IIA

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 7 (legislative day, JANUARY 30), 1995

Received; read twice and referred jointly to the Committees on the Budget and

Governmental Affairs, with instructions that if one committee reports, the

other committee have thirty days to report or be discharged

AN ACT

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’’.

5 SEC. 2. LINE ITEM VETO AUTHORITY.

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

7 part B of title X of the Congressional Budget and Im8 poundment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provi9 sions of this section, the President may rescind all or part

10 of any dollar amount of any discretionary budget authority

11 specified in an appropriation Act or conference report or

12 joint explanatory statement accompanying a conference
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1 report on the Act, or veto any targeted tax benefit which

2 is subject to the terms of this Act if the President—

3 (1) determines that—

4 (A) such rescission or veto would help re5 duce the Federal budget deficit;

6 (B) such rescission or veto will not impair

7 any essential Government functions; and

8 (C) such rescission or veto will not harm

9 the national interest; and

10 (2) notifies the Congress of such rescission or

11 veto by a special message not later than ten calendar

12 days (not including Sundays) after the date of en13 actment of an appropriation Act providing such

14 budget authority or a revenue or reconciliation Act

15 containing a targeted tax benefit.

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

17 the President may also propose to reduce the appropriate

18 discretionary spending limit set forth in section 601(a)(2)

19 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by an amount

20 that does not exceed the total amount of discretionary

21 budget authority rescinded by that message.

22 (c) SEPARATE MESSAGES.—The President shall sub23 mit a separate special message for each appropriation Act

24 and for each revenue or reconciliation Act under this sec25 tion.
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1 (d) LIMITATION.—No special message submitted by

2 the President under this section may change any prohibi3 tion or limitation of discretionary budget authority set

4 forth in any appropriation Act.

5 (e) SPECIAL RULE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1995 APPRO6 PRIATION MEASURES.—Notwithstanding subsection

7 (a)(2), in the case of any unobligated discretionary budget

8 authority provided by any appropriation Act for fiscal year

9 1995, the President may rescind all or part of that discre10 tionary budget authority under the terms of this Act if

11 the President notifies the Congress of such rescission by

12 a special message not later than ten calendar days (not

13 including Sundays) after the date of enactment of this

14 Act.

15 SEC. 3. LINE ITEM VETO EFFECTIVE UNLESS DIS16 APPROVED.

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

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

19 President shall be deemed canceled unless, during the pe20 riod described in subsection (b), a rescission/receipts dis21 approval bill making available all of the amount rescinded

22 is enacted into law.

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

24 forth in a special message by the President shall be

25 deemed repealed unless, during the period described in
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1 subsection (b), a rescission/receipts disapproval bill restor2 ing that provision is enacted into law.

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

4 (1) a congressional review period of twenty cal5 endar days of session, beginning on the first cal6 endar day of session after the date of submission of

7 the special message, during which Congress must

8 complete action on the rescission/receipts disapproval

9 bill and present such bill to the President for ap10 proval or disapproval;

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

12 an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur13 ing which the President may exercise his authority

14 to sign or veto the rescission/receipts disapproval

15 bill; and

16 (3) if the President vetoes the rescission/re17 ceipts disapproval bill during the period provided in

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

19 session after the date of the veto.

20 (c) If a special message is transmitted by the Presi21 dent under this Act and the last session of the Congress

22 adjourns sine die before the expiration of the period de23 scribed in subsection (b), the rescission or veto, as the case

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

25 to have been retransmitted on the first Monday in Feb-
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1 ruary of the succeeding Congress and the review period

2 referred to in subsection (b) (with respect to such mes3 sage) shall run beginning after such first day.

4 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

5 As used in this Act:

6 (1) The term ‘‘rescission/receipts disapproval

7 bill’’ means a bill or joint resolution which only dis8 approves, in whole, rescissions of discretionary budg9 et authority or only disapproves vetoes of targeted

10 tax benefits in a special message transmitted by the

11 President under this Act and—

12 (A) which does not have a preamble;

13 (B)(i) in the case of a special message re14 garding rescissions, the matter after the enact15 ing clause of which is as follows: ‘‘That Con16 gress disapproves each rescission of discre17 tionary budget authority of the President as

18 submitted by the President in a special message

19 on llll’’, the blank space being filled in

20 with the appropriate date and the public law to

21 which the message relates; and

22 (ii) in the case of a special message re23 garding vetoes of targeted tax benefits, the

24 matter after the enacting clause of which is as

25 follows: ‘‘That Congress disapproves each veto
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1 of targeted tax benefits of the President as sub2 mitted by the President in a special message on

3 llll’’, the blank space being filled in with

4 the appropriate date and the public law to

5 which the message relates; and

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

7 disapproving the recommendations submitted by

8 the President on llll’’, the blank space

9 being filled in with the date of submission of

10 the relevant special message and the public law

11 to which the message relates.

