revenue Acts.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. CLINGER, Mr. BLUTE, Mr. NEUMANN, and Mr. PARKER (for themselves,

Mr. ALLARD, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. BUNNING, Mr.

BACHUS, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARR, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr.

BARTON of Texas, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BONO, Mr. BRYANT of Tennessee,

Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. BURR, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CALVERT,

Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. CAMP, Mr. CANADY, Mr. CASTLE, Mr.

CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CHRYSLER, Mr. COBURN, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia,

Miss COLLINS of Michigan, Mr. COOLEY, Mr. COX, Mr. CRANE, Mr.

CRAPO, Mr. CREMEANS, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Ms. DANNER, Mr. DAVIS,

Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DORNAN, Mr. DREIER, Ms. DUNN, Mr. EMERSON,

Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. EWING,

Mr. FAWELL, Mr. FLANAGAN, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FORBES, Ms. FOWLER,

Mr. FOX, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. FRISA, Mr. GANSKE, Mr. GILLMOR,

Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. GOSS, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. GUNDERSON, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. HEINEMAN, Mr. HERGER, Mr.

HILLEARY, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. HOKE, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. HORN, Mr.

HOUGHTON, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr.

ISTOOK, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. JONES, Mr. KIM, Mr.

KINGSTON, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. LARGENT, Mr.

LATHAM, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. LAZIO, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr.

LIGHTFOOT, Mr. LINDER, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. LONGLEY, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. MICA, Mr. MILLER of Florida,

Ms. MOLINARI, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PACKARD,

Mr. POMBO, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. QUILLEN, Mr. QUINN, Mr.

RADANOVICH, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. RIGGS, Mr. ROTH, Mr. ROYCE,

Mr. SANFORD, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr.

SHADEGG, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. SMITH
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of New Jersey, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. STEARNS, Mr.

STOCKMAN, Mr. STUMP, Mr. TALENT, Mr. TATE, Mr. TAYLOR of North

Carolina, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. UPTON, Mrs.

WALDHOLTZ, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. WELDON of

Pennsylvania, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. WICKER, Mr. WELLER, Mr. ZELIFF,

Mr. ZIMMER, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. PAXON, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. COBLE, Mr. EHRLICH, and Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, 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.

JANUARY 27, 1995

Reported from the Committee on Rules with amendments

[Omit the part in black brackets and insert the part printed in boldface roman]

JANUARY 30, 1995

Additional sponsors: Ms. PRYCE, Mr. BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. CHABOT, Mr.

CONDIT, Mr. LIVINGSTON, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MOORHEAD,

Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. NEY, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. POSHARD, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mrs. SEASTRAND, Mr. SOUDER,

Mr. WALKER, and Mr. KLUG

Deleted sponsor: Miss COLLINS of Michigan (added January 4, 1995; deleted

January 24, 1995)

JANUARY 30, 1995

Reported from the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight with

amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

A BILL

To give the President item veto authority over appropriation

Acts and targeted tax benefits in revenue Acts.

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 ‘‘Line Item Veto Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. LINE ITEM VETO AUTHORITY.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provisions of

3 part B of title X of The Congressional Budget and Im4 poundment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provi5 sions of this section, the President may rescind all or part

6 of any discretionary budget authority or veto any targeted

7 tax benefit which is subject to the terms of this Act if

8 the President—

9 (1) determines that—

10 (A) such rescission or veto would help re11 duce the Federal budget deficit;

12 (B) such rescission or veto will not impair

13 any essential Government functions; and

14 (C) such rescission or veto will not harm

15 the national interest; and

16 (2) notifies the Congress of such rescission or

17 veto by a special message not later than twenty cal18 endar days (not including Saturdays, Sundays, or

19 holidays) ten calendar days (not including Sundays)

20 after the date of enactment of a regular or supple21 mental appropriation Act or a joint resolution mak22 ing continuing appropriations an appropriation Act

23 providing such budget authority or a revenue or rec24 onciliation Act containing a targeted tax benefit.

25 (b) DEFICIT REDUCTION.—In each special message,

26 the President may also propose to reduce the appropriate
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1 discretionary spending limit set forth in section 601(a)(2)

2 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by an amount that

3 does not exceed the total amount of discretionary budget au4 thority rescinded by that message.

5 (c) SEPARATE MESSAGES.—The President shall sub6 mit a separate rescission special message for each appro7 priation Act and for each revenue or reconciliation Act

8 under this paragraph.

9 SEC. 3. LINE ITEM VETO EFFECTIVE UNLESS DIS10 APPROVED.

11 (a)(1) Any amount of budget authority rescinded

12 under this Act as set forth in a special message by the

13 President shall be deemed canceled unless, during the pe14 riod described in subsection (b), a rescission/receipts dis15 approval bill making available all of the amount rescinded

16 is enacted into law.

17 (2) Any provision of law vetoed under this Act as set

18 forth in a special message by the President shall be

19 deemed repealed unless, during the period described in

20 subsection (b), a rescission/receipts disapproval bill restor21 ing that provision is enacted into law.

22 (b) The period referred to in subsection (a) is—

23 (1) a congressional review period of twenty cal24 endar days of session, beginning on the first calendar

25 day of session after the date of submission of the spe-
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1 cial message, during which Congress must complete

2 action on the rescission/receipts disapproval bill and

3 present such bill to the President for approval or

4 disapproval;

5 (2) after the period provided in paragraph (1),

6 an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur7 ing which the President may exercise his authority

8 to sign or veto the rescission/receipts disapproval

9 bill; and

10 (3) if the President vetoes the rescission/re11 ceipts disapproval bill during the period provided in

12 paragraph (2), an additional five calendar days of

13 session after the date of the veto.

14 (c) If a special message is transmitted by the Presi15 dent under this Act and the last session of the Congress

16 adjourns sine die before the expiration of the period de17 scribed in subsection (b), the rescission or veto, as the case

18 may be, shall not take effect. The message shall be deemed

19 to have been retransmitted on the first day Monday in

20 February of the succeeding Congress and the review period

21 referred to in subsection (b) (with respect to such mes22 sage) shall run beginning after such first day.

23 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

24 As used in this Act:
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1 (1) The term ‘‘rescission/receipts disapproval

2 bill’’ means a bill or joint resolution øwhich—

3 ø(A) only disapproves a rescission of dis4 cretionary budget authority, in whole, re5 scinded, or

6 ø(B) only disapproves a veto of any tar7 geted tax benefit,

8 in a special message transmitted by the President

9 under this Act.¿ which only disapproves, in

10 whole, rescissions of discretionary budg11 et authority or only disapproves vetoes of

12 targeted tax benefits in a special message

13 transmitted by the President under this

14 Act and—

15 (A) which does not have a pre16 amble;

17 (B)(i) in the case of a special mes18 sage regarding rescissions, the matter

19 after the enacting clause of which is

20 as follows: ‘‘That Congress dis21 approves each rescission of discre22 tionary budget authority of the Presi23 dent as submitted by the President in

24 a special message on llll’’, the

25 blank space being filled in with the
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1 appropriate date and the public law

2 to which the message relates; and

3 (ii) in the case of a special mes4 sage regarding vetoes of targeted tax

5 benefits, the matter after the enact6 ing clause of which is as follows:

7 ‘‘That Congress disapproves each veto

8 of targeted tax benefits of the Presi9 dent as submitted by the President in

10 a special message on llll’’, the

11 blank space being filled in with the

12 appropriate date and the public law

13 to which the message relates; and

14 (C) the title of which is as follows:

15 ‘‘A bill disapproving the recommenda16 tions submitted by the President on

17 llll’’, the blank space being filled

18 in with the date of submission of the

19 relevant special message and the pub20 lic law to which the message relates.

21 (2) The term ‘‘calendar days of session’’ shall

22 mean only those days on which both Houses of Con23 gress are in session.

24 (3) The term ‘‘targeted tax benefit’’ means any

25 provision of a revenue Act which the President de-
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1 termines would provide a Federal tax benefit to 5 or

2 fewer taxpayers.

3 (3) The term ‘‘targeted tax benefit’’ means any

4 provision of a revenue or reconciliation Act deter5 mined by the President to provide a Federal tax de6 duction, credit, exclusion, preference, or other conces7 sion to 100 or fewer beneficiaries. Any partnership,

8 limited partnership, trust, or S corporation, and any

9 subsidiary or affiliate of the same parent corporation,

10 shall be deemed and counted as a single beneficiary

11 regardless of the number of partners, limited partners,

12 beneficiaries, shareholders, or affiliated corporate en13 tities.