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

13 mean only those days on which both Houses of Con14 gress are in session.

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

16 provision of a revenue or reconciliation Act deter17 mined by the President to provide a Federal tax de18 duction, credit, exclusion, preference, or other con19 cession to 100 or fewer beneficiaries. Any partner20 ship, limited partnership, trust, or S corporation,

21 and any subsidiary or affiliate of the same parent

22 corporation, shall be deemed and counted as a single

23 beneficiary regardless of the number of partners,

24 limited partners, beneficiaries, shareholders, or affili25 ated corporate entities.
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1 (4) The term ‘‘appropriation Act’’ means any

2 general or special appropriation Act, and any Act or

3 joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or

4 continuing appropriations.

5 SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LINE ITEM

6 VETOES.

7 (a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever

8 the President rescinds any budget authority as provided

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

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

11 Congress a special message specifying—

12 (1) the amount of budget authority rescinded or

13 the provision vetoed;

14 (2) any account, department, or establishment

15 of the Government to which such budget authority

16 is available for obligation, and the specific project or

17 governmental functions involved;

18 (3) the reasons and justifications for the deter19 mination to rescind budget authority or veto any

20 provision pursuant to this Act;

21 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti22 mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the

23 rescission or veto; and

24 (5) all actions, circumstances, and consider25 ations relating to or bearing upon the rescission or
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1 veto and the decision to effect the rescission or veto,

2 and to the maximum extent practicable, the esti3 mated effect of the rescission upon the objects, pur4 poses, and programs for which the budget authority

5 is provided.

6 (b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND

7 SENATE.—

8 (1) Each special message transmitted under

9 this Act shall be transmitted to the House of Rep10 resentatives and the Senate on the same day, and

11 shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Rep12 resentatives if the House is not in session, and to

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

14 session. Each special message so transmitted shall

15 be referred to the appropriate committees of the

16 House of Representatives and the Senate. Each such

17 message shall be printed as a document of each

18 House.

19 (2) Any special message transmitted under this

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

21 Register published after such transmittal.

22 (c) INTRODUCTION OF RESCISSION/RECEIPTS DIS23 APPROVAL BILLS.—The procedures set forth in subsection

24 (d) shall apply to any rescission/receipts disapproval bill

25 introduced in the House of Representatives not later than
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1 the third calendar day of session beginning on the day

2 after the date of submission of a special message by the

3 President under section 2.

4 (d) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT5 ATIVES.—(1) The committee of the House of Representa6 tives to which a rescission/receipts disapproval bill is re7 ferred shall report it without amendment, and with or

8 without recommendation, not later than the eighth cal9 endar day of session after the date of its introduction. If

10 the committee fails to report the bill within that period,

11 it is in order to move that the House discharge the com12 mittee from further consideration of the bill. A motion to

13 discharge may be made only by an individual favoring the

14 bill (but only after the legislative day on which a Member

15 announces to the House the Member’s intention to do so).

16 The motion is highly privileged. Debate thereon shall be

17 limited to not more than one hour, the time to be divided

18 in the House equally between a proponent and an oppo19 nent. The previous question shall be considered as ordered

20 on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion.

21 A motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion is

22 agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order.

23 (2) After a rescission/receipts disapproval bill is re24 ported or the committee has been discharged from further

25 consideration, it is in order to move that the House resolve
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1 into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of

2 the Union for consideration of the bill. All points of order

3 against the bill and against consideration of the bill are

4 waived. The motion is highly privileged. The previous

5 question shall be considered as ordered on that motion to

6 its adoption without intervening motion. A motion to re7 consider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or dis8 agreed to shall not be in order. During consideration of

9 the bill in the Committee of the Whole, the first reading

10 of the bill shall be dispensed with. General debate shall

11 proceed without intervening motion, shall be confined to

12 the bill, and shall not exceed two hours equally divided

13 and controlled by a proponent and an opponent of the bill.

14 No amendment to the bill is in order, except any Member

15 may move to strike the disapproval of any rescission or

16 rescissions of budget authority or any proposed repeal of

17 a targeted tax benefit, as applicable, if supported by 49

18 other Members. At the conclusion of the consideration of

19 the bill for amendment, the Committee shall rise and re20 port the bill to the House. The previous question shall be

21 considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto

22 to final passage without intervening motion. A motion to

23 reconsider the vote on passage of the bill shall not be in

24 order.
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1 (3) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating

2 to the application of the rules of the House of Representa3 tives to the procedure relating to a bill described in sub4 section (a) shall be decided without debate.