14 (4) The term ‘‘appropriation Act’’ means any

15 general or special appropriation Act, and any Act or

16 joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or

17 continuing appropriations.

18 SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LINE ITEM

19 VETOES.

20 (a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever

21 the President rescinds any budget authority as provided

22 in this Act or vetoes any provision of law as provided in

23 this Act, the President shall transmit to both Houses of

24 Congress a special message specifying—
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1 (1) the amount of budget authority rescinded or

2 the provision vetoed;

3 (2) any account, department, or establishment

4 of the Government to which such budget authority

5 is available for obligation, and the specific project or

6 governmental functions involved;

7 (3) the reasons and justifications for the deter8 mination to rescind budget authority or veto any

9 provision pursuant to this Act;

10 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti11 mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the

12 rescission or veto; and

13 (5) all actions, circumstances, and consider14 ations relating to or bearing upon the rescission or

15 veto and the decision to effect the rescission or veto,

16 and to the maximum extent practicable, the esti17 mated effect of the rescission upon the objects, pur18 poses, and programs for which the budget authority

19 is provided.

20 (b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND

21 SENATE.—

22 (1) Each special message transmitted under

23 this Act shall be transmitted to the House of Rep24 resentatives and the Senate on the same day, and

25 shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Rep-
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1 resentatives if the House is not in session, and to

2 the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not in

3 session. Each special message so transmitted shall

4 be referred to the appropriate committees of the

5 House of Representatives and the Senate. Each such

6 message shall be printed as a document of each

7 House.

8 (2) Any special message transmitted under this

9 Act shall be printed in the first issue of the Federal

10 Register published after such transmittal.

11 ø(c) REFERRAL OF RESCISSION/RECEIPTS DIS12 APPROVAL BILLS.—Any rescission/receipts disapproval

13 bill introduced with respect to a special message shall be

14 referred to the appropriate committees of the House of

15 Representatives or the Senate, as the case may be.¿

16 (c) INTRODUCTION OF RESCISSION/RECEIPTS

17 DISAPPROVAL BILLS.—The procedures set forth

18 in subsection (d) shall apply to any rescission/

19 receipts disapproval bill introduced in the

20 House of Representatives not later than the

21 third calendar day of session beginning on

22 the day after the date of submission of a spe23 cial message by the President under section

24 3.
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1 (d) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP2 RESENTATIVES.—(1) The committee of the

3 House of Representatives to which a rescis4 sion/receipts disapproval bill is referred shall

5 report it without amendment, and with or

6 without recommendation, not later than the

7 eighth calendar day of session after the date

8 of its introduction. If the committee fails to

9 report the bill within that period, it is in

10 order to move that the House discharge the

11 committee from further consideration of the

12 bill. A motion to discharge may be made only

13 by an individual favoring the bill (but only

14 after the legislative day on which a Member

15 announces to the House the Member’s inten16 tion to do so). The motion is highly privileged.

17 Debate thereon shall be limited to not more

18 than one hour, the time to be divided in the

19 House equally between a proponent and an

20 opponent. The previous question shall be con21 sidered as ordered on the motion to its adop22 tion without intervening motion. A motion to

23 reconsider the vote by which the motion is

24 agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order.
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1 (2) After a rescission/receipts disapproval

2 bill is reported or the committee has been dis3 charged from further consideration, it is in

4 order to move that the House resolve into the

5 Committee of the Whole House on the State of

6 the Union for consideration of the bill. All

7 points of order against the bill and against

8 consideration of the bill are waived. The mo9 tion is highly privileged. The previous ques10 tion shall be considered as ordered on that

11 motion through its adoption without inter12 vening motion. A motion to reconsider the

13 vote by which the motion is agreed to or dis14 agreed to shall not be in order. During consid15 eration of the bill in the Committee of the

16 Whole, the first reading of the bill shall be dis17 pensed with. General debate shall proceed

18 without intervening motion, shall be confined

19 to the bill, and shall not exceed two hours

20 equally divided and controlled by a pro21 ponent and an opponent of the bill. After gen22 eral debate the Committee shall rise and re23 port the bill to the House. The previous ques24 tion shall be considered as ordered on the bill

25 to final passage without intervening motion.
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1 A motion to reconsider the vote on passage of

2 the bill shall not be in order.