5 (4) It shall not be in order to consider more than

6 one bill described in subsection (c) or more than one mo7 tion to discharge described in paragraph (1) with respect

8 to a particular special message.

9 (5) Consideration of any rescission/receipts dis10 approval bill under this subsection is governed by the rules

11 of the House of Representatives except to the extent spe12 cifically provided by the provisions of this Act.

13 (e) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

14 (1) Any rescission/receipts disapproval bill re15 ceived in the Senate from the House shall be consid16 ered in the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this

17 Act.

18 (2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission/re19 ceipts disapproval bill and debatable motions and ap20 peals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not

21 more than ten hours. The time shall be equally di22 vided between, and controlled by, the majority leader

23 and the minority leader or their designees.

24 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo25 tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be
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1 limited to one hour, to be equally divided between,

2 and controlled by the mover and the manager of the

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

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

5 in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the mi6 nority leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either

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

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

9 Senator during the consideration of any debatable

10 motion or appeal.

11 (4) A motion to further limit debate is not de12 batable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to

13 recommit with instructions to report back within a

14 specified number of days not to exceed one, not

15 counting any day on which the Senate is not in ses16 sion) is not in order.

17 (f) POINTS OF ORDER.—

18 (1) It shall not be in order in the Senate to

19 consider any rescission/receipts disapproval bill that

20 relates to any matter other than the rescission of

21 budget authority or veto of the provision of law

22 transmitted by the President under this Act.

23 (2) It shall not be in order in the Senate to

24 consider any amendment to a rescission/receipts dis25 approval bill.
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1 (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) may be waived or

2 suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three3 fifths of the members duly chosen and sworn.

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

5 Beginning on January 6, 1996, and at one-year inter6 vals thereafter, the Comptroller General shall submit a re7 port to each House of Congress which provides the follow8 ing information:

9 (1) A list of each proposed Presidential rescis10 sion of discretionary budget authority and veto of a

11 targeted tax benefit submitted through special mes12 sages for the fiscal year ending during the preceding

13 calendar year, together with their dollar value, and

14 an indication of whether each rescission of discre15 tionary budget authority or veto of a targeted tax

16 benefit was accepted or rejected by Congress.

17 (2) The total number of proposed Presidential

18 rescissions of discretionary budget authority and ve19 toes of a targeted tax benefit submitted through spe20 cial messages for the fiscal year ending during the

21 preceding calendar year, together with their total

22 dollar value.

23 (3) The total number of Presidential rescissions

24 of discretionary budget authority or vetoes of a tar25 geted tax benefit submitted through special mes-
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1 sages for the fiscal year ending during the preceding

2 calendar year and approved by Congress, together

3 with their total dollar value.

4 (4) A list of rescissions of discretionary budget

5 authority initiated by Congress for the fiscal year

6 ending during the preceding calendar year, together

7 with their dollar value, and an indication of whether

8 each such rescission was accepted or rejected by

9 Congress.

10 (5) The total number of rescissions of discre11 tionary budget authority initiated and accepted by

12 Congress for the fiscal year ending during the pre13 ceding calendar year, together with their total dollar

14 value.

15 (6) A summary of the information provided by

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

17 years ending before the fiscal year during this cal18 endar year.

19 SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

20 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—

21 (1) Any Member of Congress may bring an ac22 tion, in the United States District Court for the Dis23 trict of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and in24 junctive relief on the ground that any provision of

25 this Act violates the Constitution.
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1 (2) A copy of any complaint in an action

2 brought under paragraph (1) shall be promptly de3 livered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk

4 of the House of Representatives, and each House of

5 Congress shall have the right to intervene in such

6 action.

7 (3) Any action brought under paragraph (1)

8 shall be heard and determined by a three-judge

9 court in accordance with section 2284 of title 28,

10 United States Code.

11 Nothing in this section or in any other law shall infringe

12 upon the right of the House of Representatives to inter13 vene in an action brought under paragraph (1) without

14 the necessity of adopting a resolution to authorize such

15 intervention.

16 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

17 any other provision of law, any order of the United States

18 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued

19 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub20 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the

21 Supreme Court of the United States. Any such appeal

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

23 after such order is entered; and the jurisdictional state24 ment shall be filed within 30 days after such order is en25 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).

Passed the House of Representatives February 6,

1995.

Attest: ROBIN H. CARLE,

Clerk.