3 (3) Appeals from the decisions of the

4 Chair relating to the application of the rules

5 of the House of Representatives to the proce6 dure relating to a bill described in subsection

7 (a) shall be decided without debate.

8 (4) It shall not be in order to consider

9 more than one bill described in subsection (c)

10 or more than one motion to discharge de11 scribed in paragraph (1) with respect to a par12 ticular special message.

13 (5) Consideration of any rescission/re14 ceipts disapproval bill under this subsection

15 is governed by the rules of the House of Rep16 resentatives except to the extent specifically

17 provided by the provisions of this Act.

18 ø(d)¿ (e) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

19 (1) Any rescission/receipts disapproval bill re20 ceived in the Senate from the House shall be consid21 ered in the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this

22 Act.

23 (2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission/re24 ceipts disapproval bill and debatable motions and ap25 peals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not
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1 more than ten hours. The time shall be equally di2 vided between, and controlled by, the majority leader

3 and the minority leader or their designees.

4 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo5 tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be

6 limited to one hour, to be equally divided between,

7 and controlled by the mover and the manager of the

8 bill, except that in the event the manager of the bill

9 is in favor of any such motion or appeal, the time

10 in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the mi11 nority leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either

12 of them, may, from the time under their control on

13 the passage of the bill, allot additional time to any

14 Senator during the consideration of any debatable

15 motion or appeal.

16 (4) A motion to further limit debate is not de17 batable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to

18 recommit with instructions to report back within a

19 specified number of days not to exceed one, not

20 counting any day on which the Senate is not in ses21 sion) is not in order.

22 ø(e)¿ (f) POINTS OF ORDER.—

23 (1) It shall not be in order in the Senate øor

24 the House of Representatives¿ to consider any re25 scission/receipts disapproval bill that relates to any
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1 matter other than the rescission of budget authority

2 or veto of the provision of law transmitted by the

3 President under this Act.

4 (2) It shall not be in order in the Senate øor

5 the House of Representatives¿ to consider any

6 amendment to a rescission/receipts disapproval bill.

7 (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) may be waived or

8 suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three9 fifths of the members duly chosen and sworn.

10 SEC. 6. REPORTS OF THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE.

11 Beginning on January 6, 1996, and at one-year inter12 vals thereafter, the Comptroller General shall submit a re13 port to each House of Congress which provides the following

14 information:

15 (1) A list of each proposed Presidential rescission

16 of discretionary budget authority and veto of a tar17 geted tax benefit submitted through special messages

18 for the fiscal year ending during the preceding cal19 endar year, together with their dollar value, and an

20 indication of whether each rescission of discretionary

21 budget authority or veto of a targeted tax benefit was

22 accepted or rejected by Congress.

23 (2) The total number of proposed Presidential re24 scissions of discretionary budget authority and vetoes

25 of a targeted tax benefit submitted through special
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1 messages for the fiscal year ending during the preced2 ing calendar year, together with their total dollar

3 value.

4 (3) The total number of Presidential rescissions

5 of discretionary budget authority or vetoes of a tar6 geted tax benefit submitted through special messages

7 for the fiscal year ending during the preceding cal8 endar year and approved by Congress, together with

9 their total dollar value.

10 (4) A list of rescissions of discretionary budget

11 authority initiated by Congress for the fiscal year

12 ending during the preceding calendar year, together

13 with their dollar value, and an indication of whether

14 each such rescission was accepted or rejected by Con15 gress.

16 (5) The total number of rescissions of discre17 tionary budget authority initiated and accepted by

18 Congress for the fiscal year ending during the preced19 ing calendar year, together with their total dollar

20 value.

21 (6) A summary of the information provided by

22 paragraphs (2), (3) and (5) for each of the ten fiscal

23 years ending before the fiscal year during this cal24 endar year.

Union Calendar No. 5

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2

[Report No. 104–11, Parts I and II]

A BILL

To give the President item veto authority over apenue Acts. propriation Acts and targeted tax benefits in revJANUARY 30, 1995Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee

dered to be printedof the Whole House on the State of the Union, and or-